Distant Mates

                                                                      {Wynter’s POV}     I remember running through the forest south of a place I once called home. My feet were covered in muddy snow. It felt as if I had already run a mile.  I could feel the oxygen in my lungs turn to fire. I coughed and breathed in the cold air around me as best as I possibly could without my lungs igniting, sending yet another burning sensation throughout my chest and throat. I took in my surroundings, rubbing my delicate, small hands together in attempt to warm my fingertips. I could hear the distant howling and shuffling of wolves and decided to make haste. I ran until my legs felt like they could snap in half. Again, I looked around me and spotted a small crevice in the trunk of a tree nearby. I dug out some of the snow and crawled inside. There I managed to cover most of my skin with dirt as an attempt to mask my scent. My name is Wynter Montgomery and this is my story.                                                             {Flashback To the prior week}      My mother passed away giving birth to me. My father out of crippling loneliness due to losing his mate, rejected the very thought of my existence. This caused a divergence in the pack. Some saw through the eyes of the Alpha, while others did not. The pack members who were loyal to my mother, only showed me great admiration. The ones who were loyal to my father and only trusted his judgement would torment me, humiliate me and constantly remind me that it was my fault that my mother died. I was a middle piece between a world who wanted nothing to do with me, and a world who couldn’t bare a possibility where I didn’t exist. Things only got worse when my father remarried.     With the pack turning on each other, and me being a constant reminder as to why the pack was always in chaos my father decided to exile all members who showed me love. This was the will of my stepmother, Catherine. Once Catherine and my father married, she couldn’t stand the fact his heart still belonged to his previous mate and Luna, my birth mother. Out of some sick joke, she decided to keep me around. I think it was so she could win the favor of the remaining pack members. My stepmother was sick and twisted. I don’t know how my father could go from a loving woman like my mother and then to a sadistic woman like Catherine.     Catherine and my father met at an Alpha ceremony for a neighboring pack. I was brought along for publicity reasons. I was hoping there would be a sliver of a chance in me meeting my mate. Unfortunately, that isn’t what happened at all. My father happened to spill wine on Catherine’s dress. The rest was history for them. They dated for a few months before making an agreement to merge packs by marriage. The new wolves that were invited into the pack were much meaner than the ones that my father kept around. I couldn’t count the number of times I was ganged up on by other she wolves. I was constantly bullied for being an older wolf with no mate.      Today was like every other day, being mocked for my very existence. “You idiotic cunt f**k!” a she wolf by the name of Vicky, yelled in my direction. I had previously spaced out during breakfast and piled her plate with sausages instead of bacon like she apparently asked for. “Hello?! Are you even listening to a word I’m saying?” She bellowed out, finally catching my attention. “I’m sorry, what is the problem?” I asked sternly, with a hint of annoyance plastered on my face. The she wolf and her disciples before me rolled their eyes in unison before the head b***h, Vicky answered my question, "You know exactly what you did! Remake my plate!" She screeched. It was so loud it could drive a monk insane. "You didn't what sausages? I thought you LOVED sausages." I snickered out, trying to hide my cockiness as I dumped out her plate in the trash can behind me. Before I could even turn around, I felt a clammy hand clap around my neck and pull me backwards towards the ground. "I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't forget, you deranged mutt!" Vicky spat in my face. She dragged me by my hair towards the dining hall. I did all that I could against her grasp. I grew weak over the years after I was only fed minute scraps. Leftovers here and there that pack members would leave on their plate. It was all that I was allowed. My fighting back only gave me more pain. I was struck in the face by one of Vicky's disciples, Ashley before my gut was met with a foot. These idiots were ganging up on me as always. None could cause harm without the others around.      I could only let out a chuckle before spitting out blood on the floor. "You guys couldn't come up with new ways to beat me up? It's the exact same as last time." I rolled over onto my back, wrapping my arms around my stomach. I could already feel a bruise forming and I was sure it would last a few weeks. It hadn't even been a week since they last ganged up on me. My beatings came at least twice a week. Before I knew it, I was met with another punch in the face, this time against my nose. I could feel it break over the sheer force of their anger. I couldn’t imagine what life would be like outside of this hell hole. Were all she wolves this stuck up and self-absorbed?             Before anymore punches could be thrown, I heard my fathers voice bellow out. “Ladies, what is going on?!” Past a dizzy haze I could see Vicky and her crew cower under my father’s roar. “Alpha Alister, we were only teaching Wynter a lesson. I caught her sneaking food into her pockets again.” The she wolf whimpered out, before turning on her heel and fleeing with her pack of bitches close behind.