CHAPTER 02 Job and shelter

　　Desiree

　　I got home and went straight to bed. I was yet to get my wolf, so my healing capacity was slower than others with their wolves. I hated my life, I lay in bed and wept. Rob had ruined everything. I wanted to use that money to escape this place. I had saved enough to bribe the wolves at the border and leave. How was I going to leave now?

　　I woke up from sleep the next day and found my mother sitting at the foot of my bed. She had tears in her eyes, and I figured she had come to talk to me about my decision to kick her out of my father's house, but my mind was made up. She had failed me, and I expected nothing more from her.

　　"What are you doing in my room, mom? You and Rob should be packing," I said, and she was crying. That was when I noticed that my bags had been packed.

　　"What the!!!"I exclaimed.

　　"So sorry, Desiree, I had no choice. We need money to get by here, and no one would take me or Rob to work for them, So we are sending you instead," she said crying, and I jumped off the bed.

　　"You do not have the right to do that!" I yelled at her, and she cried, and that was when the loser walked in. He must have been listening.

　　"It is still months to your eighteenth birthday so technically we can do that, and we have," Rob said with a dirty grin across his face.

　　"Mom!" I yelled, but she didn't answer.

　　"Get up brat, Your new station awaits you," Rob said, and I shook my head.

　　"No!" you can't make me do anything," I said to him " And neither can she. I want you two out of my father's house!" I yelled at them, and he began to laugh. He left the door and walked into the corridor. Two hefty men walked in, and they carried me.

　　The men were called Enforcers. They were Moon Zeta breeds employed by the King to enforce duty and laws among the moons. Usually minors hated resuming jobs their guardians or parents secured for them. The enforcers made sure they resume their jos. Rob must have known I wouldn't go easily and that was why he brought them.

　　I began to scream, asking them where they were taking me, but they did not answer.

　　"Rob found you a job at the Blood packhouse, and the wages are good." my mother said in tears.

　　"Who will be collecting the wages?" I asked her, and she couldn't answer.

　　"I swear I will come back for both of you!" I yelled as the men took me away. My mother carried my bag and put it into the trunk of the car I was locked in.

　　"I hate you!" I yelled at my mother as the car drove away with me in it.

　　I cried bitterly. I knew what must have happened. My mother must have told Rob that I was kicking them out, so he deviced the evil plan of using the guardian authority to sign me up for a job at the packhouse, knowing I would not be able to leave even when I come of age. Although it was paid employment, it was a mild form of slavery, and my mother had allowed her mate to do this to me. I meant what I said that I would come for both of them.

　　I dried my tears and kept quiet as the Enforcers drove me to the Blood Pack territory.

　　We arrived at the packhouse, and the driver drove to the back. There were two doors at the back. One read 'Bloods only' and the other read, 'Service only'. we went through the 'service only' door. The place stunk. It was musty dark, and old.

　　"This is the service quarters." one of the men told me. The place was very unkept. I was ushered to a room that had three bunk beds and six dressers. The room stunk of piss, and I wanted to vomit.

　　I was valedictorian for goddess sake, and look at what my mother and her mate did to me. They laid waste to all my hard work in school. I was reduced to scrubbing toilets and cleaning floors.

　　"You are at the bottom on the right. The sixth dresser is yours. Clear the stuff that is in it," one of the enforcers said, and I wasn't comfortable touching other peoples things.

　　"What about the owner of the stuff?" I asked, unwilling to touch someone else's stuff.

　　"She is dead.," he answered, and I was afraid.

　　"Your duty is simple. Clean all the toilets in the night when the Bloods have gone to bed and serve and work in the kitchen and dinning hall in the morning when the Bloods are having breakfast. You have the rest of the hours to yourself. Do not wander to the Blood section, or you will be punished. If caught more than three times, severe actions will be taken against you. Your guardian will receive your wages. You can go to them to collect money for your upkeep. The pack will not provide anything for you other than your wages. Am I clear?" he asked, and I nodded, knowing I was in a deep mess. How the hell will I survive? My stepfather wasn't going to give me my money, and my mother was a coward and a stupid woman.

　　"Is there a way I can receive my wages?" I asked the man, and he nodded.

　　"You can apply when you are eighteen," he replied, and I was relieved.

　　"Where do I apply, please?" I asked the man a bit happy, and he told me to do so at the help desk at the guard post.

　　I thanked him, and they left me alone to get 'comfortable' I was going to pay my mother and her mate back in the meanest way ever. I just had to find a way to survive for some months, after which I will apply to receive my wages and sell off my father's house.

　　I opened the dresser started to clear it of the former owner's stuff. The person's journal was there, and I decided to hang on to it. I will spend time reading it. Maybe I could avoid some of her mistakes, if any, in the process. I arranged some of my things into the dresser and went to look for the bathroom to freshen up. As I walked in, I made sure I read signs, so I do not enter any Blood territory and get into trouble with them.

　　I found the dingy toilet allocated to the Moons, and I Went to use it. Apart from the place being old and most of the facilities broken down, the workers were kind enough to keep it clean. I cleaned up after myself once I was done, and then headed out.

　　I returned to my room to arrange the rest of my stuff. I found an envelope with a letter and money inside my bag. It had my mother's handwriting on it.

　　I reluctantly opened it.

　　"Dear Desiree, I am sorry for what I allowed Rob to do to you. Please manage the money in this envelope and don't come home. Once you turn eighteen, sell the house and all the remaining properties. I will be dead by then. I am sorry I wasn't such a good mother, and I didn't protect you when I should. I never sold your father's things, they were taken from me by the king. I had to keep my head down so I wouldn't come off as a threat to him because I was the next Alpha of the Moon pack. Rob is an Enforcer that works for him, and he was put to monitor us. That was why we couldn't leave him. When I was diagnosed with ash cancer, I was happy because the moon goddess had finally decided to put me out of my misery. I missed your graduation because I had to go for treatment, but I learned yesterday that I was no longer responding to treatment. Please find it in your heart to forgive me and know that I always loved you. I did what I did to keep us alive and give us a fighting chance. Now you will have to carry on alone. Be careful Desiree, all eyes will be on you because of my bloodline. I know you intended on using the money to leave the pack, please don't. There is a witch war going on outside our borders, and it has claimed the lives of a lot of  Blood and Moon warriors. Please. Remain at the Blood packhouse. Roseline the seer predicts that the war will spill into our territory soon. The ash has already come as she predicted. The war will follow. I know you will be safest at the packhouse in the king's territory. Please stay alive for your father and my sake. You are the last of the Dawson  and the Johnson bloodline and the only one that might have the magic of my bloodline in her blood, Please be careful, and no one must know your capabilities. When your wolf comes, and if powers come with her, hide it. Your life will depend on it. I love you so much," it read, and tears began to fall down my eyes.

　　I was surprised that she knew my plans all along and kept it to herself. She must have planned to get me to safety, and this was the best way she could do it. I counted the money. It was all that I had saved and much more. It was enough to survive until my eighteenth birthday.

　　"Moon!" someone called out, and I looked at the door. Mousy hair freckled-faced boy that was about my age stood there with his crescent moon badge indicating he was a Moon too. He handed me a blue jumpsuit to wear, which I suspected was my uniform. He had the same on but his was a bit more decorated than mine. I saw level five written on his uniform. Mine had entry level on it.

　　"Come, let us serve the late breakfast service," he said, after I wore the jumpsuit over my clothes.  I tucked the letter into my bra. I intended to find a secret place to hide it when I had the time. I knew I  should destroy it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do it because it was all I had from my mother. 

　　I followed the boy to the dining hall, keeping my eyes on the ground.

　　"You can look up to serve them," he told me, and I looked up.

　　The dining hall was beautiful. I hadn't seen this much luxury in a long time. While I was admiring the hall, there he was again, the guy that had saved my life the night before. I wouldn't have known it was him if it weren't for the hoody he was wearing. He was breathtakingly handsome.