I am Amber

Amber’s POV

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Lydia shrieked, startling me. The cleaning basket I carried in one hand fell to the ground, and that gained me a cheek-numbing slap. Red flashed in my vision, and for a moment, I thought I saw blood.

“You wench!” she spat. “Do you even realise what you’ve done?” I shook my head, trying to keep the tears at the back of my eyes from rolling down. It was not the worst I've been made to endure, but I was beginning to get tired of it.

“I’m sorry, ma’am.” My voice came out a little lower than a whisper, but with her sharp wolf hearing, I was sure she heard me loud and clear. Her nose turned up in disgust, and her eyes immediately went to the table I had been cleaning before she marched in.

“Do you know what it means that we are hosting the culling?” As she spoke, she drew a finger along the table andbrought it up to her face. Shaking her mass of brown curls, she glared at me. “I’m sure you don’t realise how big this is and how important it is for everything to be perfect, or are you just going all out to destroy things because that is what you are good at?”

I kept my gaze to the ground, holding my breath till my lungs burned. I could not say a word or try to defend myself. The last time I had tried to, I ended up at the bottom of the well without food for weeks. And that was not even the worst of my punishments.

“The Lycan King would be in attendance. I’m sure he would not want to see these scratches you made on this table.”

Of course, there were no scratches on the table, but who was I to argue her point when I knew where it’d land me?

“What is going on here?” I faltered as I heard the familiar voice of Alpha Derrick and felt his presence approaching us.There had been a time when I would have rejoiced that I had a saviour, but now I knew better. No one in the Moonstone pack could save me.

“I asked a question,” he said, stopping inches from where I stood. “Why is the slave not working?”

“Because she is useless.” Lydia imputed sharply. “I caught her messing up this table, and I was just about to punish her.”

I felt Alpha Derrick’s eyes on my form, taking me in, drinking in my features—as he always did—before turning to observe the table. “Leave.” He ordered. “I will punish her myself.”

The click-clacks of shoes and the resounding bang of the closing door announced her departure, but I still could not lift my head. Alpha Derrick was even much worse than Lydia.

“Amber,” he called softly.

Hearing my name on his lips startled me. Before I could react to my name and the way he called it, I felt his hand on my shoulder, his nails digging into my skin. “Are you doing this on purpose?”

The tears I had been holding rolled down my face. I shook my head, biting down hard on my bottom lip to keep the words at the tip of my tongue from tumbling out. His Alpha power filled the room, intimidating me further. Even with no wolf, I could feel the strength he was holding back.

Suddenly, his grip softened, but his hand stayed on my shoulder. It was the only thing that kept me from collapsing to the ground and melting away.

“I will let you go this one time,” he said, patting my shoulder. “You know why?” Sniffling, I shook my head. “Too bad you don’t remember. Stop trembling, Amber, and prepare to be my mate after the Culling.”

Without thinking, my head shot up to meet eyes that were as black as coal. As quickly as they had snapped up, it snapped back down. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly, fearing the repercussions of what I had just done. “But what about my wolf?”

Alpha Derrick laughed as he moved away. “Are you still holding out hope for that? Be realistic, Amber. You turnedtwenty-four a month ago. It is already too late for that. You have no wolf. Wake up and face your reality.”

“Now, get on with your work and make no mistakes this time. Even if you are to be my mate, I will not spare you being punished for messing up. We cannot have the Lycan King and other Alphas looking down on us. Do you understand?”

I waited until his receding footsteps faded into the distance before letting out a weak cry. Leaning against the table, I closed my eyes and let all the tears fall. I hated this house, I hated this pack, I hated Alpha Derrick, and most of all, I hated the moon goddess for denying me something that I desired so much.

I was supposed to find my wolf at the age of eighteen, meet my mate, and get out of here. I could finally escape, but six years later, here I was still, a slave and a punching bag for every damn member of the Moonstone Pack.

The memories of all the punishments and beatings I had been made to endure were still fresh in my head. On bad nights, I relived all of those memories, the nightmare pulling me to reality with bouts of sweat and pain.

In those perilous moments when I stood at the juncture between life and death, one thought alone kept me grounded and clinging to life and sanity.

Getting my wolf and meeting my destined mate.

What would be left after I lost that too? Standing to my feet, I dusted myself off and picked up my cleaning basket. Till the culling came and went, I could not give up hope.

The door creaked open, and Lydia sauntered in again, snarling when her eyes landed on my form. “You are still here? Do you wish to be lashed? Because this is just you begging for a lashing.”

“No, ma’am.” I answered, keeping my head down as I rushed to her side. Before I could react, I felt her fist on my face. It sent a flash of electrifying pain into my head. I was sure she had broken something. Twinkling stars danced in my vision, and I stumbled back once, twice, before landing hard on my butt on the hard floor.

Lydia’s lid quivered as it always did when she was upset. Her hands balled into fists by her side, and I could see her struggling to rein in her anger. “Get the hell out of my sight and make yourself useful. If there weren’t so much to do, I would lash you personally till you wound up in the infirmary, holding on to only a thread of that pathetic life of yours.”

Without waiting to be told a second time, I scurried out of the hall, making my way to the outskirts of the yard where the culling was to be held.

The sun was still up, but, in a few hours, the red moon would be out, and most people would get their wolves. I could already hear their satisfying screams in my head as their bones broke and reset themselves, giving them their wolf form.

Hopefully, this time I would be one of them.

Without wasting any more time, I rushed to the kitchen and began setting up the ingredients for dinner. New werewolves ate a lot—at least, that was what I heard—after that, they would go hunting in the forest for fresh meat and then...

“Oh, if it isn’t the one and only wolf-less werewolf.” I stiffened as I heard the voice behind me. I had hoped I would finish this task without running into any more people or getting any more injuries.

Plastering a smile on my face, I turned around, sighing inwardly when I saw that my enemy came with a team. I was already contemplating making a run for it, but with five of them, it would be impossible.

“Oh, sorry. It is an insult to call you a werewolf. I apologize. The girl said, giving a mock bow. Her team laughed dryly. “I mean, an insult to our kind. You know? The actual werewolves?” This garnered her another round of laughter from her friends.

“Celia, I have work to do.” I said, returning to the heap of work before me.

Celia was Lydia’s daughter and a total replica of her mother, except that what her mother lacked in height, Celia made up for times two. She was as tall as a pole, and she liked to use this to her advantage, especially against me.

“Ha, the slave now has the effrontery to speak back and even turn her back to me.” I heard her say behind me and knew instantly that there was no way I was getting out of this unscathed. Sighing, I turned around, about to reply when I felt it.