Jason Dolley as Callum 'Cal' Yorke

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"Cal, we're all done, right?" Raven asked. She was shaking her head up and down for a yes, and I nodded my head up and down imitating her, looking like bubble heads.

"Good, I need to sleep." She turned to leave and walked straight into Luna Rowena.

"And where do you think you're going?" screeched Luna Rowena. "To sleep?" She smacked Raven across the face, knocked her on the floor.

Our Luna was a Beta so she's quite strong for a Luna. I ran over to Raven and helped her up. The other Omegas turned back to what they were doing and ignored what was going on, so the oncoming wrath of our Luna won't fall on them and frankly, I didn't blame them one bit.

"Alpha Kodan told us to leave once the food was done, he said he will have the pack females serve the guests," I told her as I helped Raven off the floor.

She looked at all of us and snapped, "leave, now!"

We all ran out of the kitchen and went straight to our room.

"That was close." Serena gulped.

I dragged Raven to my bed and sat her down. Pulled out my emergency kit and gently rubbed some healing ointment on her face. Her face was already red and swelling up and I imagine painful based on her groans. A few seconds later she was feeling better, no more pain. No not magic but it's my own special instant pain reliever for weres. Ever since I was a little pup, I have been fascinated with herbs and creams. I have so many different healing creams for every time we get hit, punched, beaten by the bigger pack members. And we get punched and hit a lot!

The only ones in the pack aware of my batch of 'creams' are the Omegas and they were sworn to secrecy. We sold these creams on our weekends off, and that's how our company Wood Inc was created.

The other omegas get a cut of our profit. You can say I am a CEO in training. I am not as rich as the pack but I'm getting there. We need enough money to disappear when the time comes so that no one will ever find us.

"Serena, lock the door. We have time to review our online requests."

"Sure, Cal."

I walked to our secret hiding place that has our laptops and emergency cash fund. Emergency cash fund you wonder? We don't know when enough will be enough and we bail from this wretched pack. But as werewolves, we can't leave unless we find another pack willing to take us. We don't want to end up as rogues.

I pulled out my laptop and started to review all new orders. Raven, Serena, and Roland pulled their laptops and cell phones out to review and answer customer complaints or requests. Just so you know, this hiding place was built by Roland.

Roland dug a hole in the wall and fixed it to look like it was part of the heating and cooling system from the basement. Our dainty room was directly over the heating and cooling system for the whole house. Initially, when we moved in here, in the winter, it was freezing, and in the summer, it was unbearably hot. Roland fixed all that.

WOOD Inc. was created five years ago when I was thirteen, and incorporated when I turned fifteen. A little young? Not when you are determined to get out of this hellhole. It started with me selling a jar or two at my best friend Esme's Healing Hands store. She's a witch that I met when I was five years old. Now I have four co-owners and have branched online. I love modern technology. You can be rich without leaving your room.

"We have one serious complaint here," Roland said.

I walked over and read the complaint out loud, "yadda yadda yadda, the ointment didn't make my face smooth as you promised. My rashes are still there and bigger than ever. I want my money back or else. Raven, will you pull up order #DS23549873, please?" I watched Raven work her laptop, "So, what did she order?"

"She ordered Foot fungi cream by mistake, I think, not the zit removal cream. I'll handle it."

I left Raven to handle the complaint and went back to review the week's orders. Not bad, I see orders are coming in more than we can handle ourselves. Time to implement my idea.

"Okay, everyone, we need to have a meeting once Raven is done," I said.

I went back to checking the month's profits and expenses.

"So, what's the meeting about? Did you find a new pack for us?" Raven asked.

"No not yet, I'm working on it. We need to find a solution to this increase in our online orders. It is a good problem, but still a big problem. We are a week behind filling our orders and probably will be backed up a month if the orders keep coming in at this rate. We only have the four of us completing them."

I looked at each one of my friends and Raven tilted her head at an angle thinking of the pros and cons of my suggestion like always. Serena had a shocked look on her face and was tugging on her curly black hair like she does when she's nervous, and Roland just had his usual blank look, I swear I saw a hint of interest in his eyes. But who knows, everything about the dude is blank as a rock.

"We don't have enough hours to get the creams made as fast as we should to meet our orders, so I for one think having two or three more people fill the orders will help a lot," Raven said.

She was typing fast and furiously on her laptop and motioned for us to come over, "Look", she pointed at this stringy looking thing on her computer. "Based on my projections, adding three more employees will guarantee us an additional forty to fifty percent profit after all expenses are calculated. So yes, I'm on board."

Without the faintest idea of whatever it is that she calculated or how she did it, I was just glad to have her vote.

"Serena, Roland, what about the two of you?"

Serena said "I don't know. I mean who are we hiring, how do we hire them, who will manage them, do we let them know who we are, what if the Alpha finds out?" She rattled off frantically.

"I have a plan to solve all that. Roland, what about you?" He just gave me a thumbs up. Just like a man, speech-disabled.

"Serena, Esme will be the employees' point of contact. We will continue to be the silent owners and use her store as our physical location. I'll tell her about this new plan next time I'm in town."

"Wait a minute, she doesn't know about this," screeched Serena.

"Keep your voice down. Okay, time to go, people," I clapped my hands.

We headed up to the building roof where we plan to just lie under the stars, wish upon the stars and gaze at our Goddess. I could hear the noise around the house and yard. Music was blaring, wolves were howling and to be honest, it sounded like fun, but Omegas are not invited. That does not mean we couldn't sneak looks from the rooftop.

The party was to start right after midnight when Darric becomes Alpha. My wolf, Sköll and I both knew he's our mate and Sköll was itching to mate with him, but I cautioned him. I told him our mate will most likely reject us, so he needed to be prepared. Rejection is painful and I hope to the Goddess that I can endure it.

I looked around and saw Darric and his posse laughing and dancing, he was all over his latest floozy, Suzie the neighborhood slut machine. Didn't he smell others on her? Or did he not just care? And why do I care? Why did my heart ache? I moved my eyes away from their sluttish display and saw that the stand for the exchange of powers was being set up.

I saw a lot of new faces and some old ones. I smiled when I saw Alpha Salim Taylor of Crimson River Pack. Man is he built? And the way he moved, which screamed, 'don't fuck with me or else'. I heard he goes to all these parties looking to find his mate. He's looking and longing for his mate and mine will reject me, oh the irony. He walked up to Alpha Kodan and they greeted each other, and he then walked to the nearest tree, leaned against it with arms folded to await the festivities.

"Good evening everyone" Alpha Kodan said in a booming voice. Everyone quieted down. Alpha Kodan was on the stage, with Darric on his right and Luna Rowena on his left. "Tonight, my son turns eighteen and becomes your new Alpha. And may the Goddess also grant him his mate who will be your next Luna. But before that, I will transfer the Alpha title and power to him."

He bit his right thumb and turned to Darric, who did the same to his right thumb. "I Alpha Kodan Grey with the blessing of the Moon Goddess, transfer unto you, Darric Grey, all the power and authority that comes with being Alpha of Blood Rose Park". They joined their thumb together and we saw a red glowing globe surround them for a few minutes. They separated and Alpha Kodan looked a bit older while Darric looked more powerful. I should call him Alpha now, right?

Alpha Darric turned to the crowd and everyone bowed their heads and rhymed "Alpha". He looked at the other Alphas from the neighboring packs one by one and they tilted their heads slightly in acknowledgment of his new position and he responded the same in acceptance.

His Betas, Deltas and Gammas all went through transfer of power by the outgoing Betas, Deltas and Gammas including my sister, Minerva.

I looked to where my father David stood, beaming at my sister's inauguration. I wished he was proud of me too. Ever since my mother died, he had become too fixated on pack position and power.

Oh crap, it's almost midnight, time to run. "Okay guys, I'm off to bed."

"Okay, laterz," said Raven.

"Later not laterz," Roland grunted.

"You say later, I say laterz, hater."

I ran, took the elevator, hoping for a quick getaway or at the very least, a private 'rejection' showdown. The elevator opened and there stood my worst nightmare. But the smell of apples and spice hit me head-on and my wolf purred at the smell and yelled "Mate".

Alpha Darric pulled me out of the elevator and slammed me against the wall - hard. He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off my feet, now we're eye to eye.

"You? Of all the wolves in the universe, why did the Goddess choose you as my mate? She must be joking. I hate everything about you. I sure as hell don't wanna fuck a guy, least of all you and you sure as hell can't even give me pups. What good are you?" Alpha Darric snarled. He squeezed my throat harder and harder, I tried to scream, my hands were desperately scratching his hand trying to loosen his hold.

He looked into my eyes and said the words I was expecting and dreading; "I Alpha Darric Grey, reject you, Callum Yorke, as my mate and Luna of Blood Rose Pack."

I felt a pain like I had never felt before in my life, like needles were being poked into my skin all over my body. I tried to accept his rejection but his hands on my throat stopped me. His hand felt like it was pushing needles into my skin with each squeeze.

Beta Cole was standing there with him and he tried to pull his hand away from my neck and yelled "Stop Darric, you're killing him."

He finally let go and I fell to the floor coughing and inhaling, and he turned to Cole, "you will not interfere in my personal business from now on, do you understand Beta," he snared. He dragged me off the floor back into the elevator, and threw me against the elevator walls, I slid down coughing and tried to inhale much-needed air. He looked at Cole and they must have communicated something through their link because Cole said "yes, Alpha" and as the elevator closed, I thought I heard the words, "I'm sorry, Cal" from Beta Cole.

The elevator opened on the fourth floor, into a large living area, and he dragged me by my shirt to his room. My heart was racing, and I was whimpering. He tore off my shirt and threw me on the bed. "This is not right," I told myself.

I scrambled to the head of the bed, looking around frantically for a savior; anyone, anything to stop what I feared was going to happen. I started to get off the bed, but he pulled me back and straddled my waist. He held my hands above my head pinning my whole body to the bed. I wiggled under him, tried to shake him off, my breath coming in short, rapid puffs.

"So, you're my mate. I'm going to really enjoy finding out what an unwanted mate is made for." He held my face with his other hand and slammed his mouth down on mine. My first kiss. A painful first kiss. My wolf started to whine feeling my pain as I struggled and yelled, "No, stop, not this way." He wouldn't stop and started to rub his hands all over my chest, still kissing me harshly, biting my lips, and hurting, every nerve on my lips. I growled, and the shock stopped him. He looked at me, and I thought to myself "oh hell no," not this omega and then I did the unthinkable.

What do you think our little bitty Omega did to his Alpha mate?

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