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Sierra's POV (6 Years Ago) What is it like to be part of a family? A pack? A normal life? I want to ask anyone who would probably respond, but everyone here sees me as a problem child. I'm no child, but I sure won't back-chat to them and say otherwise. Granted, I don't speak to them. I cannot remember the last time I spoke. To anyone. Years perhaps? My Mom and Dad are buried at Lakeshore cemetery. There was a tragic accident one night that ended up being the equivalent of a total disaster. I was an orphan. It's that simple, and I was left with a pack that treated me as a slave. Now. Tomorrow is the day I turn 18. I have spent the last decade feeling like an outsider. Abused, broken and left, and I never felt like I belonged anywhere. The only good thing about all of this is that I should get my wolf tomorrow and I can hopefully find my mate at the Gala that Jaya keeps talking about. She and I learnt sign language so she could communicate with each other without needing to actually speak. She's been my best friend since we were both young. I work in a packhouse doing jobs that no one wants to do, but I live out in a basement with all the other Omegas that are, ironically, treated a lot better than I am. I'm normally covered in bruises and new marks, but it's something I have to live with. I can't complain to them even if I speak. They all talk behind my back and what they don't know is that I listen to every damn word they say, but they all think I'm deaf. The accident that took my parents away from me ... I was also in that car, but I survived and every day since that accident has been torture. Emotionally speaking and also physically speaking. "Oi, daydreamer. "This kitchen needs to be cleaned and ready for the ball tomorrow, and so does the main hall," Rosie, who is the queen bee around here, shouts to me. I don't listen. When I take a foot to the thigh, I instantly glare her way, showing her that I don't care what she thinks or says. She can't tell me what to do. "Oh yeah. "My bad," she laughs, which makes her other friends laugh, too. "Read. My. Lips. Carefully," She mocks. "This kitchen and the dining hall need to be spik and span and ready for the ball tomorrow. "We have so many important guests coming that I will leave you in the rain if you do not make this perfect." She insinuates each word with a mocking tone, but it only fuels me to be an arse. I raise a single eyebrow at her and watch as her face contorts to a shade darker of red from the anger she's burning with. She stomps out of the kitchen muttering something about Omegas and how they are not suitable workers. Pathetic and something else but by this point, she's too far out for me to hear her. I'm just finishing up the finishing touches to the cleaning when a sneaker steps into my line of sight. "Gah. This floor needs cleaning Sierra do little" he says as he spills cola all over the floor. I can feel the droplets of it splashing my hands and thighs as I'm crouched down but I don't have the energy to argue even in my own head so I do what he wants as he stands there and watches before I feel the sharp tug on my hair. "You may think you're this amazing, obedient little girl but you're nothing more than a pointless, useless waste of breath" he sneers at me and it's then I see the hunger to destroy my life flash in his crystal blue eyes. He can ruin me however he sees fit and I have no say in that matter. I don't get to scream in agony as this monster grapples with my hair and tugs until the burning at my scalp is nothing more than a numbing feeling that sends shocks down my body. "Let me make this extremely clear," he says as he also mocks my abilities to actually hear. He makes me sound like a child about to get scolded. "Get your job done and make sure it's a proper job that's been done. I don't want or need to have to send someone else to do it because if I do, if I find a single ounce of dust scattered about, then you will face the consequences. Do I make it very clear?" I nod my head frantically. I can feel an incoming anxiety attack and I want to be able to stop it but that tightness clutching at me, the feeling of powerlessness and overwhelming sensations tickle every sense I have and I find myself struggling to breathe. I hear their laughter and mocking tones as I get to work, only stopping to catch my breath when I need to. "You're done for the day. Go home you silly fool" Marta says as she picks me up by my arm and pushes me toward the door. Marta is the lead Omega among us and if she says something is done then someone is done. She's bitter and cruel but she does this on purpose, she allows you to think you've got stability when in actual fact, she's a viper waiting to bite you and make you suffer slowly. I'm not dramatic or I try not to be but she is technically a snake. Nice one moment and will cut you off to spite her nose the next. It's what everyone here is like. Loyalty? I don't even know if the Alpha knows what that is. Kade is 4 years older than me. He took over at 22 from his father, who wanted to spend more time in the shallow end of the pool with some skinny model only wanting his money. "Go. I don't want to see you here until tomorrow. You're cleaning all of the upstairs and you will not be attending the ball. Sorry Cinderella" she says which gets a round of laughter. So I do ... I walk out of the building and towards the woods but I'm not that far into my walk when I feel a presence behind me. Zade. "I think..." he says scratching his chin like a gleeful little puppy getting a new toy. "You should have breakfast with us tomorrow morning" and I want to laugh but I don't. I don't do anything I just stare at him. "I have a nice little surprise for your birthday" he says and I automatically brighten up. I've never really celebrated my birthday since my parents died so this will be nice. I nod my head and dart off towards my little home. "Remember Sierra ... it's a secret"