A gasp left me as I woke up. Rolling my body over, I began coughing. My lungs felt as dry as the desert. My throat felt as parched as an afternoon Sunday where the sun was at its highest. My fingers dug into the wet, earthy ground as I fight for air to come back into my lungs.

When I finally gained my breathing, I searched my surrounding. Nothing looked familiar. No sights of anything living and breathing except me.

Where was I?

Who was I?

I pushed myself off the ground and stumbled onto my feet. My eyes continued to search my surroundings.  Panic and fear ran straight to me and my guts churned as if I have been starved for weeks.

I had no clue what to do. The only thought that ran through my head was I needed to get somewhere safe. The sound of branches breaking was what kickstarted me into a run.

I ran like my life depended on it. Something told me it did. I needed to leave this place as soon as possible.

"Hey Laurel! Earth to Laurel!"

I snapped out of my thinking and scrubbing of the pan in front of me to see Donna giving me a glare.

"Sorry. I got distracted." I mumbled.

"Yeah. Yeah. I have been calling you for ten minutes, woman. You better pull your act together. We ain't got time for that kind of shit today." Donna waved her hand in the air.

She was a much older woman and very grouchy but the old lady was nice to me. She acts all tough on the outside but all she really was soft on the inside.

"Why? What is so different about today?" I muttered as I ran the scrubbed pan under the faucet.

"Woman, the most important person will be arriving today. He will be the one deciding if you will either live or die." She growled with irritation. I laughed and turned to give her a good retort only to see her grim face. The old lady wasn't kidding.

"Yeah? Then who is he? The President?" I asked sarcastically.

"Honey, not even the President can save you." She took out the bread she was baking out of the oven and sat it on the counter to cool off.

"That important huh? Should I do something? Like bow or curtsy?" I asked.

She laughed so hard. "Honey, he ain't the king either."

I rolled my eyes at her before finishing off the dishes. I found this little town after running all night a year ago. Luckily, the town was a sweet little town that welcomed strangers like me. They took me in and gave me a job at the mansion. My work title was an Omega. Basically, I did all the cleaning and cooking. I worked from Monday through Thursday and have Friday to Sunday off. The only downfall was my shift was a 12 hour shift.

I have only met the boss a handful of times. He was an elderly man around his sixties. He doesn't talk much and ignore us unless he needs something done.

"Who is this important person then?" I asked, my interest was piqued.

Donna placed the dishes on the counter. She had chosen a particularly elegant dish that she was going to set for tonight's dinner down before turning to me, "Honestly, child, I would have thought you knew by now. The gossips that is louder than a Sunday bell at Church."

"I pay no heed to the gossip that goes around me.  I have better things to do." I remarked and helped her pick up the plates to set the table.

She sighed, "He is the Alpha's son."

After living here for a year I had begun to realize this wasn't an ordinary town. This town had abnormally beautiful and gorgeous people. It was infested with people who had super hearing. Plus, they speak in these weird termimolgy that I found were used to describe animals; in particular wolves.

Many assumptions came up. They might be a town that practice a different kind of government. They could be a town that just really like animals.

All these assumptions made sense for a while until I start seeing wolves roam in the woods and people shifting into werewolves. Believe me, I freaked the fvck out and almost ran out of the place except something held me back.

A sense of belonging.

"Alpha's son? He left seven years ago, didn't he?" I asked.

"Yes. He lost his mate and immediately left town. Never returned." Donna looked sad.

I felt sadness filled my heart. I couldn't understand why I was feeling sadness when I barely knew the man. It must be that I also pitied him.

To these people, mates were everything. A soulmate. Their other half. I don't exactly believe in all this. To be honest, a huge part of me want to. I want it to be true that maybe I have someone out there waiting for me too. Wouldn't it be amazing to know that this person was made perfectly for me?

Donna and I set up the table nicely for the Alpha's family and close ranks in the pack. We then headed back into the kitchen to finish cooking.

Preparing dinner and cleaning took a few hours. At the end, I was completely exhausted. I had only a few hours left before my shift ends. Then I am off for the rest of the night to do whatever I want.

"I am so tired. I am so glad my shift is ending soon." I muttered as I threw a towel across the room and watch it land in the dirty towel bucket.

Donna snorted, "Baby girl, you ain't done just yet."

"What?" I responded. She sighed and sat the dessert into the fridge to cool before moving to sit next to me.

"With the Alpha's son returning, we have to prepare for his arrival. There are many things we have to get into order to make his stay and transition her as easy as possible. It is always tradition here in this pack that the Alpha chooses an omega to be his personal attendant. Whoever gets chosen is like an honor. He will most likely want to see the omegas in the pack right away as well as the close ranks. The close ranks will be the current Beta and the elite warriors in the pack. After dinner there will be a battle of the elite soldiers. Whoever wins against all elite soldiers will become Beta to the Alpha's son."

"What? We are doing this tonight?" I squeaked, suddenly feeling even more drained.

"Yes." Donna replied and patted my hands that were settled on my lap.

"But its nearly six in the evening!" I whined.

"He so be here any-"

Commotions and loud shouting can be heard in the front. Donna and I dropped everything and ran toward the commotion. I couldn't see much but I knew what the commotion was about.

The Alpha's son was home.

"Damn it. I can't see anything." I jumped on my tippy toes and caught sight of a head of dark brown hair.

I huffed and gave up. I wasn't going to get to see with all these people in front of me. I heard the Alpha announced to everyone the arrival of his son and the introductions for tomorrow. The crowd fell silent and the excited air disipated. The crowd began to disperse. This was my chance. I attempted to look again but Donna pulled me away.

We went to go set the table with food. When we were done setting the table, I wanted to wait and see how he looked like but Donna took hold of my wrist and dragged me away.

"Just one peek!" I exclaimed.

"Girl we better be gone before they arrive or we will be wolf meat tonight." She shouted.

I let her drag me away.

A few hours later, all the omegas were summoned to the grand hall. We all entered with our heads lowered. I was told we couldn't look at our Alphas in the eyes or it will be the end of.

"As you all may be aware by now, my son has returned. He is in need of a personal attendant. It is an honor it serve your Alpha. I hope that if any one of you is chosen you will do everything you can to serve him like you had served me." The Alpha spoke calmly. I felt a pair of eyes burning into me. It felt oddly uncomfortable.

Don't look, Laurel, Don't look.

Not listening to my inner conscience, I peeked from underneath my eyelashes. My eyes widened immediately upon seeing that the man standing a few feet away from me next to the Alpha was staring right at me.

I watched him lean into his father and whispered in his ear. His father nodded before the two began speaking in a quiet conversation that I couldn't pick up on. A few times, I caught him looking back at me. Then he turned to his father and said something that caused his father's eyes to widen and look straight at me.

Was I in trouble? Shit. I shouldn't have peeked!