Enslaved to His Rejection

Chapter 2

Amelia'S POV

I awoke to murmuring inside my cell. The guards there didn't care for my feelings when they mentioned how horrific my wolf looked. They said the Alpha said I resembled a cursed wolf, with gray fur and big but dull gray eyes.

They said he said I looked more like I was suffering from starvation. They said he spat at the sight of me again before he left.

He despised my very existence, even in my human form and looking at myself now, I could agree with him.

I had lost all hope for life. The fates must despise me to turn my life into such a cruel joke. It wasn't fair. I hadn't done anything to deserve it.

Contrary to what everybody said, I hadn't killed my parents. Father was the one driving and mother by his side, I remembered staring at their beautiful faces before we ramped into that truck. Father saved me by swerving his side to the truck but some days I wished he didn't.

If he had taken me with them, I wouldn't have had to like this kind of life.

I was too much of a coward to end my own life though, I could not even imagine hurting myself.

After Alpha Antonio had rejected me, someone had suggested that I be thrown out of the pack, fed to a witch or given to the vampires for the insult I brought to Antonio.

I wasn't safe living as a stray, female, rogue. Being given to a witch would harm the pack, I was sure and the vampires? No way.

My option was sent out as a stray, but I couldn't survive that. Best case scenario, I would die of hunger out there. Worst case scenario, some sick individual would take me and do stomach-turning things to me.

I was more than happy when Alpha Antonio had insisted on making me into a pack slave.

The pack slaves were stray wolves that had been picked up by the pack or offspring of treacherous pack members. They were treated like s**t and always looked like they had one foot in the grave.

But at least, I got free meals and protection, right?

In my new found position, I woke up by 2 am everyday and was made to work excruciating tasks under the watchful eyes of cruel guards.

Any task that I did not satisfy my supervisors with, meant I would be whipped mercilessly or thrown into the darkest parts of the dungeon with no light, food or human contact for a week.

I saw those who had been punished that way almost lose their minds when they came out.

Even though I tried my best, I still earned enough bruises and whip marks that looked like tattoos all over my body. Large chunks of it even.

Manuel, Alpha Antonio's Cousin, who also inspected me had one day seen my hair getting in the way of my work and so he cut it.

I hadn't fully comprehended what he did until I saw my long, blonde luscious hair falling to pieces. I cried for hours afterwards which had earned me a beating.

Since that day, Manuel had noticed me and so did his hatred for me.

Manuel's hatred for me was so strong and absolute that I wondered if I offended him in my past life.

On many occasions when I worked, he came by and slapped the back of my head, accusing me of using demonic powers and trying to trick Antonio into thinking we were mates.

It didn't stop there. As I had come to learn that Manuel was a sadist, he found new ways to lessen his sadness with me. He believed the moon goddess gave me to him as a newly gifted punching bag.

He beat me so often and hard that I realized I had to leave this place as soon as I could or he was sure to kill me.

One day, I saw an opportunity. It was during a high ranking wolf's birthday. I knew that the day always brought about a level of chaos that meant that security was lax and a lot went unseen.

I planned to use this to my advantage.

"You've been scrubbing that table for so long, are you trying to avoid your other duties?" The familiar screech of Manuel's voice slid down my spine and left me shaking with terror.

"No, sir. I was just trying to make it clean and-"

"You talk back now?" He grabbed me by the hair and slammed my face into the surface of the solid wooden table I had been scrubbing.

My vision turned blurry for a few seconds and something at the back of my head shifted.

"I'll give you two minutes to finish the cleaning. Not a second more," he turned and stalked away.

I raised my aching head and met the pitying eyes of another pack slave, she quickly removed her eye and went back to her work.

As I reached for the brush, I staggered, I slipped, my body swayed, and my fingers made brief contact with the vase on the next table.

There was one second of silence then a loud boom as the vase fell and shattered into a hundred pieces.

I began to cry even before the guards hurled me downstairs.

There were holding cells downstairs designed specifically for Manuel to issue out punishment to whomever he saw fit.

I had been there several times, but unlike previous times, I had no intention of cowering in a corner as I waited to accept my fate. As soon as the guards left, I sprung into action.

The last time I had cleaned this room, I had discovered something interesting. The windows were left unlocked and It led to the back of the slaves' quarters.

Pushing the brush aside, I crawled up to the window. I peeked around to make sure there was nobody around before climbing out.

From there, I began the heart-hammering act of escaping the pack grounds. Most members of the pack would be headed to the halls now for the celebration and so this area was deserted.

Thanking my good fortune, I took to my heels, running with all my might. This was my chance to escape and start a new life.

I had read about wolves that built their lives with humans and I thought about doing that too. It seemed easier than this.

I looked weak like them and my wolf form was barely something to be proud of.

I touched the hem of the words and became so happy, tears of joy clung to my lashes. That was when everything started to go downhill.

A false sense of safety engulfed me and being so happy, I found my feet dragging so slowly.

I even stopped to rest. How stupid could I have been?

I was seated and regaining strength, my mind far away from the present, when I heard a low growl and a footstep behind me.

I sprang up my feet and tried running when a black furred wolf jumped in front of me.

He swiped me off the ground and I fell with my legs in the air. He leaned forward and pinned me to the floor.

I screamed in frustration and anger at my failed escape, and fear as other wolves peeled out from the shadow of the trees.

Manuel was at the forefront in his human form. He chuckled when I saw him. “Did you think you could escape that easily?” He laughed again.

"Take her back. Lay her on the table and hold her. My day just got better."

As we journeyed back, I was taken somewhere I had never been before. It was outside the Alpha's mansion, behind it, there was a large wooden table with iron cuffs at the head of it.

As soon as I got close to it, I knew what was coming next.

"Please. I'm sorry. I won't run again." I cried. “I beg, please."

"Oh, I'm sure you won't run again," Manuel grinned, white teeth shining. "When I'm done with you, you'll never be able to use those legs again "

I was stripped down to my underwear and laid on the table. I knew it was useless but I still begged and begged. A whip was handed to Manuel.

"For everything you did today, you'll get fifty lashes of my whip. Make sure you count. Any number you don't count will gain you an extra. I would love that, but I'm sure you won't."

The first three were excruciating. The next few ones made me numb and the rest, I couldn't feel anything.

I couldn't even count to the end. I didn't know at what point Manuel stopped because by then, I had already passed out.

I was unconscious but still felt pain. He kept to his words, I couldn't walk for days after his whips on me.