Hiding in plain sight

So it begins

Loreli was 16 years old and she hated her life. Or rather she hated her new life.

Until she was 6 she had been the daughter of the alpha of the Greenwoods pack. Their pack was situated deep in a forest and they had little contact with any others. A small pack they only numbered around 300, but what made them different was that they also had Fae and witches in their pack.

Loreli had grown up playing with mermaids, riding unicorns and learning music from the fauns. Then came the night of the attack.

She had been playing tag in the woods with some of the elves when she had heard the screaming and smelled smoke. She had tried to run back towards the pack house but had been lifted up into the boughs of a tree by a dryad who was crying bitterly at what was happening. She struggled and only stopped when one of the witches came to her and used her magick to make the child sleep.

When Loreli woke up everything was quiet. she wandered back to the packhouse to find it destroyed. all the houses were burned down, or partially taken apart. There were bodies everywhere. All the fae had left, all the wolves and witches were dead.

She found her parents next to each other, clearly they had been trying to protect each other. She hugged their cold bodies and cried.

A group of wolves led by a hard eyed man approached. He seemed shocked to see her. He introduced himself as Alpha James Saxon from the Opal moon pack. They had heard about the attack and come to help, sadly too late. He asked the child who her parents were, but she was still in shock and hadn't answered.

They assumed she was an omega child and took her back to their pack, where she basically became a slave.

And that is why Loreli hated her life. They had never physically hurt her, but along with going to school she worked in the kitchen and kept the pack house clean. she was tired, and just wanted to be a teenager. Also, unlike others she hadn't been able to speak to her wolf on her 13th birthday. She had been looking forward to it so much as at least then she would have a friend.

Today was due to be worse than ever. The Luna, Celeste, had approached her that morning and said she would not be in school that week as they were hosting their sons 18th birthday and all the local packs would be in attendance. Loreli was needed to prepare the 150 guest rooms and start preparing food for the visitors.

She was not looking forward to this at all, she just wanted to get to 18. Then she could leave. She had been studying hard hoping to earn a spot with the council as a researcher or an assistant. She was getting out even if it killed her.

Loreli shrugged these thoughts away. She always got morose on the anniversary of her parents death. She still didn't understand why she hadn't told Alpha James that she was the alphas daughter, but something inside had told her not to, and so she kept it to herself and just got on with life.

She didn't know she was being watched as she walked across the lawn with the fresh linen for the beds, or later as she moved through the various communal rooms of the pack house making sure everything was perfect.

But she was being watched, by someone who was very interested to learn more about this omega before he made any decisions. He saw that she was strong, both in body and mind. He saw that she ignored the teasing of others in the pack, and he saw the grace that she carried out her duties with.

But most importantly he saw her kindness, when she stopped her work to clean a skinned knew from a young pup who had fallen when running through the hall, and in how she made one of the older omegas sit while she took over their work as well.

He had seen all he needed to and was content with his next move.