Chapter One

Stepping outside the cottage I am met with the cold damp air, mind you the inside of the cottage is not much different, closing the door as quietly as I can I stretch to my full height, as I take a moment to myself before another day of hell begins. Taking a deep breathe in to balance my zen I feel the cold air rushing into my lungs before I slowly exhale it out into the dark morning sky.

Using the moonlight to lighten my path to the pack house, I head to the back of the pack house where the kitchen door is located. Slipping through the door, I reach up to my right and flick the light switch on so I can get to work, gathering the ingredients alongside with the utensils I need to make breakfast I get myself into my usual rhythm to make sure I can complete everything in time. The sun may not be up yet or even showing its first rays of light but as soon as it does the pack house will come a hive of activity, the warriors will head off for training and on their return, they will expect to be fed along with all the other wolves of the pack and it is my job to make sure that happens.

It took me a month to be able to get into the routine and many beatings, though I knew how to cook at the age of thirteen I had never had to make it for more than my family. Coming to the Red Moon Pack soon changed that, well it changed a lot of things and having to feed everyone by myself was just one of them and not one of the easiest tasks but one I have managed to perfect over the years. I am just grateful that some of the orphans help me serve it, there is no way I could manage that on my own without receiving a punishment at my slow service.

Finishing up the last of the food my siblings, Samuel and Lily slip through the back door, shortly followed by Conner my adopted brother and ten other pups between the ages of eight and thirteen to help me serve the food. There are twenty-five pups in total in my care and all of them are orphans, it is our responsibility to complete all the chores of the pack house; the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry etc, etc. Basically, everything that normally gets completed by the omegas of the pack has been passed onto us, even some of the luna duties get shoved onto me when other packs come to stay.

Due to most of the pups being under eight years old I end up with most of the work and then I always need one or two of them to look after the younger pups whilst I am completing the work. I am pretty sure that no one in the pack knows how many of us there is anymore, I make sure to keep most of them out of sight where possible. Originally when I joined the pack there was only seven of us; myself, my siblings, Conner, Sofia and the twins, Darcy and Darren. A distant relative took us in when we arrived into the pack until she died that is and then the responsibility became mine.

The alpha, Alpha Rick then made us the slaves of the pack and started handing me more pups to take care of; their parents either died in a rogue attack and had no family to take them in and being of a low ranking, no one wanted to take them in or they were the orphans of rogues who had accidentally stepped onto the alpha's territory and met a sticky end. Oh, and not forgetting the rogue pups I have found myself with no one to take care of them hence the large number of us.

Plating up the last of the food I start sending the pups out with the trays, taking my own I make my way over to the higher-ranking tables, I try to keep the pups away from them as much as possible. It is bad enough they have to deal with the antics of the other wolves in the pack without having to deal with all the obnoxious dicks of the higher-ranking ones. Unloading my tray, I keep my eyes on the pups to make sure they are not having any trouble and just as I think we have made a clean break, my heart plummets to the ground as Celeste sticks her foot out ready to trip Lily up.

Swiftly sneaking across the room ready to avert the trouble to myself, I only just manage to get there in time to swap trays with her, giving her the empty one, steadying her with my hand so she doesn't fall I let myself fall to the ground, landing just in time as the tray clashes against the ground drawing everyone's attention my way. Using my eyes, I quickly signal for my sister to keep moving, she knows what to do it's not our first rodeo and we know exactly what is coming. Celeste likes seeing us punished, especially me and if I hadn't done what I did my sister would have gotten whatever punishment they deemed fit rather than me. Though I know it is futile I try to pick everything up, the deep growl behind me signals that the alpha is already behind me.

"Can you do nothing right? You worthless slut" he doesn't expect me to answer and if I do, he will just ensure my punishment is doubled, bracing myself ready for him to land his kick to my abdomen that is surely to come, I find I am not disappointed when he kicks me with so much force that I hear my nearly heeled ribs from the last beating crack, making Celeste snicker in her seat. Ignoring the pain, I keep my head bowed in submission and wait for the next punishing blow to come. He doesn't make me wait long as the beta's fist comes plummeting down into the side of my head making me see stars.

Celeste is now giggling in glee as she watches me get beat, the other wolves' smirk or join in with her snickering loving that the alpha is showing me where I belong. "Take her to the dungeons Beta. I want you to make sure she knows her place" Alpha Rick commands, his beta doesn't waste time and drags me up by my hair, staggering behind him I let him drag me away. I just hope that Celeste and all the others have had enough entertainment for the morning and leave the rest of the orphans alone whilst the beta dishes out my punishment or I should rather say torture session with what he does but rather me than one of the other pups.

The beta takes absolute pleasure today in my torture, someone definitely must have pissed in his cornflakes this morning, and after an hour and a half he finally releases me from the dungeons, broken, bloodied and bruised. My clothes are shredded to pieces from the silver tipped whip he lashed at me brutally and due to the wolfsbane he injected me with my wounds are still open and weeping blood. Somehow, I manage to make it back to the kitchen expecting to have to help the pups finish cleaning but to my shock it is already clean and ready to go for the lunch rush in a couple of hours.

Slipping out of the kitchen door I find the pups already working on their chores for the day and keeping away from the others as best as they can, thankfully Sammy rushes over to me slinging my arm over his shoulder as he wraps one gently around my waist to support me back to the cottage. Moving as quickly as I can with my multiple broken ribs, we follow the path back to the cottage. Soon as I step inside, I am greeted by the other pups as they rush at me flinging their arms around me, gritting my teeth in pain I embrace them back whilst Sammy rushes off to one of the hiding spots to grab some of the ointment I have made to help with wounds.

"I wish we could just leave" Sammy mutters as he applies it to my open wounds.

"I know, it won't be long though I just need to wait until I am eighteen and then I can get us out of here" he sighs knowing that we cannot do anything until then and lets me change Poppy's nappy and feed her some paste that she wouldn't take from Sofia. I have no money for milk, scratch that I have no money full stop but luckily Mum had taught me how to make this paste for Sofia and Lily when we were on the run, she taught me most of the first aid I know too, along with ointments and remedies and I am so thankful she did now.

Changing into one of my last sets of clothes Sammy helps me back to the pack house before heading off to do his own chores. Heading to do mine I start with the alpha's rooms, as with anything I always do anything that involves the higher-ranking wolves as they are the worst of the pack and most of their children love to inflict pain onto us just like their parents. Popping my bucket of soapy water down I awkwardly get on my hands and knees to start scrubbing the bathroom floor.

I have nearly finished cleaning when the sound of footsteps approach where I am and by the sound of them it is Daniel, the alpha's youngest son, he walks well more like stomps into the room like he is on a mission and I know that something is bothering him the moment I meet his eyes, I don't mind Daniel he is the same age as my brother and Conner and he is one of the only nice members of the pack.

"Hey Jenni, I am so sorry what happened to you this morning. Are you ok?" he sighs leaning against the door frame.

"Hey Danny. You have nothing to be sorry about so turn that frown upside down. And of course, I am ok nothing will keep me down." he slumps down the wall and pulls his knees up to his chest "How about you tell me what is bothering you whilst I work?" I see him shake his head out the of the corner of my eye "hmmm...is it something to do with your family again?" it's not the first time we have had a conversation about his family and I doubt it will be the last, I would rather not talk about them but Danny seems to have no one else he can talk to and does not fit in with the rest of the pack, as I said he is one of the only nice ones in it.

"No" he squeaks out but as soon as I raise my eyebrow at him, I know I have him, shrugging he changes his answer "Yes. But Jenni you shouldn't have to listen about my problems after all they put you through."

"A problem shared is a problem halved." I chime making the corner of his mouth tilt up in half a smile as he rests his chin on his knees.

"You're too positive." he mutters grumpily "Fine." He finally relents "My brother is coming home in a couple of weeks' time. He hasn't found his fated mate so my parents are saying that he is going to choose Celeste as his mate rather than him wait for his fated and I am worried they are going to pair me up with someone at the alpha gathering this weekend." oh yeah, I had forgotten about that, I will have to head to the east wing tonight to get it ready for the pending arrivals, no sleep for me tonight.

"Aren't you too young to worry about mates Danny? Plus, you get on with your brother, right?"

"Yeah, he is cool I miss him. It is a shame you haven't met him due to him being away for his alpha training and of course making alliances but he really is a good guy. He used to take me for ice cream when my parents shouted at me. I hope he has time for me when dad gives over his alpha title" he excitingly rants, he loves his brother and what I can work out over the years I have known him, his brother loves him too and is the only one in the family that treats him well.

"I am sure that Caspian will have time for you Danny-"

"Daniel" his mother screeches, he leaps off the floor and sprints to meet her in the lounge, of course the banshee would turn up now "What were you doing?" Please say what I have taught you to say please, please I beg fruitlessly to myself, my wolf whimpers at the thought of him getting hurt if he tells her what he was actually doing.

"Talking to Jenni" shit, quickly launching up on to my feet I groan in pain as the movement irritates my wounds, heading into the lounge I make it just in time to stop the raised hand coming down to slap him across the face.

"I am so sorry Luna" I pant out whilst keeping my head down in submission "I wasn't aware that Daniel-"

"Wasn't aware about what?" she snarls slowly putting her arm down.

"That he needed his black shirt for this weekend. I have not washed it Luna and he wanted to make sure he looked smart for the gathering."

"Oh son, very smart thinking your black shirt does make you look positively charming." her eyes turn black as she turns back to me, taking the few steps she needs to stand in front of me, she raises her hand before slapping it across my already swollen cheek "are you trying to make our pack look bad." I shake my head answering her at the same time as indicating to Danny not to interfere, I see the guilt shine in his face and give him a reassuring wink with my good eye when I see the luna looking at her son.

"You make sure that it is washed and ready by tomorrow you hear me mutt and I expect you to scrub all the bathrooms downstairs on your own and remember you and the rest of them filthy mutts are to stay out of the way this weekend unless it is to do your chores and even then, stay out the way. The only time they should see you filthy mutts is when you are serving our food and try to wear something more than the filth you are currently wearing."

"As you wish Luna" I reply, the clothes would have been a problem if I hadn't snuck off the pack's territory a few nights ago to the local human town. I managed to rummage through a charity clothes bin and found some decent clothes for them and even managed to find a smart casual dress for myself. Not only that but I managed to find a few toys that had been donated and come back with some fruit and veg that had been chucked out by one of the stores, it was out of date but still edible for the pups.

Gathering Danny's laundry along with his clean black shirt I had already washed and ironed for the gathering, I head down to the laundry to put a load on before heading back up to finish the alphas room and move onto the rest of the work load.

The day finally comes to an end after the dinner service and I have only been beaten once more since this morning which is a miracle in itself. My day isn't finished yet though as I still need to look after the pups and start getting the east wing ready. Rubbing my sore ribs, I gather the pups up and our thread bare towels and take them to the river just outside of our territory border to get cleaned up and to wash our laundry, it's not the warmest water but it is all we have since they cut our electric and water to the cottage.

Leaving the older pups to help the younger ones get cleaned I head further into no man's land to go hunt us some food down, I have to be extremely careful not to come across any rogues but with my heightened senses I manage to avoid them with no problems. It doesn't take me long to pick up the scent of a doe and shift into Valkyrie, my wolf to chase after it. Giving her the opportunity to stretch her paws whilst I link my brother to start a fire.