Chapter 2

OCTAVIA.

I groaned as the alarm woke me up. My body stretched, but I winced as pain in my side flared to life. Ugh. It was all that I needed to deal with on top of everything that I had to get done today.

‘Hold on,’ Storm cooed.

Warmth filled that area, chasing the pain away entirely. What in the world? It felt like the pain had never even been there at all.

‘I feel a little stronger today, allowing me to heal you a bit better. Got a bruise? BAM, healed. Splitting migraine? BAM, healed. In need of snarky inner monologue? BAM! Got that covered too.’

I wouldn’t have been able to stop the chuckle that tumbled from my lips even if I’d tried to. I loved my wolf. Her personality was so damn priceless too. She was the best optimist, comedic relief, and was a true ride or die. She always had my back and supported me, reminding me that I wasn’t alone.

After getting ready for the day, I made my way up to the kitchen. Learning to cook was a necessity, but it was something that I learned to thoroughly enjoy. It gave me the platform where I was able to exert the control that was stripped away from me the rest of the time.

I was the first one there, so I started pulling out the different ingredients that we needed. Today’s breakfast was going to be biscuits and gravy, hash browns, eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, and coffee.

Cooking such deliciousness but not being allowed to consume any of it was something that took a bit to get used to. It sucked, but that was life. I just received scraps when Alpha allowed it. Something small each day or sometimes longer if someone said that I had done something that was worthy of punishment. It was always bullshit accusations, but the truth apparently didn’t matter in this pack.

The ranked families were always served at their table, but the rest of the pack that ate here utilized the buffet style set up. We had to make enough food for about two hundred people, give or take, since not everyone from our pack ate here. That was a great thing since we had a little over five hundred members in this pack.

‘Good morning, hon,’ Marjorie said via mindlink.

‘Morning, Mar.’

She was one of the few people who didn’t mistreat me. She was an older Omega who had been taken with Dad when he first came to this pack because he reminded her of her own son, who’d died in a rogue attack a year before Dad joined Blood Lake.

We would speak through the mindlink, but we were both very careful with our outward interactions because it’d do nothing but paint a target on both of our backs, something that neither of us wanted or needed.

There were seven of us who prepared the meals around here, so it only took about two hours to ensure that everything was ready.

7:30 A.M. on the dot, we loaded up everything because the ranked members were taking their seats.

I looked over everything once more before giving Marjorie a nod and heading out.

Alpha had always insisted that I served him and the rest of the ranked members so that I was reminded of my station in life. He just enjoyed seeing me subservient to him. He thought that he’d broken me. I just let him think whatever he wanted to.

Luna Felicia was his chosen mate, who came into the picture after Mom took her life. She always enjoyed seeing me punished and enjoyed my suffering. I absolutely loathed her. She and Alpha were the perfect pair, seeing that both of them were vindictive, vile, and evil. Mom used to say that like attracted like. Case in point.

“I don’t want bacon. Take it away,” Luna spat at me.

I nodded and grabbed the plate, but she held onto it. What was she going to do this time?

“If you release it, I can take it for you,” I said as calmly as possible because she was just trying to get a rise out of me.

She smirked as she shoved it away from her, effectively throwing me backwards in the process. The plate shattered against the floor right before my body landed on top of the glass. Sharp shards sliced into my palms and embedded in them. I was unable to contain a yelp. Ah! Painful wasn’t a strong enough term to describe what I felt.

“Look how clumsy you are. Stupid and helpless.” She sneered at me with such contempt.

Her words angered me and pissed me off, but I knew that I couldn’t react unless I wanted to be taught a painful lesson, which wasn’t really something I enjoyed.

She had been by his side for the past five years and made it her mission in life to screw with mine from day one. Her very first act as Luna was to toss me in the cells for a week straight just for the hell of it.

I did not respond to her as I stood up and started removing the glass from my palms. Of course, I should have known that it would not be allowed because there was no reason for anyone to show kindness here.

“You’re not done serving us. You can fix your precious hands later. Do you understand?” Alpha asked. I nodded because I did not trust my voice. “Use your damn words. Do you understand?” he snapped at me.

“Yes, Alpha.”

I gritted my teeth against the pain. I was happy that some of my blood got into the food, but nobody realized it because they were pretending that I didn’t exist. I could deal with that. The pain was intense but not anything that I was incapable of handling. My body sustained worse injuries than this. That thought was what got me through serving everyone.

I went to leave the room, but a whistle effectively caught my attention. I took a steadying breath before I turned around.

There was a mocking smirk plastered on his face as if this was all for his entertainment. I would love nothing more than to rip that look from him entirely.

“You made quite a mess. That’s no way for you to treat my hospitality. I’ve done nothing but provide for you despite you being worthless piece of trash and a waste of space. Clean up the mess that you made,” he said before digging into his breakfast.

Nodding, I went to get the stuff to clean it up. My hands were killing me every time I moved them. Unfortunately, I had no control over the Force, or else the mess would’ve been much easier to clean up.

I really hated every single person at that particular table. None of them were worth saving because they were truly just as corrupt as he was. They hurt others, stole their things, and did it without being forced to. They did it because they wanted to and could.

Being seemingly invisible had its perks though. I often came across things that were hidden from the public. You could really see who someone truly was when they believed that nobody was around. It was then that their cloak was dropped, leaving the uncensored version of themselves behind.

Marjorie was standing there with tweezers in the kitchen and began picking the glass out of my hands for me. It took a good fifteen minutes, but she got out every piece. That glass had done a number on my hands, and I hissed as the water rinsed the blood off.

The other Omegas in the kitchen looked at me sympathetically before averting their gazes. Marjorie was the only one who talked to me, unless it was for someone to bark orders.

‘Go on, hon. I love you,’ she told me.

‘Love you too,’ I said before leaving.

I rushed back down to my room and slammed the door shut. I bit onto my arm and released a muffled, guttural scream.

I fell to my knees and reached for my most prized possession that was hidden underneath my mattress. It was a family photo that was taken a few months before everything changed.

Tears fell from my eyes because of the pain in my heart. It exceeded anything that my body was capable of feeling. I missed them every single day that passed. I missed them so much. People often say that time healed all wounds, but that was a lie. Nothing could heal the wound that had been shredded wide open when I lost them.

As much as I wanted to hate him for my lot in life, my heart never got that particular memo.

I wasn’t sure why he did what he did. Alpha told everyone that he was gunning for the Alpha title and attacked him in the office that night. Mom corroborated Alpha’s words even though I had no idea why she would’ve been present. That was neither here nor there. All that mattered was that Dad attacked Alpha and was killed in the process.

Apparently, no justice was served, so it fell upon Mom and me to be the sources of that. We were forced to pay for a crime that we didn’t commit. Then Mom left me too, and the responsibility reverted to me and only me. I had to carry it upon my shoulders, dragging the weight of treason everywhere that I went.

‘I love you so much. I’m trying to be as strong as you taught me to be, but it’s hard – feels impossible. Please give me strength,’ I begged into the void.

Storm was lying down, head on her paws as she looked at our parents through my eyes. She mourned their losses right beside me even if she had never met Dad. It didn’t matter because he was her father just as much as he was mine.

Despite everything that happened, he was the man who read my bedtime stories and kissed my boo-boos. He had been my hero until he wasn’t. Now, I was surrounded by memories that were, unfortunately, shrouded in pain.

‘You’re never alone because I’m right here with you,’ Storm promised me.

‘Just as I’m right here with you too.’