Chapter 1

Kenzie Hope

Life was boring to say the least. I've had the same day on repeat for the last seven years. I'm trapped in a mediocre horror movie.

I wake up at six in the morning, before even the sun has risen. Immediately following that, I make my little brother his breakfast. Once I wake up and feed my little brother, I head to the florist shop that I work at. I spend from seven to three o'clock there. I deal with piece of crap, who are trying to put together a half assed apology to their significant other. It was very rare that a genuine person waddled in. After the god-awful 8 hours spent there, I drive to the high school to pick up my baby brother. Then, we have dinner and hang out for a little while, talking about our day.

At exactly five o'clock, I take out my laptop and spend exactly two hours on my online schooling. When seven rolls around, I tell my brother goodbye and head to the local college. I clean the place for around five hours or until its spotless. Finally, I head home to sleep for five hours only to wake up at six to do it all again.

On Saturdays the entire back was allowed to go for a run during a two-hour period, between 12 and 2 . It was the best day of the week by far. Before 12, I would work my shift at the florist shop. After 12, I would spend the day with my brother and work on school work. I would tell my brother stories about our parents and teach him all about our wolf ways. Those are the days I look forward to.

There was only one day a month that different from all the rest. The first Monday of every month, the warriors of our pack would do monthly house inspections. We were expected to have our houses neat and tidy with nothing hiding under floorboards or in the walls. They had a very vigorous process and a strict checklist that each home had to pass. The Sunday beforehand, we would be given the night off from cleaning the college. This was to help our neighbors ready their homes.

We would spend all night cleaning and prepping the houses. Then, once the warriors arrived, we would sit on the couches with our hands in our laps and heads down. No one ever had any serious issues in their homes. We always followed the laws, but sometimes the warriors were, well, aggressive. We feared for our lives every Monday. I was so glad that Brady was at school.

It wasn't always this way. My blood wasn't always that of an omega and in a different life, I could have ruled magnificently.

It all started over twenty years ago, before I was even born. My grandfather was the alpha of a moderately powerful pack that was eager to take over the world. The Moon Rise pack was located Russia and had a large section of land. It was a nice set up, really.

That was until my father, who was set to become the alpha in a few short days before hand, had met his mate. She was beautiful woman, who was shaped by the Moon Goddess to be perfect for my father. As for my father, he fell in love with her the moment their eyes met. It was truly a beautiful moment and when they told me as a child, I got goose bumps every time. But, like all love stories, they had their obstacles.

My grandfather, being the strong man he was, decided that my father's human mate would never be fit to be the Luna. He gave my father an ultimatum. It was either my father's legacy and title or his mate. Naturally, my father chose his mate and gave up everything he had ever known.

Because my mother was a human, the rouge life would be too dangerous for her. They couldn't live in a city without being in a pack because they were all in some pack's territory. They couldn't live with my mother's family because she was raised in foster care and was never adopted. The reasonable conclusion would be to join another pack, right? Well, with my father's alpha blood, no one would accept him due to their fear of being taken over.This led the distraught couple to the only place that would take them: the United States. The Winter pack was strong, powerful, and arrogant. They even named their pack after their bloodline. But the brand new alpha was ignorant and eager to take the challenge that was my father.

The naïve alpha told my father that if my father could beat him in a fight, one on one, my father could have the alpha's title. If not, my father would have to submit to him. His kin would have to be omegas for the rest of his bloodline; the Moon Goddess would be eternally ashamed of them.

This was the only option my dear father had, so, with hope in his heart, he took it.It was a long battle and neither man could defeat the other. They matched each other in strength and in talent. The battle lasted three hours and it would've gone on for longer if my mother had not been effected by the mate bond.

The new alpha side swept my father and took him down to his knees and, because of the mate bond, my mother felt it. She fell and hit her head, which my father felt and that distracted him. The new alpha took this advantage and won, leaving my parents omegas.

A year following that my mother found out she was pregnant, and they could not be more excited. They raised me with love, understanding and hope. I could not have asked for better, more loving parents. Even though they worked until they dropped, they never ceased to give up hope for a better future. They never ceased taking care of me.My brother was born when I was six years old. No one was more excited than me to have him as an addition to our family.

I remember that moment vividly. I had sat on a scratchy waiting room chair for what felt like forever. After listening to my mother and doctors scream, my father walked out of the hospital room. He was with my little brother in his arms and tears in his eyes. He asked me if I wanted to hold him, and I did.

The moment I looked into his eyes, I felt the need to protect him. He was my baby brother. It was the moment, looking at his chubby cheeks, that my six-year-old self promised to always protect him. And I've done it ever since.

After that, my father's eyes filled with pain and his body shriveled up as he cried. It was a moment of intense pain and silence filled the room. Then he ran to the room where my mother's lifeless body laid. He didn't return for hours and doctor informed me of my mother's sudden death. That was when I decided, then, to do everything a mother would do for him. I vowed to protect him, to nurture him, and to love him, just as a mother would. And I've done it ever since.

A piece of my father died that day with her, and it never returned. He held on and struggled with heartbreak for years, but he held on for us. He held on for his children because we were pieces of my mother. I knew he wanted to join her in the afterlife, but my mother would have slapped him.

Then, six years ago, my father fell asleep and just never woke up again.

I was fifteen. Brady was nine. I didn't know what to do and there was no one to help us. I tried to call my long-lost grandfather, but I never got a call back. There really was no one. I didn't even have my wolf to guide me yet.

But then I remember my vow to my brother, my vow to protect him. So, I did. Even since that day it's just been him and I under the watchful eyes of our parents and the Moon Goddess.

Now I am 22 and Brady is 16. We live in a small apartment on the outskirts of the territory. I work at a florist shop a few blocks away and I clean the college in the middle of town. We don't have much, but I remain optimistic. I have to remain. Our last name is Hope, so I might as well have some.

I hope for Brady to do well in school and do better than his family. I hope for happiness and contentment. I hope to do better than this.

But my wolf, my wolf wants more. She wants more wolf-like things. She hopes for runs when she would like. She hopes for a large house where we won't be crammed. But most of all, she hopes for a mate. A mate that would sweep us off our feet and love us so sincerely.

I, however, have given up at the thought. If we had a mate, he would've shown up by now. Being an omega, I am not allowed to travel. That being said, the Moon Goddess would have paired me with another omega in the same pack. The Moon Goddess was cruel. Either she made me and not my other half, or she made him exist, yet made is so that we would never cross paths. Either way it was a cruel fate for my wolf and she yearned for a partner more and more each day.

My wolf, Lexus, was my dearest and only friend. Coming from alpha blood, she was strong and emitted power. She stood at five and a half feet tall, and is always the largest wolf in the forest. She had cream color fur and we both had sapphire colored eyes. Although, when we got angry, our eyes turned into an amethyst color, and the color of moonlight when we got sad.

I, unlike Lexus, did not emit power. Since my father was an outcast, I learned to keep my head down. At school, I got bullied because of my lineage. I learned never to get to close to anyone because eventually they, too, would turn against me.

I dropped out of school when my father died to take care of Brady, and I took online classes to get my associates degree. Actually, in exactly a month, I would have to stand up and go through the graduation ceremony. As proud as I was of myself, I was terrified to do that. I would have to see all the horrible people in my pack, the neighboring pack, and the local humans. They were all people who tormented me. The idea of that alone made me tremble at night.

"Kenzie! Kenzie!" Someone snapped their fingers in front of my face. I snapped back into reality and out of my narrative. I looked at Maria, a small fragile woman who was in charge of the omegas who cleaned the school. She was a nice woman and in another life we could have been great friends. Her face was paler than the moon and her dark brown hair made her look vampiric. She was about 4'10, but her height did not contain her personality. Her personality was fiery and bubbling, I often wondered how the hell she became an omega. She had the personality of at least a Gamma, if not, a beta. She was not one to be contained and it was a wonder that someone did.

"Maria? Hey," I said to her. She smiled at me and her eyes softened a bit.

"Hey Kenzie, you drifted off there for a second," She told me. I nodded my head and mumbled an apology. Spraying the lavender-scented cleaning supplies, I went back to work. And in an hour, I would go home, and I would go to bed only to start the same day all over again.