CHAPTER 2

John's betrayal was complete the first night the alpha... used me. He'd been touching me too intimately for a while, calling me "angel" or "Sanna" and pretending he liked me. I'd always seen through it, and eventually, he realized that and decided to simply use force. It was his favorite tactic. So he knocked me out one night, tied me tightly to his bed, and... I didn't like to think about what happened when I woke up. In the year since then, I'd been used countless times, by the alpha or his favored betas. Being made up entirely of penniless teenagers, the pack never had any food unless they stole it, and I'd gotten used to constant hunger. I was skin and bones, too unhealthy to conceive a child, as I assumed their intentions with me were after I finally learned what made omegas special. How they didn't realize that I was too unhealthy to fall pregnant, I didn't know. But then again, I'd gotten more of an education than anyone besides John, who took too much pleasure in knowing how much power he had over me to care that I was dying. It was possible they really didn't know how the human body worked.

The other omegas here were no better off than I was. There had been whispers of escaping lately, and I was wholly against it. There was no way we'd make it out, and even if we did, what would we do? Go to the police? They shot werewolves on sight. We'd be dead if we went and dead if we stayed. There was no point.

I was abruptly drawn out of my miserable memories by one of the betas grabbing my arm. I lashed out, managing to claw him in the arm before I sank my teeth into his other hand. He yelped, elbowing my head hard enough my vision swam.

"You bloody bitch," he hissed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Hosanna?"

I despised that nickname, as much as I despised the memories that came with it and the people who had given it to me. "Get away from me," I snarled.

"John! Get in here and control your sister," he yelled.

"What's wrong now?" John asked when he came in, sighing heavily. I knew it was an act, though. He was happy I'd stirred up more trouble. He loved hurting me.

"Bitch bit me."

John snorted. "Those little puppy teeth did that? Pathetic. But we can't have the puppy nipping. Hosanna, say sorry."

I kept my mouth firmly shut. I almost died from the beating that followed. It was days before I woke up, according to the handful of other omegas the pack kept locked up here. I was almost disappointed I hadn't died. My acts of defiance only aroused the pack or got me hurt, but never so bad that I could escape the torture of life. I healed very slowly, probably at the same rate a human would. My condition was so dismal that the best my supernatural healing could do was keep me alive.

I couldn't sleep that night, pain was keeping me awake. I heard the rustling of movement across the room, but I didn't move. If one of the other omegas was restless, too, it was none of my business, and I was too weak and in too much pain to roll over and see what was going on. I heard the door open and close and sucked in a breath. Whoever was trying to escape wasn't going to get far. The door opened and closed again and I clawed my way to my feet to go after whoever had left. I had to at least try to stop them. The pack had taken our colored contacts, so if anyone was seen, they would most certainly be shot. The scents of the two who'd left the omega room led to the bathroom down the hall.

"Yasmin, I just want to help." That was Sam. I peered through the open crack of the door. Yasmin was standing with her back to the open bathroom window. She must have been planning to climb out and go down the fire escape.

"Leave me alone," Yasmin hissed. "Just leave me alone!"

"Are you pregnant?" Sam asked softly.

Yasmin's eyes widened and she lunged forward, raking her claws across his throat. I jumped backward and stood there frozen for a moment until the thump of his body hitting the floor and his gurgling breathing jolted me back to reality. I fled back to the omega room as quickly as I could. She'd killed him, just because he'd wanted to help. Oh God, she'd killed him.

I dove back onto my pile of blankets on the floor and lay terrified, body shaking. Yasmin had always been quiet, a gentle soul. I never would have thought her capable of murder, especially not like this. I heard a commotion in the hallway and the door flew open.

"Get up!" the alpha roared. "All of you!"

I tried not to show how scared I was, shuffling out of the room behind the other omegas. There were only three of us now.

They'd caught Yasmin and had her on her knees in the front yard.

"Yasmin here," John started, and I watched with increasing panic as he paced back and forth. One of the new pack members was holding Yasmin still as she struggled, but John paid no attention. "Yasmin thought she'd run away. That's unacceptable. If you're going to run away, we're going to find you, and we're going to kill you, just like we're going to kill her."

My eyes filled with tears. I'd known for a long time now that there was no humanity left in John, but hearing him say that, to know that he would kill me, his own brother, if the opportunity presented itself, still managed to hurt me.

"Although I'd hope you'd be smart enough not to kill someone when you leave. You may have noticed Sam isn't with you," John continued casually. "But anyway. You're all going to learn a valuable lesson right now. If you run, you die. There will be no mercy, and you won't be able to hide from us."

John went over to Yasmin, taking the new beta's place behind Yasmin, paying no attention to her pleading or choked cries. He gripped her chin, looked me in the eye, and snapped her neck. The others gasped, shrinking away from the sight. I couldn't move beyond trembling uncontrollably. He'd killed her.

"She was pregnant," John said, dropping her body to the ground and dusting his hands off. "So don't think that will stop us from killing you. Now get back to bed."

The alpha went over to John, slapping him on the back and saying something quietly. Probably praising him for scaring the living daylights out of us. One of the other omegas grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind him. I was grateful. I wouldn't have been able to move on my own.

One of the betas stopped me before I made it into the omega room, leading me to his room instead. Apparently seeing death made him horny. I wasn't surprised. The entire pack was sick and twisted, if not by nature then by the manipulation of the alpha.

Things were different after that night. We never knew what they did with the bodies, but some suspicious comments from the betas made me wonder if the alpha had eaten them. Or done something worse to them. The omegas, including me, seemed to be waiting for death. There was no hope among us anymore. I passed out frequently, avoided drinking water, and ate as little as possible when one of the betas or the alpha tried to force me to eat. Anything to make me die faster. I couldn't take much more of this treatment. They still fucked me regularly, whether I was conscious or not.

That changed when the alpha had the "brilliant" idea of selling the omegas and pooling the money to buy a better one. They tried to sell me to various random packs, but none of them wanted me. Partly because I bit and snarled and spat every time anyone got close to me, and partly because there was nothing attractive about me. My hair was greasy and too long, my skin smeared with sweat and dirt, and there was no sensuality to the shape of my skeleton sticking out through my skin.

After half a dozen failed attempts to get rid of me, the alpha woke me in the middle of the night and I was dragged downstairs to the garage and shoved into the trunk of the alpha's car. I was barely awake enough to realize what was happening until the trunk slammed closed. I wasn't sure how far they drove or if I fell asleep or passed out at any point during the drive, but when they parked I was awake. And terrified. Had they brought me here to kill me? I had longed for death to escape them, but when it came to the thought of actually dying, I was frightened. I didn't want to die.

We were in the woods somewhere. The alpha yanked me out of the trunk, shoved me into a tree trunk, and forced a kiss on my lips. "Good luck," he whispered, foul breath making me nauseous. "I doubt you'll last the night, and even if you do they'll kill you when they find you."

"Alpha, we need to get back before the police show up or they're gonna think we have her."

The alpha snarled at the beta who'd spoken. "Shut the fuck up. You talk when I tell you you can if you don't want me to leave you here, too." He turned back to me. "If it weren't for your fucking brother I wouldn't be doing this. So you can thank him when you see him in hell."

The alpha got back in the car and slammed the door shut. I trembled, confused by what was happening and still frightened by the idea of dying. The beta scrambled to get back in the car, too, and after the alpha revved the engine obnoxiously the tires started spinning, spitting gravel out behind them, and the car disappeared down the road.

They'd left me. I couldn't go back to town without being shot. Before I had more time to think about what to do, my legs gave out and my vision went black.