Chapter One: The Alpha’s Visitor

“Where are you?!” Alpha Stephen’s loud and dangerous voice bellows from the landing, his footsteps heavy allowing the worn wooded flooring to cry out in pain.

Scrambling to my feet in sheer panic, I bound towards my closed bedroom door, shock and absolute terror running through me as I took the handle into my small hands. I had accidentally, overslept and didn’t prepare the Alpha’s food in time.

As I reach the corridor to the back rooms I have been forced to reside for many years, the dark presence of the man who causes me nothing, but pain and fear appeared at the very end of the corridor. His stance alone proved to me how angry he was, I hadn’t forgotten such a task in many years so my heart pounded in my chest worried I may have pushed him over the edge this time.

“Where is my breakfast?!” He asked even louder than before as his steps drew closer to me, my breath coming out of my lips in fast motions, I knew better than to make direct eye contact, so my eyes rested on the floor.

I believed my head was going to explode when this dangerous Alpha stopped right in front of me, his towering body pulling me to stand in his pitch-black shadow, my hands behind my back and eyes closed.

“How dare you force me to wait!” He shouts so close to my ear that it began to hurt and ring, but that was the least of my troubles, bringing his fist up and sending a punch to my face, I land in a heap on the floor by his feet, my jaw instantly, felt as though it was close to breaking, like each other part of my body.

“I thought the years of my beatings would have drummed this careless behaviour out of you, perhaps I’ve been slacking recently!” He continues to harass me as his foot with those awful expensive boots lifts up and kicks me in the stomach, even more pain rushes through me as I hold onto my injured stomach and force the sobs to stay at bay.

But I didn’t have the time to nurse my wounds as my dark brown hair is grabbed into his fist and pulled sharply giving me no choice but to rise to my feet. With my hair still in his hands, Alpha Stephan begins to pull me down the corridor he had bounded down not moments before and out into the more populated areas of the pack house, a place deemed too good for me to stay in.

Not a single pack member offered me assistance as I’m dragged through the lobby, some even spat in my direction and began to call me the vilest names possible, but names I had heard so many times the sting was less effective. I didn’t know why I always kept hoping somebody in this place would help me, the almost ten years of abuse from the Alpha and any other person bored at the time was more than enough time for a good samaritan to step in and stop it but deep down, it was all I’d pray for.

After a few longer moments of silent pain, the doors to the private kitchen reserved for the Alpha and any other person he was to entertain fly open, the Alpha also sending me flying to the ground with a thump.

“I expect my breakfast on the table in five minutes! If it is not there or up to my standards, I will ensure you choke on it!” He shouts staring down as I lay on the kitchen floor knowing better than to make any sudden moves when his eyes were on me, he will see it as my body not beaten enough and will ensure I felt his wrath.

After shouting his orders at me, he walks back through the doors slamming it behind me, the empty kitchen I stand in for hours at a time dead silent. Placing my shaking hands down to rest on the black tiles of the floor, I use the little strength I held and pull my broken body to stand.

Due to how hard he has grasped my hair, my head hurt and allowed a dizzy like spell to occur, the countertop being the object to stop me from tumbling down to the ground once again.

“This isn’t fair Bridget; we don’t deserve to live like this!” My wolf whines in my head, she was the only thing to ever speak to me with kindness, my head no longer spinning allowing me to start my job and make the Alpha’s breakfast, hoping it was to a standard he’d appreciate.

“I don’t have any other choice, if we make the Alpha wait any longer, the beating will happen again.” I replied in a panicked voice rushing over to the fridge and pulling out the ingredients I would need, I had planned what to make for him last night but due to my lateness, I hadn’t arrived in the kitchen on time.

“Staying here can no longer be an option, that man will kill us before too long! We haven’t even found our mate yet!” She continued to exclaim repeating what she tells me whenever the Alpha beats me, which can sometimes be daily.

“As I’ve told you before, we aren’t strong enough to leave this pack, we’ll be caught before we even reach the borders and who knows what the Alpha would do then! We have no other choice but to stay here.” I reply reaching over to retrieve one of the large carving knives from the block and pulling it into my hands, my eyes gaze over the sharp blade for a moment, my hands shaking as though they knew the way to get me out of this mess, but shaking my head and beginning the Alpha’s breakfast, I hoped I would get this done in time.

Pushing the dining room door open with my foot while the food rested on the pristine white plates in my hands, the Alpha sat on his chair right at the head of the dining table. His face held anger and hatred as his eyes watched me hurry down the long table and place the food in front of him, my shaking hands hidden around my back as to not show my fear, he has broken many of the bones in my fingers when he saw such a sight.

“Finally, it is only half an hour late!” He says with such anger in his voice as he lifts up his fork and takes a generous helping, my heart pounding in my chest as the food enters his mouth, I didn’t need another beating.

“It is lucky this food is passable! Why do you always enjoy angering me, do you like my beatings?” He asks with a mouthful of food, if I wasn’t so terrified, the way the bacon poured from his mouth would have disgusted me.

I never understand why the Alpha chooses to ask me such questions, he is very aware that I have not spoken a word for almost nine years, under his strict orders. My wolf is the only thing I speak to and that is with my mind, no one within this pack house but she has heard my voice in so long. Even when the Alpha’s beatings become deadly, no sounds leave my lips, my silent sobbing takes much of my time at night.

“Now, instead of watching me eat, head into the kitchen and clean! I have a rather important guest attending lunch today and I expect to see that kitchen spic and span for the professionals to prepare our food. Understood?” He asked in another deadly tone placing more food in his mouth, with a nod of my head, I do as I’m told and hurry out of the dining room and back into the kitchen to clean.

What I didn’t know in this moment, the Alpha’s special visitor, was about to change my entire life.