Chapter 4

I sat in my small bedroom, looking at the photos that the Delta had given me. I still couldn’t believe that Jeremy had provided me with that information about leaving here. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit leery about the information. While he was the only one here that I trusted, it didn’t mean that I was going to blindly trust him and not sit without some doubt. He was staying in this pack and was the Delta for an Alpha who ran an antiquated and abusive pack. This, of course, made me question the motives of the Delta. I didn’t want to be set up. I knew the consequences if I got caught running away, and I could only imagine how much worse they would be if I got caught trying to run a third time.

One of the photos in the folder caught my eye. It was a photo of the entire family, shortly after Coral’s third birthday. She already had long, red hair that stood out in the photo. At that age, my own hair was cut short. I smiled as I remembered the trouble I got in when I tried to cut my own hair. Such a cliché thing for a child to do, but I recall feeling so cool when I tried to cut it. “Your beautiful black hair! All over the floor!” My mom cried when she saw my hair all over the bathroom floor. According to my mom, I had never had a haircut before I took the scissors to my own hair. My mom and dad argued about my behavior, mostly because my dad laughed when he saw my hair.  He tried to rationalize with her, reminding her that my hair would grow back, but that didn’t stop the punishment.

Looking through other photos, several similar memories flooded back to me. The memories of my dad were less vivid, but I remembered all of the fun times that we had before he died. I was young when he died, Coral even younger. She had very few memories of him.  We both had mom for several years before she died, and I was grateful for that. Although my mom struggled with the loss of her mate, it never once impacted her as our mom.

I wiped away a stray tear that had fallen down my cheek and placed the photos back in the folder. A month ago, I had taken a small backpack out of the trash. It had a hole in it and the young wolf had replaced it. The hole was easy to repair, and the bag would serve me well in my escape efforts.

I had gathered up a few snacks over the last two days since my conversation with the Delta. Every time I was in the kitchen, I took something that I knew I would need as I made my way away from this hellhole. I placed the few bottles of water, granola bars, trail mix, and other assorted snack items I had in the backpack.

I sighed as I looked around the small room that had been my bedroom for the last year. There were not any good memories here and I was glad to finally be leaving. I took the few items that I thought I would need, which wasn’t much. Most of what I had was shit, anyway. I had a few clothes, but most weren’t worth taking. I took a few toiletries, a change of clothes, some personal items I had, and placed them in the backpack along with the photos, snacks, and water.

I really had tried to keep my head down and out of trouble over the last two days, but that was difficult to do when people were just jerks for absolutely no reason. And I was currently dealing with just that. After packing up and leaving my room, Trudy directed me to the Luna, who was apparently in the middle of a packing crisis. The Luna was yelling about something that she must take on the trip with her. I was currently in her bathroom, attempting to pack all of her makeup in to one small toiletry bag. Thankfully, I was able to get nearly all of it in the bag. I had no idea why this woman would need this much makeup, but I wasn’t going to question it. I just wanted them to leave so I could get the hell out of this place.

“Luna? I am done with the toiletry bag and have secured it in your luggage? Is there anything else you need me to pack for you?” I asked, placing the now closed suitcase on the floor. The Luna was busy fixing her hair. The party was leaving out soon. They were driving to the Silver Springs Pack. If they left too late, it would be nearly midnight by the time they arrived.

“Do you know anything about doing hair? I can’t seem to fix this braid?” The Luna asked, and shock runs through me. I don’t recall having any type of conversation with the Luna that didn’t involve yelling, cursing, or insults since I arrived at this pack.

I shrugged, approaching where the Luna sat in front of the mirror. “I don’t know how much I know about doing hair, but I used to braid my sister’s hair all the time. I could take a look at what is wrong with it if you would like. “

“Yes, please. The next few days are important and I want to make a good first impression when we arrive tonight.” She stated, turning back around to face the mirror. She had her long, blonde hair in a braid that was supposed to wrap around part of her head, but it looked a mess.

“I see what you did wrong. I can fix it.” I unbraided part of her hair, getting to the part where I knew that it needed to be fixed. “I was helping Trudy pack up a lunch for you, Alpha, and Beta. Are you going on a long trip?” I asked, trying to see if I could gather just a bit more information about the trip.

“It is about a 10 hour drive, so we need to leave soon to avoid getting in too late. We are supposed to be meeting with the Alpha and Luna of the Silver Springs Pack at 8. Which means,” She stated while turning to look at the clock, “that if we don’t leave in the next hour, we won’t make it by 8.”

“It must be an important meeting to be on such a strict timeline.” I finished fixing part of the braid and worked on braiding the rest of the hair.

The Luna shook her head. “It is. We are hoping to form an alliance with that pack. If we want to continue expanding our pack, then we will need to have powerful alliance.” She replied, looking at her hair in the mirror as I finished it.

“Do you have alliances with local packs? This pack seems so far away.” I was trying to act nonchalant about the question, as I didn’t want to raise suspicion for asking. I casually played with the of my own braid, using the action as a means of covering up my own anxiety.

“I know you are just human so you don’t really know a lot about packs,” She started, checking her lipstick in the mirror, “but the packs in this area don’t want an alliance with us. We want to expand and take on weaker packs, but none of them around here want to do that. They are too focused on the red wolf compound and other shit like that. So, we are meeting with a pack who has the same agenda as we do.” She stated simply, as if it was just a matter of time before they accomplished their goal.

“Well, I hope your meeting goes well. Do you have any additional tasks you would like for me to accomplish while you and the Alpha are gone?” I asked, deciding that I needed to get out of here. I didn’t want to give anything away or ask more questions. I had already asked enough.

She looked over at me and smiled. I wasn’t sure she had ever smiled at me without some sort of underlying motive.  However, she ultimately shook her head. “I have briefed Trudy on the work in the flower beds I want done while we are gone, but otherwise I don’t have any specific tasks for you while we are gone.”

I turned to leave, eager to get back to my room so I can wait out the time until I am gone. Trudy had already told me that the Gamma and Delta would not be eating at the pack house, so once we cleaned up from lunch and finished other chores, we would be done for the day. As much of a hard ass Trudy was, I knew that she was also looking forward to the down time for when the Alpha, Luna, and Beta were gone.

I left out of the room quietly, hoping to make it back to my room to wait out the Alpha, Luna, and Beta leaving. Once they were gone, I would finish up my tasks and wait it out until the time was right to leave. I had run over what Jeremy had told me several times, planning out what I knew about the pack lands and the best means for sneaking out. There have only been a handful of occasions in which I was allowed to explore the pack lands, and it was always when I was with a warrior. I was aware of where the creek was, but I had no idea that it went as far as it did.

“Harlow? Can you please come see me? I want to talk to you about what you need to do while we are gone.” The Beta called from his office. I cursed myself as I stopped in the hallway and turned back around. I hated that man. He was cruel for no reason and got too handsy on more than one occasion. Everything about him was vile.

I entered his office, standing right by the door. The way he looked at me churned my insides, causing me to feel as if I was going to vomit.  He had made it clear over the last few months that he wanted to have sex with me. Quite frankly, I was surprised that he didn’t just forcibly have sex with me. I considered myself quite lucky that I had been at this pack for a year and that had not happened yet. From what I had heard from other omegas, it had happened before. Even once was too much. Most packs would never allow that treatment of any wolf, regardless of their status in the pack.   

I adjusted my t-shirt, pulling it down a bit in an effort to cover more of my body. If I had my wolf, Senna and I would have addressed this problem months ago, but now I just had to sit here and try to handle this the best I could.

“Yes, Beta?” I asked, still standing next to the door.

“Why don’t you come in and have a seat?” He asked, but I knew that this was not a request. If I didn’t move and sit down, he would make me. I made the mistake of not listening to him one time before and I paid dearly for it. I would not make the same mistake again, so long as I didn’t have my wolf.

Reluctantly, I pushed myself away from the door and sat across from the Beta, thankful for the desk between us. I just wanted to get this over with so I could get the hell out of this office. I swear, this asshole seemed to know just how to make me feel uncomfortable. It was honestly one of the worst feelings I had ever experienced.

For the first time in a year, I felt a pressure in the back of my mind. I always knew that Senna was there, just under the surface, but this was the first time that I had felt anything from her.

‘Senna? Are you there?’ I reached out to my wolf, hoping that perhaps the elixir was wearing off and I would be able to access my wolf. The lack of respond indicated that I was not so lucky.

“While we are gone, I have some tasks that I would like for you to complete.” Beta Jefferson stated, picking up a piece of paper from his desk. He made a list? “The Luna wants you to work on her flowerbeds, although she might have already told you that.” I nodded my head, confirming that I already knew about that task. He continued. “I have some furniture being delivered tomorrow. I would like for you to ensure that it is set up appropriately. I also want you to go to the store with Trudy and get these items.” He handed me the list. Looking it over, the items were all for a woman.

“Do you have a preference for the type of clothes? Makeup?” I asked as I looked over the list. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that the Beta was going to be bringing back home a mate with him.

Jefferson smiled and a chill ran through me. I could not shake how uncomfortable this man made me.

“Get whatever you would like. After all, you are the one who will be moving in with me.” He said the words as if they were nothing.  A lump formed in my throat that I couldn’t swallow past. My heart was racing so quickly that I could barely hear anything outside of the sound of my own heart. I was not anxious. I was pissed, and in this moment I was doing everything I could to hold myself back.

I am leaving tonight. I am leaving tonight. I repeated over and over again, trying to calm myself. The pressure in the back of my head returned and I knew for certain that it was Senna. I had no doubt that she was just as angry as I was in this moment.

“Don’t you have a mate?” I barely squeaked the words out. I had to keep my jaw clenched in order to stop myself from lashing out.

“I am 30 years old. I don’t believe that the moon goddess blessed me with a mate, so I have decided to take one for myself and I think that you would make me a very good mate.” He moved around the desk and stood in front of me.

“And the Alpha and Luna are okay with this?” I asked, scooting back further in my seat. The close proximity of the Beta was making me extremely uncomfortable.

“Of course. They think that you will make an excellent mate, despite not being a wolf.” He reached out, taking a strand of my hair in his hands. “Your black hair is so beautiful.” He leaned forward, his mouth right next to my ear. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like as it falls around your face with my dick in your mouth.” He whispered, the hot breath on my ear and the words that he spoke caused me to shiver. He smirked at the action, clearly seeing the response as indicating my enjoyment for what he said. However, the shiver was nothing but the reaction from the grotesque feeling of the Beta being so close to me. This man would never touch me.

I am leaving tonight. I am leaving tonight.

I smiled up at him, deciding that it was best to simply play along rather than get in an argument and risk getting beat due to the perceived disrespect. If I hadn’t already planned on leaving tonight, I would be leaving anyway. I knew that this sort of thing could happen – a higher ranking wolf taking an omega as a mate. I had heard of it but most packs didn’t maintain this structure. Even my messed up Silver Springs Pack didn’t maintain this type of structure with omegas.

“Such a beautiful smile.” Jefferson stated, running his hand along my cheek. “Delta Jeremy will be watching over you while we are gone. I expect to have my home all ready for us to spend our first night together when I return in a few days.” His demeanor changed, his tone more forceful. “I expect everything to be ready, Harlow. Do not fuck this up or you will regret it.”

Swallowing past my anger and desire to rip this man’s head off, I forced another smile. “Of course, Beta. Everything will be perfect.” I replied, my tone dripping with sarcasm, but the Beta doesn’t seem to notice.

“We are leaving in five minutes. I look forward to seeing you, all of you, when I return.”

I left out the office quickly, determined to get as far away from the Beta as quickly as possible.