I awoke to someone hammering incessantly on my door. "Kiara, wake up and get the pack breakfast. Hurry up, you lazy lump!" One of the pack members screeched. "We're all waiting!"

Of course, that had to be one of Aden's lapdogs.

I slid my legs off my bed— if you could even call it one, and tied up my hair in a bun in haste. Stifling a massive yawn, I took out a worn out tee-shirt and a pair of jeans from the heap lying on the floor.

Clothes washed and ironed. Check.

Pack house cleaned. Check.

Lawn mowed. Check.

I mentally patted my back, satisfied that I had completed all the chores way ahead of time.

It was earlier than usual today. The pack breakfast was at seven so I usually headed for the kitchens at six thirty.

Today, it was only half past five.

Wondering why? Because today, the training began for new batch of sixteen year olds. Once upon a time, I would have been thrilled, but now I was just disappointed.

I sighed as I headed downstairs towards the kitchen. The Alpha had ordered me not to train with the other pack members because they all considered me as a burden, a damn sack of rotten potatoes that you couldn't throw away.

Since that ill fated day three years ago I had lost all my rights and was demoted to an Omega. No shocker there.

Even as I recalled it, my chest constricted.

It was the evening of my father's funeral. The day after the attack.

People were crowded in the cemetery as my father's body was lowered to the ground. Somewhere in the distance, my mother was crying into her handkerchief. Others were paying their last respects.

I sat a long way off. Hidden behind the tree, I listened to the numerous pack members step up to say great things about him.

He was a kind man, I heard some say.

He was always good to his subordinates.

He was brave. Fought valiantly until his last breath. There will never be another Beta like him.

I was so immersed in listening, I didn't hear the Alpha himself step away from the crowd and walk up to me. A familiar scent pervaded my nostrils as he approached me. His son, Aden, followed close behind.

In a single move, he yanked me up by my collar and slammed me against the wall.

Aden gasped. He reached out to pull his father back, but his father didn't budge. Didn't even bat an eye.

"You." Alpha Jason spat at me. His eyes were burning. Venom dripped from every word. "You still have the audacity to be here?"

I recoiled in fear.

"It's because of you that I lost my Beta today. Because of you such an invaluable member was taken so soon." He growled. "He was talking to you when he was slaughtered. Did you know that?"

Yes, I had heard the news. Fainted after hearing it.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled.

He scoffed derisively. "No, you're not. You're disobedient and reckless." A pause. "Where is your sister?"

I blinked back my tears. "They took her away." I answered in a low voice. "They—He kidnapped her."

"Kidnapped? Most likely dead." He ground out. "Thanks to you."

Still in the shadows, Aden stiffened. His face was aghast. "Dad!" He started. "It wasn't Kiara. I was there. No one could've done anything!"

Alpha Jason's expression doesn't change. "I wasn't talking to you, son. Speak only when you're spoken to."

I swallowed hard. "But Aden is right!" I tried to speak up. "I was trying to protect her. But the rogue was too strong for us. Aden nearly died—"

"—Protecting you when he had no business protecting you." He cut me off. "If you had stayed inside as he ordered, it would've never even come to that. Not just did you disobey a direct command, you endangered my son's life as well."

My lips parted in protest, but no sound came out. It was hardly a direct command. I wanted to say. Aden isn't an Alpha yet. He's my classmate, my friend. We were just trying to help each other.

"Aden Carter is the son of an Alpha. A black wolf by birth. He is superior to you in every possible way. By disobeying him, you're disobeying me and the very hierarchy of us wolves." Alpha Jason continued aloud. His eyes glinted with hatred as he stared me down. "Do you think you, a mere wolf pup are superior to us all?"

"No, Alpha!"

"Dad." Aden retorted. "You're not being fair. Kiara is a white wolf too."

"Yet, she is your subordinate!" Alpha Jason barked. "Stop taking her side and shut up before I order you to stay away from her!"

Aden gulped. His head hung low as he stared at the ground. My heart twisted at the sight.

However, when my gaze returned to his father, it stopped entirely. I froze. There was something cold and calculating behind that gaze.

I knew what was coming even before he began to speak.

"You disobeyed the orders of the son of your Alpha. You were responsible for the death of your father, the kidnap of your sister." He declared. "For that reason, you are henceforth demoted to an Omega. Your training privileges will be taken away. Instead of training, you will complete the household chores. Forget ever taking over your father's role as Beta, and consider yourself lucky I'm not throwing you out of my pack."

Tears rolled down my cheeks as every word ricocheted through me.

The implication that I was responsible for everything was incomprehensible. That I had somehow lost everything and everyone in the span of a day—gods, how I wished this was a nightmare I could wake up from.

I watched as he turned to his son and motioned him to follow. I was rooted to my spot, paralysed.

As the crowd in the cemetery dwindled down and the sun set in the horizon, I knew I was in for a world of pain.

That was how three years later, everything had changed.

My mother suffered from depression. Life had become so damn numbing yet painful, nothing really shocked her anymore. It was frightening how a single unfortunate event could do that to a person.

The pack hated me from that day onwards. Everyone blamed me for my sister's kidnapping. Aden underwent an one eighty degree change of behaviour. Like his father, eventually he too blamed me for all the family and pack problems. He never physically hit me, but I saw it in his eyes. Saw the hurt and the resentment that lurked beneath his harsh exterior.

At first, I thought it was because he lost his best friend, and so I put up with it for a few days. I tried reaching out, tried talking—but every time, he would simply get up and walk away.

In the last few months, he barely spoke to me. Barely even looked me in the eye.

Very soon, the entire pack hated me. In fact, Alpha Jason warned them not to get too close, or they would suffer the same sentence. Every time Aden appeared in the vicinity, his father was two steps closer.

But Aden was only a part of the problem.

What broke my heart the most was my mother. She made no attempt to protect me. She was still mourning the loss of her true mate. I could understand Mom's situation though. She loved Dad to infinity. Dad's death nearly killed her soul too. She was just like a piece of rock now. I occasionally got her to smile and that made my day.

But I was her child. Didn't I deserve her sympathy in the very least?

I still went to school, but I was shunned by all. In a way that turned out to be for the good, because I began to focus more on studies and I even ended up scoring the highest in Physics last time.

A scrap of happiness amongst a truckload of misery.

The school was now headed by the Queen Nicole and her pet poodle Brenda. She stuck to Aden like a leech which annoyed me and my wolf Zara quite often. It disgusted me the way she shoved her tongue down Aden's throat in the cafeteria each time they met.

That asshole had become a manwhore as well.

Stella, his sister was still nice.

Unfortunately, she was younger to me by a year, so we attend different classes. I happened to see her on rare days, when I sat alone in the cafeteria munching away on the stale bread. She would be sitting quietly with her brother and his fangirls as they laughed and hooted at every single pathetic joke he made.

Ever so often our eyes would connect, but before she could approach me, Nicole would draw her away.

The worst part was that the Blood Hound pack decided to move away. They were somewhere in Washington near La Push. That was a long journey by werewolf speed. Needless to say, I missed Ashton a lot. He never called or wrote to me. I guessed even he hated me for some unknown reason.

Last I heard his father had fallen ill. His mother was having a tough time managing the pack single-handedly.

The memories of Ariana and Ashton brought out another flood of tears. Every night I screamed into my pillow. Hit it as hard as I could. I knew I couldn't cry in public as the pack only seemed irked by it. I couldn't blame them, because no one wanted a cranky Omega around them anyway.

I sniffed and began to make breakfast for the pack before they came. Nellie, a friend of mine actually the only one, came to help me. She was an Omega too and she often helped me with the workload.

"Good Morning, Ki!" she smiled as she diced the vegetables.

'Ki' that so reminded me of Ash and Ariana.

"Good morning!" I returned her smile, concealing my pain. If I had a dollar for every time I held in my tears, I'd be a millionaire by now.

"So, the training is beginning today, right?" She asked me.

I nodded unhappily. It upset Zara and I that we weren't allowed to train with the other pack members. So I secretly sneaked out in the night to train. Nellie didn't know that, in fact, no one knew about it.

"Its hard, I know. But after all we Omegas are never allowed outdoor stuff."

Wrong. I wasn't an Omega. I was a white wolf with Beta blood in me. White wolves are gifted. However we received the gift only at the age of eighteen when we found our mates. But I knew better than to argue, so I remained silent.

I busied myself with my duties in the kitchen. Humming a song to myself, I moved about enjoying my bullying-free moment while it lasted.

We heard the hustle bustle of the pack returning after training. I hurriedly set the breakfast and tried to make myself scarce.

However, fate had other plans. I accidentally bumped into Evil Queen aka Nicole on the way.

"Watch where you're going, bitch!" She snapped, grabbing my arm.

"Sorry. I didn't..." I whispered, tugging at my hand. "Sorry. Just let me go, please."

"Sorry? Did you hear that, Bree? She finally learnt some manners."

Brenda snorted derisively next to her. "About damn time."

Nicole smirked and turned to me. "Sorry what? What am I to you?"

I blinked, not understanding. She didn't want me to call her 'Evil Queen' now, did she? Not that I had any qualms calling her that, but I doubt she'd appreciate the term.

That momentous hesitation earned me a resounding slap.

The wolf within me growled, but I shushed her. We didn't want whippings next.

"I ..."

"Your Luna, you filthy mutt!" she snarled while the rest of the pack watched us in amusement. How people found delight in someone's torture, was entirely beyond me.

I could feel Aden watching us from the table, but I didn't dare to look. That jawless coward, wouldn't be able to defend me, even if he wanted to. Daddy's little lackey, wasn't he?

Instead, I kept my eyes fixed on the floor. "Yes, Luna." I said, my voice a mere whisper. "I am sorry."

This only annoyed Zara further. She snarled, her claws out, demanding to be let free and rip the woman in front of me limb to limb. Quiet. I shushed her. Now isn't the time to start a fight.

White wolves had tremendous ego problem. Zara was no exception.

"Louder." she commanded me, arrogance oozing out of her voice. I balled my hands into fists, resisting the overwhelming desire to punch her.

Stay away from violence. I chanted in my head. Stay away from murder.

"Yes, Luna." I said, louder.

"Good!" she said and punched me in the face before gliding away, sashaying her hips.

The table tittered with laughter and their would be Luna's 'funny' deeds. It was just another morning amusement for them.

I glanced at the table and saw Alpha Jason chuckling. However, next to him our Luna Diana looked sad. She was the only one who sympathised with me. However, she was powerless before her mate.

On the other end of the table, my mother wore a blank look on her face. It broke me to see her vacant expression. She looked like she was carved of stone. Did nothing affect her at all?

I turned away and ran out of the room holding a sob.

My nose was bleeding and I pinched it to stop. Zara was beyond furious at my cowardice.

I knew if I let her take control then Nicole and Brenda wouldn't last a second.

"Would be Luna?" My wolf snorted." What does she think if herself?"

"Zara, calm down." I attempted to pacify her. "She isn't worth it."

For all I knew calming her down was next to impossible. She had a raging and unforgivable temper.

She had a point though. How could Nicole know if she was Aden's true mate or not? Aden wasn't eighteen yet.

"He turns eighteen tomorrow." My wolf informed me. There was a quiver in her voice as she said the words.

"And how do you know that?" I asked.

She decided to turn a deaf ear to that.

"Oh I guess, since he was our next Alpha and everything...." I trailed off.

I shrugged off the feeling of foreboding that seemed to grow the more I thought about him.

He was just like the rest. His eyes were cold and emotionless every time I looked at me.

Spineless piece of shit. To think, there was a time when I hoped we would be friends. Hoped our loss would bring us together and we would support each other.

I was blind. Truly blind.

To Aden, I meant nothing.

Now, all I hoped was I wouldn't have to stick to this pack for long. If I was lucky, my mate wouldn't be from this pack. Then, I could leave and become a lone wolf or perhaps I would set out to find Ashton. What if he turned out to be my....?

Goddess, no. Don't go there. All that will lead to is more heartbreak and pain. I quelled that thought before it took root.

Zara merely sighed. "If only that were true." She wished. "We could run away and never, ever look back."

Yes, that would be a future worth waiting for.

I would have continued dreaming if a knock at my door hadn't shaken me out of my reverie.

To everyone who thinks the only reason La Push is mentioned here coz I've read Twilight, let me get the facts right.

La Push is a REAL place near the Quileute River in North America. The place is known for it's werewolf legends even before the Twilight Saga was written.