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Chapter 1

Sabrina’s POV

“Sabrina…?” Donna drawled, in a tone that tells me she was two seconds away from losing her shit on me completely. “I run a business, you know that? Not a charity.”

“I’m sorry, Donna,” I apologized, squeezing myself through the back entrance into the kitchen, as Donna was also standing by the door with her arms folded together. “Eli developed a fever in the early hours of the morning,” I explained, tying my apron.

Donna sighed, her face moving from controlled fury to worry. “How’s he now?”

“Much better, sent him to school,” I said, trying my best not to cry. God knows all I wanted to do was stay in bed with him all day, but I couldn’t afford that. At least not today of all days, the extra bonus was going to help me alot–rent was due next week Friday, Eli’s football practice bill has been sitting on my kitchen counter for days now, and the persistent stream beneath my kitchen sink that I’d been managing with a bucket for almost a month. Calling a plumber for something this small wasn’t supposed to be an issue, but in this economy I’m sure they’ll speak some confusing plumber words about the leak not being ordinary, and charge the hell out of me.

“East wing’s ready. Full tray,” Donna’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Room at the end. Knock first, then enter,” she said, like this was the first time I was serving important guests.

I nodded in understanding, before picking up the tray of drinks and making my way out.

I was halfway down the corridor when a faint familiar scent wafted into my nose, making me stop dead in my tracks, my heart skipping an unsteady beat.

“Oh God, not today please,” I muttered under my breath, exhaling slowly to steady my heartbeat.

I haven't perceived this scent in almost a year, and just when I thought my brain had finally accepted that he wasn’t a part of my life anymore as it’s been seven whole years, I get this. Of all days!

As shameful as it is to admit, my brain has done this more times than I could count in the past seven years. A stranger’s cologne in a grocery store, a scented candle one cold winter morning, that I was so dumbstruck I stood outside the candle shop for almost three minutes until the shop keeper asked me If I needed anything, and in an attempt to save face, I bought a scented candle I couldn’t afford, nor needed.

“Everything okay?” Donna’s voice snapped me back to reality, and I realized I had been standing in a single spot for a while.

“Yea, just getting my shits together,” I answered with a fake smile I pray didn't look like a grimace, and kept walking.

Arriving at the room, I knocked once, and pushed the door open, and what hit me almost knocked me off my feet.

Pheromones. Not just any Pheromones, but that of several Alpha’s, each stacked up against each other like a silent battle for dominance.

A normal human being would have felt nothing. Maybe a vague unease of being amongst powerful men. But for me, a werewolf living amongst humans, this was a feeling my wolfless ass couldn’t absorb–it feels like trying to breathe with something pressed heavily against my chest.

Never in the almost twenty years I spent in werewolf society have I ever been in a room filled with so many Alpha’s. I intentionally avoided Pack events that had high ranked wolves in a room. Ordinary omegas would be able to survive here, but my case was different. I was an omega without a wolf. Double dose of disgrace to any Pack.

“Hey,” a hand suddenly closed around my wrist, snapping me back to reality. “I didn’t order this,” he said smugly, his hands still on my wrist. “What else is on the menu?” he winked.

The others laughed and I almost scoffed in disgust. How could I forget the arrogant nature of werewolf Alpha’s? They expect every female to fall at their feet just for existing, regardless of species.

“Sir,” I said in a clipped tone. “Please let go of my wrist.”

“So serious–”

I stepped back instinctively, trying to pull my wrist away as that was the only way I’d get out of this situation. But instead of taking the hint, the bastard tightened his grip, making me loose balance, and the tray in my other hand tilted, sending its content to the ground.

Great. Just what I needed.

The bastard eventually let go of my wrist, and the moment I bent down to clean up the mess, the room’s temperature dropped by several degrees.

“Everyone out,” A voice spoke quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

My blood turned to ice.

I knew that voice. I’d recognize it even if I turn deaf.

Oh Go no! Please no! My hands trembled despite my best attempt to keep it steady.

It can’t be him. God please let it not be him.

But who was I kidding? I know it deep in my bones that it was him, not when his pheromones had overridden everyone else’s, and that’s the only thing my brain could register.

“Snap out of it, Sabrina!” I scolded myself inwardly, managing to get back on my feet. The mess can be dealt with properly some other time, I need to leave before he sees me.

I bowed my head slightly, in a not so obvious way, not daring to look at anywhere but the floor, out of fear of my eyes confirming my worst nightmares.

“Not you.’” Two words was all it took for me to stop dead in my tracks, three feet from the door, from freedom.

‘Not you’ could have been directed at anyone–I wasn’t the only one in the room. But I know at the depth of my soul those words were meant for me.

My mind was screaming at me to take those three steps, race down the corridor and never look back.

But I didn’t, because I knew with cold clarity that running right now would cost me more than staying. I can face whatever was in this room with me. I had faced worse, walked away from worse with nothing but loose change and the clothes on my back. Running blind, only gets you cornered eventually.

So, no running.

I took a deep long breath, squared my shoulders, and was ready to face the demons of my past.

I had barely turned halfway before his hands closed around my throat from behind. He turned me around, and pinned me against the wall.

“So you’re still alive?”