lost and found

Run

"I don't know how I got myself stuck with such an ungrateful, disrespectful, useless omega! I should have left you where I found you! You probably would have been more useful dead! But no, I had too big of a heart to just leave you there, and now look! After all I have done for you! This is how you repay me? By shrinking my favorite dress!" Luna Holly Shades, of the Darkmoon pack, sputtered loudly in the young girl's face. Her voice sounded like a pterodactyl with a head cold. The young girl sat on her knees on the floor with her head down, quietly listening to her Luna blame the fact that she had gained a few pounds on her.

Luna Holly wasn't a kind Luna. Although her voice was like nails on a chalkboard, Holly seemed to enjoy it far too much, as the only time it couldn't be heard squawking about the pack lands was when she was asleep or away on vacation. She was a mean and lazy Luna. She used her rank to boss around anyone she could. Holly was a tall woman, and though she was curvy, it wasn't at all in the right places. She was rather top-heavy, with oddly skinny legs that made you wonder how they even held her up. Although her stomach looked like she had already given birth a few times, her hips, or lack of, showed that she had never given the Alpha the heir to the self-made throne that he wished he had.

It wasn't hard to understand why the moon goddess would choose Holly as the Alpha's mate. Although if you never met him, it's hard to see how any man could be matched with such an awful woman. He, too, was no prize to be won. And though he wasn't as loud and obnoxious as his Luna, he was just as mean, just as lazy, and just as horrible, if not worse. He thought himself a king, instead of an Alpha, and treated his pack members as though they were below him instead of part of his pack. Over the years, his large round size told the story of just how lazy he truly was. Most Alphas were fit and strong. The only thing fit and strong about Alpha Freddrick Shades was the throne he always sat on, and it was a tight fit at that!

As Holly paced back and forth, carrying on and saying all that she could say to seem like some poor victim, the young girl, Juniper, knew to be still and not speak a word. She knew that the dress that was supposedly shrunk and ruined was just as it had been before she had hand-washed it and hung it out to dry. But if she tried to defend herself, the punishment would be far worse. Juniper had learned her lesson the hard way more times than she wanted to admit. After years upon years of being bullied, beaten on, and put down by her Alpha and Luna, her spirit was broken. And so she sat there on her pained knees, waiting for the drama queen to finish her rant, hoping that her punishment wouldn't be too harsh for a crime she didn't commit.

Juniper was a young girl of 17, and very small for her age after being malnourished for so many years. The Alpha and Luna only allowed her to eat once a day. Only what was left over after they had stuffed their faces and filled their oversized stomachs, could Juniper eat the scraps they had left behind. Hardly enough to keep her alive, but somehow she had survived all these years on little or sometimes no food at all. Besides being as tiny as she was, and far too skinny for a young but growing she-wolf, Juniper was a beautiful girl. Her hair she kept short so it wasn't as easy to pull on. Her eyes were a bright aqua, a greenish-blue color that became lighter and darker depending on how tired she was or her mood. Most of the time they were darker as she hardly ever got enough sleep.

Every morning Juniper woke herself up at 4:00 a.m. to make sure that breakfast for the ranked members of the pack was made and set on the table before anyone else woke up. As the Alpha and Luna's very own personal slave, it was her job to do, well, everything! Throughout her day, Juniper had her daily tasks, which were more than any one person should be able to get done in one day, plus any orders that were screamed at her at any random time. Most nights, after cooking and scrubbing and running around all day, Juniper was lucky if she was able to make it to bed around two o'clock in the morning, closing her eyes for what only seemed a moment, before having to get right back up to start all over again.

What little sleep Juniper did manage to get wasn't at all comfortable either. In a packhouse full of spare rooms and more than enough space, she was given a large storage closet to sleep in. And though the closet was big for what it was, with all of the supplies in it, it wasn't quite big enough for even Juniper's small size to stretch herself out while lying down. A single bottom shelf in the closet was allowed to keep the rags she made into her clothes. Her bed was nothing more than a pile of stained and tattered blankets and towels that were no longer good enough for the rest of the pack to use. Though it was rare that she was allowed to shower, as the Alpha didn't feel water should be wasted on her, she usually smelled lemony fresh, due to the cleaning supplies she shared a room with.

"You are lucky that I don't throw you in jail for the night!" Luna Holly continued her ranting. Juniper thought it might be nice to spend a night in the jail. She would at least have a bit more space and a cot to sleep on for a night. She had learned the hard way, however, that with a night in the jail came more beatings from the pack's guard members. Even the guards who didn't find enjoyment in hurting her still did so in fear of their own punishment if they treated her with any type of kindness. So it wouldn't have been worth it to push the Luna to that point. When Holly ran out of words to yell, which was a rare thing, Juniper was dismissed to continue with her chores. As punishment, the Alpha had given her more to do, leaving Juniper knowing that it was going to be another night that she probably wouldn't get even the two hours of rest she already desperately needed.

Keeping her head lowered, Juniper gingerly raised herself off of the floor and made her way back to the kitchen to start the task of making lunch. She was in the middle of reaching into one of the refrigerators when she was suddenly knocked off of her feet by the door slamming into her side. The door had hit her hard enough to already feel a bruise forming. She looked up to see the pack beta's daughter, Stacey, standing there with a smirk on her face. "Oh, I didn't see you there, I thought the door was just left open." Stacy said, as her two devoted followers giggled behind her. Macy and Lacy were the pack Gamma's twin daughters and cousins of Stacey. All three of them were just as awful as could be, but Stacy, as the leader of the group, was by far the worst.

Stacy, and her mindless drones, saw themselves as the moon goddess's gifts to the world. The reality of it, though, was that they looked like poorly made dolls that were given makeovers by little girls who had just learned how to use makeup. Their faces were caked so thickly with makeup, that as they laughed at Juniper it appeared as though their faces were cracking. They all favored wearing eye shadow colors to match their outfits. Their blush and lipstick were always too bright and thick and looked sloppy. They wore far too revealing clothes that always had to match each other in style but with different colors. They gave off a vibe of overpriced streetwalkers, though, as most of the young pack boys knew, they didn't charge a dime!

Without a word, Juniper picked herself up off the floor and went back to what she was doing, which just made Stacy angry. She was looking to start some drama with Juniper and wanted to bully her to the point that she would lash out and give Stacy a reason to tell on her. Knowing that she would get beaten for defending herself against a ranked pack member's daughters, Juniper wasn't feeding into her games though. That never stopped Stacy from trying though! As Juniper pretended to ignore the terrible trio, she listened to the horrible things that the girls were gossiping about her. Talking to each other as if she wasn't standing right there.

" I heard a rumor!" Stacy sang out to her cousins, in a mockish way "Oh? do tell!" They replied in unison. "I heard that the only reason that they keep this filth in our packhouse, was so that when she turns 18, they can use her as an incubator. They want to use her to produce an heir for the Alpha!" Juniper fought the bile that was slowly rising up in the back of her mouth! The idea of something so awful sent a shiver up her spine. She could only close her eyes for a moment and try to push the image of the whole idea out of her head! "And after she gives birth, if it's a girl, they will take her baby away from her and give it to the Luna, to be trained as her next slave. Juniper will be kept in a jail cell, being used over and over until she can give the Alpha a son to take over the pack!" Stacy continued as the three of them giggled. One of the twins, Juniper thought was Macy, replied "Ew, I hope for her sake she doesn't have many girls!" The other twin chirped, "Why? Who cares what happens to her? Besides, I hope she does have a lot of girls before she can give our Alpha an heir. Maybe then we can all have our own personal slaves!" before the three of them walked away smirking at Juniper.

Juniper was left there feeling sick to her stomach, hoping that it was all just a lie made up to get under her skin. But she wasn't stupid enough to believe that the Alpha and Luna wouldn't do something so awful! Juniper had planned to leave the pack as soon as she turned 18. She knew that it wouldn't be easy, as she had no money and nothing but the rags on her back, but she knew she had to get away or die trying. Especially now, after hearing the possible plans that the Alpha and Luna had for her! After finishing her task of making lunch, she set the table for the ranked members to eat before she went and started cleaning up the kitchen mess. Throughout the rest of the day, she worked hard and fast, trying to finish as much as she could, while trying to fight the images of Stacy's rumors out of her head.

Juniper had somehow managed to finish up all of her chores for the day with a half-hour left to rest her eyes, before having to get up to start her next day. As soon as she closed her eyes though, a strange voice entered her mind. "We can't stay here! " It told her."We need to leave, we are not safe!" Juniper sat up and opened her eyes, she knew that she had no one on her side, so what did the voice mean by "we"? "I am your wolf silly!" The voice told her. Juniper knew that werewolves got their wolves on their 18th birthday. She didn't actually know when her birthday was. As she couldn't remember where she came from or who she really was. Juniper was surprised when a realization hit her. After all these years of not knowing anything about herself, she has finally learned that today was her birthday! A bitter-sweet feeling washed over her. She was happy to learn something about herself, but now she knew that she was in danger, and without any type of plan, she knew she had to get up and go! Run! Run far away as fast as she could, and hope that she makes it far enough before anyone wakes up and notices that she is missing!