Chapter 2
Lexi
Three Years later
Every few seconds, my eyes flick over to the clock on the wall. The tick-tick-tick is driving me insane. My knee bounces like crazy, my heart pounds with nerves as my stomach twists with unease.
Gideon, the man who’s held us captive in this mansion for years now, has put on his annual gala. A yearly event he hosts for the rich and powerful Alphas of society.
To an outsider, it looks like any other event someone with money would put on. It’s not. It’s far worse than it seems.
We’ve been preparing for this night for years, it’s what we’ve been trained for.
Each year, the group of Omegas who are newly twenty-one are paraded around, shown off like prized ponies before being sold off like pigs for slaughter to the highest bidder.
We’re the Omegas who spent years being shaped and molded to be the perfect housewife, the obedient sex slave, the fertile womb to hold the future heirs to empires around the world.
I’m dressed in the gown Viv, one of the female Betas in charge of the girls, left for me.
It’s a pale pink that flows out at the hips and shows off my breasts. If it were for any other occasion, I’d think it was pretty, something I’d have worn in the past.
But not tonight. Tonight, it’s meant to show off my body to potential buyers.
The knock at my door has me gasping, jumping to my feet. My eyes fly to the door, heart thundering in my chest.
I lick my lips, body trembling as I wait for whoever is on the other side to enter.
“Lex!” I hear my sister’s harsh whisper, and my shoulders relax slightly. “It’s me.”
Rushing over, I throw the door open. Silva stands there, her eyes hard, on guard.
“Is it time?” I ask, my hand moving to my stomach as a knot of unease tightens.
She nods before looking around. “Are you ready?” she whispers.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I mumble nervously.
Tonight is the night. Not the one Gideon and his goons have prepped us for, but the night we’re taking charge and changing our destiny.
We refuse to be victims any longer. There’s no way we’re going to be sold off to sick, abusive Alphas only to be raped and bred at their will.
We might be forgotten by the real world, but just because we don’t have anyone waiting for us on the outside, doesn't mean we don’t deserve to live our lives the way we want.
We didn’t ask for this, and we sure as fuck aren’t planning on accepting it any longer.
The past few months, my sister and I have been planning an escape with the four other Omegas taken around the same time we were.
The part that has me riddled with guilt is the fact that we can’t save the other girls in this house. We don’t know them, and we don't have access to them.
We don’t have much time to execute this plan as it is, so we definitely don’t have time to run around the house in hopes of getting those girls out.
It breaks my heart, but we can’t risk our own freedom to save the others.
We don’t know if this plan is even going to work.
There are at least three other groups of females. Each group consists of different ages, ranging from eighteen to twenty-one. The latter being our group. I’m not sure how many girls are in this house apart from the six of us, but I’ve seen some of them around the property from my window.
We’re not allowed to interact with the other age groups, and we are sectioned off in different wings of the house.
On certain days, we’re allowed free rein of the property, with the exception of the other girls’ wings, like the kitchen, entertainment room, and the gardens.
It’s not much, but it’s a bit of freedom that keeps us from going insane. Not that the freedom we get is actually in our control.
We’re not allowed to do anything that doesn’t directly help us become better Omegas for our future Alphas.
We can cook, clean, bake, tend to gardens, and learn to mend or sew. Everything you would think a basic Omega housewife would need.
Not that I really see the point, considering the people who are buying us are richer than sin.
We all know we’re meant to be arm candy and used for our bodies, then stashed away in a room when we’re not needed.
These past three years have been hell. No, we weren’t beaten or abused. But we were kidnapped, held against our will, and then forced to change into something we don’t want to be in order to be sold. It’s fucked up. Pure and utter bullshit.
That's why we refuse this fate.
A clock chimes, grabbing our attention.
“It’s time.” Silva looks at me with a grim look in her eyes.
“Alright, girls. It’s time,” Viv says, her smile is big and bright like she’s not about to walk us to our demise.
Viv is... let’s call her our Beta caregiver; she’s the person in charge of our group, shaping us into perfect Omegas. What would she even know about being an Omega? She’s a Beta.
Doors open, and out walks the rest of our group. Lark, Aries, Luna, and Briar. Lark and Aries are blonde like my sister and me, while Luna and Briar are brunettes. I can’t deny that the group of us, as a whole, are all beautiful women.
Gideon wouldn’t have it any other way, he requires the best of the best. If you don’t have the looks and the ability to reproduce, then you’re not worth his time.
You’d think that would be a good thing, but something tells me if you’re picked up by Gideon’s men and he finds out later that you’re not fertile, one of the biggest requirements of the Omegas, he’s not going to just let you go.
You’d be a liability, a threat to his empire. People like Gideon don’t like threats.
It’s why it took us a hell of a long time to get this plan into place.
Thanks to Lark and her killer hacking skills, we’ve got ourselves a golden ticket to escape.
But first, we actually have to get out of here for this plan to work.
“Alright, ladies. Let’s go meet your future Alphas!” She claps her hands together, too fucking cheery for my liking.
I hate this woman. How can you just stand by and do this to innocent people?
“She’s had a little too much of the crazy juice today,” Briar whispers, and I smother a laugh.
“You think she’s on drugs?” I whisper back.
“Shh.” Silva shoots us both a warning glare.
We straighten, walking in a row as we head down the hall.
I hear the music and the chatter of people below as we descend the stairs.
We’ve got this. This is going to work out. We’ve been planning this for months.
It’s going to work. It has to work. If it doesn’t, then we’re all fucking doomed. I’d rather kill myself than be owned by any of the sick fuckers in this ballroom.
“Alright, ladies! Remember, manners matter. Be sweet, kind, and polite. These Alphas are looking for new Omegas, so make sure you make yourself approachable. All of these packs are wonderful candidates, and you’d be lucky to end up with any of them.
Just remember, no one has a right to you until they work it out officially.
So even if they start to get possessive, don’t get your hopes up. ” She winks.
Hopes up? Why the fuck would I get my hopes up that some delusional creep likes me enough to buy me? To fucking purchase me?
No thanks.
“Heads up, backs straight.” We do as we’re told. “Off you go.”
I cast each girl a look, and they respond back with a nod.
We know what to do. Now we just have to make it through this night and wait.
If one more fucking Alpha touches me, I might say fuck the plan, grab a butter knife off the dessert table, and stab the motherfucker. Every time they touch me, I want to puke.
The only time we’ve had to deal with pervy Alphas before this was when Gideon would visit.
The asshole doesn’t even live on the property. He has his men snatch people off the street and bring them here, doing all the dirty work for him while he profits from the sales.
He’s here tonight, though, making sure we are all on our best behavior, chatting us up like he knows us all so well.
Fuck it, I should grab the knife and stab him with it.
“Don’t you smell divine?” An Alpha from the pack I’m mingling with says. “Like peaches and cream.”
I force a smile.
“I’d love to know what you taste like,” he chuckles, a dark, hungry look in his eyes. It takes everything in me not to gag from his pheromones. I’m not used to being around Alphas. Do they all smell like shit?
He puts his hand on my back, and my heart stops. I’m not allowed to push them away, not allowed to piss them off, but fuck if I want them touching me.
Thankfully, the only good thing Gideon has ever done is interrupt this moment with a speech.
He drones on about how grateful he is that these men are here and how he hopes they had a wonderful night.
I zone out, waiting for the moment we’re dismissed.
“Now, say our goodbyes to the lovely ladies and let the men discuss business, shall we?” he chuckles, and the room follows suit.
There it is.
My eyes find my sister’s, and she nods. I follow after her, not bothering to say goodbye to the bastard touching me. Get fucked, asshole.
We all meet at the main entrance, where Viv is waiting.
“How did everything go?” She smiles. “All the packs looked very pleased.”
None of us say anything. What does she expect? For us to be happy that there are a number of men who want to buy us illegally?
She frowns and sighs. “Girls, let’s try to act a little more grateful, shall we? We have to remember that this is a good thing. Before you came to live here, you had nothing. You were no one. Now, you get to live like queens.”
Breathe, Lexi. Hold your shit together just a little bit longer. Deal with the crazy lady's bullshit long enough to get upstairs.
I give her my best fake smile and nod, the other girls doing the same.
“That's more like it! Now, head on upstairs and get ready. It might take a few hours before everything is finalized.”
Good. That's exactly what we were hoping for.
Once we’re in our rooms, we wait long enough for Viv to head back downstairs.