“Have you heard that the Alpha House is on fire?”

“Fire? But we are in front of the building, I don't see any smoke”

“Not literally you idiot. I mean that there has been conflict in the Alpha house between Alpha Ryker and his son, Evan”

“Isn’t Evan supposed to take over as Alpha in a few weeks? What is the conflict all about now?”

“Yes, you are right. But I heard that Alpha Ryker is refusing to give him the position because he is not ready for the responsibility”

“Oh my! That's a real house on fire; those two have always been at loggerheads since Luna Tira died two years ago. Alpha Ryker is stubborn and headstrong while Evan is rebellious and stubborn too”

“Hmmm, it is said that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. The pack is in trouble…”

I took another bend in my path, thereby disconnecting myself from the two elderly women gossiping along the way; I had to listen to them against my will.

None of that mattered to me because I had bigger problems to face.

“Are you Marcelline?” A stern-faced man asked in a plain tone after I knocked on the side door of the Alpha house.

“Y..yes” I answered with my head slightly bowed.

“Filthy omega, you are late!” The man barked and grabbed my left ear, twisting it roughly.

I whimpered from the pain and willingly followed the direction of his pull to minimise the pain.

He dragged me inside by the ear till I joined the other girls standing with their heads bowed.

“I’ll let this go since this is your first day, but let this serve as a warning to all of you. Lateness, disobedience and laziness will not be tolerated in this house; you will be dealt with so severely that you will wish you were dead. Am I clear?” He warned in a loud voice after letting go of my ear.

“Yes, Sir Bruce, " the ten of us present chorused. My ear still hurts, but I swallowed the pain to avoid being reprimanded again.

“There is no time to waste, change to the uniform and go to your assigned tasks and begin your work” He instructed and pointed at the rooster on the small chalkboard.

I checked for my name and saw that I was in cleaning duty, I was confused about where to go and scared of asking Sir Bruce when a brunette said beside me with a small smile, “I’m on cleaning duty too, follow me”

I nodded gratefully at her and quickly followed, “Thank you…” I trailed off in a small voice.

“Martha, the name is Martha, and you're welcome, " she introduced herself.

“I’m Marcelline, Marcy or Celline for short” I replied.

“Marcy, you are new, so let me officially welcome you to hell”, Martha said and chuckled softly. I found myself responding with a small smile of my own. Martha was probably the only person who was nice to me in a long while.

“How long have you been working here?” I asked curiously because she looked less than a wreck compared to me.

“A couple of months, why do I look… happy? Relaxed?” she asked.

I nodded slowly in response and she chuckled. I was impressed by her vibrant attitude, working as a pitiful maid and she still managed to maintain her smile. I wished I could be that positive…

“Trust me, my life is far from easygoing. I mean, look at my current position. The trick is accepting your miserable fate. An omega is forever born to serve others, our life is to be maids, slaves or breeders. When you accept that that is all there is, you start to live each day more peacefully, and you can appreciate the little pieces of happiness that streak in,” She explained, her eyes distant.

Silence ensued between us as I pondered her words. Being an evident proof, I could tell she was probably right but was that all our life was meant to be? If that was the case then it was truly sad and depressing. Growing up, I had always thought that there was more to my life than doing chores and dealing with the frustrations of other wolves. Perhaps that was why I was always restless and unhappy, I kept craving for more.

Martha was right, this is our fate.

“So what's your story? How did you end up in this purgatory?” Martha asked as she handed me cleaning supplies after we changed our clothing.

My mind thought of the night before… the struggling and screams, the knife to my throat and seemingly endless beatings.

It made me shiver and I quickly shook my head, “I don't want to talk about it yet”

To me, anywhere was better than going back there.

“It’s okay, I can see you have a traumatic story to tell, everyone here has one, that's our curse for being without a wolf” She commented as her eyes fell on the fresh reddish cane marks on my pale skin that I have been trying to cover with my maid uniform.

“I…” I stammered, unsure of where to start. Martha was nice to me and friendly too. I wanted to tell her everything, or maybe I needed to tell somebody to free my aching heart. I whimpered in anguish and my eyes began clouding over with tears.

“Hey, come on, let's go somewhere private” Martha said with a soft voice as she took my hand and pulled me into the small room full of cleaning supplies.

In the enclosed room, I found myself releasing all the pent up sadness and fear in my heart. I hadn't cried since last night and it took someone asking to release it.

“Oh dear” Martha pulled me in for a hug and rubbed my back gently while I bawled my eyes out.

“You don't have to tell me if you don't want to,” she said after a minute.

I pulled away from her and reined in my tears, “No, I want to tell you. I need to get it off my chest” I wanted to be relaxed like Martha.

Martha gave me a small smile reassuringly, indicating that I should continue.

Last night was dreadful, it hunted me every second and had my heart pounding hard in hyperventilation. Recalling that night was like a nightmare:

“My uncle, Levi, has always made sexual passes at me. It started small with lustful eyes and ‘coincidental’ bumps and brushes. I used to brush it off because I didn't know any better, but then it got worse. He would say sexual suggestive words to me and grope me when his wife was not there. It made me extremely uncomfortable and I tried hard to avoid being alone with him… until last night”

Everything played out as if it was actually happening again.