Wasted Time, Wasted Love

CHAPTER ONE

NORA POV

I knew she was going to slap me before I even turned around.

The elevator doors slid open with a metallic ding, and I stepped out holding the freshly steamed dress like it was gold. Because it was.

"You're late," Anna snapped, striding across the marble lobby of the StormDen Tower in her blood-red heels. "Again."

“I had to re-steam it,” I said quietly. “The crease wasn’t—”

Crack.Slap.

Her hand collided with my cheek, sending my head jerking sideways. I bit back the yelp crawling up my throat. The dress dropped to the floor.

“You don’t have to talk when I’m talking, You think I care about your excuses?” she hissed, voice sharp as glass. “Your kind should be grateful we even let you breathe.”

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t, to avoid more troubles.

Here upper-rank wolves in business suits sipped coffee and pretended not to see. Where Omegas in gray uniforms hurried past me like I was invisible. Where surveillance cameras blinked

My name is Nora Dan. I’m not a thief. I didn’t steal anything.

But I’m paying for both.

When I was twelve, my stepmother Lillian worked here as a private cook. She cooked their food, and quietly stashed thousands of dollars in cash and gold from the Alpha’s vault. Then one day, she disappeared. Just like that.

She left me behind.

No one could find her, but someone had to pay. And I was the perfect target.

An unranked teenage girl, No wolf form yet, No parents to protect me, Lillian’s stepdaughter. I became the debtor.

The Alpha called it justice and Luna see it as fun..

She snatched the dress off the floor and shoved it into my arms. “You’d better scrub the hem. And if I see even a wrinkle, I’ll let Vanessa practice her kicks on your ribs again.”

“Yes, Luna,” I whispered.

I didn’t need to look in the mirror to know my cheek was already swelling. My wolf, lunara, whimpered inside me, aching to fight back. But I shut her down.

We couldn’t shift, not here. Never.

The StormDen Pack wasn’t some wild forest lodge where wolves howled at the moon and danced around bonfires. No, our pack ruled Sector 7 of New Haven City—a power zone filled with skyscrapers, law firms, luxury condos, and dirty secrets.

The Alphas wore suits. The warriors wore black.

And Omegas like me?

We cleaned the bloodstains off their marble.

I made my way down the service corridor to the Omega quarters no bigger than storage units carved out of the building’s lower basement. My room used to be a closet. It still smelled like bleach and rat poison.

I splashed cold water on my face, ignoring the bruises blooming across my ribs. My stomach grumbled, because I’d already missed breakfast.

Again.

The pack tower housed over 400 wolves—ranked families lived on the upper floors with private balconies, spa-level bathrooms, and designer kitchens. Omegas slept in bunks or closets, lived off scraps, and worked sixteen-hour days.

I cleaned, cooked, and served every hour of it counted toward a debt I would never repay.

They said Lillian stole over two million dollars in cash, plus rare gold coins from the Alpha alliance chest. The Alpha branded her a traitor. But she was never caught.

By the time I reached the banquet hall, breakfast was nearly done. In our pack, the high ranks always ate together in the hall each morning—Alphas, Betas, Gammas, and elite warriors at the front tables—while omegas served them and only ate after the hall was cleared. I kept my head down, slipping between tables as I cleared plates and refilled coffee. The high-ranking wolves ignored me or sneered. Some whispered “thief” under their breath. Others just called me “Debt Girl.”

I was grabbing a tray from one of the side tables when he walked in.

Asher.

The future Alpha. The pack’s golden heir. Six-foot-five, charming smile, and sharp tongue. The kind of guy who kissed one girl in a rooftop jacuzzi and slapped me across the face when I tripped and spilled coffee on his designer shoes.

My wolf should’ve hated him, because he’s wicked and mean as hell.

But she didn’t, I don’t know why. Maybe because he’s handsome in a way that makes you look twice even when you hate yourself for it.

Or maybe because his scent does something to me. Cinnamon and rain.

I tried not to look at him as he entered the hall, but I felt my wolf stir.

lunara.

She moved inside me anytime Asher passed by

He walked past without looking at me. Of course. Omegas don’t exist unless we spill something.

I kept my head down and finished refilling the pitcher. I was halfway to the sink when Vanessa - Asher's girlfriend called out.

“Debt Girl!”

I stopped, I wanted to pretend I didn’t hear her.

But it’s too late.

She was already walking toward me, flanked by two of her friends in matching faux-fur shawls and fake smiles.

“You didn’t scrub the grease off my breakfast plate,” she said loudly.

“I cleared your table an hour ago,” I replied, quiet but firm. “You were still eating when I came by.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you saying I’m lying?”

“No, I—”

“Did you just raise your voice at me?”

Her friends gasped dramatically. One even pulled out her phone to record.

I knew what was happening. I should’ve stayed silent. But I was tired, hungry and my cheek still burned from Anna’s slap.

“I didn’t raise my voice,” I said. “I only said—”

Slap.

But this time she missed.

I stepped back just in time, and her hand sliced through the air.

Gasps rippled through the room, Some Omegas froze. Even ranked wolves looked up.

Vanessa blinked. Shocked and Embarrassed.

Then her eyes lit up like she’d just seen an opportunity.

“She tried to hit me!” she yelled. “Someone get Asher—she attacked me!”

My heart dropped. “What?”

“I was trying to correct her,” she whined loudly, grabbing her arm like I’d twisted it. “And she lunged at me!”

I hadn’t moved. I didn’t even speak.

But as I turned slowly and of course, Asher was standing right behind me, now I get it, the only reason Vanessa is putting out this show.

His eyes scanned the room. Took in Vanessa’s fake tears, the half-circle of witnesses, the phone camera.

Then he looked at me.

He didn’t ask questions, looking straight into my eyes..

“On your knees,” he said coldly.

I didn’t move.

“I said on your knees, Omega.”

I lowered myself to the floor, palms flat against the tiles. Cold and sticky with gravy and spilled juice.

He turned to the room. “From now on, Nora Den will scrub the entire banquet hall before and after every breakfast meal. On her knees. With a wire brush. No gloves. No shoes.”

My breath caught.

“Maybe that will teach you not to raise a hand against a ranked wolf,” he finished, voice like steel.

I wanted to scream, how could he just believe that bitch

But my wolf just whimpered and curled back inside me.

I saw the way Vanessa was smiling behind him.

She’d won.