The Mistaken Alpha

Chapter 10

Lana’s POV

None of my friends visit me during my shift. I leave the diner with $30 of tips and stash the rest of it in the mini vault Old man Jones bought me. We came to an agreement not long after I started working there that I will leave more than half of my tips at the diner. He knew that Mrs. Hilden only agreed to let me work at the diner if I brought my tips home. Mrs. Hilden assumed the diner was run down and that I averaged about $30-$40 in tips each night. She didn’t know that I was the only evening shift waitress there and that I was secretly leaving money there.

I had quite a bit in my stash. The old man agreed that I keep the stash a secret from everyone. Only the two of us know about the stash. He is worried that when I turn 18 the alpha will kick me out of the pack. He doesn’t want me to be penniless like he was when he was kicked out of his pack. He never told me why he was a rogue and I do not pry. He has been kind to me and if he wants to keep a secret then I have no reason to press him about it.

I wander into the orphanage a little after midnight. Mrs. Hilden did not wait up, but I know that she knows I am back. I hear her come out of her room. As I see her figure in the doorway, I also see the whip. I no longer beg her to not use the whip or try to plead my case. I learned when I was 14 that when I try to talk at all without her asking me a question, I earn myself some extra whipping.

“You made me look foolish you stupid girl,” she yells at me. I keep my eyes on the ground. “Abigail mind linked me to tell me you were late and that you made a fool out of her too. For your actions today, you have earned five whips.”

I just nod and kneel. I remove my shirt to display my back for her. My back is already littered with whip marks, a few more will blend in. She continues to rant a belittle me as she whips me. I stay silent and muffle my cries.

When she finishes the last whipping, I keep my head down and stand up. “Where is the money?” she asks me. I hand her the $30. She takes the money and walks back into her room. I hear her from the hallway, “You have 5 minutes.”

I use up every second within those five minutes to take a quick shower to clean my wounds and scamper off to my bedroom. My bedroom is cold from the fall night air. I try to ignore the breeze coming in through the broken window. I curl up on my side as best as I can under the ragged blanket. I’m not sure how long it takes but I eventually fall asleep crying silently as I starred out into the night sky.