Chapter 1 OBEDIENCE

YVAINE

I have learnt to obey, to maintain my silence, and to never speak out of turn.

I was born into this silence, to always bow and to never question authority. I have no memory of what my parents looked like. All I know is that they gave me up the minute they realised I was receptive. Were they members of this pack? I have no idea because no one ever tells me anything or the truth about my existence.

I merely exist here as the help of the Alpha family. I have spent my life as I know it as a caged bird in this pack without the chance to spread my wings or the freedom to even imagine flying. Even if they ever let me fly, I doubt my wings would take because they have long been clipped by the beatings and abuse I am subjected to daily from members of this pack.

The sun was barely out this morning when I was yanked off my sleeping mat. My body still ached from the punishment I received last night because I had somehow offended Princess Auri. She convinced Luna that I had cursed at her under my breath, which was a lie, but no one cared to ask me if it was true or not. I was ordered to strip, and she lashed me to her satisfaction. Part of my punishment was also being denied dinner, but I am used to it by now. My body is used to the routine of going days with barely a scrap of a meal to get by.

This morning, I was sent to clean the training pit. It was one of the chores I hated doing because of the smell of blood and the bits of bones often stuck in the mud that sometimes ended up under my foot.

Roan, the Alpha heir, had been in there last night with the three rogues that were captured earlier this week. He loved showing off his dominance, and that meant duelling rogue wolves to the death with the price of setting them free if they could overpower him. I hated those events.

The violence and the need to shed blood don’t sit right with me. Oftentimes they aren’t even caught doing something wrong. And I can’t help but wonder, what if some were as much of an outcast as me and fled their pack because they were tired of being beaten down? Because I know I have nights where I dream of fleeing this pack someday, but I am too chicken-shit to do it.

I made my way out of the pack house again, head down and eyes forward. I had just finished cleaning the visitors' lounge on the third floor, and I still had more work to do. Dinner was an hour ago, and I wasn’t allowed into the kitchen because, of course, I wasn’t done with my chores. I was heading to the barn. Hopefully if I can clean out the horse stables and the pig pens within an hour, I might still be able to find scraps left in the kitchen. Otherwise I’d have no choice but to go to sleep without food.

Thankfully, the barn was empty of any of the farm boys as I walked in. I always hate coming here when they’re working. They scare me with their barbaric behaviour, but it’s not like I can do anything about it.

I got to work immediately, and soon I was done with the pigpen. I moved to the stables, cleaning out the leftover hay when I heard footsteps, and I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. His scent reached me even before he spoke.

“Have you been avoiding me, mutt?” Roan, the Alpha’s son, asked as he approached, and I shook my head.

“Turn around.” He ordered, and I did as told, casting my head down.

I had always thought finding my mate would be my escape out of the hell I’ve had to endure in this pack. But apparently fate had jokes, and they made my number one bully my mate. Wasn’t that ironic?

“You’re dirty,” he snipped, like he didn’t walk in on me on my knees cleaning the stables.

“I’ve been working, Alpha.”

“I didn’t ask for an answer, did I?” I shook my head in response. Of course he liked it better when I wasn’t talking.

When I first found out he was my mate, I had been foolish enough to think that would change how he treated me. I have always heard about how amazing the mate bond was and how beautiful the connection was. I was a naive eighteen-year-old who thought perhaps the mate bond would make him see me in a different light, but I was wrong.

He came to me. He acknowledged the bond, but he made it clear that in his eyes I would never be anything more than the runt of the pack. Whatever dreams or hopes I had of ever being loved by him got shot down the first time he fucked me in the woods and left me cold and bare in the rain.

“On your knees,” he barked the command like he always did. And I, the ever-obedient omega that I was, followed his command. I fell to my knee.

My heart tripped over my ribcage as his footsteps drew closer, and the sound of him unzipping his pants filled the stable. I knew what was coming, and I hated being powerless against his will.

“Open that filthy mouth of yours,” he commanded.

I hesitated for a split second, gulping down the lump in my throat as I contemplated defying his command just this once.

“Do not waste my time, Omega. Open your fucking mouth; it’s the only thing you are good for aside from eating pack resources that you didn’t work for.”

My mouth fell open in an instant. The protest in my throat died as he rammed his hard cock down my throat without a second warning.

My breath hitched, and my body tensed at the sudden intrusion and lack of air. My hands shot forward out of instinct as I attempted to ease off the weight of him.

Pain shot through my entire face as he smacked me across the face. My throat contracted, and my head snapped to the side from the force of the slap. His cock slipped out of my mouth, and the sudden rush of air had me coughing and spluttering in pain.

“I have warned you not to ever touch me,” he snarled. “Do you want a beating? Are you eager to get smacked around, huh?” I let out a sharp cry as he grabbed my hair in his fist and pulled backwards. “Is that why you won’t follow a simple instruction? You like the pain, don’t you? You like being treated like dirt. You like getting smacked.” He slapped me across the face again, and I bit back another cry.

“Keep your fucking mouth open,” he sneered, prying my mouth open with his free hand, and, in the next second, he slammed his cock down my throat again.