Chapter 1
"I told you the Marrok's son was coming and I told you to have my best suit ready the day before he was arriving!" he growled at her. Hitting her open palmed across the face hard enough to cause instant bruising. "And now you have to cover that. I swear to God you are going to be the death of me one of these days. I can't imagine what the pack would have been like if I wasn't here. It would have been soft and I'm sure another pack would have taken it over by now." She didn't dare move or argue, either one would have been disastrous for her. She couldn't move until he was done and that seemed a long way in the future. Her cheek stung and she fought the urge to put her hand to it. He looked at the clock on the wall and huffed, turning his mean eyes on her, "Go ahead and do your work. We will continue this later."
Lily gulped and nodded walking around him, still not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her put her hand to her cheek and she began to iron his suit methodically. She wished she had chosen a different wolf to be her mate. Though in this pack, that was full of violence none of them would have been much better. She was the Alpha, but she was being treated like a misbehaving lower ranked wolf by her mate which made her pack turn against her and look to him for guidance. Her father, still abusive, but a great leader and father (when he was sober), handed the pack down to her. The pack argued and made it so she had to choose a mate. She chose Paul because he seemed the less violent one of her choices, but that seemed to be his plan. After Lily finished with the suit she hung it and handed it to him and then went to cover the bruises that covered her exposing skin.
Anna stayed close to Charles under his warning. He told her these wolves were more dangerous and violent than her old pack had been especially the Alpha's mate. Putting her instantly on edge, she asked him what he meant and he told her that the Alpha in this pack was technically female and her mate had all, but taken over the pack. That's all he said, other than she would understand when she saw for herself. She had a guess, but she didn't want to assume anything.
The territory was pretty and they seemed to take pride in their gardens, well at least the females did. She saw a male trample a patch of flowers on his way out to the sidewalk and his mate chastised him, to which he glared at her. "Are we almost there, Charles?" Anna asked softly.
"Getting there. The house is the last on the street," He replied, his tone was gentler to her than to any of the other wolves he encountered. She was his mate, but she was also an Omega and before he rescued her she was in an abusive pack.
"Alright," she nodded, threading her arm through his in hopes he would calm her nerves. He did and she relaxed her shoulders. She looked around and saw some of the wolves staring at them and she dropped her gaze out of habit. After a few minutes they came to a simple looking house and she took a breath preparing herself.
Charles looked down at his mate, smelling her fear rising even though she was trying to push it down. He told her she could have stayed in their hotel while he checked on the Alpha that always seemed to be 'sick' when the meetings came up. His father wasn't sure if this was true, he wanted to make sure she wasn't just being ignorant and deciding not to come, that she was being treated right, or if she really was as sickly as she seemed. And if the latter was true they had to figure out what was best for the pack…well that was true for the rest of the outcomes also, though with slightly different transactions. Anna had declined the offer and followed him out the door. He put himself in between Anna and the door so he could protect her should he have to. Brother Wolf itched to take control, but Charles warned him not to yet. He knocked on the door and straightened his stance as he waited.
He heard a male's voice growl and the door opened to reveal the young Alpha of the pack. Though she tried to stand tall to show confidence she was slightly trembling and fear radiated off her in waves. He felt Anna tense behind him and he knew it was because this Alpha was so full of fear that it frightened his mate. Brother Wolf wanted to take out what frightened his mate, but Charles kept him at bay.
"Hello…Charles and company…welcome…" she stepped aside and opened the door wider to reveal a very simply put-together house. He walked in and Anna was close on his heel. "Let's go to the living room to sit and you can talk to Paul while I get tea." She shuffled down the hall and to the right into a room. Charles followed and he saw the cause of the Alpha's fear. The man who hadn't noticed he had walked, was glaring openly at the Alpha like she had done something totally wrong.
Charles cleared his throat, which caused the man, Paul to snap his attention to him, the glare instantly vanishing as he looked back to his mate with a look of fake admiration, "Honey, please go get the tea ready for our guests."
She nodded and turned to do so. Charles looked at Anna, "Why don't you go help her. I think I can handle things here." He silently told her to talk to her, tell the woman her story, and form a bond of trust. Anna nodded and went to help her. "Now I understand she has been sick lately?"
Lily hurriedly pulled the tea from the cupboard, catching a spice jar before it hit the counter. She didn't want to be in trouble for making noise during his meetings. She took a steadying breathe and set the jar back on the shelf.
"Nice catch," a woman's voice said, quietly behind her. It caused Lily to jump and spin around still holding the tea. "I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Anna," the woman took a slightly more submissive stance.
"I-I'm Lily," the other replied and moved to the stove to turn on the burner for the teapot. "I hope Earl Grey is alright…if not I think I can find something else…"
"No, that's fine Lily," Anna nodded. "I just came to help. I don't need to be in there anyway."
Lily shook her head, "I don't need help. I have it handled, but thank you. So go and sit and relax." She fumbled through another cupboard, but stayed relatively quiet.
Anna sat at the kitchen table, "How about we talk girl-to-girl. I have you and I are similar in more ways than one. Why don't you come sit while the water boils?" Lily slowly walked over and sat in the chair across from her "How about I start by telling you a little about myself, the pack I started in, and the pack I'm in now?"
Lily nodded, "If you want to…" She didn't know why this was the chosen topic, but she knew Paul would be angry if he heard that she didn't try and please the guest.
Anna nodded and began, "I wasn't born wolf; I was changed in Chicago. When I was they found out I was an Omega and they knew being an Omega meant that rank wouldn't matter to me and that I didn't necessarily have to listen to Alphas. So the Alpha of my pack didn't like that so he beat me and treated to me like crap from the start so I wouldn't figure out I didn't have to listen. I have come to be very uncomfortable around more dominant males because of this. Then Charles came and got me out of there and I was welcomed into his pack, well the Marrok's pack. The Marrok is Charles's father."
Lily looked at the woman in front of her, realizing she knew the pain of being beat and that if she trusted her to tell that story than surely Lily could tell hers. She looked at her hands, "Um…can I tell you something?"
Anna leaned to her slightly and smiled softly, "You can tell me anything Lily." She reached her hand over for support and she smiled encouragingly when she felt Lily's hand in hers.
Lily took a breath and wondered if this was a good idea. She shook her head to clear it, knowing she had to tell someone. "So I was born wolf. My father was the Alpha before me. This pack has always been somewhat abusive, but not like it is now…He was a good leader and he was a good father when he was sober. My mother died when I was twelve, she took her own life for some unknown reason, so my father liked to drink away the pain when it was unbearable. Then he got sick and passed the Alpha roll down to me. Well the rest of the pack said in order for me to be alpha I had to have a mate, so I asked for some of the single wolves to step forward. Paul at the time looked like he would be the nicest out of all of them. I was wrong though…" Lily stopped right then and looked down.
Anna squeezed her hand gently, "Lily please, go on…we need to know these things, so we can fix them…it's no good going on living like this."
The young Alpha looked at the Omega, "But I'm the Alpha. I kind of have no choice."
"Do you want to be Alpha?" Anna asked softly. "I know your father gave you the position, but that doesn't mean you have to keep it. I'm sure if he was as good a father as you said he would he would understand."
Lily stayed silent considering her words. She had never really wanted this position, but she also didn't want to disappoint her father. But did he want this for her? She didn't think he did. She took a breath and wiped the makeup on her face that was over the fresh bruise, revealing it. She saw Anna's eyes widen. "This happened before you came…and I'm ready to not be an Alpha."
Anna nodded, and then called out, "Charles, can you come to the kitchen for a moment." Anna stood as the tea pot whistled and she removed it from the heat as Lily scrambled up. I
"Lily…you are making our guest do the work?" Paul growled as he led Charles into the kitchen. "What the hell did you do to your cheek? You better not have been trying to get pity from her."
Lily pulled back trying to figure out what to say. Anna stepped forward feeling more confident than she had in a while, "I think you know what happened to her cheek, considering you did that and she isn't looking for pity it took me a while to get her to tell me. She wasn't going to betray you no matter how bad she needed to."
Lily saw Charles step around Paul, rigid and angry she pulled back even more. He walked over to Anna and looked at the alpha, and somehow even though he wasn't an Alpha he appeared to be. "I can see we have a couple of options here," he said, slowly.
Anna put a hand on Charles's arm, "How about we just take her with us? She told me she doesn't want to be Alpha anymore, I'm not sure but she might not have really wanted it anyway...we hadn't gotten that far yet."
"But he is not getting the position," Charles said. "I am going to call my father and see what he wants me to do. We will be back tomorrow. Lily get your things packed you are coming with us when we go home."
"Can't we take her now?" Anna asked, she bit her lip as she looked at him.
"Anna, I have to talk to my dad about it…This is different than like most things we do. She's an Alpha. We have to follow a different procedure," Charles said, leading her around Paul again and to the door.
"Go to our room now," Paul growled. "I will be there in a little bit." She did as told and went to the bedroom and sat on the bed to think over what had happened. She hoped she could go with them; get out of this hell-hole.
