Bounds By Shadow

Rosie's P.O.V

Here I was again, scrubbing dishes for what felt like the hundredth time today. Work seems to be the only thing on my plate, or should I say the only thing I'm allowed to have on my plate. It's like I'm stuck in this cycle where nothing is truly mine, where I can't even carve out a piece of life just for myself. I crave more – a job that's mine, friends I can trust.

Practicing with my peers on the battlefield is a struggle. I try to dodge those embarrassing moments as much as possible. So, I carve out precious time in the woods to hone my skills in peace. It's my way of avoiding trouble, keeping my head down.

I've grown accustomed to the lack of self-care, the exhaustion that never seems to fade. But my 18th birthday is my glimmer of hope, just a week away.

It's a day I'm counting on to bring change, to be my salvation. Maybe on that day, my mate will be the one to set me free, even if it's in disguise. I've prayed and wished for that day to be my turning point.

I have prayed and wished that if only I get one chance at being lucky, my mate should not be from this pack, I thought to myself.

If he was, it would make matters worse and I would be sure to never get away from my cruel fate, not now, not ever.

But at the same time, I don't see getting a mate outside this pack as possible. I only pray that whoever he is, he should be different.

Maybe, Elijah. Elijah seemed like a decent person. I have not seen him in any trouble and, for what's worth, he has never been abusive towards me. Maybe because his parents raised him properly.

My name is Rosie Albert, soon to be eighteen and I am known to be the pack's slave, I have been branded by almost everyone as unwanted.

I am the one who cleans up after everyone and at every party. And the parties never seem to stop, they always have the need to invite people over every time and they don't think that it was necessary to hire help because I am available to clean after them.

I don't own a dog as a pet but I cannot count how much shit I have had to clean today.

I cannot wait for my 18th birthday when I am able to find my mate. I don't care if my mate turns out to be a gamma or an omega like me and does not have any title, or even if he is a member of the pack, I will convince him to take me out of here and never look back. The mate bond should be able to do as much for me. I just pray that he is not in any way tied down to this pack.

If the moon's goodness is kind to me or I'm given even the slightest bit of luck, then I will be fully free and independent from my family.

Not that they would hold me back or anything. I mean, since I'm sure they definitely didn't want to have me around. It was only a few days away now, a day I have been anticipating all my life, a day I couldn't wait for.

I am aware that my father would be glad to let me go because he has always seen me as a scar he would like to get rid of. My father had never looked upon me with love, rather he had always hated me for taking the love of his life away from him, my mother.

It definitely wasn't strange that he allows my stepmother to treat me as she pleases along with the rest of the pack.

I know my father hates me, he has never ceased to call me a murderer for taking my mother's life at birth. But does that make me any less of his daughter?

I am tired of asking those unanswered questions and they seem so faint now. I have since come to accept my fate and whatever comes with it.

The only time I have a little peace and temporarily get away from all this is when I go to my workplace.

Being able to make dresses for different people of different shapes is what I look forward to. Yes, my father had agreed to let me work, since I had nothing else to do except school and slave away, but it was only for a few hours and I could really use all the money I could get.

And Joan has been more than a good employer, she is kind and understanding. I almost hoped that everyone was like her. She was an angel in the midst of demons. Blood sucking demons that only wanted my blood. Wanted me to bleed dry.

I looked out the window from where I stood and I saw that it was already getting dark.

I needed to go back home, to a round of house chores that would be lying around waiting for me. If I don't want to receive another beating of my life for not getting things done like my stepmother always complained about.

I walked over to the room Joan always stays in and knocked.

"Come in," she said from behind the closed door.

Turning the door knob, I stepped inside and a smile lit up her face, immediately she sighted me.

"How are you dear?"

I inched closer to where she stood. "Fine Joan, I wanted to inform you about me going home before I left"

"Sure, I will close up after I am done here" She smiled calmly at me.

Walking out of the room, I made my way back home.

Just as I had predicted, there was a pile of dishes waiting for me at the sink. Why couldn't they for once pity me?

My mind was so greatly occupied that I didn't notice that I had been joined by someone's presence, who was silently present until he was already behind me.

"Oh my goodness!" I shouted, dropping the two plates I was holding mistakenly.

I opened my eyes wide as I watched them scattered across the floor. The sound of the plates scattering on the floor was deafening. And at that moment, I rushed to apologize immediately, making it a point to bow my head. I knew what was coming even before it came.

I looked up at the person who got in, forgetting to do that when the plate crashed on the floor. It was Dan, whose house I was currently in, doing dishes.

"Dan," I said, managing to calm myself and bowing my head slightly as a sign of greeting. He has always made a fuss about everyone giving him the respect that he deserves since he was undeniably going to be the next alpha of the Blue Bird pack.

I truly didn't care what he thinks or what he thought of himself, I never had. I was only fulfilling all righteousness, and I was more worried that someone would see us together and accuse me of flirting with the Alpha's son. It would only make me prone to more danger and that was not what I needed at the moment.

Dan Sullivan is the doted son of Alpha Erik Sullivan and Luna Anne Sullivan, he is affectionately loved by his parents and most of the girls in the pack.

He is never faulty in anyone's eyes, so if anything happens, people would point at me first without even asking questions.

The girls like him, they adore him and they also shamelessly throw themselves at him every chance they get.

Some, he accepts to feed on his pleasure, and dumps them after banging them. While some he just never gave a chance. Not me though. I have never shown any interest in him. I guess that's why he always wants to frustrate me every little chance he gets.

"You little sh!t! You could have wounded me! Where are your manners?" he growled.

And not to forget, he is also unbelievably rude, but nothing he would do or say to me right now would get me to lose my wits at that point. I have seen the worst of his people, I have been beaten to oblivion because of a small offense, I have been cut to prove a point, and I have been spat at for being unlucky.

"I am sorry, you scared me

I was not expecting you here this time. I thought you guys were having dinner at the table" I said, trying to politely excuse myself from taking the blame for the shattered plates.

"Are you trying to educate me in my house about where I can go and not go?" He asked, growling at me as he came closer to me with each step.

"No, but you scared me," I said again with the most respectful voice I could manage.

But instead of him understanding what I had just said, and accepting it as it was, he slapped me on my face, which was rather unexpected, given the fact that I had tried to be as respectful as I could.

I didn't know what was happening to my body for like half a second of standing there before my right hand automatically went to my face.

"You asshole!" I spat with the venom inside me and I got another slap.

I usually would not utter a word because it always led me into trouble, but the sting of the slap got deep in my body. I could not ignore it.

"How dare you?!" He said, as he traced my jawline with his hand, then placed it on my trembling lips, which were now obviously bruised.

"Rosie, you see, I don't want to harm you like the rest of them" he continued with a low and hoarse voice this time, "if only you would cut the sharpness of your tongue when you are communicating with me."

"I do not like to see the hatred in your eyes whenever you are with me. That's the only thing that gets you into trouble. You are supposed to bow down to me and listen to what I have to say and I will make sure you don't get punished another day in your life. " he went on like I gave two fucks about how any of this maltreatment was my fault.

"No, You are the same. You are just looking for another leverage over me. And that would be over my dead body". I spat my words at his face, daring him again

My statement and fearlessness must have bruised his ego, so he turned away and began to walk away from me.

But before he finally got out of the kitchen door, he turned back and said to me "Don't worry, you won't be saying the same thing in a few days. I will be waiting for you"

The words sounded in my head almost like a threat, but I didn't want to think about it. If this was another way of making me worried, I will not fall into his stupid trap.

But, the day I had in my mind would come soon and there would be an absolutely great difference. That day, for me, I will find my mate, my own freedom.

A part of me wants to stay cool yet, but what Dan said to me does haunt me. Not the craziness I am going to meet at home, but the uncertainty of what the sentence means.

What did he mean by that? What did he mean when he said he would be waiting for me?