Chapter One

Rayne

As I scrub the floors of the Grand Hall clean, I ask myself an important yet heartbreaking question:

Will I ever get out of here?

From the time of my birth, I've been a slave. A slave to the MoonWater pack. I've never had the opportunity to be anything else. My mother was a slave, which makes me a slave, too. She wasn't born a slave, but that doesn't matter here. They don't care that she was sold into slavery by her own mate—my father—to pay off a debt he had with some ruthless men. They never took pity on her. Not once.

I, along with the other workers, have been up since four in the morning to get the house ready for the big event. There will be over a hundred guests from all the packs in the area and they all have to be fed. Rooms will have to be provided. The house can comfortably accommodate a hundred guests. It used to be called a 'palace' back in the day, but things had changed significantly since the old Alpha died. His son is now in charge of the pack and he felt that 'house' created a stronger sense of togetherness and family.

It's far from true. Us workers aren't considered his family. Most of us don't even know what he looks like.

I caught a glimpse of him once. It was during his enthroning. Everyone was expected to be present. The slaves were supposed to be far from the crowd, so I didn't get a very good look at him. I saw that his hair was long and black, and his skin was pale. That was all. We were standing too far away from the balcony to see his face clearly. Rather, I was.

The one thing I remember vividly about that day is the work we had to do to get the palace ready for the new Alpha. There was a three-day long celebration, and there were also guests that had to be catered to constantly. I heard whispers of the slaves who had to serve the rowdy crowd. The guests were mostly men. All the slaves in charge of serving them hated it. I wasn't there because I worked in a different section. I always have. I never appeared before guests. I cleaned behind closed doors. Nobody ever looked at my face. I was below most of the slaves along with many others.

It was somewhat a blessing in disguise, now that I thought of it. But the work was too hard for me to be completely grateful.

Today reminds me of that day two years ago. The only difference is that I was given more responsibilities this time, so I was more tired. I had to help scrub the guest rooms on the first level of the first wing. There were over twenty rooms and we were only three people. The rooms had to be spotless in record time or we would be punished. That's how it is around here. Work, work, work. No rest in between. It's a nightmare, the kind you can never wake up from.

"Back to work," a harsh voice behind me says.

My heart skips a beat at the sound of his voice. I dip the brush in the bucket of water hurriedly, spilling it everywhere. I scrub the floor harder than before. My arms are burning and my knees hurt from being in this position for so long. I hear footsteps behind me and inch away from the Second Beta as he walks past me to supervise my work.

I keep my eyes on the ground. I watch his feet move around me in circles, and at times I get the feeling that he isn't looking at the floor but at me. He's leaving dirty marks everywhere he walks, completely ignoring the fact that I've just cleaned the area he's stomping on. This is typical Beta behavior—the First and the Second Beta have no regard for wolves like me. If I dare to open my mouth, he'll silence it with his fist. Cleaning after him is the safest way to go, even if it isn't the easiest.

Anything to avoid being a target.

But this is all pointless because no matter how hard I try to keep myself hidden or do my work perfectly now, I've already made myself a target.

I keep my face as close to the floor as possible so he won't look at it. The tip of my nose almost touches the wet floor. I scrub until my hands feel raw, and I act like I'm fully engrossed in my work. I hope that after he sees me doing this, he won't see my face and he'll think I'm just another employee. That he will walk away, seemingly satisfied with my work.

Wrong.

"On your feet," he barks at me.

I bite my bottom lip so it doesn't visibly tremble and drop the wet brush on the ground. My eyes are still glued to my old shoes. If I look directly into his eyes, he'll see my fear.

Scratch that. Being who he is, he can probably smell it.

"I know you," he says in a low voice. This makes me tense up. I'm sure that if I look at his face, I'll see a snarl curling his lip. I didn't think he would remember me because it was dark that night.

I was wrong.

"Out!" he shouts at everyone around me. They all stand up hurriedly and rush out of the hall, leaving me alone with him. Despair fills every empty space inside of me, leaving me full and breathless. Nothing feels worse than this. I am at his complete mercy. He is a Beta and I am nothing. Nobody cares about what happens to me. He can punish me as he sees fit, no questions asked.

How will I run from him now?

"You really thought you would get away with what you did?" he asks in a low voice, so low that I tell myself that maybe, he isn't that angry. Maybe, just maybe, I can get away from this unscathed.

I struggle to answer him. I don't know what to say.

He grabs my arms and squeezes them so hard I think they'll snap. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

I'm forced to bring my eyes up to his face. His gray eyes are filled with hatred, pure and raw. His nostrils are flared. His fingers are digging into my arms. And then there's the scar along his hairline, healed but still angry and red. I realize that I was wrong. He is angry. There is no escaping this.

"I asked you a question," he says in an icy tone. "Answer me, you mutt."

If I part my lips, they'll tremble. But what point is there in hiding my fear? It won't make a difference. I say, "I'm sorry."

It's all I can say.

His lips curl slowly into a smile. He shows me all his perfectly straight, white teeth. "Oh, are you? You have no reason to be sorry now. You'll be sorry once I'm through with you."

He turns with his hand still wrapped around my upper arm. He gives me a tug and I almost crash against him. He walks a few steps then stops. I drag my eyes up and see a woman standing a few feet away from us.

Her eyes are wide and she slowly pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she looks back and forth between the two of us. She's holding a gray garment bag in her left hand.

"Yes?" The Second Beta says to her impatiently after a few beats of silence.

She clears her throat and says, "I need this girl. Urgently."

His expression doesn't change and his hand tightens around me. "What for?"

"It is a private matter," she says to him while rushing toward us. She closes her hand around my wrist and starts dragging me. The Beta doesn't release me. The woman turns back and gives him a look. "It's an emergency. You will have her back in a few minutes. You can wait here, if you like."

I close my eyes briefly, praying that he releases me. It wouldn't be much because it would buy me time, even if only a few minutes. The woman is staring at him intently. Thankfully, he releases me. My arm drops to my side heavily and I allow the woman to drag me out of the Grand hall.

My heart is racing. I stare at the back of her hand and wonder what she wants from me. I've never seen her around here before.

We exit the Grand hall through the huge double doors and walk down a long corridor. I know where this leads. We stop in the parlor, right at the foot of the staircase. She hands the garment bag to me and says, "Take this upstairs. Third floor, fourth door on your left. Hurry!"

I stare at her with wide eyes. "I'm a lower-level worker. I'm not allowed upstairs."

She widens her eyes impatiently at me. "This is a matter of life and death." After she says this, she gives me a hard shove so I'm forced to take the first step. "Go!"

I start taking the stairs. As I ascend the staircase, I look back at her. She keeps watching me until I disappear from sight, then I hear her retreating footsteps. If I'm caught up here, I'll be in even more trouble, but what keeps me going is the thought of going back to the Beta. I'll have to eventually but if I can delay the moment for a bit longer, I'll be thankful.

I reach the third floor undetected. I count all the doors until I reach the fourth one. I look from left to right before raising my hand to knock on the door lightly. It doesn't take long for someone to open it.

It's so abrupt that I jump back a little. There's a woman standing on the other side of the door with wide eyes.

"Where have you been?" she asks me. There's disbelief in her voice. Or perhaps it's wonder. I can’t tell the difference.

"I came here as fast as I could," I answer, handing her the garment bag. She takes it from me and hands it to a man who's standing behind her. I notice that his eyes are lined with gold paint. I've never seen anything quite like it.

I turn to leave yet her voice stops me. She scoffs and says, "Where are you going?"

I turn around and meet her eyes. She keeps looking at me with the indecipherable expression on her face. I don't answer her. I don't know what she wants from me, and I'm waiting to see if she'll say anything.

I am now thinking about the Beta, whom k have to return to downstairs. My heart is racing and my palms are wet at the thought of him.

It's the only thing that has my full attention.

Eventually, she throws her hands in the air and says, "You do realize how late you are, don't you? The Alpha will have our necks if he doesn’t see you walking down that aisle in ten minutes!”

I blink slowly and say, “What?"