Chapter One: UNLUCKY TO SURVIVE

ALLISON KEELER

I muffled a curse as the deafening wails of the prison's alarm intensified the throbbing ache in my head and my thick lashes fluttered rapidly to accommodate the scene before me.

Hoisting from the floor, I winced at the pain in my right arm from a futile attempt to place a soothing hand on the burning sensation on my head. With my trembling fingers, I felt the encrusted blood on my head.

The main entrance was blurry as my gaze squinted, trying to make out the silhouette masculine figure against the ray of lights by the door as he approached me.

They had all escaped. The frantic prisoners had broken free and I was one of their victims, but unlucky enough to have survived the fatal blow.

He knew I was no match for this job. Alpha Colton knew I was too weak for defense as a prison warden in case things turned out the way they did, and yet, he had chosen to select me to keep watch on the vicious rogues. He had chosen to punish me in ways that triggered my anxiety daily.

I let out a weak sigh.

The strong metallic taste of blood was heavy on my tongue when I swallowed hard. My gaze swept around the prison front desk to drop on the lifeless bodies splayed on the floor. My stomach built up as my vision blurred out, this time not from the pain of having my skull hurled against the wall but from tears.

I had grown well-acquainted with the prison wardens and watching them lay lifeless in their pool of blood sickened me to my toes. The gaping cut in their throats knocked every breath from my lungs, filling them with dread.

"What happened here?" Alpha Colton's murderous tone rang when the blaring alarm died down and the Pack securities flanked the entire prison, taping and scrutinizing the scenes before them.

He arched closer, towering above me with a glint of spite twinkling at the edges of his red eyes.

I nervously looked down at my numbed arm, swollen and broken from the assault, fighting to keep control of my quivering feet.

I vehemently fought to ignore the overpowering need to bask in his warmth and the urging need to fill my lungs with his intoxicating patchouli.

"You fucking deaf? What the fuck happened here?" He growled at me making my wolf curl up on inside at his venomous tone. 

I trained my gaze not to focus on his large palm now balled to a fist, or his clenched jaws and squared shoulders taking a predatory bow.

"They...they broke free! They attacked and..." I stuttered and trailed off as emotions clogged my throat.

"You fucking waste of Pack space! Why are you still alive?" His gaze dropped on the lifeless bodies before narrowing at me, "It should have been you!" His full lips pursed in disgust.

It was the same thought in my head. I wondered why the goddess spared me. When the snarling furious rogues had encircled the front office, the hope of dying all my heart settled on, when the stoic rogue hurled me against the wall with deadly precision, my being prayed never to make it out of the pain alive.

But here I was, alive. Again, my prayers went unanswered.

"I didn't mean to survive!" I sobbed, feeling my knees wobble. I was afraid of what was to come.

Alpha Colton had punished me hard enough that I dreaded thinking of what other punishments were brewing in his mind. Not like I had chosen my life. Not like I had chosen to be fated to him, yet, he lashed his frustration out at me daily.

Living as an Omega in the Pack, my life was not half as hard as it became when the Goddess tried to match us. Of all the wolves the Goddess chose to crush my soul by tossing me on the fierce Alpha.

My life had completely changed for the worse since Alpha Colton publicly rejected me, humiliating me before his entire Pack members a few weeks ago. It was double the hurt and hate.

He hated me. Not like I had chosen to be fated to him. He had scheduled me to work at the prison, tending vicious rogues. Being fully aware of how threatening it was coupled with my anxiety.

"But you did anyway! Now you're going to pay for living." He muttered, shoving me aside to take a better look at the ugly sight before us.

Blood stains splashed on the walls and floor, and the crimson papers scattered around. He moved in further to inspect the scene. He seemed to be disappointed to see just how easily his wardens were murdered without a good fight.

In no time, I was surrounded by the security team, asking and wanting to know how it all happened, and the exact time it did. But all I wanted was to get back to my cramped room. I longed to be left alone doing nothing other than watching the ceilings and living a good life in my head. I wanted this pain to go away and my fears removed.

My head whirled from the rapid questions fired at me from the eager faces before me. Bile rose from my throat and threatened to spill. I still didn't get my head on why the Goddess spared my life.

I still didn't understand where I went wrong to deserve such cold treatment from the entire Pack. From Alpha Colton, my mate. I had hoped things would get better when I finally found my fated mate but things went completely downhill the moment I had traced his patchouli and had met him that night.

Now wasn't the time to count my loss. Pulling myself together was the smartest thing to do and I did just that until Alpha Colton's coral redhead snapped back out from the hallway towards me, holding me captive with his smoldering red eyes locked intensely on mine.

"Come with me!"

As he walked out of the prison into the sunlight, I found my feet unfreezing from the spot where I stood. Fighting to ignore the harrowing pain and the emptiness in my head.

Although the pain was excruciating, all I wanted to do was to oblige. I desperately wanted to be around him despite how badly he treated me. I wanted to watch him and to listen to his husky voice although it was laced with anger and resentment each time he spoke to me.

But my vision failed me. My wobbly feet gave up on me, and darkness threatened to overwhelm my limp body pulling me hard to the floor.

My eyes flickered open as someone caught me. Through my blurry vision, I was able to make out the one face that meant so much to me. Alpha Colton.

He caught me. For the first time, preventing me from pain. Saving me from hitting my already fractured skull all over again.

For the first time,  Colton held me safely in his arms, it was warm and healing. I wanted to die now, in his arms.  I prayed the Goddess granted me this one request as I  slowly drifted out of consciousness.