003.

Dawn’s POV:

It’s been a few days since my encounter with Zade, the vampire and ever since, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched.

True to his words, he had helped me look for Logan whom we found at a ditch, crying out his lungs and looking all scared and bloody. Zade says that it was a miracle that other vampires hadn’t reached that ditch first or he would have been steak by the end of the day.

Mother, on the other hand, always asked me how I found Logan and how we both made it out alive but I couldn’t tell her the truth. Zade had forced me into promising him to keep my mouth sealed.

Damn, I sound like a teenage schoolgirl in love with my constant Zade this, Zade that nowadays. It was only a shame that I couldn’t tell anyone else about him.

Pushing thoughts of the striking vampire out of my mind, I stepped into the room with about fifteen people scrambling about looking for a seat. Autumn was right beside me and she seemed like she was just as lost in thought as I was.

Just as we joined the crowd, a pretty blonde woman strode out of a room by the corner and as soon as everyone saw her, they went quiet.

“Good day to y’all!” She greeted us in a singsong voice and everyone responded in distorted unison. God, even her voice was as beautiful as she was.

“…today you’ll all be assigned to work on the Alpha’s farm. We need you to do the jobs quickly and efficiently, and by 5:00pm I’ll be coming to inspect the job as well as bring your refreshments and payments!” She said, causing everyone besides Autumn and I to scream in excitement.

Oh, did I mention that humans were seen as worthless in the business sector too and we were only used as slaves or laborers? If I didn’t, then now I have.

The woman continued by giving us a few rules which we must follow and after deciding that we were fit for the ‘job’, she asked her bodyguards to load us- as if we were cargo- into a waiting truck.

A few minutes later, we arrived at our destination and earlier when we had been told that the farm belonged to a man, their Alpha, I had thought that it was only going to be a few hectares of land, so why the fuck was I seeing something as huge as a continent?

Autumn gasped from beside me. Her face flushed and she was panicky as she asked; “how are twenty of us expected to clear this place in only a few hours?”

My thoughts mirrored hers but I simply shrugged. It was too late to back out now, especially when we’ve been brought this far. These people were shifters and just as they were known for their vast wealth, they were also known for their extreme temper tantrums and I couldn’t afford to piss them off now.

Without another word, we quickly got to work. I took the portion allocated to me and began to work while deep down I hated myself for applying for this job. I hated myself for roping Autumn into it too. This was slavery and right now, I feared that I may not be able to finish my portion.

{***}

I had barely just finished with my portion when a loud noise sounded in the distance. It sounded like a bell… an alarm or something and if its purpose was to jolt us awake, then it succeeded because then, everyone began to scramble to their feet, whilst packing up their equipment.

Autumn and I joined in, and just when we finished with that, the beautiful blonde lady from earlier came into the farm with a few other intimidating looking people strolling behind her. Just as she had said earlier, they came with refreshments which only consisted of water and sausages, and several brown envelopes which they distributed to all of us.

As soon as mine was given to me, I dumped the ‘refreshments’ in my pocket and ripped the envelope open. To my surprise it was money, a lot of it! I glanced at Autumn to see that she had mirrored my actions and we both did a small dance of victory, happy that we had made this much from working for a few hours.

The woman then gave a small speech, thanking us for being diligent and all that but I knew it was all a sham. Even a blind man could clearly see how condescending she looked at us. But then I didn't care because soon after, we were dismissed!

Autumn quickly ran to me, her eyes were as round as saucers and the happiness radiating off her in waves almost had me falling when she screamed; “two hundred?!”

My eyes widened. “Two hundred what?”

“Two hundred dollars just for working on this small piece of land?!”

When she said that, I quickly fished out my envelope. I had been so excited that I didn’t bother to count it. However, my jaw nearly fell to the floor when I counted mine and it was Six hundred dollars!

“Did they make a mistake?” I asked Autumn who was too stunned to speak.

I thought about asking the others but from the unfriendly looks on their faces, I immediately deduced that I shouldn’t. I turned back to Autumn;

“Isn’t this weird? It’s a mistake right?”

“Yes, it has to be,” she responded, looking more afraid than I even was. “Should we report it or just leave?”

As appealing as the second option sounded, I couldn’t help but ask; “Will they find out later that they made a mistake and come back for me?”

Autumn shook her head; “I don’t know but I’m scared. These people are shifters… werewolves. Only God knows what they’ll do to us if they find out we left with way more than they were supposed to pay us.”

That was all I needed to hear before I began to stomp toward the large mansion not so far from the farm. Autumn rushed after me and from her sudden mannerisms, I realized that she was scared shitless. I couldn’t blame her though, her parents were killed by these people.

We arrived there several minutes later, after almost changing our minds about a gazillion times, and were stopped by the gates by a scary looking soldier.

He barked; “what are you humans doing here?!”

The belittling tone in his voice had me reeling but before I could comment on that, Autumn raised my hand, the one with the envelope, to his face and said;

“We were overpaid.”

The soldier’s eyes widened. He was just about to say something when suddenly a car honking behind us had us turning in its direction.

I jumped to get out of the way just as an extremely handsome man got out of the car. At first, he had a stoic expression and was about to bark at the soldier but when he saw me, his eyes widened.

Just then, a strange but intoxicating smell hit my nostrils. I shifted uncomfortably, causing Autumn to look sharply in my direction. It was unlike anything I’d come across and smelled of mint and lavender… and something else, something that I couldn’t name but was strangely alluring.

As if sharing in my discomfort, the ‘man’ pranced at me… almost aggressively, and with his fingers nearly digging into my skin, he sniffed at me, his eyes widening even more when he barely whispered the word; “Mate…”

I stilled.

Just then, the blonde woman from earlier stepped out of the house. She scanned my face and then looked back at the man holding onto me as if he’d just captured a thief. There was a look of confusion gracing her features before she bowed;

“Alpha.”

Again, I froze. Not from shock this time but from fear.

Now, what I regretted more than applying for this job was bringing myself here. I should’ve gone home with the money… and then maybe all of this wouldn’t be happening.