Chapter 2

An hour later, the pack house fills with noise and arrogance. Self-righteous, posturing wolves everywhere. Omegas like me line the walls, heads bowed, hands folded, eyes lowered. We move like shadows, serving their food, enduring their hands. No expressions. No reactions.

A sweaty palm brushes my breast.

Another squeezes my hip.

I don’t flinch. I can’t. The rule is simple: Don’t react. Don’t look. Don’t give them a reason.

“Urgh!” a shrill cry cuts through the air.

Alpha’s second daughter spills wine across her lap, shrieking as if the world’s ended. I’m already moving, plucking a wet wipe from the bundle I always keep tucked into my waistband.

She’s too pampered to clean herself. None of them know how to even wash their own clothes. Their motto is: “Why do it when the omegas can?”

Bastards, I tell ya.

I kneel beside her, the hard marble floor biting into my knees as I dab gently at the dark wine stain blooming across her satin dress. The cloth in my hand is damp, trembling slightly between my fingers. I already know it won’t be enough—this kind of stain never fades—but I try anyway. I always try.

“Get away from me, you wolf-less scum,” she spits, her voice sharp as usual.

Before I can react, her palm slams against my shoulder, shoving me back with brutal force. My temple slams against the edge of the oak table.

Pain bursts through my skull like a struck bell and white stars explode behind my eyes, blinding and searing. The room tilts. For a few disorienting seconds, I’m weightless, breath caught in my throat, the world spinning like I’ve been thrown into a storm.

“You’re useless!” she screeches, her voice distant, distorted, like I’m underwater. “You can’t get anything right! All you ever do is take up space in this house, steal food that isn’t yours, and serve no purpose!”

My ears ring. I press my hand to the side of my head, fingers coming away sticky with a trace of blood. Still, I rise—slowly, with care, like I’m made of glass that might shatter with a single wrong move. My spine straightens, my gaze drops, and I bow, the gesture silent and submissive.

“You don’t even have markings,” she continues, scoffing. “Hell, you’re not even a real shifter. Just get out of my sight,” she snarls. “Your worthless form is irritating me.”

I step away, my body aching, vision pulsing at the edges, but I don’t let her see, and neither do I respond.

She isn’t worth the breath I can’t spare.

“Disgusting little freak,” she spits, turning away.

I swallow the bitterness. I don’t need to feel intimidated. I know who I am. I’m the one who cooks her food, cleans her room, scrubs her bloody toilet. And all she does is sit and spew poison. The delusional perfect pretty wannabe.

“Edna, enough,” Eloise, the first daughter, snaps. “You know she can’t clean that off, just like she can’t clean off permanent ink.”

“She should’ve tried harder—”

“Enough, girls,” the Alpha cuts in, voice cold and commanding. “No bickering over meaningless people.”

Meaningless.

That one word stabs deeper than the shove.

Once, my mother called me special. Now I’m just… nothing. Rock bottom is indeed a dreadful place to be.

He stands. His presence silences the room.

“You all know what happened with Alpha Hendrix Ajax,” he begins. “How he wiped out Parempi Susi and Must Kuu Hing Pack. How he enslaved Reece’s people. I fear we’re next if we don’t act.”

I still. My blood runs cold.

“So, I’ve decided to make an offer. Like Kash and Larry did. I’ll call him tomorrow. Let his men search for mates here. If none are found…” he pauses, then continues, “he can take four selected pack members as omegas.”

“What?” Eloise gasps. “Father—you know what happened to the others. They became slaves. Breeding stock.”

“I’m not telling you this to invite objections,” the Alpha says, his voice heavy with finality, “but so you can prepare yourselves. I’ll be calling him tomorrow evening and praying he accepts the offer—otherwise, we may be in serious danger.”

Good, I think bitterly. I hope he accepts—and takes his precious children with him. Maybe then, the Alpha would finally taste the consequences of his decisions. Maybe then he’d understand what it means to be offered.

Not that it matters. His world is not mine. His battles, his politics, his negotiations with monsters—none of it touches me.

I already live in hell.

I hate this life. I hate the constant fear, the endless pretending. I hate having to slink off into the woods just to shift for a few stolen minutes—just to let her breathe.

But I have no choice.

My wolf is cursed. I am cursed.

And this quiet, suffocating existence in the shadows… this life of hiding?

It’s all we’ll ever have.