CHAPTER ONE

AMY'S POV

Every day, I wake up ashamed. Some people wake up and don't remember where they are for, like, a minute or two. Not me. I opened my eyes immediately to the weight of the world on my young shoulders.

The moment my eyes opened was the moment I felt it all. The burden of being alone in the world. I heard a loud sound from the room beside mine, and I rolled my eyes at the reminder that I wasn't alone physically.

What was my mother doing up so early? I wondered as I got up from my threadbare mattress and kicked off my equally thin blanket. My life as an ordinary omega would have been a bit more bearable if my mother was in my corner, but I didn't have such luck.

I didn't have to wonder what my mother was doing up this early for long. Her voice carried easily through the thin wall of our two-room apartment on the outskirts of the town. Only werewolf families as miserable as ours stayed on this side of the city. 

"Amy, you worthless nothing. You dare steal the last bottle of my beer?" I wasn't even the least bit surprised. 

"I didn't steal it. You drank it." I yelled back.

"You better replace my bottle or else..." She trailed off, and I huffed. That unspoken threat could mean anything from dumping my small collection of clothes into water to locking me out. Once, she even went as far as forcing me out of the house in only my bra and my panties. 

I know other twenty-year-olds don't wake up to threats by their mothers. With a renewed sense of urgency, I splashed water on my face and made myself presentable before running out of my room.

I didn't have any shift, but there was a good chance that I would be able to cover for someone. Fortunately for me, my manager, Tom, smiled when he saw me.

"Amy, thank the goddess. I was just about to pick an apron. Get to work." He threw an apron at me, and I sighed in relief. 

The rest of the day went by, and it finally ended when Jamie, my manager at my third job, finally bade us all goodnight at 1 a.m. 

I was used to walking these hours alone, so I was not afraid. I was just happy I was going home with a full belly. I watched the other waitresses pile into Ubers, but I couldn't afford to. Every penny I made went to my savings for medical school, if I got in.

In no time, I was home, and I was pleased to see that my mother had gone to sleep. The next day seemed to be very promising too until my mother threw an empty bottle at my door. 

I rolled my eyes and tried to make a run for it, except my luck had run out this morning. She caught me on the way out.

"Not so fast, you little sl*t. I know you were out all day yesterday. Where's my money?" For a woman that spent all her days gambling and drinking, her grip was strong.

"Ma, let go." I sneered, but her grip only tightened. She was in for a shock this morning because I had no intention of parting with my hard-earned money. If my wolf were a Beta or Gamma, she would simply absorb my pain. In my case, I was the one taking all the pain. 

"You're not going anywhere until you give me my money. I need it!"

"Not as much as I do." I yelled back and pushed her only for her to grab me by my second arm, her nails digging into my flesh until it drew blood. "Ma!"

She shook me hard before she pushed me roughly on the floor. I landed on my ass. "I should have sold you the first chance I got. Maybe some rich Alpha would want you as their plaything." Tears welled up in my eyes at her cruel words. It was not that this was the first time she was saying it. It was that it hurt as it did the first time she said it.

"You keep being useless to me, and that's what will happen to you." She fixed me with a glare so full of disgust that a stranger would never believe she was my own mother. 

"Ma!" With that, she went into her room. I didn't wait for her to come back before I ran out of the house yet again. 

Getting out from under her roof was my greatest motivator. It was the only reason I stretched myself so thin, to gather the funds I needed for medical school.

Goddess knows I would leave her behind. I thought about ways I could make money faster all day so I could leave this town and all its pain behind.

After I closed from work that night, one of the other girls offered for me to join her Uber pool, but I declined. I wasn't in a hurry to get home anyway. I'd rather walk to clear my head a bit.

I was about to get out of the alley that led to my street when I saw two men lurking ahead. My heart skipped but I decided to walk on.

It turns out that I had made the wrong decision when one of them called me by my name.

"That's not me." I denied and to my surprise, he pulled out a picture.

"I hate liars, Amy." The fierce-looking one smiled, revealing a missing tooth. "Lying won't fly where you're going."

"Excuse you? I think you have the wrong person because I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Wrong answer. Your mother has sold you to us to clear her debt. You'll remain with us until you have cleared it all up."

It seemed to me like my world had imploded. My mother did make true of her words.

Without stopping to think about it, I ran!