Amanda's POV

"Oh, right there!"

I paused mopping the floor, my ears twitching. What was that sound?

"Right there,"

A moan? That sounded a lot like Sylvie. I glanced in the direction of the sound, frowning as I realized where it was coming from.

"Oh Alpha, right there... Yes."

A bitter taste filled my mouth at the sound of Sylvie's moans. Of course. It was Alpha Jackson's room. And of course it was Sylvie. One would think an Alpha would have enough sense and decency to keep his sexual trysts to himself, but no. Not Alpha Jackson.

His conquests were no secrets.

And lately, he had been sniffing around Sylvie.

‘It's the other way round’, Amy, my wolf, defended. Sylvie had been sniffing him.

And he let her! I argued. Tears burned my eyes and I groaned, irritated with myself. There was a searing pain deep within my chest and I hated it. Why was I the only one affected by the mate bond? Why should I care if Jackson slept with other she-wolves? Why should I care if he didn't care?!

He doesn't know we exist, Amy defended as I grabbed the mop and bucket and tried to leave the room. My eyes caught my reflection in the mirror and I stopped to stare for a moment.

Brown eyes, a mop of brown hair tied to the back and a lot of sad lines that marred my face. I reached up to trace the lines when Jackson's grunts reached my ears and the pain worsened.

"Why am I still here?" I whispered to myself, dashing out of the room. I had been cleaning the beta's room, but I didn't think I could do so anymore. Not with Jackson's room so close and not with those moans and grunts that filled my head.

"Hey, Ant!" A nasty voice reached my ears as soon as I stepped out of the beta's room. It was Cora, one of the many cruel bitches who attended to Jackson. Oh, who was I kidding? Everyone in the pack were cruel bitches.

Cora however was a special one. She had the sense of entitlement because Jackson slept with more than once. A silly thing to be proud of. Her father was also the ex-Beta of the pack. Another silly thing she was proud of.

I tried to ignore Cora and move on to the next room I was supposed to clean, but she stopped right before me, her dark eyes gleamed with mockery.

"Did you make sure to clean the Beta's room properly? Or will we have a problem?"

"I cleaned it," I muttered, but I suppose Cora was too deaf to hear because she grabbed my face, digging her harsh nails into my skin.

"Can't hear you! I thought you were only scentless? Are you both mute and scentless now, Ant?"

That got the attention of everyone along the hallway and they all laughed as if Cora had said something funny.

What was funny about being born scentless? What was funny about my parents dying, leaving me in the hands of the omega house? In the hands of pack members who treated me as dirt because they thought I was weak!

All because I was scentless.

"I'd bet she rubbed yourself all over the beta's sheets!" Someone hollered, "She knows she'll get away with it anyways!"

"Well hell, I wouldn't mind that fat ass rubbing on my sheets." Another commented. "Such a shame we wouldn't be able to smell it!"

The males in the hallway high fives themselves like the bunch of high schoolers they were. I tried to focus on something else except their cruel words.

"Harder, Alpha.”

My eyes snapped shut. I could still hear the Alpha and Sylvie! Tears burned my eyes again and this time they fell. I was too tired to hold them back. Too tired to try.

"I'll bet this will make her easier to smell!" Cora cackled and before I could blink, she grabbed the bucket of dirty water that I had used in mopping the beta's room. With a stupid smirk on her face, she tipped it over my head.

Brown murky water seeped through my hair, down m to face, through my clothes and to the floor. I stood there, eyes closed, frozen in the spot as everyone in the hallway laughed and made their remarks.

"Good, now she smells as disgusting as she looks!"

"Aww, is she about to cry?"

I tried to rein back the tears and walk away, but Cora held my shoulders down.

"Haha, clean up this mess. Can't have the Alpha's corridor looking like your dirty room, can we?"

It was hard to see through the dirty water that ran down my face, but I did it anyway. I had lived with this bullying all my life. I ought to be used to it.

"Oh, I'll come!" Sylvie's screams echoed in the hallway and in my head.

Fight back! Amy yelled in my head. I tried to ignore the pain in my chest and mopped harder. I wasn't used to that. For three months since I turned eighteen, I had lived in pain, I had watched my mate go from woman to woman, dismissing me as a mere servant, not noticing me because I was a scentless wolf.

"Oh, mope harder, will you?! The ground needs to be spotless!" Cora yelled and that seemed to break me.

It's too much, I told myself as I stopped mopping the floor.

"Since you made the mess, why don't you mop it your damned self!" I snarled.

Cora's eyes widened with surprise, then the narrowest in anger. "What did you just say to me, Ant?"

"Are you deaf as well?" I spat while everyone else jeered at me.

"You bitch-" She raised her hands to hit me. I grabbed it just in time and shoved her away from me. The wet floor seemed to help me because she skidded and slipped on the floor.

Just then, the door to the Alpha's room opened and Sylvie walked past us with a smile on her face, my mate's scent all over her.

I grabbed the bucket and mop angrily, bared my teeth at Cora and made to leave.

"Get back here!" Cora screamed, but I ignored her and kept walking. "The Alpha will hear of this, you hear me?!"

I turned around to see the triumphant look on her face. Perhaps she thought she got me.

"Go right ahead!" I yelled, laughing at her and walked away.

"It's too much," I whispered to myself in my utility room, naked and staring down at a bowl of clean water. "Why am I here?"

Why was I here? I had hoped my mate would love and cherish me. I had hoped to be cared for. But my mate would never know that I existed. And if I stayed any longer in the Moonheart pack, I would be treated even worse. Like trash.

My reflection in the water stared right at me, brown eyes sad and unhappy.

"I'll leave," I said. "I can't stay here, not anymore."

I agree, Amy replied. But first, we have to say good bye to Alpha Jackson.