Chapter 1

Novalie POV

My entire life, I had always been taught one thing, to excel in the kitchen. As a female Omega in the Midnight Moon pack, there were very few career paths open to me, none of which would be my choice to make. The Alpha decided where we ended up when we came of age. There were only three positions he put us female Omegas in, which meant I could end up as a packhouse maid, working in the kitchens of the packhouse or in the brothel. That's why I had been taught to excel in the kitchens. Usually the older Omega females, or the ones who weren't particularly nice to look at ended up as maids, the rest were turned into working girls in the ever growing, ever popular sex industry, because there were very few that the Alpha trusted to cook him fabulous meals.

Luckily, I had been raised by my Aunt Marianne, who was the head chef in the packhouse kitchen. Her position allowed me to grow up in the kitchen of the packhouse, where I learned to perfect my craft. My mother had been placed at the brothel when she came of age, a position my Aunt has always told me that she happily took as long as her younger sister had a chance to be placed in the packhouse. I never met her, my mother, she died giving birth to me. Aunt Marianne has raised me since, though she was only 16 at the time of my birth and my mother's death.

Alpha has hated me ever since. My mother was beautiful and one of his best money makers, so when she died giving birth to me, he was quite angry about it. He's lightened up on his hatred of me over the years, though, especially since now I had perfected the craft of baking. He looked forward to his blueberry scone each morning, a pastry that he had always said only I was capable of baking to perfection. Not only had I learned to bake expertly at a young age, but I had always ensured I received top marks in school as well. I was the smartest student at the pack middle school, probably the high-school too and that was saying alot since we were quite a large pack.

We had a rather large pack high-school since almost all of the high-school age kids in the pack attended there. The future Alpha and the Beta twins went away to the prestigious "United States Werewolf Academy." Most packs sent their high-school aged kids there, but not Midnight Moon. No, our pack only sent their future leaders to the Academy. It was a boarding school so when the Alpha heir and the Beta twins had started attending last year they had left in mid-August, came home for a week in the fall over Thanksgiving, two weeks in the winter over Christmas and New Years, and then a week in the spring over Easter before finally returning home for the summer at the beginning of June.

This fall I would start high-school, which I wasn't particularly thrilled about. No one in our pack had any respect for us Omega females, and even in middle school most of the school bullied us all. Their favorite line was to ask us why we needed to attend school when we would just end up spending the rest of our lives on our backs anyway. That was the life of a female Omega here at Midnight Moon. Because our pack was located just outside of Miami, our Alpha family had made quite a name for themselves with their numerous strip clubs and escort services. My Aunt Marianne had pushed me hard to ensure that I wasn't placed at the strip club, in the brothel, or as a call girl though. These days I just hoped that my blueberry scones were enough to make the Alpha want to keep me in the packhouse. I always went out of my way to push myself to create flavorful, unique desserts as well, with the hopes of the Alpha seeing my skills as too valuable to waste in his businesses.

I had just finished pouring the Alpha a cup of fresh coffee before grabbing the basket of blueberry scones to take both up to his office for his breakfast. He had spent the past week out on vacation with his family so he had alot of work to make up and wouldn't come down for breakfast this morning. I knew because he had told me as much when we pulled into the packhouse garage late last night. The Alpha family had been taking me on their family vacations for the past three years to cook for them while they were away from the pack after our Head Omega ended up burning herself badly when she dropped a heavy grease filled pan the last time she went. She was lucky however, that the Alpha allowed her to continue her duties as Head Omega as long as she stayed out of the kitchen. Sarah was quite old and her hands had become shaky in her old age. So, because he didn't want to take Aunt Marianne from the packhouse kitchen, he chose me to go with them instead, stating that I was nearly as good of a cook as my aunt. That first vacation was when he decided that I made the perfect blueberry scones, and he has been starting his mornings with them ever since.

I went to tell Aunt Marianne that I was taking the Alpha his breakfast only to find that she wasn't in the front of the kitchen and had left Liz in charge. So, I told her instead. As I ascended the stairs my mind went back to the yaht that we had spent the past week on. The Beta's twins went with us to keep Eduardo Jr, the Alpha heir, company while his parents handled work related issues. It had actually been an incredibly fun experience, and the Alpha had let me hang out and have fun with Eddie and the Beta twins, José and Juanita, once all of my responsibilities were handled. I was responsible for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, though I only had to worry about making sure the kids ate a couple nights, and once I hadn't had to cook at all since they had all gone out to eat. They didn't take me to dinner with them, but I didn't have to cook dinner or clean up after that night either so it was fine with me.

As I reached the Alpha's office on the second floor of the packhouse I knocked my usual knock so he would know that I had arrived with his breakfast. The door opened for me, and to my surprise Eddie Jr. stood on the other side wearing his incredibly handsome grin that made his moss green eyes sparkle as if they were laced with morning dew. He opened the door all the way up and I saw my Aunt Marianne standing a few feet behind him, beaming from ear to ear. The way the sun was shining through the window made her look like an angel standing there with the way it kissed her bright red hair, making it shine brightly as though she wore a halo.

"Novalie, please come in! We were just discussing you and the incredibly bright future you have here within our pack." Alpha announced from his seat behind his large cherry wood desk.

I stepped inside with a smile and walked the basket of scones and coffee over to his desk, placing his coffee just to his left, precisely where he likes it before sitting the basket of scones exactly 6 inches up and 4 inches over from his coffee before opening the basket for him. My ability to remember precisely how he prefers things to go is another reason the Alpha had begun taking a liking to me. I remembered all the small details that most of the other Omegas forgot, and he was constantly scolding the maids for their inability to remember where things went so he liked that he never had to tell me anything more than once.

"Thank you Novalie, they smell divine as always. Please, have a seat. Now that you are here we can finish our discussion. As I said,we were just discussing your future within the pack. Well, as you are well aware, Sarah is aging and while she isn't quite there yet, we aren't sure how much longer her mental facilities will stay intact. That is why when Marianne came to me back in the spring with the suggestion of training you to take over as Head Omega upon your graduation, I actually took the time to really think about it. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Afterall, you and Eddie get along wonderfully, so by the time he is ready to take over as Alpha, you could also take over as Head Omega. Now when Marianne suggested sending you off to the Academy to get specialized training, I had my doubts, but she assured me that she would pay the expenses out of her own salary, and that you would spend your time while you were home training directly under Sarah, so I reluctantly agreed and signed off on your application. Well, this morning your acceptance letter came. Marianne has given me the semester's tuition payment, so I went ahead and paid it along with Eddie and the twins this morning. While I am sure going to miss having my scones every morning, you will be receiving training from the very best. Being Head Omega isn't easy. You will have to learn to manage schedules to ensure that all of the pack responsibilities are handled, as well as ensure that everyone under you is doing what they are supposed to be doing at all times, handle absences and juggling people around, ensure that things are done properly, learn party planning for big events, and the Head Omega handles the paychecks of all pack members as well. Do you think you can handle that much responsibility Novalie?" He asked me before taking a bite from his scone.

"Absolutely Alpha, I can handle it. I promise I won't let the pack down." I replied as I folded my hands in my lap in an attempt to look confident though I was incredibly nervous.

"Good, I didn't think it would be a problem for a smart girl like you. You'll leave for school with Eddie and the twins on Friday. The car will be out front at 8am, so you'll be packed and ready to go by then. You're both dismissed. Eddie, you stay we have business to discuss." He spoke casually as he turned back to his laptop without giving me a second glance.

I stood from the seat and walked to the door which Aunt Marianne opened for me. She was beaming with excitement for me, as she had always wanted more for me than most Omega females in our pack would ever dare to aspire to. The two of us walked back down to the kitchens as she squealed with joy over my entry to the Academy. I hadn't even known that she had approached the Alpha about sending me there to be trained to take over the Head Omega position, but now I would be leaving for school with Eddie and the Beta twins in just a few short days. She told me that I wouldn't need to pack much, since part of the tuition she paid was for the school to supply my uniforms and shoes. I would only need to pack clothes for the weekends and any essential items I needed. She said that the school supplied nearly everything, so I wouldn't have to worry about books, or school supplies either. That was probably a good thing seeing as how we didn't have much.

Aunt Marianne and I had shared a small room in the basement of the packhouse my entire life. Only twenty of us Omega females, plus Sarah, the Head Omega, lived in the packhouse. The rest of the Omega females lived in the brothels on the outskirts of the territory. Whenever one of the escorts or stripper Omegas would get knocked up they moved them to what are called training houses. They stayed there until they gave birth, then a month after they gave birth they were sent back to the brothels. The training houses are where all the female babies were kept well after the male babies aged out. They grew up there unless they had a family member stationed elsewhere that was willing to take care of them while their mothers went back to the brothel. The boys went to care houses after their fourth birthday, where they lived under the supervision of the older female Omegas who were too old to work the strip clubs or the escort services. Unless they, too, like the female omegas, had a family member outside of the brothels who was willing to take them in. The older female Omegas who had aged out of working the strip clubs and escort services ran the brothel houses, the training houses and the care houses.

Luckily, I had Aunt Marianne who took me into the packhouse after my mother died. I'm sure the Alpha hadn't been too happy about it, but since Aunt Marianna had always been his best cook, he had allowed it. So I had grown up in this room. There are ten rooms like ours in the basement, and a dormitory style bathroom that the twenty of us packhouse Omegas shared. Ten of us worked the kitchens, and the other ten cleaned the public areas, the offices, and the ranked suites, as well as did all the ranked members laundry. The female Omegas at Midnight Moon didn't have mates, so that wasn't an issue in our housing arrangements. If one of them happened to find their mate within the pack, or in a visiting pack, they were usually rejected due to our incredibly low status or because no one wants to feel the pain of infidelity because their mate is forced to do sex work for a living. Our Head Omega, Sarah, had her own bedroom on the main floor in the back of the house by the kitchens. It was a small suite with an office and ensuite bathroom. I'd been in there a quite a bit growing up, as she used to watch me while Aunt Marianne was busy in the kitchen before I was old enough to help out. I've been in there a few times since, but only on Aunt Marianne's orders.