Chapter 1
Ember's POV
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Ugh" I rolled over and smacked my alarm.
Another day in hell.
I told myself when I turned 18 I would leave here and never look back. I lied. Here I am almost 21, and I'm still in this hellhole of a pack.
Why do I stay? Uncle Seth. He's a werewolf and werewolves need a pack. They need that community and connection.
I am not a werewolf, but my mom was. She was mated to a human who rejected her and me. She died after having me. When uncle Seth took me back to our pack, he found the whole pack killed by roughs. Uncle Seth took me and headed to find a new pack. That's how we ended up in Dimitri's pack. The Hallow moon pack.
I have asked him many times to leave this pack and find a new one. It's always the same answer. How lucky we are that Dimitri accepted us into his pack, how hard it would be to find a pack that would accept a human blah, blah, blah.
Alpha Dimitri is a rude, selfish, mean, abusive, piece of s**t. The only reason he allows us to stay is to abuse me and force me to wait on his ungrateful pack. He acts like he is doing us a favor, and we need to bow down to him, but he's not.
But as much as I hate him I have to admit, he's right. Uncle Seth would have a hard time finding another pack with me around.
I thought about running away. But that would cause problems for uncle Seth. Dimitri would probably kick him out of the pack because I left. He would see it as a betrayal for everything he has done for us. Uncle Seth would really have a hard time finding another pack if he was banished from Dimitri's. If I somehow did find a way to escape the pack borders, I would never be allowed back and never get to see uncle Seth again.
Losing uncle Seth was not something I was willing to give up, no matter how bad this pack was. He was my family, my only family. At the end of the day, all we had was each other.
I rolled out of bed to start my day of hell. My body still ached from yesterday's day of hell. It was a never-ending cycle.
I got dressed and headed to the kitchen to get breakfast started. Dimitri left his normal list of demands hanging on the refrigerator.
BREAKFAST - pancakes, eggs, bacon
MORNING CHORES - Any chores that were not finished yesterday need to be finished first. Feed and water all animals. The gardens need to be watered and weeded. This includes all the flower beds. All the shirts and pants in the basket in the laundry building need to be repaired. Make sure all bathrooms are clean. This includes the training center and the hospital. They will be inspected when you are finished. If they are not clean, you will spend 3 days in the dungeons.
LAUNDRY - there were no towels in the training center yesterday. If this happens again, you will spend 2 nights in the dungeons.
SANITIZE - sanitize the training center and hospital. They will be inspected when you are finished. If they are not sanitized properly, you will spend a week in the dungeons.
LUNCH - fried chicken, macaroni and cheese.
AFTERNOON CHORES - All beds need to be stripped and cleaned. All floors must be swept and mopped. The grass by the pack house, training center and hospital must be cut today. (the rest of the grounds can be done tomorrow, rain or shine) All animal pins and cages must be cleaned.
DINNER - pot roast, homemade bread, carrots, mashed potatoes, apple pie
EVENING CHORES - pack house must be sanitized. All surfaces must be cleaned, and all walls must be wiped down. Every surface in the kitchen must be bleached and cleaned. If this is not done, you will finish it until it is. Then spend a week in the dungeons. All your work will be inspected. Start preparations for Ava's birthday party.
I looked over the list and rolled my eyes. Today was not too bad. My chores list was smaller than normal. It was still going to take me all day to get everything done. I got started on breakfast. I had an hour to get breakfast done before they started coming down demanding food.
Dimitri was the first to come down. He took a seat at the kitchen bar. I placed his plate in front of him, then poured him a cup of coffee.
"I expect your chores to be finished by the end of the day. Tomorrow is Ava's party. We will be having visitors, so the guest rooms must be prepared. That must be done today. Our guest will be arriving in the morning. I'll give you your to-do list for tomorrow later this evening. You're going to want to start your day earlier tomorrow. You're going to have to go into town for supplies. Tony will be accompanying you." He waved his hand to dismiss me.
"Yes sir." I said, bowing and starting lunch pre before I started my morning chores. I still had a bunch of things I needed to do that I didn't finish yesterday.
Pack members started coming down. They bumped and pushed me out of the way to get to the food. I decided to finish lunch prep later and headed out to get the animals fed, then head to the laundry building to tackle that mess. Laundry for 50 plus people is a full-time job in itself.
It was mid-morning, and I needed to get back to the kitchen to get lunch started. The animals were fed, I got some of the pins cleaned out, and I even got the fresh towels I washed yesterday to the training center before anyone got there. The pack started showing up as I was leaving. I bowed my head and made my way out the door. The less I interacted with them, the better off I was.
I was heading back to the pack house to wash up and get lunch started when I noticed Nick coming out the back door. I growned to myself and turned and headed back to the animals. Nick was the one person I didn't want to see. He was the worst of them all.
"Ember. Where are you running off to?" Nick yelled at me. I held my head down and walked faster away from him. It didn't help. He ran after me and grabbed my arm to stop me.
"Hey, I'm talking to you." He pulled me around to face him. "Why are you always playing hard to get. You're a human, you're lucky to have someone like me even looking at you. You can play these games all you want, but I'll get what I want in the end." He spat in my face.
"Nick, just leave me alone. I told you before I'm not interested." I said, trying to pull my arm away. He grabbed it tighter and pulled me to him, so he was right in my face.
"I told you before I get what I want, and it don't matter if your interested or not you'll do what I say." I tried to pull my arm away from him again.
"Did you forget what my uncle told you?" I asked, still trying to get my arm back. He was hurting me. I was going to have a bruise.
"I'm not scared of Seth. Alpha Dimitri gave me permission to take him on next time he challenges me." Nick said with a cocky smile.
Uncle Seth would destroy him. Dimitri was stupid to allow that.
I smiled at him.
This made him angrier. He tightened his grip and growled in my face.
"Seth can come challenge me any time he wants. I will be more than happy to end his life for him." He growled with an evil smile, "As for you,
I'm growing tired of your games. You have three days. You can come to me on your own, or I will take what I want. Either way, this little game is coming to an end."
He then smacked me with all his force across my face. The impact would have sent me to the ground, but he still held on to my arm. He punched me in the stomach and threw me down to the ground. He kicked me a few times before bending down and getting in my face.
"Oh and since you like playing games so much, I promised a few of the guys they could have a turn with you when I was finished. I would get as much rest as you can over the next few days. You're not going to get much sleep once the guys and I get a hold of you."
"Dimitri would never agree to that and uncle Seth would never allow it." I said, turning my face to look right at him.
He was not going to get to me. I would not show him fear. Nick got a scary murderous look on his face, then laughed.
"Oh, did I forget to mention that I own you now? I made a deal with Dimitri.
I have given him permission to take my sister as his Luna in exchange for owning you. You will still belong to the pack, but you are mine whenever I want you.
Dimitri feels it's time you started taking care of the pack. Your purity is distracting the male pack members. He has given me permission to fix the problem. In three days he will announce my sister as his Luna once the announcement is made.
You're all mine. I can't wait to break you in. I'll take you to the dungeons, so everyone won't have to listen to your screams. I'll take you in the bigger cell, so the guys can watch. Once I'm done, I'll let them take their turns.
But don't worry, I'll make some of them wait. I won't let them destroy you the first night." He said, spitting on me and walking away.
I pulled myself off the ground and headed as fast as I could to the pack house. I needed to talk to Uncle Seth.
If what Nick just said was true I would be in trouble and had to get out of here.
I ran to his room, but he was not there. He had to be at the training center, but I couldn't go there. I wouldn't be able to tell him what Nick told me with everyone around they would hear me.
I'll have to wait until tonight.