I protested my whole life, having to wake up at such an ungodly hour should be illegal. Onyx stood next to him wearing her coat and sweatpants, her hair pulled neatly back by a french braid, sleep still in her eyes. My 4 hours of sleep was not enough to function. This was bullshit. I can’t hit snooze on my mom, unfortunately. She would make sure to come by my room every five minutes as she got dressed.

Begrudgingly I got myself up out of the bed and started to get myself dressed. I join both of my parents downstairs and grab a thermos coffee mug out of one of the cabinets and fill it up with the delectable bean liquid. I don’t know how my parents are so awake, I assume it’s because they’re used to crazy hours of sleep because of their work.

I groan in annoyance, wanting to just go back to sleep. My dad was already on his laptop checking his emails and responding to them. My mom was hugging the Dominant wolf around his neck, reading the emails as well.

“You ready to go kiddo? We’ve got a really long day ahead of us. We’re supposed to meet Alpha and Luna at the packhouse.” My mom looks up from the computer.

“In all honesty, I just want to go back to sleep,” I responded, taking a sip of my coffee. “Let’s just rip it off like a Band-Aid.”

“They’re serving donuts for our breakfast and we should be done before noon.” My dad explained. I nod my head in response, my dad shuts his laptop taking his glasses off of his face. The barstool he sat on scraped against the floor as he got to his feet. “Let’s get going.”

Once we arrive at the packhouse, my dad joins the other dominant wolves near the wooded area of our territory. My mom and I made our way inside of the pack house’s lobby, people were bustling around preparing for the incoming Omega’s. There were small care packages being sorted out on one side of the lobby. There were others sorting out clothes by size.

“Hey, August!” I hear Onyx’s voice in the area where they were sorting out the care packages. “Would you mind helping here?” She requests, I give her a curt nod and I work my way into the little assembly line, putting toothbrushes into the bags.

“I wonder how many there are.” An older submissive wolf said in wonder.

“Well, Mei, from what Alex was telling me there’s more than a hundred but they didn’t get a full count. We’ll just welcome them with open arms, and show the rest of the world how our pack runs.” Onyx said triumphantly. “From what the Omega said to me, I think there have been unspeakable things happening in the nearby states. He’s not wanting to open up too much about it, but the bruises that littered his body spoke volumes.” Her tone softened when she spoke of the Omega they had accidentally attacked in the woods.

We continued packing the bags in silence. We had made plenty of them by the time warriors and dominant wolves alike started showing up with small frail Omega’s. It was as if the Moon Goddess herself was whispering in my ear to guide the lost Omega’s. The first one had come up to us and grabbed a bag, looking me in the eye. Her eyes were sunken in, her body was practically a bag of bones, her skin was as grey as if she were on death's door. Her hair was matted as if she hadn’t taken a bath or cared for herself in a while. I grabbed her free hand between both of mine.

“There are showers in the common area,” I said pointing behind me. “May the goddess be with you, don’t be afraid to ask for help.” She nods before heading her way to the common area. I continue helping out the Omega’s as they continue flooding in. Once all of our pack members were back inside of the now crowded packhouse Alpha Kent motioned all of us into silence.

“Thank you to those who have helped with today’s adventure, we’ve saved over 300 Omega’s and we’ve had an overwhelming amount of help from our pack.” His voice boomed off the walls of the Lobby. “Please don’t be afraid to help out the Omega’s on settling in. Construction on the Omega house begins on Wednesday, please take tomorrow for rest and help them settle in. You are all dismissed.”

“Hey,” I hear Raven behind me. I turn on my heel toward my friend. “My parent’s only got one assigned to them for the time being, apparently more people were willing to help out than what we had thought.” He shrugged.

“I don’t know how many we’re going to help out. I saw a lot of older Omega’s but there were younger Omega’s than I would have thought of.” I furrow my eyebrows.

“Apparently the younger they are, the more of a threat they are from what one had told me. There’s more with bruises and…” Raven cuts himself off, swallowing. There were many Omega’s around our age that had bite marks where their mate marks were supposed to be and not just one mark… There were many with bruises, pregnant, or there were orphaned children as well. It gave me a sour taste in my mouth to even think of the horrors they had lived through.

“August!” My ears perked at the sound of my name coming from my mom.

“I guess that’s my queue,” I explained.

“Don’t forget to drop the bag off at Ella’s. Let me know how she’s doing too.” He stated, I nod in response and part ways with my raven-haired friend.

I approached my parents who had three Omega’s close to my age with them. One’s grey eyes stared into space, he had bite marks littered upon his neck, it was as if he had no spark of light in him anymore to live. His curly locks were matted up similar to the first Omega that had approached me. My heart yearned for the Omega. He was a few inches taller than I was, his skinny frame pooled in the clothes that had been provided to him.

A girl similar to the height of Ella, chewed on her fingernails, her eyes darting every which way there was a loud sound. Her hair had been shaved off, there were scabs near her ears and on her temples where someone had been too rough with the clippers, there were patches longer than others. Her eyes were the color of honey, easy to melt into them.

Lastly, a girl that had scarring around her neck as if she had been chained up, my eyes darted to her wrists, the same type of scarring on her pale skin. Her long straight black hair hung around her waist, she stared at the ground not wanting to look up.

“Hello, I’m August,” I speak to them softly. The three of them looked toward me, I noticed that the long-haired girl has dark brown eyes.

“You’re an Omega too?” The jittery one asked.

“I am, it looks like you’re coming with my parents and I for the time being.” The one with dead eyes lets out a sigh of relief. My parents nod in agreement, my dad hugging my mom around the shoulders. “What’s the three of your names?” I ask the three of them.

“I’m Malikai,” The dead-eyed one said.

“Vanya.” Jitters responded.

“Freya.” The long black-haired one blinked.

“It’s nice to meet the three of you, we’re going to try and help the three of you out. No need to worry, you’re safe now.” I smile at the three of them.