Chapter 1

Bella

I remembered having a name.

My parents called me Bella. Bella means beautiful, but that wasn’t me.

Nobody calls me that now. Mostly I am addressed by a bunch of derogatory slurs, or simply, “girl.”

I awoke in the pre-dawn darkness without an alarm. My body knew it had to get up before the others, or there would be hell to pay. I pulled on the scraps of clothes that barely covered my body. They were bits of clothing that I had taken from the trash and pieced together. I pulled my hair back and tied a scarf over the mess, just to make sure I didn’t get any hair in the food. I remembered what happened the time the luna found a hair in her eggs. I couldn’t walk for a week.

I kicked the door shut to my closet and scrambled to the kitchen. I checked the menu that was posted for the week on the fridge door. I’d never been to school, and I couldn’t read very well, but I taught myself just enough to get by. I pulled out the eggs and other ingredients for French toast. I had breakfast half made before the first omegas came yawning into the kitchen, tying aprons around their waists, and chatting easily with each other.

They ignored me, as long as I stayed out of their way.

“Girl, this syrup is not enough,” one of the omegas growled at me. “Go get another jug from the basement.”

I grimaced. I hated the basement. It was dark and musty and smelled of horrible things. When I displeased the luna she would lock me in the basement without food or water or even access to a toilet.

But I had to go; if I disobeyed the omega she would report me. I rushed over to the basement door and held my breath. I flipped on the dull, fluorescent lights and eased my way down the wooden steps. They were slightly uneven and always made me feel like I would fall down. When my bare feet hit the cold cement floor, I ran to the back room where they kept the stock of supplies. I grabbed a jug of maple syrup from the shelf and sprinted back toward the stairs. I was terrified that someone would shut the door by accident, and slide the lock, and I would be trapped down there.

To my relief, I was able to push the door open and escape from the creeping claustrophobia. I could sleep in a closet with no windows, but I could not be down in that dark, airless cellar.

I dashed back to the omega and offered up the jug. She took it from my hands without a word and poured the amber syrup into glass pitchers. With all the food prepared and arranged, the omegas began serving it in the dining room.

Only the elite members of the White Pines pack ate in the dining room. That usually included Alpha Berkland and his luna, Amber, their twin daughters, the beta and his family, and a few of the ranking warriors. Usually, there were about a dozen people gathered around the big, formal table.

However, I never set foot in the dining room. I was too dirty and disgusting, I would make them lose their appetites.

I went to the sinks to begin washing up the pots and pans. My stomach was raw with hunger, but I would have to wait until the pack was done eating. The omegas would bring back the plates and utensils for washing, and if I was lucky I would find some scraps to fill my aching stomach.

The full refrigerator was right there, begging me to steal a bite of something, but I’d been caught stealing before, and the beating I had received had kept me on the straight and narrow ever since.

I didn’t know why I kept going with that miserable life. April and Jenneth teased me all the time about it. “What’s it like being a piece of trash that no one wants? Why don’t you just go kill yourself? If I was as disgusting as you, I’d scratch my own face off.” They were just girls, having turned 12 last year, but even they knew that my life was worthless.

I was a thing to be degraded.

Once I’d held on to the slim hope that coming of age would change my circumstances, but my eighteenth birthday had come and gone more than a year ago. What did I expect? If there was such a thing as a mate for a creature like me, he would have thrown up at first sight and rejected me right away.

I had lapsed into hopelessness, but still, my will to live was strong.

Strong enough for me to swipe the crusts of half-eaten French toast off the dirty plates. I wrapped them in a rag and hid them in my clothes. If anyone saw me eating, they would take the scraps of food away. I crammed a bit of sweet, sticky bread into my mouth, my eyes darting around to make sure no one had witnessed my actions before I picked up the sponge and went back to work.

My thoughts had turned inward and I wasn’t really paying attention as I scrubbed at the plates.

“ Girl !”

I yelped and dropped the plate in my hands. Luckily, it dropped back into the sudsy water and did not break. The luna stood in the kitchen doorway, her hands propped on her hips.

Luna Amber was beautiful but cold and harsh. Her red-blond hair was scraped back into a bun, her makeup impeccable, and her pale blue eyes were snapping with hostility. “If you break that plate, I will break your hands.” She growled threateningly.

It wasn’t an empty threat. I have had many bones broken in my body over the years. I ducked my head and did not meet her eyes.

“We have visitors coming,” she said, forgetting about the plate. “All the guestrooms need to be cleaned, and fresh linen put on the beds, and all the common rooms will need to be dusted, mopped, and the carpets vacuumed.”

“Yes, Mistress,” I mumbled into the dishwater.

“Everything had better be perfect!” She ordered sharply.

I waited for her to leave the kitchen before I glanced up at the clock. Seven guest rooms and all the common rooms…I would be cleaning all day. But at least I would have a chance to get away from the kitchen. I hurried to finish cleaning up from breakfast before I grabbed my cleaning supplies and headed to the west wing guestrooms.

Chapter 2

Byron

I really wasn’t into pack politics, but Wyatt insisted we had to keep tabs on all our neighboring packs. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” had always been our father’s motto. So, quarterly, we made an effort to visit one of the surrounding packs. We came under the guise of trade agreements and alliances while we kept tabs on all of them.

It had been a couple of years since we had bothered to visit the small White Pines pack. They were so insignificant, it hardly seemed worth our time. Even Wyatt admitted they were primitive and unevolved.

We told them we would be arriving on Wednesday morning. Which is exactly why we showed up Tuesday evening. If you really wanted to see how a pack operated, you needed to appear unexpectedly. So we smoothly pulled up to the gates and gave our fake apology for coming a day early.

There was a mad scramble of wolves scattering as we pulled up to the yard and disembarked from our vehicle. Wyatt raked his hands through his hair and took a deep, fortifying breath. “Show time.”

I grunted in reply. We strode together up to the pack house door, which was flung open by a flustered-looking luna. Her hair had worked loose from its bun and was flying around her slightly flushed face. “Alpha Wyatt, Alpha Byron… welcome. I’m sorry you’ve caught us by surprise. We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

I flashed her my sweetest, apologetic smile. “Forgive us, Luna. We arrived early, and we didn’t want to book a night in a human hotel… I hope you don’t mind if we crash here?”

“No, no, of course not. Please, come in. I’ve linked my husband, he’ll be here as soon as possible.”

Two girls, non-identical twins, were hovering around their mother. They seemed to be about twelve or thirteen, still in that awkward pre-pubescent stage of development. One had white-blond hair, while the other had flaming red locks, but both were plastered with freckles. I smiled at them, feeling a sort of kindred spirit. After all, Wyatt and I are also twins. Identical twins.

They blushed and giggled and whispered to each other.

The Luna scowled at them. “April, get the girl out of the guestrooms now.”

The redhead looked blankly at her mother.

“The girl is cleaning in the guestrooms.” She growled. “Get her out so that we can show the alphas to their rooms.”

“Oh… oh yes.” The girl grabbed her sister by the hand and dragged her away toward the stairs.

The luna gave us a smile, “Can I offer you gentlemen a refreshment before I show you to your rooms?”

I would have opened my mouth to ask for a cold beverage, but Wyatt cut me off. “No, thanks. I’d like to put my things in the room, now .” He put a little extra emphasis on the word “now”, his voice taking on the alpha command.

The flustered luna glanced up the stairs. She was hiding something, and my brother had already picked up on it. Wyatt was like a bloodhound when it came to digging up secrets. The luna turned on her heel and headed to the stairs, graciously bidding us to follow her. Just as we reached the top of the stairs, I saw a brown shadow dart out of one of the rooms, swerve down the hall, and disappear down a back stairwell.

Do you smell that? Wyatt asked me through the mind link.

I sniffed deeply. Yes, yes, I did smell something. It was faint and lingering, like peppermint and chocolate. I quirked an eyebrow at my brother.

“All of the guestrooms are empty,” the luna was saying, trying to be pleasant and polite, “But I’m not sure the maid has finished all the rooms. I think these are ready.” She motioned to adjacent doors.

The guest rooms were utilitarian, with basic furniture and sparse décor. It was evident that they weren’t used much. And no wonder. Who would want to visit this inisignificant s.hithole.

I flashed her a smile that was meant to put her at ease. “Thank you so much, madam. What time is dinner?”

“Dinner? Oh yes, dinner is at 7:00. I’ll send someone up to call you when it's ready. There should be clean towels in the bathroom. Is there anything else you require?”

“Thank you, I think we’ll be fine. We appreciate everything, Luna.” Wyatt smiled benignly, but his eyes watched like a hawk’s as the two young twin girls hurried from the back bedroom to follow their mother down the front stairs. He dropped his duffle bag on the bed. With a glance at the front stairs to make sure that the luna was actually gone, he strode down the hallway to the last bedroom. I was right behind him as he pushed open the door.

It was just another non-descript guest room. Indeed, we seemed to have interrupted someone who was cleaning because there was still a bottle of glass cleaner and a roll of paper towels on the desk by the window. The room smelled faintly of cleaning chemicals…and candy. I gave Wyatt a questioning look. “You don’t think…?”

He scrubbed his hands over his face. It’s a handsome face if I do say so myself. After all, we are mirror images of each other. “I want to shower before dinner,” he said tersely. “Maybe we’ll find out then.”

I lingered for another moment in the room. Was that sweet smell a mate’s scent? And if we were both smelling the same scent, did that mean we had the same mate? I looked at the roll of paper towels. Could our mate be the housemaid? It seemed strange and unlikely that we would be partnered with a low-ranking wolf. I wasn’t sure if Wyatt, with his stiff pride, would accept such a pairing, even if the Goddess had ordained it.

I went into my own room. I sprawled across the bed and stared at the swirls on the plastered ceiling. We were twenty-five, and still mate-less. It was a frustrating thing to know you could have any woman you wanted, but the one woman you needed has eluded you.

Was I worried that there might be only one woman for both of us? Not really. Wyatt and I were two halves of the same whole. We had separate personalities, and we were individuals, but like yin and yang, it took both of us to balance the circle. We had shared everything from the beginning, starting with our mother's womb.

Why should it now be any different?

Anyway, it was such a vague, subtle scent. I was sure I was getting my hopes up for nothing.

Chapter 3

Bella

I ran down the stairs as quickly as I could to avoid the alpha brothers. I arrived down in the kitchen and leaned back against the counter to catch my breath. The luna followed me down a few minutes later, and she greeted me with a sharp slap across my face.

I held a hand to my bruised cheek and stared at the floor, but I wouldn’t cry.

Never ever let them see your pain, that was what I told myself. I hadn’t shed a tear in that house in years.

“Stupid girl! They nearly saw you! What would they think if they saw a filthy cockroach like you crawling around their bedrooms? Now hurry, you have to cook something!”

“But you said the omegas—” Talking back earned me another slap. This time her ring scratched my cheek and I felt the warm ooze of blood.

“The omegas can’t cook for guests!” She snarled.

I had to hide my smirk. She didn’t want to admit it, but the truth was I was a better chef than any of the omegas. They could only handle simple tasks, like frying burgers or making pancakes. She yanked open the big freezer. “Shrimp! Make that shrimp thing!”

“Which shrimp thing?”

“The one with sausage and rice…”

“Jambalaya?”

“Whatever the hell you call it…it had better be good. If I get any complaints from the alphas about the food, you will wish you were never born!”

Oh, you silly lady, I already wish that, at least twice a day.

I didn’t say anything, I just moved around her to get the shrimp. At least she had chosen something that would thaw out quickly. I had only a little more than an hour to put together a special meal for guests, I had to move quickly.

I rummaged through the refrigerator for celery, onions, and peppers. I washed my hands and then went to work chopping and dicing up a colorful mix of vegetables. I had the sausage sizzling away in the bottom of the big pot, and the shrimp thawing in a bowl of water. As I worked I was fuming at those guest alphas.

Goddess damn them anyway. I was completely exhausted from trying to clean the whole house for them, and why did they have to show up early? Now I had a bruised and bleeding cheek to go with all of my other aches and pains.

I measured out the rice and added it to the pot. I was awfully tempted to spit in it, just to add a little more flavor, but the omegas had arrived. They were actually in uniform today and were more tense than usual. The luna must have lectured them about the special visitors as well.

In short order, I had plated the jambalaya, serving it with a fresh salad. The omegas had been sent out to serve the drinks. The luna had ordered bottles of her best wine, which made me wonder if these were visiting alphas or some kind of royalty. The last time they brought out the good wine was for their twentieth wedding anniversary.

The omegas came back red-faced and twittering like little birds.

“Oh my goddess, they are so handsome!”

“I heard they haven’t found their mates yet.”

“Why couldn’t it be me?”

Now I was even more curious. When they went out with the plates, I tiptoed up to the swinging door. While everyone was distracted by the servers, I pushed the door open just a crack and peeked through into the formal dining room. Unfortunately, the two men in question had their backs to me, and I couldn’t see their faces to confirm if they were handsome or not. They sat straight and tall, one in a dark red shirt, and one in a light blue shirt. The red shirt had long hair pulled back in a pony tale. The blue shirt had a short, deliberately messy style. I couldn’t tell much from the backs of them except they seemed well-muscled.

I shrugged it off. Most alphas were big and muscular, it was a like a genetic requirement.

I was just about to back out of the door when I was hit with the most tantalizing odor. It overpowered the spicy scent of the jambalaya and made me almost dizzy. I tried to put a name to it…sandalwood, sweet cedar, and s*x.

How do I even know what s*x smells like?

I was frozen and couldn’t move from the door.

At the same time, the two men stiffened in their chairs, and seemed to be looking around in confusion. Luna Amber looked around them and saw me in the doorway. Her eyes burned like fire into my skull and I finally snapped out of the trance I was in and slipped back into the kitchen. I was never supposed to be seen in the dining room. My indiscretion would no doubt earn me a belting later. I went back to the cleanup with a heavy heart.

Wyatt

We both smelled it at the same time – a smell like mint-flavored hot chocolate. It was more potent now, but I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. There were half a dozen omegas swarming the table, filling wine glasses, and serving plates of steaming food, but not one of them met my eyes or seemed to be affected by our presence. Other than the young twins, there were no other unmated females sitting around the table. I met Byron’s eyes.

The kitchen. We agreed silently. The owner of the chocolate smell must be back in the kitchen. When the servers breezed through the swinging doors, they brought the scent with them. I swallowed down a gulp of wine. I wanted to stand up right there, storm into the kitchen, and get to the bottom of this, but something cautioned me to be diplomatic.

I picked up a fork and tasted the savory dish that had been set before me. The food was really good. If I hadn’t been so distracted by the possibility of my mate in the next room, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it. “Luna, my compliments, the meal is delicious.”

The Luna flushed. “Why, thank you Alpha,” she said sweetly.

“Who is your chef? I would like to pay my compliments.”

Her flush turned a shade deeper, “Uh well, I’m afraid that won’t be possible tonight, but I will be sure to pass them to her tomorrow.”

Her. The chef was a woman. I shot another glance at my brother, but he was busy shoveling rice into his mouth like it was his last meal. He was no help at all. It was left up to me to make small talk, not meaningless small talk as it might appear, but barbed questions aimed at fishing out the private details of the pack.

The luna was totally caught up in my charming spell, and probably had no idea that she was divulging all kinds of private information, from the pack census to their finances. But there was nothing terribly interesting about this pack. They were small-time and as crooked as the day was long, but even with their dirty investments, they were barely keeping their head above water. Their training program was weak, their fertility rate was low, and the alpha, who hadn’t even bothered to show up yet, seemed to be an asshole.

The only thing interesting about the White Pines pack was hiding in the kitchen.

The omegas came back to clear away the dishes after the meal was finished. The door swung back and forth on its hinges again and fanned that scent back into the dining room. Diplomacy and manners aside, I couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. “Excuse me a moment,” I mumbled and pushed my chair back. Byron was right behind me as I went straight for the kitchen door.

“Alpha, wait,” Luna Amber called out, but too late, I was pushing through the door, scattering the last few omegas. They were dumping dishes beside the sink, and in front of the sink was the strangest creature I had ever set eyes on.

She was standing hunched at the sink, wearing something that might have been a dress once upon a time, but now it was a dull colorless sack that hung off her emaciated shoulders and stopped just short of her mid-thigh. Underneath, her skinny legs were bare, all the way to her feet. She had a massive amount of black hair that was shot through with unusual red highlights. I’d never seen a color like that before. It was wound into a messy knot at the back of her neck, and another rag was tied over the top of it. I saw her ribcage expand under that thin dress as she caught our smell, and her whole body went ridged.

The small creature spun around at the sink, brandishing a soapy frying pan like a weapon. All I could do was stare at the waif, but behind me, Byron was already growling, “ mate .” Her expression was stunned and frightened, and her paleness made the fresh bruise and angry red scratch stand out boldly on her cheek.

I went to take a step towards her, but she dropped the frying pan with a loud, metallic clatter and ran.

“Gentlemen, is something wrong?” The luna hustled in behind us.

“That girl—“ I said vaguely, still staring at the empty corridor where she had disappeared.

“Oh, please don’t mind about her,” the luna scoffed, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “She’s just an orphan girl that my husband and I rescued. Unfortunately, she’s a little off in the head. I know I shouldn’t allow her in the kitchen, but she does love to help…”

“What is her name?” Byron said, his voice dangerously quiet.

“Oh. Well… she doesn’t really have a name.”