Chapter 04

Samantha

I spent a week recovering in the pack hospital. The staff wasn't nice to me and I didn't receive gentle treatment, but I was used to the cruelty. I was just grateful to be alive. When I found out that the stone had been recovered, I was filled with joy, but I still found it hard to believe that my friends, Jessy and Alisa, stole the moonstone. They had no reason to do so. I knew Alisa was hurting but I also knew that she wasn't capable of such evil.

Alisa was elated when she found out the son of the Delta, Mason was her fated mate. She had a crush on him ever since she could remember, but he never noticed her. Her station in the pack made it impossible. Finally, the moon goddess had brought them together. Her hopes were high until Mason Whitespear decided to mate with her and then reject her. He claimed the sex was a farewell gift, a taste of what they might have had.

Alisa didn't take the rejection well. She had kept to herself for a couple of weeks. Sometimes at night, I would hear her wolf, Celia, howling at the moon, angry at the moon goddess for her fate. Eventually, she accepted the rejection and it seemed she had moved on. Her running away with Jessy, made me realise she hadn't moved on.

A mean-looking old lady came to get me from the infirmary.

"Rogue, you have been posted to the Alpha quarters," she said, tossing me some clothes.

"Wear this. You can't work there in rags. Hurry, we do not have time." she instructed.

I could easily tell she was irritated by me. Knowing the Alpha quarters were far from where I slept, I asked her if my sleeping arrangements had changed.

"You wish," she replied scornfully, "Traitors like you should be put to death. I do not understand why the Alpha decided to show the three of you mercy after the bad luck your actions tried to bring upon this pack. When Alex becomes Alpha I believe he would rid our pack of rogues." she said scornfully.

Secretly, I was glad to learn that my friends were still alive. It also made me confirm my suspicion that they never took the stone.

While on our way to the Alpha quarters, I saw something that broke my heart completely. Jessy and Alisa were chained like animals outside the staff quarter. Their necks were chained to a post to restrict their movement. Their eyes were dead, they didn't even recognise or notice me.

"A beautiful sight?" The woman asked referring to my friends, " You like their new living arrangement?" she continued to mock, "We treated you rogues like wolves, but you chose to act like dogs. I am glad they are getting the treatment they deserve. I hope you do too." she said and continued to laugh.

We got to the Alpha quarters in total silence.

"You are in charge of cleaning the Alpha's son's apartment. You are not to go anywhere near the Alpha's apartment. If you are caught close to their apartment you would be punished. If anything goes missing you would be held responsible until proven otherwise. You are entitled to one meal a day. You are only allowed to retire to bed after Alex has gone to bed. You are to resume at four in the morning. Always wear what you have on. do not wear your rags to this place and your clothes must always be clean. Am I clear? " she said and I nodded in obedience. Life here was going to be harder than before I began to brace me for what was to come.

Alex

I had given strict instructions on how to deal with the rogues and the pack had handled the task according. They were to make a spectacle of the two thieves to deter any aspirations of criminal activity within the pack. Although I asked them to move the little one here, I instructed the staff to keep an eye on her and control her movements and activities within my quarters.

Dealing with the rogue issue was a handful. We had bigger problems to deal with. I was determined to make my pack rogue-free when I became Alpha.

Samantha

My first day working at the Alpha quarters was hard. People deliberately bumped into me, hit me, and shoved me around. Some encounters with the residents even left bruises on my body. I kept my head down all the time, tried hard to be calm and stay out of everyone's way. What I was allowed to eat was worse than what I ate before. Before the alleged theft, we usually waited for the pack members to eat, then we would eat what was leftover in the kitchen, but now I was only allowed to eat what was leftover on their plates. Which simply meant that if they did not leave leftovers on their plates I would go hungry. Coming to that conclusion I had saved the dinner roles and cakes that were leftover from the dinner service. The life span of cakes and bread was longer than the actual food. I will have to save them for days the pack decided to eat all that was on their plate.

Alpha Alex did not retire to bed until Midnight. I still had a thirty minutes walk to my room. I had taken some extra cakes so I could give them to my friends.

When I got to where they were chained down I began to cry. Jessy saw me and started crying.

"Sam we are so sorry," she pleaded " but we didn't take the moonstone. We only stole some money to escape" she explained. Her voice was strained and weak.

I knelt close to Jessy and hugged her. I put a water bottle to her lips and she drank the water, then I fed her some cakes, which she ate slowly. When I put the bottle to Alisa's lips she did not open her mouth to drink. She just kept staring into oblivion.

"She won't eat, drink or speak" Jessy explained, "She has been that way for two days now, I don't know what to do Sam," Jessy began to cry "I don't want to lose her " She wept and I hugged her.

"Alisa please don't be hard on yourself," I began "Don't let them break your spirit for a crime you did not commit. Please Alisa eat something" I pleaded but she just ignored me. There was something about her behaviour that made me fear we had lost her completely.

"I need to run Jessy," I excused my self "I will be back with dinner tomorrow I promise," I said and she nodded slowly. I left my friends with a broken heart.

When I got to my room I immediately washed the work clothes that were given to me. I squeezed it hard so It would dry quickly. The instructions given to me were clear. I was to resume work every morning in the same work clothes clean. I intended to do that. All I wanted to do was survive.