Chapter 1

One

OLIVIA

O pening my eyes to the bright sunlight, I looked at the two alphas sleeping on either side of me with dread. Their muscular thighs pressed against my naked ones while the blond alpha's hand lay on my belly.

Slowly removing his hand, I sat up. I didn't want to wake them. I needed time to myself. The alphas assigned to me at the breeding camp weren't necessarily cruel - I just didn't want to go into heat and have babies for them. To just be an incubator for these alphas.

Gosh, I needed a break from this breeding camp. Every day, I prayed I wouldn't go into heat, but I knew I wouldn't be safe forever. Once they matched me to an alpha pack that I couldn't resist, my heat would come in full force.

I knew it for a fact.

Suddenly, I heard shouts and the sound of glass shattering from across the hall. Oh my god, was that Lacy? I shot up from the bed, and the two alphas stirred awake.

"Where are you going?" one of them asked. He was up and alert, standing behind me as I pulled my door open.

My heart beat faster when I saw Lacy's room and a crew of males crowding the entrance. She was screaming. My heart pounding, I rushed across the hallway before my alpha handler could grab me. When I peeked in, I could see a window smashed open and alphas shifting into werewolf forms, jumping out the window. I could do nothing but watch as the guards shifted and jumped out after her.

She had fucking escaped with her pack. Without me. Lacy was my only hope, and I thought she would have planned this with me. I would have woken up earlier and ditched the alpha handlers if she told me to.

"Let's go," the alpha told me, trying to grab my arm. But when I heard the gunshots outside, we all froze.

My heart sank with intense dread, and I wanted to throw up.

Was my cousin still alive? My alpha handler rushed out of the room, and I was left alone in Lacy's room as I stared out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of her. Heart pounding in my chest, I ran downstairs in my pajamas and to the front lobby. I had to find her.

Alphas in full uniform stood at the entrance with guns strapped to their shoulders.

"Go to your room," said Henry, eyes flashing as he paced the lobby. Then to his henchmen. "Make an intercom announcement for all omegas to stay in their rooms today. We have a situation."

An alpha guard grabbed me by the arm before I could argue or run out of the building.

"Please, my cousin is out there!" I screamed. "She could be dead right now. You don't want omegas dead, right?"

"If only you knew," he said, his lips turning up in a sneer, and then I knew that he couldn't care less. He shoved me into my room and closed the door without a word. I screamed and ran to the door, trying to twist the doorknob open.

He had locked it from the outside.

"Let me out!" I yelled, jiggling the doorknob.

I felt the familiar sense of depression weighing over me. I suddenly felt alone. I rushed to my window and saw how high it was from the ground. I couldn't see anything except the ocean crashing against the shore of Howl's Edge. Lacy couldn't be dead. She had to be alive. And for my sanity, I refused to believe she was hurt.

I'm sure she had escaped with her bodyguard alphas. They were a strong group, and they were overprotective of her.

I paced around the room, jittery and nervous. Then, an intercom announcement came over the loudspeaker:

"All omegas, please remain in your rooms. We will let you know when it is safe to leave. We have a situation. Once again, please remain in your rooms."

Hands shaking, I decided to make my bed while I waited until they released us from our rooms. I couldn't help the tears that flowed down my face as I made the bed. My family was probably worried sick about me now, but I hoped Lacy would tell them I was fine here even though I truly wasn't.

I lifted my pillow, and a small gray pill caught my eye. Somebody had set it perfectly underneath the pillow.

What the hell?

Remembering there was a camera in the room, I quickly snatched the pill while there was a disturbance going on outside, and I rushed into the bathroom. Opening my fingers, I stared at the pill in the palm of my hand.

It was a heat suppressant pill.

I quickly downed it, grateful to have some protection against my heat arriving. But the real question was… who left it there? I wondered if it was a total accident or if an alpha was watching out for me.

Later that morning, after we were finally allowed out of our rooms, I kept an eye out for the alphas who had spent time in my room last night. I couldn't see them anywhere, so I went into the Social Room feeling anxious about my cousin Lacy and her escape.

"You look pretty shaken," said Julie, pouring scrambled eggs into her plate next to me. I desperately wanted to talk to someone about it, but I wasn't sure whether I could trust her or not.

"My cousin escaped," I said, unable to keep it to myself, and her eyes widened. "There were gunshots outside and everything. I don't even know if she's alive."

"Oh my god, I hope she doesn't get caught," said Julie, flipping back her long blond hair. She loved it here at the Omega Breeding Camp or the OBC. She was living here with her younger sister, Treasure, and they believed it to be the greatest place on earth. I had no idea how they lived before this, so I wasn't one to judge. I hadn't even been here a week, and I couldn't stand it.

"I hope so, too," I sighed. "If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself."

"I'm sure she's okay. No wonder our rooms were locked this morning," said Julie thoughtfully as we made our way to a large floor cushion.

I only had a bagel on my plate with some cream cheese. I didn't have an appetite at all, but I didn't want to raise attention to myself by not eating. Henry had a keen eye for omegas who weren't feeling well or were in heat.

"Yeah, it feels like a damn prison in here," I said, and Julie raised her eyebrows, not saying anything to my outburst. If she said something, I wouldn't know how to contain my honest views on this place. I wondered if any other omega in this place felt like I did. Or were they all brainwashed?

I scanned the room, looking for the alphas from last night.

Once in a while, groups of alphas would stroll inside the Social Room to mingle with the omegas, which was encouraged to bring omegas to heat. The problem was that I ignored the faces of the alphas who cuddled me the night before. "I hope Lacy does something to save us if she escapes."

"That wouldn't be so great," said Julie, heartily eating as she watched her younger sister talking with omegas who looked to be in her age group. "I would have to make sure my sister finds a good pack before I could ever get mated."

"Why is that?" I asked, astonished. I didn't have brothers or sisters, so this was new to me.

"If I get mated off to a pack, who would protect her?" said Julie. "Certainly not our parents. I'm responsible for her."

"Oh, damn," I said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

I was curious to know why her dads wouldn't protect them, but I was nervous about prying too much. I didn't want to lose my only friend in this horrible place. My worst fear was being lonely here and completely forgotten by everyone. And the only hope I had was Lacy getting help for me if she eventually managed to get home.

Suddenly, the back of my neck prickled, and I felt like someone was watching me. I turned slightly to see an alpha with short, wavy black hair gazing at me from across the room as he talked to another alpha with blond hair.

I blinked. I remembered him from last night and this morning, and he looked familiar.

He held my gaze for a few seconds before walking out of the room. Was it he who left the pill for me? I didn't dare get up and approach him to ask. Because if I said anything and I was wrong about him, I could get the alpha in serious trouble. And I didn't want the pills to stop coming, either.

"What's wrong?" asked Julie.

"Nothing," I said, quickly looking away from him. She couldn't know anything about the pills because of her loyalty to the OBC. And there was no way I was ruining my chances of escape.

That night, I lay in bed eagerly waiting to see who my alpha handlers would be for tonight.

It was the first time I was actually looking forward to it, so I already had stripped down to nothing with the white bedsheet pulled over my body and tucked underneath my chin. This time, it seemed to be taking forever, and I looked at the clock, hoping for it to become nine p.m. already.

After a few minutes, I heard the two men step into my room, and my eyes shot open. The same alpha from last night with the curly black hair and intense gaze was back. And his blond friend with long locks of hair. One of them was responsible for leaving the heat suppressant under my pillow, and tomorrow morning, I'd know for sure.

"Hi," I said shakily. I still wasn't used to this shit. I never cuddled with naked grown alphas before being kidnapped and brought to this camp. After they stripped off their black bathrobes, they silently slid under the bedsheet on both sides of me.

"Hello, Olivia," said the black-haired one. His voice was like a breeze in my ear, gentle and rolling. Was I noticing all this because he might've left me the heat suppressant pill?

But I couldn't ask him that, especially with the cameras on the ceiling above us.

They got comfortable pressing their bodies against mine, creating a nest of warmth against me. My breathing grew harsher, and my breasts pressed against the black-haired alpha while the blond one spooned me from behind.

"What's your name?" I asked breathlessly. I swear if I didn't see the pill tomorrow morning, I would never waste another second of my time with this alpha.

"Sergio," he answered, staring at me with hooded eyes. His jawline stood out in the moonlight with his ultra-serious expression, and he looked like he couldn't be bothered to talk.

The alpha behind me didn't seem to like being ignored.

"My name's Ian, if you're wondering," he said, and my face cracked into the first smile in days.

"Nice to meet you, Ian," I said, even though my mind was racing about the pill they left this morning. Because I could have sworn it wasn't there before.

"You seem to be on edge," observed Sergio. "You need to relax in order to go into heat."

What?! But wasn't he the one who left me the heat suppressant?

It definitely wasn't him then.

"Yeah, sure," I said, shutting down again. I closed my eyes and turned onto my back so none of them could see my face directly. Their mission was to get me into heat and nothing else. I should never have thought I'd have a chance to escape with an alpha's help.

"What's wrong?" asked Ian.

"I don't want to go into heat," I said vehemently as they rubbed my arms and thighs. Their breaths on my neck were causing my pulse to skyrocket, and the clenching of my pussy sent alarm bells through me. If I went into heat in this place, there would be absolutely no hope left.

"Why not?" asked Sergio suddenly, and his hand tightened on my wrist. I looked over at him and noticed his eyes on the camera. Chills went through me. He was acting like an asshole for the security camera. "An omega should want to go into heat and have babies with her future mates."

"Because I have dreams," I said.

"What kind of dreams?"

I didn't feel like getting too personal, but if I wanted those heat suppressant pills, I'd better fight for my case.

"I always wanted to be a writer, you know?" I whispered. I didn't tell many people this information for fear of being ridiculed. I was twenty-four, and yet I still haven't been able to hold down a real job, except for being a part-time receptionist at the Howl's Honor Hospital and writing on the side. I had notebooks full of half-finished stories, and my dream was to finish writing an entire book.

"That's amazing," he said, his eyes still on the camera. "But you can still have babies at the same time."