Chapter 1


    Chapter 1: ChaSity the ChaRity Case


    Chapter 1: ChaSity the ChaRity Case


    The nket of pure white snow seemed to sparkle in the early morning light. The Pack House was


    buzzing with excitement about the uing festivities. Tomorrow was my birthday, not that anyone


    cared or even remembered because it was also the birthday of the Thorn Triplets. The Thorn Triplets


    were the pride and joy of the Winter Moon Pack. They were the sons of Alpha Romeo Thorn. They


    were filthy rich, devilishly handsome and disgustingly arrogant. All the young she-wolves adored them


    wholeheartedly and stroked their egos on a daily basis. I was cursed to share a birthday and a home


    with them.


    At the tender age of nine, my drug-addicted parents left the pack to go rogue and had not been seen or


    heard from since. They left no instructions regarding their wishes for me so I was taken into the pack


    house under the care of Alpha Romeo and his wife, Ronnie. As if I had not been devastated enough, I


    now had three twelve-year old tormenters. The identical triplet sons of the Alpha were, in order of birth,


    Alex, Felix and Calix. They despised me and ensured that I knew I was beneath them. My parents had


    incurred a huge debt due to their drug seeking habits which was paid off by the Alpha. Thus, I had to


    earn my keep and repay my debt by doing as many chores as possible while the triplets enjoyed an


    idyllic childhood in the very same house.


    In some packs the new Alpha ascends at age eighteen when they first shift but in mine, the age for


    ascension was twenty one. Thus tomorrow, on November eleventh, the triplets would turn twenty-one


    and take over the pack while I would turn eighteen and experience my first shift. Eighteen was also the


    minimum age when werewolves found their fated mate but I did not care about that. All I wanted was to


    come of age so I could leave this hell behind.


    At least, the pack house had beautiful scenery. We were close to the north pole so snow was an


    everyday affair though there was no sign of Santa us. I certainly did not expect any birthday


    presents this November or Christmas presentse December. The pack made it clear that I owed


    them money and they were subtracting everything they did not spend on me from the huge debt. They


    also subtracted my “wages” from the debt so I was never given any money. I was allowed food, clothes


    and shelter, the basics.


    I slowly got out of bed. The sun was just peeking out from behind a snow-covered horizon. Everything


    glistened. I gazed out my window at the wintry terrain. I sighed. I had to start making breakfast for


    everyone. Despite the huge size of the pack house with its luxurious bedrooms and bathrooms, I was


    given a small empty storage room to stay in. I had a cot, a shelf of second-hand books and a single


    drawer full of second hand clothes. The other drawers contained extra cleaning supplies as I did the


    housekeeping work also.


    I used themon room’s bathroom, showering quickly. I looked at myself in the mirror. My parents


    had name me Chasity but everyone in the pack called me Charity. This was started by the triplets as a


    joke and because they said it so often, even decent pack members thought it was my real name. I was


    so shy and scared as a child that I never bothered to correct them so it had stuck.


    I detangled my waist-length dark blonde curls and put them up in a huge bun. Whenever I left them


    down the triplets would pull my hair ever since we were little. They had not grown out of this habit even


    in adulthood. I sighed. There were dark circles forming under myrge brown eyes. My light brown skin


    looked sallow. I had been overworking myself or rather the Thorn family had been overworking me.


    They used to have a maid and a cook with me as the sole assistant of both, but they had fired themst


    month after numerous conflicts between them and the spoilt triplets. For the past month, I had been


    drowning in work while attending my final year of high school. I had seven more months of high school


    before I could leave this ce. That was the deal. At eighteen and after high school, I got my freedom


    and whatever I had paid off by then would be the end of it. The current Alpha and Luna seemed to think


    they were being extremely generous.


    The pack house had a really good heating system so despite the fact that outside looked like the frigid


    tundra, inside was pretty warm. I put on a long-sleeved white babydoll top that covered my behind as I


    was wearing just ck leggings underneath.  I started on breakfast. As it was the Triplets’ “birthday


    week” and they would soon be Alphas, everyday was a feast day. I made waffles, pancakes, bacon,


    scrambled eggs and sausages. I put the butter and maple syrup on the table. I made coffee. I quickly


    drank some sweet, milky coffee for some energy and started setting the table.


    Luna Ronnie entered the dining room, eyeing me, scrutinising my handy-work. She was a tall woman


    with dark brown long straight hair, pale skin and green eyes.


    “The table looks nice,” she said, a rarepliment. “But have you washed all the wares? Wash them


    all before you eat!”


    Alpha Romeo sauntered in, kissing his Luna gently. He nodded in approval at the breakfast spread. I


    smiled feebly at him. I heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and I took a deep breath. The Triplet Terrors


    wereing. They towered over me at six feet and four inches each, exactly a foot taller than me.


    They resembled their father with their shoulder-length thick shiny ck hair, chiseled faces, baby blue


    eyes, dimples and chin-clefts. As they were Alphas they were all broad-shouldered and muscled


    blessed with super speed and super strength even beyond what was considered extraordinary for a


    werewolf. They were perfectly identical and perfectly heinous or at least they were to me. Their deep


    voices boomed as they shouted excitedly, shoving each other yfully. They would be twenty-one


    tomorrow but they still acted like they were twelve.


    Alex was the eldest and the most serious and severe. He would surely rule with an iron fist and a surly


    demeanour. Felix as the middle triplet loved being the centre of attention and was naturally filled with


    wise-cracks, jokes and quips. ssic middle child. The youngest, Calix, was the charmer, a


    professional sweet-talker and Mommy’s favourite. He almost treated me like I was human.


    “Did you make all of this, Charity?” Asked Calix, immediately trying to pull my hair out of its bun. I


    nodded, dodging him, only to bump into Felix who smirked and slipped my hair tie off. My curls tumbled


    down all around me. Felix and Calixughed.


    “Stop!” I implored them, reaching for my only hair tie. Felix held it high above my head. He threw it to


    Alex who caught it and put it in his pocket. I tried to lunge towards Alex but Felix grabbed me. Felix and


    Alex started shoving me back and forth between them like I was a ball and they were ying catch.


    “I give up! I give up!” I said while they snickered.


    Calix said, “All right. Cut it out. Let her go wash the wares. Mom wants the ce kept as clean as


    possible so there’ll be less to do tomorrow.”


    The elder two relinquished me. I ran into the kitchen. My heart was racing. I started on the dishes. By


    the time I was done, the family of five hungry werewolves, four of them from Alpha stock, had devoured


    literally everything I made except for one pancake. The chairs were all empty. I went to get thest


    pancake but Felix snatched it up. He had zoomed in out of nowhere, fast as a cheetah and quiet as a


    mouse.


    ? 2024 N?v/el/Dram/a.Org.


    “I haven’t eaten anything,” I told him, my eyes wide.


    “Good, you’re fat enough as it is,” he said, sneering. He ate the pancake in two bites.


    I sighed. I refused to cry. I had not cried in front of them since the first year of torment when I was nine.


    My tenth birthday marked a very important vow I had made to myself after crying almost every single


    day at aged nine. The vow was that I would never let the Triplets make me cry ever again. I would be


    strong. I had kept that vow sessfully for eight yearse tomorrow. Thement stung though.


    The Triplets were widely regarded as the most handsome eligible bachelors in the Pack. They


    constantly attacked my weight. I was not overweight but I had a curvy hourss figure. My waist was


    slender. I wore about a size 4 in clothes which was small enough in my opinion but all the Triplets had


    stick-thin size 0 girlfriends.


    I had to take the bus to school. I had thrown on a man’s ck coat over my white top and leggings,


    another hand-me-down. I managed to find another hair tie but this was truly thest one. The Pack high


    school was called Winter Moon High after the pack. Our pack colours, and therefore also the school


    colours, were white, blue and silver. The whole school was decorated with streamers and balloons in


    celebration of the new Alphas, the Triplets.


    “You’re so lucky, Charity,” said Mina Toros, the most popr girl in my senior year. She tossed her long


    dark hair back and pursed her plump red lips in her locker’s inside mirror. She was wearing a pink skirt


    short enough to qualify as belt. Thank goodness she had opaque tights on underneath. She usually


    ignored me except for the asional pronouncement of how “lucky” I was.


    “The things I’d to those Triplets if I lived in that house,” Mina said, licking her lips.


    “You’d have to drop out!” Squealed her best friend, the second most popr girl, Tina Gregory. “You’d


    get pregnant the first month there.”


    Tina had wless dark brown skin with curly hair. She was tall and waif-like and also wore a pink skirt


    short enough to be a belt with opaque tights. Mina and Tina usually matched as though they were


    twins. Mina cackled at Tina’s joke.


    “You know, Charity,” said Mina suddenly. “You’re not totally hideous.”


    Gee, thanks.


    “Ok,” I said, clutching my books. The girls were blocking my locker which was sandwiched between


    their two lockers. Lucky me, indeed.


    “Yeah,” agreed Tina. “Your hair is actually pretty. You’re like a biracial Goldie Locks.”


    I smiled. That sounded like a realpliment.


    “Thanks Tina!” I said.


    “Ohhh! And those Triplets are the three bears!” Shrieked Mina. “If I were their Goldie Locks I’d make


    sure everything was just right, get it?”


    “Or too big,” said Tina, giggling.


    “That means one of the triplets has to be too small,” I said softly.


    Being werewolves, Mina and Tina heard me and they burst outughing. Wow. I was actually getting


    along with them for five minutes.


    “That was a good one, Charity, surprising,” said Tina, looking at me like she was now seeing me for the


    first time.


    “Yeah,” said Mina giving me the same strange appraising look. “You know, if you had the money,


    imagine how cute you could look.”


    I fidgeted ufortably, suddenly hyperaware of the patches in my clothes. Mina and Tina strutted off


    and I hurriedly opened my locker and got out my Math book. Mr Johnson who coached football and


    taught Math looked like he should be an Alpha too. He was huge and really attractive for a teacher. He


    was married though to his mate, the Art teacher, Mrs Johnson. He handed out our graded tests while


    Tina and Mina made flirty faces at him. Those flirty faces were not doing them any good. I noticed they


    got an F and an F minus respectively. I did not know F minus existed before today. He smiled at me


    and winked. My heart skipped a beat. “A plus as usual Math champ,” he boomed. Mr Johnson was one


    of the few people in my life who was nice to me.


    “Mina and Tina, see me after ss,” Mr Johnson said.


    After ss, Ashton Peters, a tall buff redhead who yed football and was well-liked in the pack,


    pretended to knock into my desk.The stack of papers on my desk went flying all over the room. Mr


    Johnson spotted it.


    “Stay and help her pick those up, Aston, my boy,” boomed Mr Johnson.


    “Aww, coach, I’ll bete for football practice,” he whined.


    “And we’ll bete for cheerleading practice,” said Mina and Tina in unison, pouting.


    “I’m the coach, Aston, go ahead and bete. I’ll exin to your cheerleading coach ok, girls,” said Mr


    Johnson.


    Ashton grumbled. He red at me as if this were my fault. He started picking up papers at werewolf


    speed which cause the ones I was picking up to fly around due to the disced wind. I eavesdropped


    on the meeting with Mina and Tina.


    “Mina, Tina, I’m giving you a homework assignment to make up those grades. If you don’t ace it there


    won’t be any cheerleading,” he said.


    The girls gasped. He handed them a stack of papers each and told them they could work on it together


    and that he set the questions himself so they would not find the answers online. I snatched up thest


    few papers from the floor and took the stack Ashton was handing me without looking at me.


    “Thanks,” I said softly to him.


    He nced down at me, surprised by my thanks. He looked a little guilty all of a sudden. Mr Johnson


    left the room, leaving Mina and Tina  looking dejected. Ashton grabbed the hair tie from my hair just like


    Calix had this morning. My curls came tumbling down again. I shrieked. I was so fed up. Ashton


    laughed and ran away to football practice. There went myst hair tie and my birthday was tomorrow.


    “Aren’t you going to cheerleading?” I asked the girls, actually feeling sorry for them as they had been


    sort of nice earlier.


    “No,” said Mina.


    “What’s the use. We’ll never ace this homework so we’ll fail the ss and be banned from the squad


    anyway,” exined Tina.


    I walked up to them and looked at the homework assignment. I snorted. I could get 100% in this in my


    sleep. I was suddenly struck by an idea.


    “Remember how you girls said I had…potential,” I said, looking at them.


    They shrugged.


    “I’ll do the assignment and you copy it over in your handwritings and ace it ok,” I offered.


    The girls squealed. They jumped up hugging each other and me.


    “Wait!” Said Mina, raising her eyebrows.


    “What’s the catch?” Asked Tina, narrowing her eyes.


    “I’m turning eighteen tomorrow too,” I said.


    They gasped.


    “You have the same birthday as the triplets?” Mina asked.


    “Wait that means everyone ignores your birthday like every single year,” said Tina.


    It was my turn to shrug.


    “And they will this year too but I at least wanna feel…special. I’m gonna shift for the first time at


    midnight and who knows…I might see my mate at the big party…not that I care…” I rambled.


    “You wanna look hot! Is that it?” Mina said smirking.


    “Yeah you want us to make you over?” Tina asked, smiling.


    I nodded.