Chapter Two

Lisa Pov

“Of course,” Dante scoffed, squeezing my soft ass through my cloth before shoving me away. Dad's expecting guests, and he wants you to wear a nice dress. The guests are quite important, and he doesn’t want you to ruin it for him. No one needs to see you dressed in rags, understand?”

I nodded meekly. Axel was trying to hide the fact that I was mistreated by the rest of the pack. It wouldn’t speak well of his reputation if they found that he was abusing an orphan.

“Good,” Dante smirked and walked towards the door, “we’ll pick up where we left off after the guests have left. We can have our fun later, Slave.”

Dante laughed as he exited the kitchen while I broke down in tears. If only my parents were alive, I wouldn’t suffer this abuse and humiliation. I wouldn’t be a plaything for some spoilt bastard, or a punching bag for a tyrant alpha. But I was an orphan, worse, I was an Omega. I was at the mercy of Axel and his family. They’d taken me in and promised to treat me as their child in front of the whole pack, instead, they’d made me their slave. The silver collar Axel placed on my neck was a constant reminder of what I was. Misery and suffering were my company, and I was only happy whenever I dreamed about my parents.

Tears wouldn’t solve anything. It wouldn’t change my deplorable situation or magically raise my parents, so I wiped them and picked myself up. I set out to finish my chores, then went to change into one of my mom’s old dresses. It was not quite my size, but it made me feel closer to her. Her scent was on the cloth, and I loved basking in the euphoria of her sweet, sensual scent. The arrival of the guests cut short my daydream about my mother. They’d arrived just when the sun began to set, and I hastily rushed to the kitchen to make them tea.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Axel accosted me as I was about to serve the guests. Like always, he had an angry scowl on his face. Axel barely smiled, and on the few occasions that he did, it was clearly not at me.

“To…serve the guest,” I croaked fearfully.

I’d barely gotten the words out of my mouth before Axel pulled me roughly by the silver collar on my neck, whispering furiously, “Those guests are very important people,” he said, rage and anger simmered beneath his eyes, “and their opinions are very important. You shall answer all their questions with a smile, and the moon goddess helps you if you say any ill about my family and me. You serve the tea, answer their questions and leave the house. You must not be near the house while we speak, you understand?”

I nodded my head vigorously to show that I understood every word he said, and the meaning behind them.

“Now,” he straightened my rumpled cloth, “go serve them like a nice, little wolf,” he announced and walked away.

I took deep breaths to dispel the fear in my body and calm my raging heart. I wondered who the guests were that spooked Axel like this. He was not easily shaken, and no one could push him around, yet he seemed to be wary of these guests. Most importantly, I wondered why those guests would want to speak with me. I put on a brave face and walked to the sitting room to serve the guests, and they turned out to be Elder Phil and Elder Elena. They were the two oldest wolves and most powerful wolves in the pack and had served more than three alphas in their lifetime. They were highly respected, and their words carried so much weight, almost as much as the alphas.

“Here’s your tea,” I said with the prettiest smile I could muster and served the two elders. I waited for the barrage of questions that Axel said they would ask, but it never came. Instead, the elders stared at me as though I was a rare antique on display in a private museum. Their eyes wandered over my body, taking in every detail. They looked at each other, then nodded slightly.

“That would be all,” Elena said with a sad, soft smile, “you can go.”

As I exited the house, I had a strong feeling that the elders were there because of me.

“But why?” I voiced my confusion.

What could be so important about me that would make the two most powerful wolves in the pack seek me out? Was I in trouble? Did I do something wrong? I tried to cast away those thoughts as the evening wind swept through my blonde, thick, curly hair. I took deep gulps of the fresh, clean evening air. I was barely allowed outdoors, and it felt good to breathe in fresh air. Despite my excitement about being outdoors, I was curious as to what the guests were discussing with Axel. I was almost certain that they were discussing about me. I slowly tiptoed towards the door, careful not to alert them. They were whispering, and I could barely hear a thing.

“…the girl from the prophecy.”

“…so useless.”

“…it’s impossible.”

“…she’s a threat.”

I wondered who was the girl from the prophecy was that got these people so worried. A huge part of me believed I was the girl they were talking about, that I was the girl from the prophecy. Aren’t I the only girl in Axel’s household? But what prophecy? What could that mean? What would that change? Are they going to take me away?

I didn’t want to believe that I was the girl the elders were talking about. Nothing about me was threatening. Useless? Yes, but definitely not threatening. I desperately tried to convince myself that there was no way I could be the girl the elders were conversing about, but I was curious to hear more. I placed my ear against the door to hear clearly, but that turned out to be a terrible mistake. I mistakenly hit my head against the door, and the room went silent.

They knew I was eavesdropping.