Chapter 1

Allison's POV

On a typical work day, I am usually awakened by the gentle stirrings of my alarm clock, but today, I am woken by the intrusive wail of my phone's ringtone. With a grunt, I toss around on the bed, gripping my pillow and burying my face into it. But the ringing of my phone does not stop. Instead, it continues to ring continuously and I mutter a cuss under my breath before blindly stretching my hand to my bedside table and reaching for my phone. 

I almost drop the phone but the gods are merciful and I successfully grip the phone with my hand. Grumbling, I fumble with the phone and bring it to my ear with another irritable curse. The high-pitched voice of my best friend, Elsa, erupts into my ear, nearly causing me to drop the phone a second time.

“Where the fuck are you, Allison Carter?!” 

“Where else am I supposed to be?” I answer, my voice gruff and scratchy from sleep. My eyelids remain closed, still heavy with drowsiness as I lean into my pillow. “I am in my apartment of course.”

"Girl, are you kidding me?!" Elsa's shrill voice soars into a higher octave, filling me with a jarring sense of dread. "It's freaking noon and you're still in bed?! No way!"

Her words sends a shockwave through me, snapping my eyes wide open as a chill shot down my spine. My heart plummets, skittering to a halt and my head pounds terribly from the hangover from last night. It was noon already? This cannot be real. Surely, she is joking.

As if Elsa's words are not enough to convince me, I whip my head to face the wall clock. The sight of its hands tick-tocking at a sobering noon sends my eyeballs popping out of their sockets. 

Fucking shit!

I am supposed to be at work by nine am, but instead, I managed to sleep through my alarm and three whole hours of precious work time. Rachel Fisher is going to skin me alive for this!

“Oh my god, Elsa. I'm screwed.” I shriek into the phone, jolting upright from the bed and racing towards the bathroom. A dull thud reverberates in my head, the residual echoes of my last night's drunkenness. The thought of making myself a bowl of hangover soup before hurrying for work crosses my mind but I push away the thoughts almost immediately. 

What I am supposed to be worrying about is Rachel not handing me my sack letter as soon as I step foot into the threshold of our company's entryway. She has hated me right from the day she had set eyes on me and I am sure that in her cunning mind, she would be glad to use this opportunity to get rid of me forever. 

I shall go nowhere, Rachel!

“You better hurry and get your lazy ass here. I'll try to distract Rachel so she wouldn't notice your absence. You have only thirty minutes to get here or I'll give up covering up for you.” Elsa commands with a tense urgency and I send a telepathic wave of gratitude to her, my imaginary puppy eyes and pouty gratitude traveling through the phone line.

“You are a godsend, Elsa. What can I ever do without you?” 

“Whatever.” Elsa waves me off and ends the call. 

Without wasting any more time, I enter the bathroom and the face that stares back at me through the bathroom mirror is a ghostly reflection, haggard and sleep deprived. 

A couple of minutes later, I am clambering into a baggy pair of jeans and a well-worn sweatshirt. In my panicked and frantic state, I struggle to tie the shoelaces of my sneakers and my phone rings out once more, breaking the tense silence with its shrill ring. I snatch the phone up and glance at the caller's ID to see that it is Peterson, my boyfriend. 

“Hey, baby. How's work going?” His voice comes flooding in. 

I sigh in frustration as I continue the battle with my shoelaces. I am beginning to feel like today is one of my bad days when everything works against me. On days like this, all I feel like doing is tearing my hair apart, sinking into the ground and bawling my eyes out. But of course, I cannot do that now. I have to get to work before Rachel notices my lateness.

“On my way to work.” I reply to him and Peterson pauses at the other end of the line, probably rethinking about what I have just said. 

“Wait, what?! Babe, you're running freaking late!”

I had expected that he would react this way because I am usually not the type of person who has a habit for lateness. Today is just my bad day.

“Look, Peterson. I gotta go. Talk to you later when I get off of work.” I say, finally getting my shoelaces to tie and getting up from the bed to brush my hand lazily over my hair, that I've tied in a messy, bun style that is a bit disheveled. A pair of glasses is over my eyes and my face is pale and only a colorless lip gloss is swished over my lips. Even though I have the worst fashion sense, the only thing I am proud of is my signature style of messy bun hair. It gives me this effortlessly chic vibe.

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on, babe. Don't end the call yet.” Peterson stops me from punching into the end call button. “Can you please lend me some money. Something really urgent came up.”

A frown crosses my face as I pick a small purse from the couch in my living room and give a final glance at my reflection in the mirror. 

“But I thought I already lended you some money last week….”

“I know, babe.” Peterson cuts me off, his tone sounding even more urgent now. “Remember I used it to invest in a business that would benefit the both of us in the long run. I used everything you gave me for that investment and there is barely any dime left with me again.”

All through our three years of dating, I can count how much Peterson has lent from me to ‘invest’ in a business and never paid back. At this point, I am beginning to lose my trust in whatever business he is investing in. But I cannot tell him this. Peterson can be quite petty sometimes and I do not like to witness his tantrums.

I just have to learn to continue believing in him. Afterall, he loves me and only wants what's best for me. Ever since I lost my father four years ago, Peterson has been by my side all through. I would be an evil person to shove him aside and ignore him just because I now work as a software developer for a prestigious company.

“Fine.” I exhale deeply again. “I’ll send you the money when I get to the company.”

……

Thankfully, Elsa does a good job covering up for me and so, Rachel does not notice my absence. As soon as I arrive at the company, the first person I see is Elsa. I throw her a wave and a wide smile but she returns it with an eye roll and I hurry all the way to the IT section where my team is working. 

They throw me curious stares which I return with a goofy smile before I settle in on my desk. As I work with the speed of a light, I notice how the others cast occasional glances at me or rather, at my choice of dressing. I don't blame them. It is odd to see someone who works for a multimillionaire dollars company as this dress this way. 

“Allison Omega Carter.” Rachel's voice causes my fingers to freeze against my keyboard and I slowly turn my head to see her standing behind me. Her long, straight platinum hair is tied in her usual ponytail and her electric blue eyes give me a death glare. She is young, around my age, but her constant frowning often makes her appear older.

I throw her a small close mouthed smile. What does this bitch want from me now?

I watch her as she takes slow, precise steps towards me, her eyes never leaving me for a second. Once she reaches me, she sits her butt on my desk and folds her arms over her chest. 

“Smart of you to think that I wouldn't notice you just came in.”

My heart stopped beating in my chest and I tried my best to maintain my countenance whilst I was going crazy in my head. How did Rachel notice I was late? I thought I had escaped this already. What? Is she going to hand me the pink slip now?

“You know, you should be grateful for having the opportunity to work here.” Rachel starts the usual sermon of reminding me about my privilege. “Omegas like you belong to the outskirts of the city. And don't even think you are opportuned to work here because of how good you are with what you do. We can easily get someone else to do your job. You are just lucky, Allison. And I hate to see you take that for granted.”

Right. My ears are already tired of hearing her demeaning reminders every single time. It is beginning to get exhausting but of course, there is nothing I can do about it. She is the CEO's assistant and manages most of the affairs of the company. 

Also, she isn't quite wrong about my privilege to work here. Like she said, omegas are meant to live on the outskirts of the city because we are the low class wolves and most times, seen as outcasts. Only a few of us get to live in the city and we consider ourselves lucky. In my case, my employment with this company had been my ticket to living in the city. 

The reason we are considered as outcasts is because of our pasts. In the distant past, an ancient rule forbade werewolves from mating with witches. But despite the prohibition, some wolves defied this rule, consummating forbidden unions that produced hybrid werewolves; half werewolves, half witches. These hybrid werewolves were regarded with suspicion and distrust, branded as outcasts by both werewolves and witches alike. The ill-fated consequences of breaking this taboo still echoes through time and is the reason we are still ostracized from society till dates. 

So, of course Rachel is right. I should be grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity. My only prayer is that Rachel lets this slide this time. I have always been a punctual person till today. 

“The next time you take your job for granted, rest assured that I will replace you with someone even better.” She adds, getting her ass off my desk and catwalking away again. 

A exhale escapes my lips and I feel my heart become as light as a feather, contrary to the way my chest felt heavy just a second ago. 

I have survived Rachel Fisher this time and I pray that this is the last time we ever knock heads.