Chapter 1

***Chastity***

**Beep Beep Beep**

I lifted my head, looked at the ratty old alarm clock on the table by my bed, and groaned. It’s 5 am already. With another groan I rolled off my bed, stood, and pulled on a pair of old jeans, a black t-shirt, and a grey sweatshirt. Without even looking at the broken mirror in my room, I pulled my hair into a ponytail. After I slipped on my worn out sneakers, I grabbed my toiletry bag, and snuck down to the wash room on the first floor to wash my face, and brush my teeth quickly. After returning my bag to my little area in the attic I went to the pack house kitchen to start breakfast for everyone, thankful I had done prep the night before, even though it left me exhausted this morning.

After the prep work I had spent the majority of the night finishing up a project for my science class. It would be my last for high school. Graduation was in 2 weeks, and I wanted to make sure I maintain my high grades. Finals started next week then I was done. I was excited, but nervous. No one knew that I had applied, and been accepted to a specialized nursing program two packs over. I knew there was a big chance I wouldn’t be allowed to go because Omegas were not typically allowed further education, but I had hope.

Oh, I guess I should introduce myself, and give a bit of background before I get too far into my story. My name is Chastity Bloomfield of the Moonlight Pack. I just turned 18 two weeks ago. I have red hair, not bright red, more like dark wine red, that sits between my shoulder blades. It was longer at one point, but was cut into a crew cut 6 months ago for punishment, but I’ll come back to that later. I also have bright green eyes. I am pale skinned, I’m pretty small, only 5’2” to be exact, and pretty skinny. Despite popular belief, not all werewolves are Amazons, and built like runway models. That has more to do with you status, and rank than your species. Omegas tend to run small, myself being the smallest I know of.

I’m the daughter of Beta Dimitri Bloomfield, and the late Brinna Bloomfield, stepdaughter of Aurora Bloomfield. I have two old brother, Jax and Colby, and one younger brother, Braxton. Jax, Colby, and Braxton are the products of my father and stepmother. I’m the only product of my father, and my mother, his fated mate.

Let me explain that real quick. You see each wolf has their fated mate, and depending on the circumstances, a second chance mate. Some wolves take a chosen mate when they get impatient waiting on their fated mate. Even with a chosen mate, if you happen to find your fated mate, the chosen mate bond severs, and all you want is your fated. That’s why so few wolves take a chosen mate. My father being one of the exceptions.

He had chosen Aurora when they met in high school, mated her, and had 2 sons. When Colby was 2 years old, my father met my mother while at another pack for a meeting. He brought my mother home with him, ended the bond with Aurora, then mated, and marked my mother. He made sure to provide, and care for Jax, and Colby, as well as make sure Aurora was provided what she needed to be a good mother to my brothers.

Within the first year of their mating my mother became pregnant with me. I don’t remember that time at all as I was only a baby, but from the box of pictures I found tucked into the corner of the attic where my “bedroom” is, it looked like we were all happy, including Jax, and Colby. Unfortunately, right after my third birthday, my mom died in a car accident. Less than 6 months later Aurora, Jax, and Colby moved in with my father and myself, and Aurora was pregnant with Braxton.

Life for me became pretty tough after they moved in. Aurora hated me, completely, and treated me like dirt under her shoes. Jax did what he could to make me feel loved, and wanted, but it was tough for him once he began his Beta training with our father. My brother Colby followed their mother’s example from there, well more he became indifferent to me. Braxton treated me the same way Aurora did, in every way. It sucks having a two year old smacking you for no reason. I never knew or understood why. My father has been distant from me for as long as I can remember. On my twelfth birthday, he abandoned me completely. My whole world changed that day actually.

You see, on or around a wolf’s 12th birthday, their wolf’s status or rank can be scented by others, as our wolf is beginning to prepare to emerge. This also helps ranked wolves prepare the younger generation for their position, and responsibilities within the pack. The ranks are Alpha who is the leader of the pack. Beta who is the second to the Alpha. Gamma who is the third to the alpha. Deltas or warriors who are well the warriors or the packs protectors. Regular wolves who are the day to day wolves such as doctors, nurses, teachers, shop owners, and the like. The lowest ranked wolves are the Omegas. The Omegas are the maids, cooks, gardeners, baby sitters, and basically the laborers of the pack.

From things I have heard, Omegas are considered the backbone of the pack as they are ultimately the caregivers of all. We make sure there are meals for our pack members and families. We make sure the homes are well cared for. We’re called on to care for the elderly, sick, and even the pups when needed. It’s not unheard of for an Omega to be asked to babysit pups while their parents are needed somewhere or have an emergency. We’re also asked to keep the elderly company when the families members need to take care of their other responsibilities. We can also be found at the hospitals keeping the sick and injured company.

The thing is that Omegas are more in tune with, or empathetic to the emotions of others. No we can’t sense other’s emotions, or in anyway influence their emotions. What we can do is empathize with the emotions another is experiencing. If a person is sad, we’re sad with them. If their angry, we’re angered over what angered them. If they’re happy, we share in their happiness. We feel the connection thru the emotions of others. Making us the right ones to care for those that need it most in the moment. My time in the pack hospital over the years, sitting with the sick and injured inspired my desire to be a pack nurse, and midwife. I have assisted with a few births while I was in the pack hospital, sitting with an anxious family member.

Anyway, back to me. I remember that day clearly. I had gotten out of bed on my 12th birthday, excited that my rank would finally be known, and maybe, just maybe my father would start to love me as he did my brothers. I skipped into the small kitchen in our family quarters, with a smile on my face, to find my father sitting at the counter drinking his morning coffee. He took one look at me, sniffed the air, and scowled at me. My smile instantly fell when I heard him growl.

He stormed out of the kitchen, but I heard him grumble about being cursed with a worthless Omega for a daughter. My heart sunk when I realized he would never love or accept me now. You see we come for a long line of strong, proud Betas. Not a single Omega any where, until now. I was a disappointment. That night, instead of celebrating my birthday, I was moved out of the family quarters, and into the corner of the attic. The following day my life as a slave to those that lived in the pack house began.

From that day on I was responsible for making the meals for everyone that lived in the pack house, doing everyone’s laundry, and cleaning up after everyone. I was just thankful that the only people who lived in the pack house was the Alpha Joseph, his daughter Gina, my family, the Gamma Peter’s family that consisted of him, his mate Naomi, and their son Ross. As well as Aurora’s brother John and his daughter Fiona.

The Alpha’s mate, our Luna, Jane, passed away in a rogue attack a few years ago. She had always been a nice woman. Always a smile on her face, a kind word, and a soft touch. She was definitely the heart of our pack. Her loss was hard on every one, especially Alpha Joseph, their son Rowen who is our Alpha-to-be, and their daughter.

After she passed away, things became more difficult for me in the pack house. Luna Jane did not allow mistreatment of others, and had stopped Aurora from punishing me multiple times. She wasn’t aware of many times I was abused so there were plenty while she was alive. I appreciated her efforts when she did prevent it though. Once our Luna was gone, that gave Aurora, Naomi, and Aurora’s niece Fiona the freedom to do as they pleased to me. They have taken full advantage of that. There is hardly a day that goes by that either Aurora or Fiona don’t find some reason hit, humiliate, or, otherwise abuse me.

I can’t count how many times I’ve been slapped, kicked, beaten, had things thrown at me, ice cold water dumped on me, tripped, starved, even whipped for some mistake. As I said earlier, I have even had my hair cut off. That happened due to tripping, and spilling drinks on Fiona six months ago. I had been serving dinner one evening. The Gamma’s mate Naomi stuck her foot out in front of me as I was carrying drinks over to the head table. I tripped over it, and dumped all of the drinks I was carrying on Fiona. Aurora, Fiona, and Naomi drug me to the dungeons that night, beat me, than shaved my hair. I spent two nights down there before Alpha Joseph realized I was there, and let me out.

Alpha Joseph doesn’t abuse or ridicule me, but he is distant, and does nothing when I was abused in any way. He barely acknowledges my existence most times. Of course Aurora, Fiona, and Naomi were not disciplined in any way for what they had done. My father didn’t even look at me when I returned upstairs. Nor did he acknowledge my condition. I hadn’t eaten in three days at that point, I was covered in blood, bruises, and chunks of hair. Later that night I had to sneak over to the pack hospital to treat my wounds with the help of one of the pack nurses that was on duty. No one said anything against my abusers though. They turned a blind eye.

The Alpha’s daughter Gina wasn’t a whole lot better as she was good friends with Fiona. She didn’t take part in my physical mistreatment, but she had no problem ridiculing me every chance she got. She also never stopped the physical abuse. I couldn’t help but wonder what her mother would have said about her behavior had she still been alive. I’ll never know though.

Gamma Peter, John, Ross, and Colby never raised a hand to me as there were strict laws against males physically harming females, especially minors. If they had hit me in anyway, they risked being locked in the dungeons or whipped. Gamma Peter, Ross, and John mostly ignored my presence unless it was to make a demand of me. Colby didn’t physically harm me, but his words cut deep.

Braxton, unfortunately was a completely different story. Despite the laws against males physically harming females, he always found a way to get away with hitting, kicking, or hurting me in some way. I can’t count how many times he found me cleaning a room in the pack house, and decided it was a good time to beat me up. More than once I have blacked out from the beatings. The one time I said something to someone about it, Aurora gave me a second beating the same day for getting her precious baby boy whipped. I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut, and just accept the beatings.

Aurora also was the one in charge of my meals. How that happened, I have no idea, but she seemed to find pleasure in denying me meals for days at a time. When she did allow me meals, I got the smallest amount of food imaginable. I was not allowed to eat the food I made for the rest of the pack house residents. If I was caught eating any of it, unless it was what was left over from the meal, I was beaten with either fists and feet, or a whip. I was always thankful for my wolf healing as I healed quickly. The only place where there are true signs of abuse are the lash scars on my back that were incredibly deep, and hard to heal. I hated and loved those scars. I hated them because they were ugly, but I loved them because they showed I am a survivor.

All of this is one of the big reasons I want to go away to nursing school. I need to get away from the abuse, and pain. I need the freedom, even if just for awhile. I want to learn about who I am as a person, and a wolf.

The other reason I want o go to nursing school is because I want to prove to myself that I am more than just a pack slave. I am more than a maid, cook, laundress, on call baby sitter, and punching bag. I want to help people, be comforting, heal people, and just be more than what I’ve been relegated to.

My wolf Leila wants the same thing. That’s the last thing I need to tell you about myself. Being a werewolf I share my life, soul, mind, and body with a wolf. All werewolves do. We have a strong connection, and bond with our wolf. We are a team in all things. Our wolf is our best friend, and constant companion.

As I said before, at 12 our wolf can be scented by others, but we did not start to feel our connection to our wolf until 13 or 14. Our wolf begins to reach out to us in our mind around that age so we can start building the bond between ourselves, and our wolf before our first shift at age 17. Without that time to connect with, and build a relationship with our wolf we would be unable to control our wolf, and can quickly become feral.

My wolf Leila reached out to me the first time a week after my thirteenth birthday. We became fast friends. Leila is a lot like me. Positive, and hopeful. She does have a bit of a shorter temper than I do. Well considering the fact that I have no temper, any one would have a shorter temper than I do. She is also very protective of me.

After my first shift on the night of my seventeenth birthday, I have had to work hard to keep Leila from fighting back every time I am abused. I have had to explain to her that violence against the higher ranking wolves could cause us to be locked away, or banished from the pack. Despite how I am treated in the pack house I do love my pack. Eventually Leila understood, and just did her part in healing me when I’m hurt, comforting me, and just being with me when I’m feeling alone.

I remember how excited I was the night of my first shift. Usually wolves aren’t left alone for the first shift, but with my status, I was unfortunately left alone to shift. Leila had talked me into sneaking out of the house, and into the woods that night so we could shift. The shift had been painful, but she was with me every step of the way, talking me thru it, and doing what she could to keep me calm.

Once the shift was complete, we ran for what felt like hours before reaching the small lake in our woods. My first view of my wolf had been breathtaking. I was pure white, but not completely. My ears are the same color as my hair. I also have patches around my eyes of the same color, but a small patch of white below my left eye that I swear looks like a heart. My left front leg, and my right hind leg are also the same red. The end of my tail has red as well. On my chest, between my front legs, is the only other red. A patch in the shape of a heart that is impossible to miss. My eyes are also the same bright green in my wolf form as in my human form. Even in wolf form I am still small though. Only standing about 5’ tall. That’s not surprising as an Omega though. We’re always the smallest. The largest being Alpha’s who stand 6’5” or more in height when in wolf form. Not that any of this bothers me. I’m happy with myself, just the way I am.

Despite all I have experienced over the years, I do my best to remain positive. I try remind myself that it won’t always be this way, but that is hard. There may come a day when I’ll get away from this pack house, even if it’s just in a small home some where in the pack. I’ll find my mate, and he’ll get me out of here. He’ll support my dream of being a nurse and midwife. He won’t hit or abuse me. He’ll love me for who I am, no matter what because that is what a mate does.

Your mate is your partner in all things. They are your confidant, your companion, your strength, your light in the dark, your love, your lover, your friend, and your cheerleader. They are your other half in all ways. Where you are weak they are strong. They are you home when you’re lost. They are you calm in your storm. They are your everything.

When we turn 18 we become able to sense our mate. All it takes is to scent your mate, to lock eyes, and the bond is established. It’s what humans would call love at first sight, or in our case, first scent. It is solidified with marking, and mating. It then becomes unbreakable unless one of the pair dies. You can be away from each other for a time, but it’s not comfortable.

There are rare cases of one mate rejecting the other, or both parties rejecting the bond. That typically only happens in extreme cases such as one being a dangerous criminal. Sometimes, if a one already has a chosen mate, and they do not want to ruin what they have with that chosen mate, they will reject the fated mate.

Rejecting the fated mate gives the rejected a chance to find a second chance mate, which is rare to find, but it does happen. The bond between the first rejected mate and a second chance mate is as strong, if not stronger than the bond with their first chance mate. The lasting effects on the rejected mate is usually emotional more than anything.

The experience for the rejecter is vastly different. If you reject your mate the Moon Goddess does not give you a second chance mate because you denied her gift by rejecting your mate. That leaves the rejecter with having to take a chosen mate. The problem with the chosen mate is that the bond between the two is a lot weaker. They also do not provide each other the strength and peace that a fated mate does. It is also very difficult for chosen mates to mark each other as the wolf does not always accept the chosen mate. This results in a partial mark instead of a full mark showing both parts are completely intertwined. Usually only the human sides are intertwined with each other. The wolf sides never really intertwine.

So now you know about me, and us. Now on to my story about how an Alpha ended up having to fight for me, an Omega.