Chapter 1
Caja
A loud crackshakes the foundation of my cage, causing the hairs along my arms to dance.
Whimpers sound all around me.
Sobs, too.
I’m new to this hell, yet I’ve known it would be my fate all my life. My Alpha—the one whose seed gave me life—told me of my destiny long, long ago.
“Once you’re of age, you’re going to Alpha Carlos’s playground,” he spat at me, disgusted by my very existence.
I was an Omega. Useless. Only worth whatever price the Bariloche Sector Alpha was willing to pay for my existence.
It turns out that price wasn’t much, hence the bruise marring my jaw.
“I should have killed you when you were a pup,” my Alpha snarled before shoving me into this cage.
How many days ago was that?I wonder, my arms curling around my abdomen as I fight the shivers traversing my bare spine.When did I last eat or drink anything?
Time is elusive here. A taunt. A way to enforce obedience and terrify the inhabitants of this underground prison.
I swallow as another shudder rattles my cage. I don’t know what’s coming, but it’s intense.
“What is that?” one of the nearby Omegas asks, her voice just above a whisper.
“I don’t know,” another replies, her accent thick and foreign to my wolf ears.
I tuck my knees even tighter into my chest, my spine against the crisscrossed bars at my back. I can’t stand in my cage, only kneel, which I choose not to do because the metal bottom digs into my exposed skin.
Another tremble vibrates my being as the booms grow louder and more powerful.
Inside, my animal whines, terrified of what’s happening. Outwardly, I control my breathing and try to regulate my heartbeat.
My Alpha taught me to be quiet and motionless. He hated my voice. Loathed any sounds I made at all.
“The only thing an Omega is good for is taking a knot,” he would say. “And I can’t fucking knot you. So be thankful I let you breathe at all.”
I was his only female child; all the others were males who felt the same way as my Alpha.
“Useless,” they told me every day.
Because nothing I did was ever right. They hated my cooking. Hated my cleaning. Hated my very existence.
And so did the other Omegas.
“You have no reason to cry,” my caregiver—an Omega who wasn’t my mother but the female my Alpha put in charge of my upbringing—once snapped. “They never touch you, and they’ll never knot you. So just do your damn job, Caja, and clean up this mess.”
I think I was eight then. Maybe nine?
At least a decade ago, I marvel. Because it felt like a hundred years ago.
Thunder reverberates around me, nearly causing my heart to jump out of my chest. But I quickly school my features, determined to face whatever is coming with a calm facade.
It’s the best way to avoid punishment, I remind myself.Just accept fate. Be quiet. And disappear into the background.
Only that becomes harder and harder to do as the rumbling grows louder with each passing second. Until suddenly, silence falls entirely.
