Chapter 4: Little Piece of Trash

~Aria's POV~

By the time I finish scrubbing the last hallway, night has already fallen over the pack.

Vanessa and Adrian must be in the town, celebrating their new relationship while I have to hide in the shadows like the predator they think I am.

I throw away the trash and put back all the cleaning supplies where they belong.

I do one last check to make sure everything is spotless before I make my decision.

Adrian's betrayal has finally broken what little connection I had left with the Silver Crescent Pack.

I don't want to stay here anymore.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life serving those who see me as beneath them, trying not to incur their wrath, and thanking them for every measly scrap of kindness they give me.

I'm done waiting for something better to happen.

It never will.

For months, Mother has been quietly suggesting we leave.

We would pack what little we own and walk away before my eighteenth birthday, before my wolf would awaken, and bind me to someone in this pack for the rest of my life.

I have always refused. The thought of becoming a rogue terrified me. Now, it seems like a much better alternative to living here.

I make my way down the dimly lit hallway to the basement. To the small room that has been my prison for as long as I can remember.

Not for much longer.

As soon as I walk in, Mother looks up from the dress she has been carefully mending. It is one of the few decent dresses I own.

"Aria?" She looks up at me in surprise.

"You're home early..." Her eyes widen in alarm as she takes in my appearance.

"What happened?"

I close the door behind me before telling her everything. I give her every detail of what Adrian and Vanessa had planned. By the time I finish, tears stream down her face. Not because of what Adrian had done, but because of what it means for me.

"We're leaving." Her voice is resolute.

"We can't stay here any longer.

I will speak with Alpha Victor. I will ask him to let us leave this place and see if he will give us any money to help us start a new life somewhere else.

You deserve better than this, Aria.

You always have." The hope in her voice is enough to make my heart swell with something I haven't felt in a long time.

We are really leaving. The Silver Crescent Pack. For good this time.

"When should we go?" Mother asks gently.

We sit on our cots in the basement, the only source of light coming from the lone light bulb that hangs from the ceiling.

The few possessions we own are hidden beneath the cots, and between us, there is a small metal tin containing all the money I have earned.

One thousand three hundred dollars….our future.

"When should we go?" Mother asks again.

I need time to speak with Alpha Victor, to ask his permission, and to see what he is willing to give us.

"When you are ready," I whisper.

I want to live in a city where no one knows who I am. Where no one knows I am a werewolf. Where no one will judge me for being born an Omega.

Most of all, I want to be far away from this pack. But before I walk away from this life forever, there is something I need to do.

"After Kieran's ceremony," I say at last.

Mother frowned.

"Why? If we are leaving, we should go as soon as we can so that we can get away from this pack before anything else happens."

"I want to see him. I want to see Kieran. I want to thank him for giving me the opportunity to study and for looking after me when we were children. Even if he thinks I am being ridiculous for leaving, I want him to know that I will always be grateful to him."

"Aria..." Mother sighs.

"I know it probably sounds silly, and that he might not even remember what happened when we were children, but it was important to me. I just want the chance to say goodbye to him."

Mother looks at me for a long moment. Then she gives a small, sad smile. "Very well. We will leave after Kieran's Welcome Ceremony. We will serve at the banquet one last time as part of the Silver Crescent Pack, and then we will leave that night."

A small smile tugs at my lips. "Thank you.

She opens the metal tin and carefully puts the bundles of money back inside.

"I will speak with Alpha Victor tomorrow. I will tell him we have decided to leave and ask him to bless us on our journey. Whatever he is willing to give us, we will accept."

I give her hand a tight squeeze. "Four more days."

"Four more days," Mother echoes.

The next morning, I find myself kneeling beside the lake with the other Omega women, scrubbing the back of a silk dress that belongs to one of the Beta, Delta, or Gamma packs.

The water is freezing, and the silk dresses get soaked before they are cleaned.

Some of the fabric is so delicate that it takes several women to wash a single dress without tearing it.

The icy water has made my hands raw and blistered, and my knees are sore from kneeling on the rocks, but I don't complain.

Just four more days. That thought keeps me going as I scrub the stubborn stain from the dress. Then, a pair of polished boots stops beside me.

I look up to see Nora, Luna Serena's personal nanny, looking down at me with an expression of disgust.

"Aria," she says.

"Luna Serena told me to..." She stops mid-sentence as she looks me up and down.

"Actually... you'll find out soon enough." I push myself to my feet, setting the dress aside.

"What does Luna want?"

Nora looks me up and down as if she is appalled to even be seeing me.

"You know perfectly well..." She crosses her arms over her chest.

"It seems that Vanessa has filed a complaint about you after what happened yesterday. During Luna's investigation... your name was mentioned." A cold feeling coils in my stomach.

"What did I do?"

"In the future," Nora snaps, "you will remember your place and stop causing trouble. If I hear of any more complaints, the punishment will not be very pleasant. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am. I understand." I lower my gaze.

"See that you do." With one last scowl, Nora turns and walks away.

Even after she is gone, I can still hear her muttering curses under her breath.

"Worthless little piece of trash... they should've gotten rid of you the day you were born." She didn't say it, but that is what she meant.

Slowly, I kneel back down beside the lake and dip my blistering hands back into the icy water.

"Worthless. Born beneath everyone else."

Was that really what I was? Was that what any Omega was? My whole life, I have been told that being an Omega was a curse. That the best thing I could do was to keep my head down and not cause any trouble. It didn't help us at all.

I stare at the expensive silk dress in my hands as I scrub the last bit of dirt from it. For the first time in my life, I want something more. I want to believe there is something better for me. Something more than this pack.

As Nora walks away, her words echo in my ears. ‘Worthless, little piece of trash.’