The Pack Doctor Is My Mate

My pathetic life

Riley POV

“Punch!”

“Slap!”

“Kick!”

“Wake up, b***h!”

Her voice, as irritating as ever, slices through the dim morning light, but I pretend to remain asleep. Even in the middle of all this torture, I keep my eyes closed.

This is how my mornings go,each and every day. It’s as if every member of the pack hates me for reasons I can’t even begin to name. And yet, I’ve learned to resist feeling the continuous torment that surrounds me.

I lie in my tattered bed, feigning sleep, letting the pain pass over me like a storm I cannot escape.

The truth is, I do feel it. Every slap, every kick, every shout cuts into me, but after fifteen years, I’ve grown… numb. Just as I feel the faintest relief, I hear the footsteps retreating from my room.

For a brief moment, I allow myself to relax. Perhaps I’ve been granted a few more seconds of sleep,something that has never been offered to me since the day I first set foot in the Midnight Pack, fifteen years ago.

But peace is always fleeting. Soon, footsteps approach again. This time, I am forced to open my eyes.

“f**k!”

By the time I react, a bowl of icy water has been poured over my head. The cold is shocking, biting through my thin clothes and soaked bed.

I sit up abruptly, shivering violently, and my teeth chatter uncontrollably. There is no way I’ll avoid a fever with this, not in this weather.

“b***h! Who gave you permission to swear at me?”

Her voice is sharp, full of rage, and she hits me again. Hard. I feel a hot sting across my left cheek, and a few droplets of blood trickle from the corner of my mouth. My eyes sting as I taste copper in my mouth.

The blonde, middle-aged woman,Thelma, the Luna of the Midnight Pack. stares down at me with that familiar, twisted smile.

If she were anyone else, I might have fought back. But she’s the Luna. The woman everyone in the pack fears and obeys. Yet, despite that, anger courses through me. I feel something I haven’t felt in a long time...rage. Pure, unfiltered rage.

I spring up from the bed as if possessed by something darker than myself, raising my hand as if I could strike her. I will strike her. She has made my life unbearable for fifteen years, and I am tired. My hand trembles as it swings toward her cheek.

Then, everything freezes.

A gigantic hand clamps down over mine, holding it firmly. Pain shoots up my arm, and my eyes meet the angriest gaze I have ever seen. Fear creeps in, cold and heavy, as I realize whose eyes I’m staring into.

“How dare you try to hit my mom!”

The voice is husky, commanding, and filled with a power that makes me stumble back. My feet feel weak beneath me. My heart hammers in my chest, but I don’t look away. I can’t.

Not when the brown eyes before me are burning with fury, the redness in his face betraying the depth of his anger.

I recognize him instantly: Waylen Hector. Son of the alpha, alpha-in-waiting, and my most relentless tormentor after the Luna herself.

His presence alone makes my knees quake, yet in this moment, I feel… something else. A twinge of defiance.

“Let me go,” I manage, my voice trembling, though I know this will only earn me more punishment.

“You have the guts to speak after what you’ve done to my mom?” He thunders, his voice echoing off the cracked walls. Without warning, he shoves me hard, and

I slam into the wall, pain exploding across my shoulder. Blood mixes with the wetness on my clothes, and I collapse to the floor.

The Luna’s cruel laughter fills the room. She thrives on my misery, on making me feel small, weak, and powerless. I can see it clearly in her eyes: she enjoys my pain more than I can describe.

I lie there, bruised, bleeding, cold, and barely conscious, trying to process what just happened. “The Field,” I whisper to myself.

My stomach twists in terror. The Field is the pack’s punishment ground, a place even the bravest wolves fear. To be sent there is to face unimaginable pain and failure. And yet, the command has been given: I must go.

I want to disappear. I want to curl into nothingness and escape the world entirely. But I know I cannot. Not yet. Not until the one thing I’ve been waiting for my entire life arrives.

Oh, I should probably introduce myself.

I am Riley Clifford, seventeen years and seven months old. In a few short months, I will turn eighteen. My birthday is the one day I have been waiting for with both dread and anticipation, though not for the reasons anyone might think. It’s the day I am finally going to meet my mate.

Yes...my mate. My one hope for salvation from the relentless torment of this pack. He is the only chance I have at a life that isn’t filled with pain, humiliation, and endless suffering.

My story begins years ago, in another pack..my pack. A pack that was destroyed completely by the Midnight Pack. Every member, every pup, every elder… killed.

Everyone except me. Why I was spared remains a mystery, though I know it was for a reason I never asked to understand. My father, like the entire pack, was renowned worldwide for his knowledge of medicine. Damien, the Alpha of the Midnight Pack, realized my skills could be useful and decided to keep me alive to train me as the pack’s doctor.

And so my life became what it is now: fifteen years of torture, cruelty, and servitude. Even though I heal the pack, even though my skills save lives, I am never free from punishment. If a wolf dies from battle or fails to recover, it is my fault. My hands, my knowledge, my very existence is blamed for every failure. I have long stopped questioning why. I have learned to endure.

But despite the cruelty, I hold on to hope. My birthday is coming, and with it, a chance for my life to change forever.

I slowly rise from the floor, ignoring the sharp sting of my wounds. Every movement hurts, but I force myself to my feet. I glance at the cracked mirror across the room. My reflection is pale, bruised, and tired, but my eyes… my eyes are still burning with defiance. They have to be. If I let them break me completely, I will be nothing.

The Field awaits, and my heart races with fear. But I cannot let fear control me. I clutch my robe around my shaking body and step toward the door, knowing that outside lies more than just punishment. Outside lies survival and the possibility of change.

I push open the creaking door and step into the cold, damp corridors of the Midnight Pack’s compound. Shadows stretch along the walls, and the occasional roar or growl of other wolves reminds me that I am never truly alone, though it often feels that way.

Every eye in the pack seems to watch me, silently judging, silently hoping for my failure.

And yet… I walk. Slowly, carefully, each step measured. Pain radiates through me, but I force my mind elsewhere. Thoughts of my mate sustain me, anchor me to hope. One day, everything might be different. One day, I might feel warmth and love instead of fear and cold.

But not today. Today, I endure. Today, I survive. Today, I step into the Field, heart pounding, blood mixing with sweat, and resolve burning brighter than ever.

Because I am Riley Clifford. Survivor. Healer. Fighter. And no matter what the Midnight Pack throws at me, I will not break at least, not completely. Not while hope still exists.