Chapter 1 chapter 1

I’m Chiara (Chee-are-a) Dawson, a human living in a Pack of werewolves. (I know, how cliché.) More like a pack of monsters if you ask me. I live in the orphanage, where I share a room with another wolf, but she feels pretty much the same way I do. This place is a hellhole for us. As orphans, we are free labor for the Pack and punching bags for their frustrations. I have lived in the Silver Aspen Pack most of my life. Like the wolves, I can’t wait until I’m 18, but my reasons are way different than the wolves. When I turn 18, I can take their damn blood oath of silence and get the hell out of here. But I have a problem or two regarding that. One, I don’t have anywhere to go, and I don’t know if I have any family anywhere out there. I just know that the human world, even though it will be hard, is where I will be heading. I know I won’t be staying here. And two, I don’t know when I will be eighteen. I know what you’re thinking: How can you not know your birthday? Right? Well, I was found on the border by a Pack warrior. I had a blanket with a note pinned to it that had my name and my age. That was it, nothing else. That was when I was three. So, you see, I don’t know when my birthday truly is. They told me they tried to find my family. “They” being the Alpha and Beta, but I highly doubt they did. They go by the day they found me, for their record-keeping purposes on my age, but who’s to say where in the year I was, had I just turned three? Was I halfway through the year? Or just a few months into the year? No one knows. But I have less than a year left before I can get the hell out and never look back.

CHIARA: “Hey, you there?” I blink my eyes and focus on my friend Iesha, as she is waving her hand in front of my face. “Yeah, I’m here, sorry, it’s just that I hate this time of year.” I say as I grab her hand. “I know, but you have to get over it.” She says. I shake my head. How do you get over the death of your best friend? “What are you going to wear to the party/prom?” “I don’t know if I will go.” I tell her. Not realizing that we were being eavesdropped on. “Oh, come on, you have to. It’s our last year.” “Yeah, but unless they are going to foot the bill and get everyone a new outfit, all I have are my three go-to temple dresses, and I am not going to wear any one of those to their stupid prom/party so that Valen and her crew can destroy it.” I say to her. We are walking to our fifth period after having lunch. Speak the devil’s name and she appears.

VALEN: “Hey, Fat Pig, you need to make sure my dress is clean for the party Saturday night.” I tell her. “And make sure you don’t get your stench all over it.” “Well, if you don’t trust me to do it, right, then ask someone else.” “Did you just talk back to me? Bitch!” “No, Valen, I would never talk back to the Luna’s enforcer. Goddess forbid.” How dare she? I walked over to her and slapped her hard. “Don’t you dare disrespect the Luna. Bitch know your place.” I seethed, getting in her face. I was going to hit her again, just because. “Go ahead, Valen, beat me, then you won’t have to worry about me getting my stench all over your clothes.” She says to me. Damn it. Why do humans have to be so fricking fragile for? “Just make sure they are clean Bitch! And watch your mouth when it comes to the Luna.” I said, and I slammed my shoulder into hers as I walked away from her.

IESHA: “Are you crazy? Do you have a death wish or something?” I asked her. “No, but I also know how much she loves to brag that she has her own personal slave. Me. And if I end up in the clinic again because of her beating me, she will either have to do her own laundry or find some other poor slob to do it, and then not have a guarantee that they will get it done the way she likes it.” Chiara says. “But still, one of these days she is really going to hurt you.” “She already has.” She said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Let’s get to our classes.” She says. And we head down the hall to our fifth hours.

CHIARA: I knew Valen wouldn’t let things slide; she never has. And the party she was referring to is not the Prom/Party; she seems to go out to some party every weekend. But if she does put me in the clinic. I will have an automatic out for the prom/party, considering it is next weekend, plus not having to do any chores until I’m completely healed, so we will just wait and see which side wins out. Not that she would care whether I went to the prom/party or not, but like I said, her laundry wouldn’t get done the way she likes it, and if it’s one of the omegas that ends up with it, she can’t bully them and get away with it like she does me. … I was right, she didn’t let it slide. She was waiting for me after class with her posse, the Gamma twins Cassie and Carri, and the first Delta’s 1 CHIARA: daughter, Brandi. They surrounded me and started throwing punches and kicking me. I didn’t dare try to fight back; they were ranked, except for Brandi, and she was training to be the head warrior, so what was the point? I just covered up the best I could and waited for them to stop. When they finally did, I was out cold, lying on the floor bleeding, and no one helped; they were either too scared of what would happen to them in retaliation, or they didn’t care either. I woke in the clinic to the sound of beeping, a sound that I’ve heard more than my fair share of.

FLASHBACK: I had just walked into the kitchen to bring in some dirty dishes, and Luna Louise came storming in with a serving platter in her hand, yelling something about it being the wrong one. And she threw it at the sink, but it bounced off the counter’s edge, flew backwards, and hit me in the forehead. It was a heavy crystal, so it didn’t break, but it knocked me out. I woke up in the clinic with a blood IV hooked up to my arm and a goose egg on my forehead. I was five and scared.   END FLASHBACK.

CHIARA: Again, I had a blood IV hooked up to me. I checked the monitoring equipment. I knew they weren’t really monitoring me, so I got out of bed and checked the room; there were two other patients in there with me. I went over and attached the blood bag to the one that looked to be the worst for wear, took his empty one, and climbed back into bed. I knew that it would take longer to heal doing that, but I didn’t care. I don’t want their blood; they are monsters. They never take blood from us humans to give us for transfusions.