Zarah~
"Dog!" Kendra snapped at me as I tried to escape.
I froze, before trying to run again. No, no, no...
"Stop, bitch." A voice that sent a horrible chill down my spine ordered, and my body obeyed. I had no choice.
They came to where I now stood still, shaking, with sweat coating my brow. They were in front of me in a heartbeat.
Lorelai slapped the tray out of my hands, water and hot soup splashing on the front of my dress. I bit back a yelp from the pain.
"Oops," she chuckled, the other high ranks with her, laughing. "If you didn't try to run away, I wouldn't have done that."
I said nothing as they all sneered and surrounded me like vultures.
"Langdon," the voice of the new Alpha of Howl Creek made me break into a cold sweat. He came closer, taking a strand of my black hair, his green eyes gleaming with hate. "Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"
I swallowed. "I wanted to serve—"
"That is all you will ever do," he spat. "You will serve this pack for the rest of your miserable life. So, when we tell you to stop..." He pulled painfully on my hair. "You fucking stop!"
"I am... sorry," I stuttered, my lips quivering.
He looked me up and down as if he craved to hurt me. To think that we used to be childhood friends.
I still couldn't move as they prodded me, hitting me and barking insults at me.
"Let her move, Damon, it's not fun when she can't try to fight back," Daniel said, sneering.
"Move," Damon ordered, and my body finally obeyed me just as Daniel smacked my butt.
I lashed out and slapped him across the face. I froze, my stomach dropping at what I had just done.
"You fucking bitch!" Suddenly, I was flung across the hall, and I hit the wall with a horrible thud.
Before I could recover, my hair was yanked until I was forced upright, face-to-face with Damon Torrence. "How dare you?!" he growled in my face.
Damon yanked me upright, his face inches from mine, his breath hot and ragged with fury. His wolf's amber eyes burned with a hatred I couldn't understand. What happened to the boy I once knew?
"You filthy runt whore," he spat, his voice venomous. "You should have been executed or exiled, but we had mercy on you. Mercy! And this is how you repay us? By fighting back?"
"I'm not—" I tried to protest, my voice cracking as his grip on my hair tightened.
"You're nothing," Damon growled. "A disgrace. A traitor's daughter. Do you think you're better than your father? You should've burned alongside him!"
I trembled, tears threatening to spill. The sting of his words cut deeper than any physical blow. "I'm not my father," I screamed, desperation lacing my voice. "It was him who defected, not me! I don't deserve this!" My chest heaved with each breath, my heart pounding in my ears. "I'm not him!"
Damon's lips curled into a cruel smile as he looked at me with disgust. "You deserve everything you get. You're a stain on this pack. No one will ever respect you, no one will ever—"
"What happened to us?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the roaring in my head. Tears slipped down my cheeks. "We were friends once. Why do you hate me so much?"
His eyes darkened, a flicker of something I couldn't place flashing behind them before it vanished. Then, without warning, he slashed across my chest with a turned, clawed hand. Pain exploded through me as I gasped, stumbling back, clutching my chest as warm blood seeped through my fingers.
"Don't ever speak to me like that again," Damon snarled, towering over me as I fell to my knees, tears mingling with the blood dripping down my dress. "You're nothing, Zarah. You'll always be nothing."
I wanted to scream, to fight, but all I could do was sob as the pain overtook me. Damon's words echoed in my mind, each one more damning than the last. This wasn't the boy I once knew. This was a monster, one I could never reach. They all walked off, leaving me a sobbing, bleeding mess.
And in that moment, I realized—I had no one left. No friends, no allies. Only enemies. I had to leave this pack. I just needed enough money, and I could only hope it would be enough in the human sector.
"Get up!" Someone snapped me out of my daze. I looked up to see another older lower rank, Mrs. Miller. "You don't get paid moping around."
"So... sorry," I mumbled. "My shift is almost over."
"So?" Her eyes went to the mess on the floor. "Are you making messes now?" she demanded.
I bit my lip. "I'll clean it up."
"You better!" she snapped.
---
"Mum, I'm home," I called out as I entered our run-down apartment.
"Darling!" My mother sauntered into the room, a bottle of liquor in hand, looking unsure on her feet. "You're back."
"Yeah," I murmured as I walked past her, then I froze and turned back. My eyes latched onto her wrist. "A Rolex?"
She smiled, flaunting the expensive watch that we could never afford. "Where..." Before I could finish my question, I ran to my room, straight to the floorboard where I kept my savings. I pulled it open, and my stomach dropped to my feet. All that was left was an empty envelope. I screamed.
"You didn't tell me you were rich," my mother said behind me. "You ungrateful bitch."
I stood up, hot tears streaming down my face, and faced her. "How could you!" I yelled. "I—"
"Shut the fuck up," my mother hissed in my face. "When I asked you for money, you said—"
"You would have used it for booze and drugs!" I shouted back. "You would have gambled it all away!"
"And so what? I am your mother, you owe me for giving birth to your sorry ass," she spat in my face.
I could only stare at her as I wept, my heart-shattering. "I hate you," I whispered.
She laughed. "I have regrets too, you know? I should have gotten rid of you."
I pushed past her and ran. I couldn't breathe or think. I went outside, breathing hard. I had to leave, but now I had lost my savings. Three thousand dollars from my blood, sweat, and tears—gone. How was I going to leave? I was trapped.
The buzzing of my phone pulled me out of my reverie. I picked it up.
"I've got a big job for you," I recognized Mrs. Miller's snide tone.
I gripped the phone a bit tighter. "What job?"
"At the Moonlit Gala."
My blood ran cold. My chest was still healing from Damon's assault. The last thing I wanted to do was cross paths with him or his posse. "I can't—"
"You get one grand," she cut me off.
I paused. "A thousand dollars?"
"You heard me, but you'll work like your life depends on it."
It felt like a blessing. It was my only chance to make that type of money. I could leave just after I was done. It was perfect. "I'll do it," I murmured.
"Be here tomorrow by 5 on the dot," she said, cutting the call.