I pulled the metal handle of the kitchen door, my left ear tilted toward the wood as I braced my body for the inevitable explosion of anger.
Instead, when the door swung open, the room didn’t erupt.
It was dead silent.
The air reeked heavily of roasted game, spices, and the sharp, bitter sting of bleach.
Dozens of omegas were moving like frantic ghosts between the counters, their faces pale and covered in sweat.
The Head Omega Martha didn’t even look at my fresh scars when she noticed me standing right there, she just threw a greasy burlap rag straight at my chest.
“Where the hell have you been, freak?” she hissed under her breath, her voice trembling with panic I’d never heard before.
“Get to the back sinks.
The Blood Moon wolves have been here for four days, and the silver dishes are already piling up to the ceiling.
Move!”
I immediately started walking towards the back sink and what I saw made my skin crawl.
Dozens of unwashed dishes and cutlery were parked by the sink.
It looked like in those four days that I had been unconscious, nobody had bothered to wash a single dish.
The sight was an eyesore.
They had been packing and leaving the plates for me until I was conscious.
God, I hated these people.
I cleared the heavy layers of grease and left-over bones off the basin so I could have space, and I quickly began washing the plates.
Martha said it had been four days since the Blood Moon Pack had been here, meaning I had slept for four days straight.
No wonder I had time to heal and felt well-rested.
The mysterious injection from that unknown person had truly done its work while I was blacked out.
But come to think of it, that man who had shaken Alpha Richard’s hand on the first night had said Alpha Alexander would arrive in two days.
Four days had passed now, which meant he was already here in the pack house.
No wonder everyone was acting completely strange.
The tormentor of my tormentors was officially here, and from the looks of it, my abusers couldn’t dish out what they had been serving me for years.
The biggest bully was now in town.
That thought made me smile a genuine, hidden smile.
People moved frantically around me as I continued washing stack after stack of silver platters used for serving the guests.
It was afternoon, and the pack was currently having lunch, so the plates didn’t stop coming for a while.
In the new piles that were being constantly brought in for washing, some had a lot of untouched meat and bread.
I carefully kept those clean plates aside behind the basin, planning to eat the scraps later when I was finally done.
I wasn’t expecting them to feed me lunch.
As a matter of fact, I knew they would try everything possible to make sure I didn’t eat for days to make up for my “laziness” and not showing up to work.
Alpha Richard would make sure of that personally.
To pass the time and gather information, I had to deliberately position my good left ear so it faced the main kitchen island where some of the omegas were actively gossiping.
“While I was clearing out plates yesterday from the dining hall, I heard one of those guys say something about a formal decree,” Lisa said, looking around nervously to make sure no one else was listening in on their conversation.
I forced myself to focus on scrubbing the silver tray in my hands, even though I desperately wanted to turn around and look at them.
“What decree?” Abigail the cook asked, leaning over the counter.
“Apparently, Alpha Alexander brought a formal decree from the High Priest Council,” Lisa replied in pure terror.
“Someone sent an anonymous letter two years ago exposing our pack’s illegal trades and how we treat the unranked omegas.
The Council just opened it last week, and Alexander is here to audit every single asset we own and to look into the allegation of how we treat omegas.”
Wait, what?
They were here because someone reported the pack to the High Priest Council?
Who was brave enough to do that?Something clicked in my head almost immediately.
How they have been treating the unranked?
I was the only omega who was treated like a piece of absolute shit in this pack.
I was the only omega whose life was completely miserable here.
I was the only one who had been beaten to the point of death, dehumanized, insulted, and abused.
So, someone had actually tried to save me.
Someone had reached out for help just for me.
“While I was cleaning the Alpha’s office, I saw Alpha Richard trying to scrub the ledgers, but if Alexander demands a full physical headcount of the pack, what are we going to do about the orphan girl?” Bella asked.
Even with my head down, I could feel the heavy weight of their eyes turning toward my back.
“And look at the state she is in.
Couldn’t she have tried to wear something better today?” Abigail hissed, her voice dripping with disgust.
Something better?
Where the hell was I supposed to get that?
I was no witch who could do magic, or a magician who could pull new clothes out of a hat.
Besides, this oversized shirt and jeans were the only worn-out clothes I owned that were decent enough to cover my skin.
“I saw Alpha Richard yelling at the Luna this morning for a slight misunderstanding,” Sonia added, cutting back into the whisper.
“He is losing his mind because Alpha Alexander didn’t just come for a peaceful alliance.
He is here to carry out a strict assignment.”
“Who do you think wrote that letter?” Lisa asked.
They were all quiet for a while, possibly thinking about who in our territory was bold enough to challenge the Alpha.
I, too, would like to know.
Who was it that risked their life to mail that note?
“It can’t possibly be the mute,” Abigail scoffed, breaking the silence.
“I am sure she can’t read and write.
She isn’t educated at all, so my money is definitely not on her.”
That wasn’t true.
I could read and write very well.
Fine, I hadn’t attended the pack school since I was eight years old, but my parents had taught me well before they died.
I could read perfectly fine and I am not an illiterate person, thank you very much, I said in my mind, wishing they could hear my thoughts.
“Well, whoever it was, I hope they know what they have done and what the Alpha will do to them when he finds out who they are,” Megan added grimly.
“What are you guys doing over there?” Martha’s loud voice suddenly interrupted, and I could hear her sharp footsteps coming closer to the island.
“There is a lot to be done and no time for you ladies to gossip.
Break it up now!” she yelled.
She looked completely stressed out and tired, as if she hadn’t slept for a whole month.
The omegas scattered back to their stations, and the kitchen went back to its tense, silent routine.
I was still processing everything I had just overheard when another terrifying thought ran through my mind.
If Alpha Richard knew that someone wrote that letter and the Council was onto him, why hadn’t he done anything drastic yet?
My hands froze in the soapy water, and I felt a cold chill run down my body.
Alpha Richard was a calculating, vicious bastard, and he was sure as hell not going to let me walk around the pack house like this where the visiting wolves could see me.
He was up to something, and I was finally beginning to understand the full scope of danger I was in.
To them, I wasn’t just a slave anymore.
I was a breathing, living piece of evidence of a major rights violation against Council law.
They weren’t going to let a wolf-less orphan drag their entire bloodline down.
If I should be discovered by the investigators, Alpha Alexander would probably make sure Alpha Richard lost his title, his pack, or even worse, lost his life.
They needed to make me disappear before the headcount.
I wasn’t safe here anymore.
Not even for another minute.
I gently rinsed the soap off my hands and started making my way out of the kitchen, trying to slip through the rear exit.
I knew for sure Alpha Richard was already aware I had woken up from my injuries.
The moment I stepped out of the kitchen door into the back hallway, I looked down the corridor, and my heart stopped.
There he was.
Alpha Richard was walking directly toward the kitchen.
His face was twisted in rage, his eyes wild with a desperate paranoia.
I can’t remember what happened next in my panic.
All I remembered was screaming at the top of my lungs, turning on my heel, and running out of the pack house into the open courtyard with Alpha Richard roaring in fury right behind me.
Oh shit.
Go girl run….
OMG what is he going to do to her.
Prayers.
Don’t forget to add to your library.