The Pack Punching Bag

Seren

“Get down here, wench!!” Alpha James yelled from the base of the central pack house stairway.

“What now?” I muttered to myself as I quickly made my way to the staircase. You didn’t keep the Alpha waiting, and he sounded especially angry this morning.

‘Who knows, but whatever it is, it’s probably going to end up our fault,’ my wolf Kara said. I knew she was right. With the Alpha, it was always my fault. My role here in Blood Moon was to be the pack punching bag, and it always had been. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t the one blamed for every little thing that went wrong—imaginary or not.

‘Our birthday is soon, Kara. We only have to hold on a little longer and we can get out of here,’ I told her.

I landed at the bottom of the steps and kept my gaze down, both so that the Alpha didn’t know that I was talking to my wolf and to avoid showing any kind of disrespect, which would result in a broken nose or worse. “Yes, Alpha?” I asked.

Alpha James didn’t know that I had my wolf. No one in this goddess-forsaken pack did. Kara came to me when I was just ten years old—earlier than most wolves, who typically get theirs at sixteen. We have our first shift at eighteen. Our wolves come before our shift so that we can develop our relationship with them as it makes the shifting process so much easier. When Kara came to me early, she was adamant that we let no one in the Blood Moon Pack know that she was here, that I even had a wolf, and that she could share her healing and strength with me from the start. She masks our scent, so they still believe I’m wolfless even though I’m close to my eighteenth birthday. The bad part about that was the target on my back got even bigger because of my “wolfless” status, but Kara did the best she could to help with any injuries I sustained.

“We’re having guests in two days’ time, as we’re the hosts of this quarter’s mating ball. I want the pack house spotless, the alpha guest suites glittering, and no sign of you while our guests are here. If anything, anything at all happens in the next two days that I’m unhappy with, you will spend the entirety of their visit in our dungeons. Do you understand?” he growled.

“Yes, Alpha. I’ll get to work straightaway. May I go?”

Alpha James backhanded me before I even finished asking, but it was a light touch, almost like an afterthought. It hardly hurt at all. “Such a disrespectful little bitch. Go get started and remember what I said. Everything had better be perfect,” he stated and then turned to walk into his office.

I stood there until he had closed his office door and then headed upstairs to start prepping the guest suites.

‘You know he’s going to find something stupid as an excuse and drop us right in the dungeon when we’re done cleaning this place, right?’ Kara asked me.

‘Yeah, I know. I’ll see if I can sneak some supplies down between now and then, as we don’t know how long these “guests” will be staying. You know he won’t bother with paltry things like food and water while we’re stuck down there; he never does,’ I sighed. ‘Three days, Kara. Just three days until we turn 18 and we can escape this pack.’

‘In the meantime, I’ll keep us hidden. You just stay out of the way as much as you can,’ she replied, then settled into the back of my mind.

By this time, I’d reached the guest floor of the pack house and headed to the hall closet that kept all the cleaning supplies and clean linens. As I gathered the necessary items, I heard snickering and whispering coming from down the hall and knew my day was about to get worse. With a hefty internal groan and a deep breath, I closed the door and turned around to face Amelia, the Alpha’s daughter, and her girl gang.

“Good morning, Miss Amelia. Is there something that I can help you with?” I asked her.

“Yes, mutt, you can roll over and die anytime now. I’m tired of looking at your face,” she sneered, while her three friends giggled in the background.

I didn’t dare look at her or respond to that, unless I wanted to do all of my work over the next two days with something broken, so I simply stayed quiet and kept my eyes cast down. Kara perked up in the back of my mind, keeping an eye out for anything she may have to intercede on, but mostly I just had to tolerate the bitch squad.

“But since that’s apparently unlikely, I want you to clean my suite. Make sure it’s sparkling. The Alpha of Crescent Moon was invited, and if he shows, I’m planning to make sure he sees the inside of it.” She smirked at her friends as she said it. “I’ll get him into bed, and then we’ll make sure that he has to take me as his Luna. Once Daddy finds out his precious, innocent princess isn’t a virgin anymore, he won’t take no for an answer from Alpha Duncan. I’m his little girl, after all,” she giggled.

While she may look the part of a princess, with her long, wavy blond hair and brilliant blue eyes, a tiny, upturned nose and a complexion that says she spends just enough time in the sun to be a little golden, there was no part of her that was innocent or precious. She was a vicious schemer who had slept her way through half the warriors already, just because she could. I’d seen her with at least six different men, as no one tended to notice me as I was completing my duties around the packhouse. Knowing that she intended to trap an Alpha into a relationship just to be Luna didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was the immediate sense of unease and tug to my stomach at hearing the name Alpha Duncan, and the bit of rage that started simmering deep inside. That was new.

“I’ll get right on that, Miss Amelia,” I replied, biting back what I really wanted to say.

“You’d better. I don’t want to see a speck of dirt. And make sure that my dresses are pressed and ready, and my shoes are cleaned as well. I need to look my best. Oh, and mutt? If you breathe a word of my plans to anyone, I’ll tell Daddy that I caught you stealing food before I beat you bloody.” She turned away, giggling to the girls with her, already back to talking and scheming with them for the upcoming visit.

I started cleaning the guest rooms but couldn’t stop thinking about my reaction to her naming Alpha Duncan specifically and the uneasiness I felt at her plans to trap him. ‘What do you think that’s about, Kara? I’ve never felt like that before, and I’ve overheard and seen so many things that should upset me much more than another one of her plans.’

‘I don’t know for sure, Seren, but I think we need to do what we can to stay hyperaware these next few days. I feel like something big is going to happen, and not just our upcoming birthday and shift. Just keep your eyes open,’ Kara responded, and I mentally nodded and got on with my day.

***

 

Once I’d finished the guest rooms, I moved on to Amelia’s suite. If I waited to clean the pack house later, when traffic is minimal, it would decrease the chance of being targeted. I refreshed everything—her linens, her towels in her en suite, anything that I could think she would have an issue with. I pressed her chosen outfits, cleaned her shoes. When I was done, I locked her room and headed out.

I looked up and Amelia’s alleged best friend was standing at the end of the hall, glaring at me. “There you are, mutt. I wonder what would happen if something in Amelia’s room went missing after you cleaned it? I’ve been eyeing that new bracelet Amelia bought. I bet I could swipe it, blame it on you, hide it away for a while and then have it for myself,” Jennifer sneered. Before I could say anything, though, someone else stepped in.

“That might have worked, Jennifer, if you hadn’t just been stupid enough to state that out in the wide open where anyone could hear…or record…you,” Kayla stated. I’d never in my life been so relieved to see her. Kayla may have only been an omega, but she was the head omega’s daughter, so she didn’t get pushed around nearly as much as the other omegas. No one wanted to piss off the head omega, because you’d suddenly have issues like cold food, dirty linens, and any other number of unfortunate and annoying issues until she was over her grudge. I looked over at her and tried to show her how grateful I was for her intervention. She glanced at me and winked, her bright red hair bouncing a bit as she turned back to Jennifer.

“I wasn’t actually going to do it, obviously,” Jennifer said with a roll of her eyes, though they flashed with something like frustration. “It was a hypothetical.”

“Obviously. And if this ‘hypothetical’ situation happens anytime soon, then don’t you worry. I’ve got the recording right here to make sure the Alpha knows who actually committed the theft,” Kayla said, using air quotes and waving her phone in the air.

“Ugh. Fine. Whatever,” Jennifer huffed, then turned and flounced away, her brown ponytail bobbing.

“Thank you, Kayla. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t shown up. That would have certainly earned me some major injuries,” I said to her.

“No worries. I overheard her talking to the bitch squad downstairs, so I already knew she was up to no good. I’m just glad that I could catch it. Now, how much more do you have to do and how can I help?” she asked.

“I’m almost done up here. Next is the pack house itself, which I’m going to delay a little so that traffic dies down. I was going to try to sneak into the kitchen for something to eat—meet me down there?”

“Sure. I’ll grab some plates from Mom and head outside. Should be relatively peaceful for you there.” She turned and headed back down the stairs.

I walked over to the large supply room on the Alpha floor and started putting supplies away when I smelled mint and pine. “Oh, no,” I muttered. I knew that scent. I’d sent Kayla away too soon. The alpha’s son was here.