Chapter 3

Present Day

“Harlow! Get your ass back up here and finish cleaning up this room!” A voice that I had grown to despise bellowed from the bottom of the stairs. While being forced to clean was much better than I had previously been forced to do, I still hated it. I hated that I had to be here. I hated that I didn’t have my wolf. I hated that my sister was lost somewhere, and I couldn’t even guarantee if she was safe or not. That part got me the most.

I sighed, grabbing a few cleaning supplies and headed back up to the Alpha guest suite to clean it. When I had come through cleaning earlier today, the suite was still occupied by the visiting Alpha and his mate. He seemed like he was a decent guy, which made me wonder why he was visiting this hell hole.

I guess on the surface, my life didn’t appear that bad. Honestly, I could handle being forced to clean. If I had my wolf, I would have been long gone, but that didn’t mean that I hadn’t tried to escape this place. I had tried a few times, but lack of good planning on my part led it to be unsuccessful twice already.  

“Clean this place up.” The head omega, Trudy, barked out at me as I approached the room. Trudy was a bitch, plain and simple. My pack did not have any omegas, so I wasn’t really familiar with the structure when I was forced to come here, but I learned quickly that omega meant that the wolf was absolutely nothing. Omegas in this pack were treated like dirt and didn’t care if you lived or died.  This was made even worse by the fact that they believed I was human. Since no one could sense my wolf, the general assumption was that I was a human.

I pulled out a hair tie and put my long, black hair up in a loose bun. I hated this crap. I was working toward head warrior of my pack before my sister and I were forced to run and that just pissed me off. I wished that we had made different choices while we were running, but we couldn’t change it now.

I looked around the room and took inventory of what needed to be cleaned and got to work. As always when I cleaned, my mind drifted to my sister. It never failed. Whenever I got my body occupied with work, my mind was free to think of other things.  And, it always, without fail, drifted to my sister.

I finished cleaning the toilet and sighed, leaning back on my feet as I sat on my knees. When I thought of my sister, I hoped that she was safe. I hoped that she was not taken by anyone and was being treated like I was being treated. I hoped that she was safe. I was not a crier, but whenever I thought of my sister and that she might not be safe, my mind went to very bad places, and tears would prick my eyes. Unless I was in my own room, I refused to cry in front of others. I made the mistake of allowing the Beta to see my cry early on in my captivity here, and he showed me what it meant to have something to cry about.

For as much as I hated the Silver Springs Pack and Alpha Carlson, Alpha Sloan and Luna Wilma of whatever the hell the name of this pack was much, much worse. It wasn’t uncommon to allow the omegas to be raped by unmated warriors. If an omega was perceived to have done something wrong or not up to standard, any wolf could provide a punishment. Since my wolf was suppressed, effectively making me a human, I avoided punishment at all costs.

I finished up the cleaning of the Alpha suite and returned my cleaning supplies to the closet. As much as I hated interacting with her, I knew that I needed to go check with Trudy to see if there were any other tasks that I needed to complete.  I was responsible for cleaning up after dinner, but that wasn’t for a few hours yet.

I stopped in the bathroom briefly before going to check with Trudy. I stood at the sink washing my hands. Looking up at the mirror, I sucked in a deep breath as I looked at my reflection. My long, black hair lacked any luster and, due to malnourishment, was falling out at a rate that upset me. I was never an overly vain person, but seeing that much hair falling out each time I brushed my hair was upsetting. If I had to guess, I would say that I had lost twenty pounds, but it was probably more than that. I had tried to keep active and did whatever I could to keep good muscle tone, but it wasn’t easy. I wasn’t allowed to leave the packhouse and I couldn’t work out in the gym, so I relied on the exercises I could do in my room. It wasn’t much but I knew that it was helping. I had to maintain some strength for my next escape attempt.

And that next attempt was going to be soon. The Alpha, Luna, and Beta were all leaving in two days for a trip to visit, of all places, the Silver Springs Pack. I was tasked with packing all the bags for the trip and was mostly done. The Luna was very particular about what she wanted to have packed, meaning that her bag was already done. I wanted to avoid the Alpha and Beta at all costs. The Alpha tended to avoid me, leaving the verbal abuse to the Luna. The Beta, however, wouldn’t hesitate to touch me and I never wanted to be in the same room with him. I wanted to get all the packing done when the Alpha and Beta were out of the packhouse. I would be happy if I didn’t see them at all before I left.

I approached the kitchen, waiting for Trudy to finish up her task. I absolutely hated all of this. I was a fuckin’ warrior and protector. To be here, in this house that treated omegas like crap, was enough to drive me up the wall. I knew that I was going to have to try to get out of this house soon.

“Did you finish up cleaning?” Trudy asked as she continued to prep for dinner.

I nodded. “Yes, it is all done. Do you have any additional tasks for me to do before I clean up for dinner?” I fidgeted with my shirt. I hated feeling like this. It was not me to feel like this.  

“Delta Jeremy would like to see you. I believe he has a task for you to complete while the Alpha and Luna are away on the trip.” Trudy turned back to the kitchen, leaving me to go find Delta Jeremy. Of all of those in this pack, Delta Jeremy treated me with the most respect. He was nice to all omegas.

Making my way up to the second floor, I slowed down as I approached the Alpha’s office. Keeping a low profile was my goal. I didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention. Those in the office laughed and I couldn’t help but cringe. If given a chance, I would come back here and make sure that this pack paid for how they treat their omegas. There was absolutely no reason for the despicable treatment of wolves.

I paused outside of Delta Jeremy’s office briefly before I knocked.  As I stood, I tried to gather courage to knock on the door. I hated that I felt this way. I was a warrior and I didn’t need to be afraid. At the Silver Springs Pack, I would never be afraid to go talk to anyone, including the Alpha. It wasn’t that I was scared to speak, but without my wolf I lacked confidence and strength. If anything, this last year without my wolf had taught me how important my wolf is to me and how much we rely on one another. This time without her had truly been miserable and I was hopeful that the elixir would work and bring my wolf back to me.  I missed Senna. Not realizing that it would be a year without my wolf, I did not adequately prepare for this separate from her and I was hurting because of it.

Pulling from a place of my own confidence, I knocked on the door. 

“Come in.” Delta Jeremy’s voice sounded from the other side, and I quickly entered. “Harlow, thank you for coming by to see me. I am glad that Trudy passed along the message. She isn’t always very trustworthy, I’m afraid, when it comes to passing along messages.” He stood from behind the desk and walked around the front, leaning back against the desk. For a Delta, he was quite large. He was stronger and taller than the Gamma and Beta. I had no doubt that he could easily best either of them in a fight. The golden hue to his eyes softened his look, but his mere presence demanded attention and respect. 

Honestly, the Delta was the only one that I had any respect for. When the Beta had beaten me badly, Jeremy had helped me, providing me with bandages and medicine. He was otherwise friendly and didn’t hesitate to engage in conversation with not just me, but any of the omegas. The Delta did not seem to fit in with the other leadership of this pack. I had never seen him once raise his voice, let alone a hand, to anyone in the pack. That didn’t mean, however, that he wasn’t a skilled fighter. A rogue attack shortly after I was taken here proved that when I witnessed him fighting.  

“What can I do for you, Delta?” I asked, taking a few more steps into the office. I had been in the office plenty of times to clean it, but this was the first time that I had actually been in the office to speak with the Delta. He filled the office space, making it appear smaller than it actually was; that was how commanding his presence in this room was.  

He took a deep breath and sighed. He walked over to the small cabinet in his office and took out a folder. “I am the only one who has seen these.” He stated, motioning to the folder. I found them while out on a scouting mission.” He handed me the folder and motioned for me to open it. My breath caught in my throat as I started looking through some family photos – my family photos. These same photos that Coral and I had taken with us when we ran from the Silver Springs Pack. 

“Where did you find these?” I asked, not taking my eyes from the photos. 

“I stumbled on a small cabin and found these inside. I obviously recognized you immediately. I am assuming that is your family?” He asked, taking a step closer to me. 

Overwhelmed with emotions, I could only nod. “How long ago did you find them? Was there anyone in the cabin?” I had difficulty swallowing around the lump that had formed in my throat. This is the first time in a year that I had any opportunity to get additional information about Coral.

Delta Jeremy moved and stood against the desk again. Unable to stand any longer, my knees feeling weak, I sat in the seat across from him.  “I found them about five months ago. There was no sign of anyone in the cabin.” I looked up at him, shocked as he spoke. 

“Five months ago? Why wait until now to give them to me?” I looked up at Delta Jeremy who smirked at me.

“Honestly, I was trying to figure out who you are. I know that you are not just a human, that much is clear. However, I don’t get much of a feel from you and my wolf keeps throwing out all sorts of ideas, but none of them make sense.” He sat down in the chair next to me and continued. “What I do know is that you don’t need to be here anymore. You need to get out of here. Whatever had you out in those woods a year ago is something that I am sure you have to finish. No one takes pictures like this with them unless they are running from something.”

“We both know I have tried to leave here and I haven’t been successful.” I replied, looking over at Delta Jeremy.

He nodded his head. “That is true. But there has never been a time when the Alpha, Luna, and Beta have been gone.” He smiled at me. “Look, I am not telling you what to do, but if someone was to want to get out of here without being noticed, leaving after dinner the night that the Alpha, Luna, and Beta leave would be best. Everyone will be taking a break because they are gone. And if that same person were to run along the creek, it would be simple to get out of here, although getting through the rocky terrain on the other side of the creek wont’ be easy. It would take the better part of a day to get to the end of the creek, although if you head out in that direction, you will be out of our pack territory in two hours.”

I sat in awe of the Delta. “You seem like such a great guy. Why do you stay here?” I asked, genuinely curious as to what motivated him. This many had no reason to help me but here I sat, listening to him providing me with information that will help me escape.

Delta Jeremy took a deep breath and blew it out. “I was born here. My mate is here. And while that doesn’t stop me from leaving, I know the role that I play here. I fear that if I were to leave, this pack would be much worse often. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have had to intervene with the Alpha on the stupid shit he is trying to do.”

I laughed out loud as he spoke, unable to stop myself. I realized afterwards how disrespectful this could appear. An omega laughing at a Delta, especially in this type of pack, was not appropriate. I placed my hand over my mouth realizing that I should not be laughing. The Delta smiled at me.

“You are okay, Harlow, I promise. I honestly just want to make sure that you get out of here safe. Don’t wait to leave.” Jeremy stood up, moving back behind his desk.

“How can I trust that you aren’t setting me up? You are honestly the only one here I can trust, and I want to trust you, but this pack is, well, one of the worst I have seen.” I realized my mistake as soon as I said it.

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly putting together that I was a wolf. But, if he did actually put it together, he didn’t say anything. “Harlow, you aren’t the first omega I have helped to leave here, and you won’t be the last. The fact that some wolves go out and seek out wolves, humans, and other creatures specifically to be omegas is appalling. Any steps I can take to help remove someone such as yourself from that type of situation, I will take it.”

Feeling just a smidge more comfortable, I stood to leave. I thanked Delta Jeremy for the information and was even more grateful when he told me that I could take the photos with me.

I walked towards the door but paused before leaving.

“Delta? I know that the Alpha, Luna, and Beta are going to the Silver Springs Pack.” I paused, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know if you know anything about that pack but be careful. Alpha Carlson is power hungry and manipulative. I would be concerned if the Alpha and Luna were trying to develop some sort of alliance with him. His pack is far from here, so there must be some nefarious motive if Alpha Carlson is wanting to develop some sort of agreement with this pack.” I placed my hand on the doorknob, but the Delta calling my name caused me to pause.

“Harlow?” He stated

“Yes?” I replied, turning around.

“Be safe. I hope that wherever you are trying to get to, you make it there safely.”