Chapter One

**Jade POV**

Snow. It just keeps falling, making all of my surroundings hazy. The cold is cutting and my whole body feels numb. Without warning, a blow to my head knocks me over. My ears are ringing but I can feel hot breath on my face. I open my eyes to the frothing mouth of a jet-black wolf. I try to scream but nothing comes out. 

“TAKE HER!!! GET HER OUT OF HERE NOW!!” 

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I groaned and smacked the snooze button on my alarm clock. 4:15 am. I had 15 minutes to be totally dressed and downstairs in the kitchen preparing breakfast. I sighed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. That dream AGAIN. Just when I got a few nights without it, it comes back to confuse and terrify me again. It always felt so real and every time I thought I’d figure out what happened, but I just never seemed to be able to stay asleep long enough. I snorted to myself. You would probably have to get more than 4 hours of sleep every night to be able to do that.

One more deep breath before I throw myself into this crappy day, which is just like the crappy day before that and the one before that and…. Well, you get it.

I’ve been an omega slave at River Bed pack since before I can remember. Literally. I don’t even know how I got here or what my life was like before this. I know I had parents at one point, but I don’t remember much about them, besides my dad’s brown eyes with flecks of green in them, just like mine and my mom’s flowery scent. I wish I knew more about them, but all the older omegas said I was just dumped here one night when I was about 5. Alpha Victor says my parents were most likely rogues who were killed during the uprising 12 years ago. 

I throw my long, curly auburn hair into a bun and throw on one of the few tshirts and tattered pairs of leggings I own. Omegas are not paid for their work here, so we usually have to find clothes the other pack members throw away and try to mend them enough for every day wear. Some nicer pack members take pity on us and donate some of their outdated clothes. That’s how I got my only jacket and well loved pair of oversized sneakers.

Most pack members see omegas as servants who were created for the sole purpose of tending to their every need. From what I can tell, the ranked members are no bigger than the omegas when they shift. I watch the warriors change shifts all the time, and when they need extra bodies, some of the omega men volunteer so they can get a full serving of the next meal they eat. From what I can tell, the omegas are no slower or weaker either, just not as well trained for combat. And that’s purposefully done to keep us as powerless as possible. The disciplinary system for omegas is mostly pretty physical, and alpha Victor has mentioned on several occasions that he’s not willing to deal with omega strikes or even unionizing, so he refuses to allow us to train to even defend ourselves against the few rogues that sometimes turn up on the property. All in all, that’s not even the worst part of having zero fighting know-how. The worst part is when you’ve done something wrong or displeased the alpha in any way, and you’re dragged out back to be put in your place by the warriors.

It’s just awful. I myself have only been taken out 10-15 times since i’ve been here, but I’ll never forget the sounds of the screams during the beatings. I can hear them all the way upstairs when I’m cleaning the alpha floors. If you’ve really stepped in it, they’ll even chain you outside for the night. I’ve only had to endure that once, but it was the worst experience of my life. The chains are made of silver, and the burns left on my skin were horrendous. They hurt for at least a week after, and I was expected to return right to my normal every day responsibilities the moment I was released. No hospital wing for me.

I have just enough time for a quick glance in the mirror. Sigh. I hate how curvy I am. You’d think that wouldn’t be a problem with how small the omega portions are at meal time but here I am with my wide hips and what the particularly disgusting members of the pack refer to as my “bubble but”. Don’t even get me started on my boobs. I have to grab shirts out of the trash that are roughly 3 sizes too big just to hide these crazy things. My body gets me in trouble all the time. I’m constantly accused of sneaking second helpings of food or hiding from work, but it’s just how I’m built I guess. It doesn’t help that most of the higher up females are naturally stick thin and expect everyone else to look that way.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

4:25 am. I always set that alarm so I know exactly when I should be walking out of the shed so I can get to the kitchen with plenty of time to have breakfast prepared. I shudder as I remember the time that I had slept 15 minutes too long and Andrew, the alpha’s son, had to wait an extra 5 minutes for breakfast before he left for training. He’d busted my lip and choked me until I saw stars and I vowed to never put myself through that again if I could help it. I do my best to be absolutely invisible but somehow almost every day I get myself into some level of trouble, usually just a back hand or someone tripping me but sometimes I do get treated a bit more harshly. The extra harsh treatment is almost always courtesy of the alpha’s treat of a daughter, Amelia. I scoffed to myself as I made my way across the back yard of the pack house thinking about the time Amelia punched me as hard as she could in the stomach and then kneed me directly in the nose because one of the warriors she was regularly hooking up with was looking at me for longer than she would’ve liked.

I opened the back door as quietly as I can so as not to wake anyone and crept into the kitchen. 

“Good morning,” I whispered to my friend Emma and she handed me a cup of coffee. “Thank you, you’re a life saver!” 

Emma smirked at me and blew a chocolate brown hair out of her face “can you believe I lost my last hair tie? Who knows when someone will throw one out again. I’ll never hear the end of it if one of these uptight pricks gets one of my hairs in their food.” She rolled her dark gray eyes at me and I can’t help but giggle. Emma’s eyes were a beautiful hazel color that always seemed to change color based on the mood she was in. If they were bright green, she was happy. If they were gray, she was pissed about something. And I’d only seen blue a few times when she told me about her parents. Blue meant she was deeply upset.

“I’ll make sure I look for some in everyone’s trash when I’m cleaning later. What do you want me to start on for breakfast?” 

“Oh that’d be great!” Emma beamed at me. “Prince not so charming wants those breakfast croissants you made a few days ago with the sausage, egg and cheese baked into them. Do you mind starting on those and I’ll start cutting the fruit and putting out the cereal and milk for everyone who doesn’t want the hot breakfast.” 

“You got it!” I told her and started gathering supplies. It could be pretty miserable here sometimes but at least I had Emma. Her story is even worse than mine, so we kind of bonded over mutual orphanhood. I really see her as my sister at this point. She makes the every day shit we have to do bearable, even if her mouth got us both thrown out of the pack house and into that little shed out back. We fixed it up with old junk people threw out and it’s basically like our own little tiny apartment now. 

About an hour later, I had the first batch of croissants ready to go for all the warriors and patrolmen who would be coming through any moment. I started putting them all on a serving tray to set in the dining room when I caught a familiar— and not in a good way— scent just behind me. Before I could even try to make myself scarce I felt a hand grazing my ass that told me it was too late. 

“Mmmm my favorite,” Andrew’s sleazy voice was annoyingly close. I felt his lips touching my ear and fought the urge to vomit. “Looks almost as delicious as you today.”

“Thank you, I’ll have it in the dining room soon if you want to sit and wait in there?” I offered trying to feign innocence to what he was really seeking. It was no secret that Andrew was always looking for both willing and less than willing conquests to entertain himself and I was absolutely not interested.

“I think I’d rather enjoy your company while I wait,” Andrew said, his arms slithering around me and pulling me into him. I couldn’t help but jump as I felt his erection rubbing up against the back of my leg. I felt his hands wandering upward and I immediately tried to wiggle free, accidentally elbowing him in the face.

“YOU LITTLE BITCH LOOK WHAT YOU DID” Andrew shouted and to my horror, I saw a drop of blood running down his nose. I was so dead. Here lies Jade, an idiot omega who accidentally beat up her boss’s son.

Before I could even truly process what just happened, I felt a blow to the side of my face and realized that Andrew punched me. I fell to the ground and was quickly picked up by my throat.  “How dare you hit me? I’m your future alpha and you’re just the pathetic scum who makes my food and cleans my bathroom! You would be lucky to hook up with me you stupid omega bitch!!” He spat at me. I could feel myself growing weaker and I started seeing black spots in my vision. As I began to realize just how dire the situation was, I could feel Andrew’s grip only getting tighter. 

“Come come, Andrew. I have meetings all morning and I won’t be able to get through them without my breakfast. Put the omega down for now.” I heard Alpha Victor’s commanding yet apathetic voice from somewhere around me and before I could even try to escape on my own, I felt myself being flung into the wall. I hit my head on the hard plaster behind me and I just knew that I was severely hurt. I heard the kitchen door swing shut just before the tears inevitably came.

I heard frantic footsteps getting closer and I knew Emma saw everything and had to watch helplessly or earn us both a beating later for insubordination. “Oh, you poor thing! I’m so sorry, Jade. Go to the bathroom and get yourself together and I’ll bring the croissants into the dining room, okay?” 

I couldn’t do anything but nod and struggle to get myself back to a standing position. Everything hurt. It would take at least few days for my body to heal itself from an attack like that for a girl with no wolf yet, and I could only hope I didn’t attract more negative attention throughout the rest of the day.