Ch 1

Samantha’s POV

Here I was again, doing the dishes for the tenth time that day. Work is the only thing I do, or should I say that's just what I am allowed to do. I have not been able to do anything of my own, nothing beneficial to me in any way. I want more than anything to have a job of my own.

I barely practice fights with my peers like I am supposed to, and I don't mind. I would avoid humiliating situations as much as I can, but all that practice is when I am present is humiliation. So I find time, from the little time I squeeze for myself to practice outside the park in the woods, and, safe to say, I have never gotten into any trouble.

Not even a decent bath, nor a good sleep. I feel drained and out of my wits, but I cannot complain, I have had no help, and no one bold enough to take me out of my misery.

That's why I'm looking forward to my next birthday, maybe until my 18th birthday, which is only seven days away. That savior would come in disguise as my mate if that would give any help. Whatever mate I would get should not be from this pack, I thought to myself. Because, of course, that would make matters worse. But at the same time, I don't see getting a mate outside this pack possible. I only pray that whoever it is will be a little bit different.

Maybe, Elijah, Elijah seemed like a decent person. I have not seen him in any trouble and, for what's worth, he has never been abusive towards me. Maybe because his parents taught him well enough. What more could I ask for if he becomes my mate and agrees to let me do as I wish?

My name is Samantha Dean, soon to be eighteen and I am known to be the pack’s slave, I have been branded by almost everyone as the unwanted. I am the one who cleans after everyone and at every party. And the parties never seem to stop, they always have the need to invite people over every time and they don’t think that it was necessary to hire help because I am available, available to clean after them.

I don’t own a dog as a pet but I cannot count how much shit I have had to clean today.

I cannot wait for my 18th birthday when I am finally able to find my mate. I don’t care if my mate turns out to be a gamma or an omega like me and does not have any title, or even if he is a member of the pack, I will convince him to take me out of here and never look back. The mate bond should be able to do as much for me. I just pray that he is not in any way tied down to this pack.

If the moon goodness is kind to me or I'm given even the slightest bit of luck, then, I will be fully free and independent from my family. Not to get their permission to move. Not that they would hold me back or anything. I mean, since I'm sure they would not want to have me around, it would just be like a goodbye to my family. It is only a few days away now, a day I have been anticipating all my life, a day I pray won't be long now.

I know that my father would be glad to let me go because he has always seen me as a scar he would like to get rid of. My father had never looked upon me with love, rather he had always hated me for taking the love of his life away from him, my mother.

So, it’s not a new thing that he allows my stepmother to treat me as she so well pleases and the rest of the pack members treat me however they like, and since my father is subjected to them, there is really nothing I can do to save myself except help came, just for me.

I know my father hates me, he has never ceased to call me a murderer for killing my mother at birth, but should he not be grateful that she left him with something of both of them and that’s me? Isn’t he supposed to take care of me because I am the only gift my mother left him?

I am tired of asking those unanswered questions and they seemed so faint now. I have since come to accept my fate and whatever comes with it.

The only time I have a little peace and temporarily get away from all this is when I go to my workplace. Being able to make dresses for different people of different shapes is what I look forward to.

Yes, my father had agreed to let me work, since I had nothing else to do except school and slave away, but it was only for a few hours and I could really use all the money I could get. I will get my own work when I finally get my freedom.

And Joan has been more than a good employer, she is kind and understanding. I almost hoped that everyone was like her. Or she was not from this pack, but if she wasn't, who would give me a little bit of solace to handle everything?

I looked out the window from where I stood washing the almost finished plates and I saw that it was already getting really dark. I thought to myself that I needed to go back home, to a round of house chores that would be lying around waiting for me. If I don’t want to receive another beating of my life for not getting things done like my stepmother always complains about. And trust me, this happens a lot of times, because where the heck do I even have the time? How do I divide myself into parts to do all the work I am given?

My mind was so greatly occupied that I didn’t notice that I had been joined by someone’s presence, who was silently present until he was already behind me.

“Oh my goodness!” I shouted, dropping the two plates I was holding mistakenly. I opened my eyes wide as I watched them scattered across the floor. The sound of the plates scattering on the floor was deafening. And at that moment, all the thought of what to do escaped my mind, but I knew this was going to be another round of maltreatment.

It was the alpha’s son, Max, whose house I was currently in, doing dishes.

“Max,” I said, managing to calm myself and bowing my head slightly as a sign of greeting. He has always made a fuss about everyone giving him the respect that he deserves, since he was undeniably going to be the next alpha of the Wolf crest pack.

I truly don’t care what he thinks, I never had, I was only fulfilling all righteousness, and I was more worried that someone would see us together and accuse me of flirting with their man. It would only make me prone to more danger. That's not what I need at the moment.

Dan Sullivan is the doted son of Alpha Erik Sullivan and Luna Anne Sullivan, he is affectionately loved by his parents and most of the girls in the pack.

He is never faulty in anyone’s eyes, so if anything happens, people would point at me first without even asking any questions.

The girls like him, they adore him and they also shamelessly throw themselves at him every chance they get.

Some, he accepts to feed on his pleasure, and dumps them after banging them. While some he just never gave a chance. Not me though. I have never shown any interest in him. I guess that's why he always wants to frustrate me every little chance he gets.

“You little sh!t! You could have wounded me! Where are your manners?” he growled.

And not to forget, he is also unbelievably rude, but nothing he would do or say to me right now would get me to lose my wits at that point. I have seen the worst of his people, I have been beaten to oblivion because of a small offense, I have been cut to prove a point, and I have been spat at for being unlucky.

“I am sorry, you scared me! I was not expecting you here this time. I thought you guys were having dinner at the table” I said, trying to politely excuse myself from taking the blame for the shattered plates.

“Are you trying to educate me in my house about where I can go and not go?” He asked, growling at me as he made himself closer to me with each step.

“No, but you scared me,” I said again with the most respectful voice I could manage.

But instead of him understanding what I had just said, and accepting it as it was, he slapped me on my face, which was rather unexpected, given the fact that I had tried to be as respectful as I could manage.

I didn't know what was happening to my body for like half a second of standing there before my right hand automatically went to my face.

“You asshole!” I spat with the venom inside me! And I got another slap! I usually would not utter a word because it always led me into trouble, but the sting of the slap got deep in my body. I could not ignore it.

“How dare you!” He said, as he traced my jawline with his hand, then placed it on my trembling lips, which were now obviously bruised.

“Sammie, you see, I don't want to harm you like the rest of them” he continued with a low and hoarse voice this time, “if only you would cut the sharpness of your tongue when you are communicating with me. I do not like to see the hatred in your eyes whenever you are with me. That's the only thing that gets you into trouble.

You are supposed to bow down to me and listen to what I have to say and I will make sure you don't get punished another day in your life. ”

That seemed like a good deal, especially since I need it so much now that my fate is undecided, but it would be me entering into another bondage with this crazed brat.

“No! You are the same! You are just looking for another leverage over me! And that would be over my dead body”. I spat my words at his face, daring him again and again.

My statement and fearlessness must have bruised his ego, so he turned away and began to walk away from me.

But before he finally got out of the kitchen door, he turned back and said to me “Don’t worry, you won't be saying the same thing in a few days. I will be waiting for you”

The words sounded in my head almost like danger, but I didn't want to think about it. If this was another way of making me worried, I will not fall into his stupid trap.

But the few days I have in my own mind will come soon and there will be absolutely a great difference. That day, for me, I will find my mate, my own freedom.

A part of me wants to stay cool yet what Max said to me does haunt me. Not the craziness I am going to meet at home, but the uncertainty of what the sentence means.

What did he mean by that? What did he mean he would be waiting for me?