Alicia Barrett: POV

His plum wet lips left sensual kisses down my neck while his hold on my hand tightened, making an unusual sound, a mixture of a moan and a groan, escape my lips. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Alicia.” He murmurs against my skin, and I feel his canines elongate slightly, scraping the spot where my neck connects to my shoulder. The smell of pine wood and oranges was like a drug that filled my nostrils, turning me into a drug addict craving for more.

“Wh...who are you?” the words involuntarily left my mouth, and I felt his lips howering above my skin, and his hands slowly moved towards my hips and got a tight grip on them which instantly made something wet pool in my intimate area.

“I am your mate, Alicia. And soon, you will be mine,” he said, and his kisses slowly advanced southward, leaving a trail of kisses from the valley of my breasts and slowly traveling towards my lower belly, and just as he was about to remove my panties... I was suddenly awoken by a bucket of cold water someone poured on me!

I gasped and bounced up from my bed, the book I was reading dropped and I found my already thin and torn night gown totally soaked, so damn my braless breasts became distinct.I covered my chest immediately.

“How dare you oversleep? You are so dead today, Alicia.” a voice sneered from my side, and when I turned around, I came face to face with Carlos Gracia, the orphanage headmaster’s son, and he looked like he is a bit too drunk with a smirk on his face His eyes roamed all over my body with lust, “but luckily you got a pretty face and your curves are so damn well developed sweetheart,” and I saw his pants tightening. So I quickly retreated towards the far end of the room.

“You know, I can save you from my father’s punishment, only if you can be a good girl and serve me well, Alicia.” He said with one hand moving down to unzip his pants, and my stomach turned in disgust. He was not that taller than me, maybe an inch or two, and he looked skinny and pale, more like someone who has tuberculosis.

“Over my dead body.” I sneered back at him, and his face immediately darkened, and he stumped his way towards me in a few strides and slammed my back to the wall. Well I was even weaker than him due to malnutrition over these years. An excruciating pain shot through my spine where the headmaster broke one of my ribs last night because I refused to sleep with him and even bit him to prove it.Most girls in this orphanage had been “rewarded” at least one night in his room.The Alpha of this pack was like a decoration. The orphanage was just a tool for him to collect donations. As long as the headmaster submit part of the donations from time to time, the Alpha didn’t really care how the kids were raised here.Few pack rules was applied, so we were not protected but bullied in the orphanage.

“Well, you should know that I will take your virginity as soon as you turn eighteen in a month, darling. Whether you like it or not,” he whispered in my ears, and I gagged and tried to wiggle out from his hold, but then his hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed harder, cutting my air supply.

“Don't disrespect me. Do you understand!” for every word that came out of his mouth, he squeezed my throat a bit tighter. Finally he let me go, and I fell to the floor gasping for air.

“You better run to my dad’s office before he comes up here and kills you,” Carlos threatened as he stumbled out. I immediately got up from the floor, got changed and ran downstairs towards the headmaster’s office.

When I reached his office, I stopped outside trying to catch my breath, and straightened my fully patched and faded sundress, one of the two “attires” I’ve only got all theses years, I was hit by a football in my face, and the impact caused me to fall over. “Get out of my way, you cursed omega!” a boy, or rather, one of the illegitimate children of the headmaster, which was an open secret, yelled at me as he went to pick his ball. The memory of all my past encounters with these boys at the orphanage, especially Carlos, came back to me.

It was six years ago, on my twelfth birthday, the headmaster told me I wouldn’t accept further education but should begin to learn how to serve the whole pack. What a birthday gift! What even worse, my child crush Carlos taught me a lesson that I should never expect a safe and sound birthday from then on. He used to let me finish his homework and I put it as a sign of close relationship. I was so wrong. “Alicia, where are you?” I was hoping he may wish me a happy birthday, but I guess luck wasn't on my side because my room door was sprung open and in walked Carlos and his two half-brothers.

They had huge and thick sticks in their hands and sinister smiles on their faces. Before I figured out what was going on, they rushed to my side, pulled me using my hair to the center of my room, and started hitting me with the stick, and eventually, they started kicking me too. By the time they were done with their beating, my body was a bloodied mess, and even the slightest movement hurt.

“Happy birthday, you cursed omega!” Carlos spat and let out a cruel laugh before they left the room. For some reason I couldn’t link my wolf, that’s why they said I’m cursed. A cursed omega is worse than a normal omega. So they had always treated me as an ominous thing. And this birthday gift has since continued, and till now, and I know that this time it wouldn't be just beating because I once heard one of his half-brothers saying that they want to see what I am hiding underneath those clothes. Considering what Carlos said earlier, I know that if I stay here on my eighteenth birthday, I will be raped.

Anger and fear had been haunting me. Just that thought made fresh tears flow down my cheeks, and I quickly wiped them away and knocked on the headmaster's door before I entered the room.

“What the hell took you so long!”the headmaster yelled at me, and I bowed my head down, not wanting to speak, which would only anger him even more. My body was already trembling with fear with every step that the headmaster took toward me. When I saw his shadow on the floor, I knew that he was only a foot away from me.

“Where is my ring?” this question made my head shoot up, and I stared at him in confusion.

“I...I don't know what you mean, Mr.Gracia.” I stammered and looked down to the floor again, and I heard an angry growl, and his hand roughly took hold of my jaw and pulled my face up so that I was at eye level with him.

“Don't you lie to me? I know you are the one who took it,” he said and glared at me. Tears started to flow down my face again, and I slowly shook my head.

“I didn't take it, Mr.Gracia. I would never...” I was abruptly cut when a slap landed on my cheek. “I know you took it. Your smell was all over my office when I came here in the morning,” he said, and grabbed a fist full of my hair and banged my head on the wall, which made me fall on the floor. My head was pounding, and I can hear a ringing in my left ear. But, the headmaster didn't stop this time. He walked toward me and landed a kick on my stomach, which made me curl into a ball. The pain was unbearable, and I know that if he continues to hit me, I won't be surviving this time. He lands another blow to my head, and my spine and I know that I must have broken a few more ribs too. Just as he was about to drag me again, the door to his office room opened, and someone walked in.

“Mr.Gracia, the Alpha king said that they will be arriving a little early than what they said.” the guard informs.

“How early is that?”

“He will be here in the pack in half an hour.” the guard said, and Mr.Gracia nodded his head and waves his hand for him to leave. Soon after the door closed, he turned his attention back to me. “Get out of my sight. And find and bring me the ring. Because the Alpha King is coming here to buy it, and if you can’t find the ring in half an hour, then both the Alpha King and I will torture and kill you.” the headmaster said, and I weakly nodded my head, and got up from the floor and hobbled my way to the door, when I was about to open it. The door opened, and in walked Carlos. He noticed what I had been through, but shared no sympathy at all.

Once he closed the door, I stopped immediately to catch my breath, and when I was about to leave, I heard my name.

“Why did you beat Alicia for no reason, dad?”

“You don't fucking question me, Carlos. You know very well that the ring is hers. It was in a necklace that she was wearing when she arrived in this pack. And now, that ring is nowhere in sight.”

“Dad, relax. Here is the ring. I took it this morning.”

“Why the hell did you take it without my permission?” I heard the headmaster’s angry growl.

“Dad, calm down. I am sorry.” Carlos apologized.

“That's alright. Now, I scolded Alicia for stealing the ring away from me, and for a second, I thought that she knew that it was her ring, and that is the reason she took it. But, I think, I just got a brilliant idea to kill her.Her origins will never be known.”

“Dad, but you know that...” “I don't care whether you love her or not. Once she turns 18, every second she is alive is going to be a problem for us. So, when the Alpha King arrives, I will tell him that someone stole the ring and that you are searching for it, and in the middle of the meeting, you mind-link me and let me know that it was in Alicia’s room. So, I will make the Alpha King believe that she stole the ring, and then, we can easily execute her.”

I was totally shocked by hearing this, and forgot how and how long I made it to my room and fell on my bed. It turned out the ring that the headmaster was wearing all this time was mine. But why was the Alpha king coming to get that? All these puzzles were running in my head, but I know one thing for certain, if I get that ring, I will be able to find out who my parents are.

But that may not be the most urgent thing for me now. Now I must escape from here since the headmaster is going to kill me one way or the other.