Maybe with a different pack, a different Alpha, I might have climbed out of the omega status eventually. I might have even been adopted by another couple who wanted a baby of their own. Upon my birth, my grandparents and uncle had made sure the entire pack knew I was just as damaged as my mother. Hell, maybe even more so since she never told anyone who my father was. All anyone knew was that he wasn't part of the Long Mesa pack. So not only was I a bastard, but I was the bastard of an outsider and a pack betrayer.
The more birthdays that ticked by, the less the cause for celebration. The omegas were my family, my pack, but they knew what my eighteenth birthday would bring. My last birthday, only my mother acknowledged the day with a quiet "Happy birthday".
That was fine by me. I was happy to forget the day, too.
"I take it you heard about Alpha Warren," my mother said softly, ignoring my question. She never referred to him as my grandfather or her father. Always Alpha Warren.
"Yeah," I said slowly, sitting on the bed. I tucked my legs under me and looked away as she pulled on her clothes. "Bella said her father wants us at the main house tonight. At seven."
She stiffened and then sighed deeply, toweling off her wet hair. "I know. Allan told-" Her gaze dropped to me and I could see the worry there, stark and consuming. "Skye ... Maybe you should stay here. I'll go and speak with Linden alone."
"No way," I shot back sharply. No way in hell was I letting her go in there to face her psychotic brother solo.
She moved gingerly to the bed and sank down beside me, reaching out to clasp my hands in hers. "Honey, there have been talks, rumors." She hesitated, biting her lower lip between two rows of even, white teeth. Her small, button nose wrinkled with worry, and it struck me again how beautiful my mother was.
Whatever she was about to say was bad. She was practically vibrating with nervous energy. I steeled myself for the killing blow.
"There's talk that Linden will remove the age of majority law for omegas."
All the air rushed from my lungs. I wasn't prepared for that.
Not that.
Anything but that.
I scrambled to form a response as my mind raced. "But the council has to agree...."
Her eyes slid shut, a single tear escaping as she shook her head. I heard her breath hitch on a cry. "Linden will announce his own council. He won't wait to make sure they're in place. The sooner he and the council are finalized, the less likely a challenge will be issued. The men he chooses are ones who agree with him. His friends. Ones who frequent the omega house."
Men like Allan Loomis, she meant. Men who had no issues treating omegas like nothing more than whores.
That was the entire purpose of the omega house - a brothel for the wolves of Long Mesa. A place where anything went. Where upper pack members could act out their most twisted fantasies without anyone to stop them.
Omegas were nothing. Less than nothing. We received whatever scraps of food and clothing the rest of the pack didn't want, which meant often going to bed hungry or swallowing down stale and expired food. All of the clothes I had were ones not even the local donation center could use. Even my bras and underwear were second hand. The only things we received brand new were generic bars of soap, bottles of shampoo, and laundry detergent.
Because no one liked a whore that actually smelled like a whore.
Her hands tightened against mine. "Maybe if I talk to Linden-"
I shook my head slowly. "It won't make a difference." I remembered then what Cassian told me in the hall. He said they might not have to wait much longer. He knew. They all knew.
All that needed to happen was for my grandfather to die so there would be no one standing in the way of Linden Markham.
3
The Alpha house was in the heart of the compound. It was a simple clay brick structure, slightly larger than the other adobe style homes around it. Two stories high, the Alpha family lived there. The Alpha's council convened there. The surrounding homes were smaller versions, housing the pack betas and upper pack members. Mid and lower pack members shared communal housing a few streets over, near the school.
This was the house my mother grew up in. The house that was supposed to be where she got married and raised a family.
Now she was forced to ring the bell and wait for someone to answer to grant her access.
Long Mesa was a moderately sized compound and pack, and was surrounded by a ten foot high concrete fence. There was a single access road that was guarded at all times.
It was home to the two hundred and forty-three wolves of the pack and included the school, a grocery store, a doctor's office, and a gas station. Mostly it was land. Acres upon acres of land that butted up against the Cerrowa Mesa. Plenty of space for a pack of wolves to roam and live.
According to local lore from the towns fringing the area, the compound was a cult.
I wasn't entirely sure that they were wrong.
It was important that normals - humans - not know of us. Wolves kept to themselves, only interacting with the outside world when absolutely necessary. As an omega, I had never left the compound and probably never would.
The front door swung open, revealing a beautiful shifter with dark skin, soft brown eyes, and long dark hair gathered into a low ponytail. She wore a black dress and a large heirloom diamond ring on her left hand.
"Hello, Zara." My mother greeted her former best friend quietly.
Zara smiled gently, first at my mother, then at me. "Hi, Addie," she greeted gently, glancing over her shoulder to make sure her husband wasn't within earshot before meeting my mother's gaze. Her lips turned into a frown. "It's not good."
My mother frowned and took a sharp breath in, leaning forward a bit. "Is there any chance?"
Zara's lips pressed together in a thin line. "I don't know. Linden doesn't say much to me. You know how-"
"Zara? Who's at the door?" My uncle appeared behind her. His cold green eyes assessing us both as he settled his hands on his mate's shoulders. Zara winced as his hold tightened, but she didn't say a word of protest.
"Why didn't you tell me my sister and her ... offspring were here?" His tone sounded casual enough, but there was no mistaking the dark undercurrent of his words. Or the way his knuckles were turning white from the grip he had on his wife.
"We just arrived, Linden," my mother said, her eyes downcast. A grimace flashed across her face for a second, the skin around her lips pulling taut.
"Come in," he invited, stepping back and pulling Zara with him. She stumbled a bit, but he held her tightly and she didn't fall.
My mother and I crossed the threshold, first her and then me. I had been inside this house one other time, right before my grandmother had passed away. My grandfather and uncle had been away at the annual pack Summit meeting in Utah, and grandmother requested my mother come and bring me.
I sat there, five years old, as she told my mother I never should have existed. That I was an abomination to the Long Mesa pack. And perhaps, if my mother ridded the pack of my existence, a daily reminder of Mom’s betrayal, my grandfather would remove her from the omega house.
My mom swept me up into her arms and stormed out the door. She shook the entire walk home, barely able to control her rage. She handed me off to another omega as soon as the house was in sight and immediately shifted, her wolf snarling as she changed. She tore away from the house at a dead run and didn't return until the next day.