Beep... Beep... Beep.... I groan and slap the little brown alarm clock that sits on the floor beside my bed. Bed? Ha, I use that term lightly. It is more like a nest you would expect to see in a den of a pack rat or other small rodent.
It consisted of anything I could gather that wasn't too destroyed or ruined. There was a thin mattress from a couch bed, random pillows and blankets pack members had thrown out, and a few couch cushions I had swiped from the couches at the pack's dumping spot. I felt like I had just laid down; in reality, there had been a party the night before, and it was my job to clean and cater to the guests.
At least since I had been working the party, the Alpha had told the men to leave me alone. I knew I wouldn't be so lucky tonight. A commotion from upstairs brought me to my feet. If they caught me still lying down after 4 am, I would be punished for sure.
The door swung open, and four guards piled in, wrestling another man down the stairs. His arms and legs were chained together with what I assumed were silver chains since he hadn't broken free yet. You would think seeing this would shock me, but things like this often happened here.
My room was nothing more than a cell in the holding area in the basement of the Alpha's office building. Usually, the cell door to my room was chained open, but they would lock me in there often. It seemed to give the guards great joy to find every little reason to punish me and lock the door. As they came down the stairs, the head guard growled at me, "Out of the way, mutt!" The others just laughed, and the last guard kicked at me on the way past. They threw the man in the cell next to mine.
Great, just what I needed. I wanted to run back into my room and pull everything away from the bars, so this prisoner wouldn't be able to drag my stuff through the bars and destroy it like the one before him. But I knew I didn't have time.
When the stairway was clear, I hurried up and to the packhouse. I would be late if I didn't rush, and being late always caused terrible consequences. It was only about a ¼ mile from the Alpha's office building to the packhouse.
Once there, I quickly started preparing breakfast; thankfully, I had most of the food ready, and it only needed to be heated. I was only responsible for feeding the unmated pack members that lived at the packhouse. All mated couples and children had their own houses and prepared their own meals. But there were still around 115 that may or may not show up to any given meal.
Meals were always stressful for me; if I didn't prepare enough, I would be punished for starving the pack. If I prepared too much and there became food waste, I was punished for wasting the pack's money.
After breakfast, I cleaned the dishes, kitchen, and dining hall. Then it was off to the upper levels to collect laundry. Once the laundry was going, I had to come back to the kitchen and prepare snacks and lunch. After lunch, I had to clean the packhouse top to bottom. Thankfully, I had cleaned most of the common areas after the party at 2 am this morning, so I was done a lot faster than normal.
After supper, I cleaned up and checked my list of inmates at the Alpha's office, and they were usually allowed one meal a day. I had five; they never wrote their names down, just their cell number. My heart sank when I saw cell number 2 and remembered there had been someone in the cell next to mine all day.
As soon as they locked him in, I am sure he destroyed anything he could get his hands on. I mean, I don't blame him, especially if he let his wolf out.
It was already dark when I left to head back. There was another gathering at a neighboring pack, so I knew there wouldn't be many others around, just a few guards. When I got inside, I could see two guards.
One guard I didn't know well as he was mated and kept to himself; mostly his mate would come to visit sometimes, and she was nice to me. They weren't originally from this pack and only recently joined. From what I heard, they didn't have a choice; it was join or die. My uncle had attacked their pack and killed their Alpha.
The other one was named Carl, and I knew him all too well.
