Chapter one
1429 Words
Ella's POV
The first kick landed on my ribs.
Then another.
And another.
"Get up, you lazy wolfless thing!" someone shouted.
While I couldn't endure the pain, I looked up lazily, and I saw a lot of angry faces full of hate and disdain; before I could process what was happening, everything went dark.
I thought I was dead, not until the cold water splashed on me woke me up, and I found myself staring into different familiar green eyes… my brother Lucas, our new Alpha. Next to him stood his Beta… Dan was holding an empty bucket.
"Where..." I started to ask, realizing I was in the pack house instead of my small room.
“How come?” I asked.
“Shut up your dirty mouth!" Lucas's Alpha tone boomed, making me draw back. “Why were you still sleeping?” "Why didn't you wake up early to cook and clean?"
I kept my head down, my bruised cheek still paining me very much. Avoiding another slap.
“I didn't sleep on time, I worked till late at night, and I didn't set my alarm”, I answered, my voice barely clear.
“Seriously, after my warning yesterday about this same alarm?" Beta Dan stepped closer, his shadow falling over me. "So you could have no excuses?"
Looking at the man that was supposed to be saving me and watching my back. He has become one of my nightmares.
I dropped to my knees, ignoring the pain shooting through my legs. All my body is in pain, and I can't bear to get beaten.
"Please, I'm sorry, I..."
"No food today," Lucas cut in. "And your work has now tripled."
They stormed out, leaving me shaking like a lost puppy in the snow. Not that they have been giving me real food anyway. Just the leftovers, when they remembered.
I touched the silver bangles on my wrists… the ones that cut me off from my wolf, Melo. Two years since, they'd separated us, blaming us for something we didn't do.
"I miss you badly, buddy," I whispered, hoping to hear her voice. But I didn't get any response. Only silence.
The morning passed in a brush of me cleaning and cooking. My hands moved like robotic machines through the tasks… washing the toilets, scrubbing floors, washing windows, packing dirt, preparing meals I wasn't allowed to eat… The most painful thing. The pack members ignored me completely unless they needed something, then they'd bark their orders like dogs or shift me aside as if I were nothing.
During the afternoon, I strolled down to my favorite place in my pack… the lake. The fresh air that comes from there calms me down and when I have my wolf, I usually take her there.
Looking into the lake, I saw my face reflected. My skin has become pale and covered in bruises… new and old ones. My blue eyes have become tired, my hair dirty and tangled. I couldn't recognize myself anymore.
"Look what they've done to us, Melo," I said to my reflection. Twenty years old, and I looked like an old, dirty woman.
"Remember when we used to run here?
When were we strong?"
Before the silver bangles.
Before, they made me an omega - the lowest rank.
Before they took everything.
My mind drifted to happier times. The day Luna Sarah found me at the edge of pack territory during the great war. As she told me because I couldn't remember. I was just a little girl, my parents were already dead in the war. She cleaned me up, gave me a home, and made me her daughter. Alpha James became my second father and Luna Sarah became my second mother.
"You're special, Ella," Luna Sarah used to say, brushing my hair. "Never forget that."
But they were gone now. Murdered. And somehow, everyone blamed me.
I was thinking about the good olden days. I don't even know when I reached the pack house. A twig snapped me back to reality. "The Alpha wants you." A guard told me.
I hurried to Lucas's office. I knocked, and they directed me to enter. I greeted him while keeping my eyes down.
“Here I am, Alpha Lucas.”
He kept doing whatever he was doing without looking up from his desk. "My sister is coming back tomorrow. There will be a homecoming party, so make sure that you clean everywhere; you know how much she hates dirt. So clean everything perfectly." He finally raised his eyes. "And stay out of sight. Your face would ruin her homecoming."
I nodded, fighting back tears. These were the people that were once family. Now I am the enemy of the family.
It took me fifteen minutes to walk back to my room, following the hidden path through the pack house. I was moved far from the pack house into a tiny hut with a wooden bed and a broken window with a few clothes… all torn and mended countless times - fit in one small bag.
I started preparing the dinner, knowing well enough that the pack members would want their evening meal soon. I have become so good at cooking because of the number of times I was forced to remake food after two years of continuous cooking. They couldn't complain anymore, I could prepare anything they wanted.
I was making their favourite meal… roasted meat, fresh bread, vegetable stew. Making the kitchen filled with delicious smells.
My stomach growled in hunger, but I ignored it. There was no food for me today; I remembered what Lucas said. Meanwhile, I was used to hunger. I can endure.
As I was cooking, pack members would be coming in and going out, some even shifting me to one side to grab snacks, others making mockery comments about my look. I kept my head down, staying silent. Arguing would only make things worse.
"Smells good, omega," one warrior sneered. "Too bad you're too disgusting to eat with us."
As if I cared. Get out! I spat internally before they would blow my mouth.
I stayed focused on stirring the stew, pretending I hadn't heard. The silver bangles clicked against the pot, a constant reminder of my punishment and imprisonment. Without them, I could feel Melo's strength, run through the woods, and be whole again.
But they'd never take them off. Not after what happened that day.
"I found her by the bodies!" Beta Dan had shouted. "Covered in their blood!"
I tried to explain. I tried to tell them how the monsters killed them and I tried to help them. But no one believed me. Not even my mate, who rejected me cruelly.
The memory of his rejection still burned like hell. Dan's eyes, which were once full of love, turned cold with hatred. He'd shattered our mate bond himself, leaving a raw wound in my soul… an untreatable wound.
Now he has become the Pack's Beta. A position that I don't know he merited. Well, he was busy supporting Lucas in rebuilding the pack's reputation. And I was the cause of their shame, hidden away, beaten down, but kept alive as punishment.
I moved back to my hut after serving dinner. I watched the stars through my small window… The same stars I used to count with Melo before they locked her away.
"No... please... I didn't kill them..."
I jolted awake, soaked with sweat. The same nightmare. It is not just a nightmare. Luna Sarah's kind face twisted in fear. Alpha James falling. Blood is everywhere. And me, trying desperately to save them, failing again and again.
My hand touched the silver bangles in the dark. The metal was always cold, like the pack's hatred of me. I touched the bangles again, sending a silent thought to my imprisoned wolf.
"We'll survive this, Melo. Oh Okay."
She didn't answer. But deep inside me, past the silver blocking, I felt a flicker of warmth. A reminder that I wasn't completely alone.
Not yet.
Sometimes I dreamed of running away, escaping into the night.
But where would I go?
Rogues - wolves without packs. They were always hunted and killed. Moreover, running away would only prove that I am guilty of what they accused me of.
So I stayed.
Kept on enduring the beatings, the hunger, the loneliness.
Surviving one day at a time, holding on to the truth only I and the dead Alpha and Luna knew.
They were my only family.
I loved them so much.
I didn't kill them.
- Writer
