Chapter 2 Hope

I woke up in a small but clean room. The bed sheets and covers smelled good. There was a bedside table with a plastic jug filled with water, a plastic cup standing by it. I tried my legs and relaxed when I realized they were not tied. Was I free?

I sat up and looked around. Sauntering to the window, I pushed the curtains aside and looked out. All I could see were long rows of trees. It was a forest. I tried to look past the trees but couldn’t see anything beyond.

My train of thought was interrupted when the door opened. A woman in maid’s uniform walked in and dropped a pile of clothes on the bed. Except the green towels and black underwear, the rest were identical to hers.

“I see you’re awake,” she said. “Take a shower and get to work. The bathrooms are at the end of the hallway.”

“Where am I?”

“I’m Letti and you’re in Black Moon pack,” she said. “From today, you will be cleaning the workmen’s rooms, washing their clothes and cooking for them. When you are ready in thirty minutes, someone will come and guide you to your first task.”

From her bundle of keys, she pulled out a single one and tossed it to the bed. “It opens your door. Keep it safe. You’ll be provided with other things later.”

The lady left immediately.

Black Moon pack. I had heard about it from some girls. Alpha Aragon’s daughters had travelled there. When they returned, they were smitten with the son of Black Moon pack’s alpha. Soon every girl in the pack had heard about the handsome Ridian Jamison. Hearing about it, I was curious to see the man that had enthralled two of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. 

I grabbed the towel and made my way out of the room. I saw the bathroom sign at the end of the hallway and headed there. Once inside, I saw five bathroom stalls and five toilets. There were a few pieces of soap above the sink. Grabbing one, I went into one of the stalls and took off my clothes.

The shirt had dried against my wounded back and removing it was extremely painful. I cried out as I got rid of it. I could smell medicine on it. Whoever had changed my clothes had probably applied something on my back. I ran the shower but avoided standing under it because I didn’t want to get my back wet. For some reason, my back hadn’t healed as fast as my wounds usually did.

I washed what I thought was necessary, dried myself and left. At the sink, I put water in my mouth and swished it around then spit out before using the towel to clean my teeth.

The dresses were of the same size, a little extra on me. After dressing, I stepped out of the room and locked it, eager to go out and study my new surroundings.

Suddenly, a blood curdling scream pierced the air. I knew that scream. It sounded like Maryanne, a girl from my pack. I opened the door and found her seated on the bed, tears rolling down her reddened cheeks.

“You’re here, too?” I asked, feeling slightly relieved to see a familiar face.

“I want to see Angie.” she said, glancing at me.

“Where the hell is she?” Maryanne said, standing up before running out of the room. I ran after her.

“Maryanne,” I called out but she did not stop running.

Later when she had calmed down, we walked through the trees to the pack palace which was just a few meters away. It was beautiful, magnificent. The tall and white building had five beautiful stories.

Dad had once told me that Black Moon was one of the richest packs in the werewolf world. Apparently, there were a lot of minerals in their land which they sold off to humans and made millions. They made sure not to tell the humans were it was being got from. Apparently, humans would come for it immediately and use proceeds to benefit themselves.

The more I heard about humans, the more horrible I began to believe they were. However, that had not stopped me from being curious, and wanting to see their world. A few years back, some minerals had been discovered in our pack. It was the greed for the proceeds of those minerals that had killed my father.

He started mining them illegally, mostly at night, and selling off to traveling middlemen who would then sell to humans. My father wanted to amass a lot of money and go to live in the human world. He had been there once, and wished to go back. One time, he even told my mother he wanted a human mistress because their vulnerability was attractive to him. Mother said nothing and continued to cut vegetables.

Maryanne and I were standing behind the trees near the front of the pack house when we saw some maids coming from the outhouse and rushing down the concrete path. One of them saw us and frowned so we retreated and sat in the middle of the small forest separating the slaves from pack members.

“I wonder how the slave rules are,” I mused.

“I wonder where Angela is,” Maryanne said. “I know that she is suffering yet I can’t help. I swore to always be there for her.”

I wanted to keep talking but a sweet piney smell made its way to my nose.

“What’s that?”

“What?” Maryanne asked.

“Never mind,” I said, walking away from Maryanne. For some reason, I felt like walking towards the palace, was drawn to it. As I walked forward, the delicious scent kept getting stronger until it was almost intoxicating. By then I was in front of the palace.

“Step out of there,” someone said. I turned and saw a maid at the entrance of the building. “The alpha is coming.”

I turned and froze when I saw the most handsome man ever, walking next to a tall beautiful woman with a curvy body. Some maids were behind them, carrying bags and suitcases. That couldn’t be the alpha. He was old. His son was the handsome one, I thought before it dawned on me. The super-hot son had taken over.

He was sexy, just as Poppy had described. Lean, strong muscles, extremely tall and handsome. He had a straight nose, bright ocean blue eyes, and lush lips. A strong jaw with hard planes lined the lower part of his face. All the beautifully masculine features were covered by spotless tan skin. Looking downwards at his jeans, I realized he was a man in every sense of the word. I felt my body getting warm.

“Move,” I heard the maid say. My mind knew I had to move away, but my body said otherwise.

“Mate,” my wolf said, brimming with excitement. I blinked. Mate. The sexy alpha was my mate. Who would have thought?

“What’s wrong with you?” The pretty woman asked. I had not realized they’d drawn close. The man smelled so good I wanted to wrap my hands around him and never let go. I decided to ignore the woman and face my mate, hoping he would accept and not reject me. Having suffered so much lately, I needed a little bit of happiness.

Wondering if he had sensed the mate bond, I looked into his eyes. They were cold and hard, showing no hint of recognition.

“Move, slave.” He said coldly.

I couldn’t move.

He shoved me to the side and I fell because of the unexpected push. The pair took the short flight of stairs while the other maids just stared at me.

“Welcome back, Miss Willow.” The maid who had opened the main door said, and he walked in with the pretty woman.

Did he really not sense anything?

“What’s wrong with this slave?” one of the maids asked.

The rest shrugged and carried the bags into the house.

The maid had said Miss Willow while referring to the woman. He had not made her his Luna.

There was hope.