Chapter 1: "You're Nothing But a Slave"

"Get up, Wendy! The floor won't clean itself!"

The bucket of ice-cold water hits my face before I can even open my eyes properly. I gasp, jerking upright on the thin mat I call a bed. My whole body screams in protest from yesterday's work, but I force myself to stand.

Luna Margaret towers over me, her perfectly manicured nails digging into her hips. "The Alpha King's son arrives today for the ceremony. If I find one speck of dust, you'll spend the next week in the cells."

I keep my head down, water dripping from my dark hair onto the concrete floor of the storage room where I sleep. "Yes, Luna."

She kicks the empty bucket at me. "You smell like a wet dog. Take a cold shower in the servants' quarters and get to work. The main hall needs to be spotless."

The door slams behind her, rattling on its hinges. I pick up the bucket with shaking hands. Today is my eighteenth birthday, but nobody knows. Nobody cares. I'm just Wendy Stone, daughter of the pack traitor who tried to kill Alpha Marcus five years ago.

They found me hiding in a closet after they executed my father. I was thirteen, terrified, and alone. Instead of killing me too, Alpha Marcus decided I would pay for my father's crimes through service. Every day since then, I've been their slave.

I stumble to the servants' bathroom, where the water runs brown before clearing. The cold makes my teeth chatter, but at least it wakes me up. I pull on my one clean uniform - a gray dress that hangs loose on my thin frame - and tie my hair back.

The packhouse is already buzzing with activity when I enter the main hall. Warriors carry in chairs, omegas arrange flowers, and the ranked members bark orders at everyone. I grab my cleaning supplies and start scrubbing the marble floor on my hands and knees.

"Well, well. Look what crawled out of her hole."

I don't need to look up to recognize that voice. Blake, the Beta's son, never misses a chance to torment me. His expensive shoes stop right next to my bucket.

"I said look at me when I'm talking to you, slave."

Slowly, I raise my eyes. Blake is handsome in that cruel way - blond hair, sharp features, cold blue eyes. The girls in the pack worship him, but they don't see what I see. The monster underneath.

He kicks the bucket over, sending dirty water across the floor I just cleaned. "Oops. Better start over."

My hands clench into fists, but I stay silent. Fighting back only makes it worse.

"Blake, leave her alone." A softer voice interrupts. Sarah, the Gamma's daughter, approaches with her usual group of followers. Unlike Blake, she pretends to be kind, but her words cut deeper than any blow.

"Oh, poor Wendy," she coos, tilting her head. "It must be so hard, being the daughter of a traitor. At least you're useful for something, right? Even if it's just cleaning our floors."

The group laughs. One of them, a redhead named Amber, steps forward. "I heard the Alpha King's son is gorgeous. Every unmated female will be trying to catch his attention tonight."

"Not every female," Blake smirks, looking at me. "Some aren't even worthy of being in the same room as him."

"Speaking of which," Sarah's eyes glitter with malice, "you'll be serving drinks tonight, won't you, Wendy? Try not to embarrass our pack. The Alpha King's son is used to... higher standards."

They walk away laughing, leaving me to clean up the mess. My chest burns with suppressed rage, but I swallow it down like I always do. Three more months. I just need to survive three more months until I can legally leave the pack.

The morning flies by in a blur of cleaning, cooking, and preparing. My knees are raw from scrubbing, my hands cracked and bleeding. When lunch comes, I'm allowed five minutes to eat a piece of stale bread in the kitchen.

"Wendy!" Beta Carlos storms in, his face red. "Why aren't the guest rooms ready?"

"Luna Margaret told me to focus on the main hall-"

His hand cracks across my face, sending me stumbling into the counter. "Don't talk back to me, girl. Get those rooms ready now, or you'll regret it."

I taste blood in my mouth but nod quickly. "Yes, Beta."

The guest wing is on the third floor. I grab fresh linens and race up the stairs, my cheek throbbing. The first two rooms are easy enough, but when I reach the third - the suite reserved for the Alpha King's son - I freeze.

Someone's already inside.

Through the crack in the door, I can see a tall figure standing by the window. Broad shoulders fill out an expensive black suit. Dark hair, slightly messy, like he's been running his hands through it. He turns slightly, and I catch a glimpse of his profile - sharp jawline, straight nose, full lips.

My heart stops.

Even from here, I can feel it. The pull. The electricity that shoots through my entire body.

The man turns fully, and our eyes meet through the door crack. They're the deepest green I've ever seen, like a forest after rain. Time freezes. The world stops spinning.

I know what this means. Every wolf knows.

He's my mate.

The Alpha King's son is my mate.

His eyes widen in recognition of the bond. He takes a step toward the door, and I do the only thing I can think of.

I run.

I drop the linens and run like my life depends on it, taking the servant stairs three at a time. My wolf howls in protest, begging me to go back, but I can't. This can't be happening. The Alpha King's son can't be mated to a slave. To a traitor's daughter.

I burst into the storage room and slam the door behind me, sliding down to the floor. My whole body shakes. This is a disaster. When he finds out who I am, what I am, he'll reject me. The rejection will probably kill me, but even if it doesn't, Alpha Marcus will.

A knock at the door makes me jump.

"I know you're in there," his voice is deep, smooth like aged whiskey. "Open the door."

I stay silent, pressing my back against the wood.

"I can feel your fear through the bond," he continues. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just... please. Let me see you."

"You don't understand," I whisper. "I'm nobody. I'm nothing."

"You're my mate." The way he says it, like it's the most important truth in the world, makes my heart race. "That makes you everything."

Footsteps approach from the hallway. Multiple sets.

"Prince Byrde?" It's Alpha Marcus's voice. "Is everything alright?"

Prince. He's not just the Alpha King's son. He's the prince.

"Fine," Byrde responds, his voice changing, becoming harder. "I was just looking for someone."

"Who?" Alpha Marcus sounds suspicious.

There's a pause. I hold my breath.

"No one important," Byrde finally says, and each word feels like a knife in my chest. "I must have been mistaken."

The footsteps fade away. I curl into a ball on the floor, silent tears streaming down my face. Of course. What did I expect? That a prince would claim a slave as his mate?

But then, so quiet I almost miss it, I hear him whisper through the door: "This isn't over, little wolf. I'll find out who you are. And when I do..."

The threat hangs in the air.

He's going to find out I'm the traitor's daughter. And when he does, I'm dead.