The wolfless omega

Stray work

The yard at Blackridge smelled of smoke, and everyone in there moved around one man.

His shoulders were like a sledgehammer and his face like a brick. He sat on a stool with a table in front of him, flipping through files and totally ignoring me as I stood a few feet away.

"Take those scrolls to the beta," the captain next to me commanded one of his men. He strolled up to the mighty-looking man and presented the scroll.

My heart sank. I wouldn't have guessed he was the beta of this pack.

The mighty-looking beta pulled a pen from his coat, his gaze fixed on the paper in front of him.

"Name?" he asked without looking up.

"Em--" My name escaped my brain.

"Em what?" he asked.

I squinted my eyes. Although that was what my mom called me as an abbreviation, that wasn't what I meant.

He raised his head and his eyes met mine.

"Just Em," I responded immediately.

"Pack?"

"None."

He paused for a few seconds; my legs started sweating.

"Family?" the interrogation continued, as he scratched his head with his pen.

"Dead. Burned."

His eyebrow lifted. "Anyone looking for you?"

His gaze locked on me with furrowed brows. His face paled and his foot tapped the ground continuously.

"No," I finally responded. My legs were planted on the ground so nobody could see them shaking.

He wrote _'no'_ on the page and drew a small line under it.

"Stray work," he declared, standing up and leaning over the table. "You get food and a bed. No wages. Don't go close to the training yard and don't talk to ranked wolves unless they speak to you first. Do that, and nobody touches you." He put the pen back in his coat. "Sleeves up. Both arms."

My palms began to soak in sweat. I pushed my sleeve past my elbow and tilted my hand to the right so he wouldn't see the birthmark.

Every stray gets tested. I had watched it once as a kid back in Alderwood.

"Permit me to begin the process, Beta Cole Danner," a plus-sized woman requested. Her words were crisp, but her eyes had sharp flashes in them. Her gaze was fixed on him, steady and focused.

I stood almost perfectly still, waiting for her to begin the test. My belief was strong that my wolf was only suppressed by the wolfsbane inside of me, not dead as they claimed.

The woman cleared her throat and trudged toward me the moment Beta Cole permitted her. I extended my arm to her, keeping my gaze fixed on the name tag on her breast area that read _Miss B_. She didn't even look at me when she pricked my fingertip.

Everybody was quietly watching Miss B and me. She leaned in, pressing my finger so my blood would drop onto the stone.

A few drops of my blood landed on the stone, but the bell didn't ring. The crowd hummed in unison, and at that moment, I knew my hope for Kiki being alive was crushed forever.

Miss B reached for her pen. Just before it touched the paper on the table, the bell clanged, and the stone blinked silver before fading out.

Miss B froze. Her gaze darted between me and the stone.

The stone only turns silver when a person with wolf blood is tested. I had lost my wolf; this couldn't happen unless Kiki was still alive.

"Bad stone," Miss B said, flicking the dish with her fingernail. "Had it misread twice this year." She dropped the dish and scribbled on my paper. I wasn't close enough to read what she wrote, even as I craned my neck forward. I could only make out a few words: _"Wolfless. Kitchen duty."_

"She's wolfless," Miss B finally declared. "Next."

"Wolfless," Beta Cole Danner repeated, turning to the next paper. "Vera Walkman, come forward," he ordered.

A girl on the stool behind me stepped forward, a smirk visible to those nearby. I had not noticed her until now. As she stood in front of the beta waiting for him to attend to her, she let out a snort through her nose. Her gaze locked onto mine, scanning me from head to toe.

I looked away from her and followed the guard assigned by the beta to direct me. Later that day, I met Hettie. She had thick gray hair, ran the kitchen, and looked like she had never smiled.

That night, as I lay in the bed in the hallway next to the boiler, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned until five. The moment the sun came up, I joined Hettie in the kitchen.

Later that night, I met Vera at the soup line. I knew she didn't like me, so I tried to dash past her, but she caught my wrist.

"Hey," she said, hands on her hips with a grin on her face. "You're new here?"

I froze. My eyes scanned her friends, but they all had smiles on their faces, so I smiled back. The moment I was about to respond, she spat into my bowl.

Her friends laughed, each one louder than the last.

I stared at the bowl, then back at her. My breath grew heavier, but I managed to keep my face still. I stood there staring at the soup.

"I want you to drink that now. Every drop," Vera commanded.

I hesitated for a couple of minutes before pouring the soup onto the floor. This time, Vera and her friends weren't laughing anymore. Their eyes widened, and two of them covered their mouths. I set the bowl on the rack and walked back to my pots.

On the fourth night, everything changed.

I was carrying pots back from the hall when the doors swung open. Everyone fell to their knees and bowed their heads. Guards, maids, the steward--they all bowed. A man stepped slowly through the door.

Alpha Roman Cade.

This was the first time I had set eyes on him since arriving at the pack. Every story I had heard about him terrified me, but he looked quieter than his reputation--which somehow made him even scarier. He moved as if he were reading everything, counting and taking in everything in his sight. The instant he crossed my side, his gaze caught my hand. He paused, observing it. Sweat began to bead on my forehead. He didn't look at my face; his gaze stayed glued to my burned hand, which was still raw and red from the rope.

I held my breath as he stared for a few agonizing seconds. I could only breathe again when he finally moved on.

I tried to convince myself it was nothing, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.

As night deepened, I took leftovers out to the yard for the dogs. I had barely crossed the guard post when a voice near the door caught my ear. The night captain was having a conversation with someone.

It wasn't my business, so I kept moving.

"The new one. The stray," a voice murmured underneath. It was raspy, smooth, and distinct enough for me to recognize, even though I had only heard it for the first time earlier that day.

I leaned in to listen further. The way the Alpha had looked at my hand flashed through my mind. My legs trembled as I waited for the next words from behind the door.

"Em," Cole said. "The wolfless one."

A pause. "Where did Harlan pick her up?"

"Gray Ford. At the border."

"Show me that Ford first thing tomorrow." Paper rustled. "And put a man on the kitchen."

With the iron bucket still in hand, I tiptoed toward the dogs, careful not to let it clang.

That night, I lay on my bed with my blanket up to my chin. I had no plan yet for staying in this pack but what I was scared of was being watched and now not just by anyone but by the Alpha of the Blackridge pack