ABUSED, SCARRED, SCARED AND FINALLY REJECTED?

More Tasks, More Responsibilities, More Work

A year passed like this, I was made to make tea more often than just big gatherings till the point I was making it for the entire pack almost everyday. Asher and Logan’s attempts to stop it also became lesser and lesser till they also just expected me to make the tea. I was unable to spend as much time as I used to with them and slowly they stopped caring that I was doing this kind of work for the pack. 

I was a little over six when one of the pack members - Penelope’s mother - commented in front of everyone, “I wonder if her food skills are as good as her tea skills?” Everyone missed the sly smile shared between her and Luna Victoria. You see Penelope’s mother never liked the fact that Asher took to me so easily and wanted to spend so much time with me. She wanted it to be her daughter in place of me. And while Penelope had never seemed to care or cause any trouble for me, her mother tried to get me away from the group or send Penelope to join us whenever she saw Asher, Logan and me together. 

The pack members just laughed and said, “If her tea skills are any indication she’d make one hell of a cook.” I became a little nervous at this comment. While I wanted to payback however I could, I didn’t want to add cooking for the entire pack to my daily routine. I was already so tired with school, laying the table and making tea for everyone everyday, plus I barely got any time with Asher and Logan anymore. 

While I was going through this inner turmoil, Penelope’s mother just pushed a little harder and said, “Well I would love to taste food made by Amelia,” and then she looked at me and said, “Won’t you cook a meal for me little girl?” With everyone looking at me now I didn’t know how to say no, so I just said that I didn’t know how to cook and that therefore I’m sure she won’t like food I make. 

That didn’t stop her of course and she smiled brightly when she said, “Well you should anyway learn for your future mate, I’ll tell one of the cooks to teach you something and then next week you make that dish by yourself for me. I’ll make sure you’re prepared for your future.” With no choice left to not do it I nodded meekly. I could see it slowly turning into a daily task for me and I didn’t know how to stop it. Everyone else just naturally thought that she wanted to help groom me, and they were right, except it wasn’t to groom me for a good future, but it was to groom me to become the runt of the pack.

Later I was tossing and turning in my bed not getting a good feeling of what had happened at dinner. I decided that I should confide in my brother, I was sure he could help me. When I told Logan how I was feeling about it, he said I was overthinking it, it was just one dish for one person, and with our parents not here someone would need to teach us these things for the future. He was sure it was a loving gesture. That was that! I officially had no option left other than going along with it. While my brothers’ words and reasoning helped ease some of my worries there was still this nagging feeling at the back of my head that something was off - I wish I had listened to that voice. 

Logan’s POV

While I didn’t like the idea of my sister doing such work for the pack I felt indebted to them for taking us in. Asher wasn’t too happy about it either and the two of us had discussed it at length various times. Eventually we just decided that it was just tea and she was fantastic at making it, so we stopped telling everyone to not ask her for it and just let it go.

What happened at dinner had worried me and I thought that this would also become a daily thing for her to do. But eventually I came to the conclusion that I had shared with Amelia and honestly, everyone’s smiles had seemed so genuine that I didn’t think about it further. I was sure that the Luna would stop it if anyone ever took it too far with Amelia, after all they had all been so kind and accommodating for us. Everyone had gone out of their way to make sure that both of us were comfortable, especially the Alpha. He would make the time to ask me how we were both doing at least once in two weeks. He never did that for any other pup except his own son. It would make me feel special and cared for, which was nice considering that we had both been abandoned by our real parents. 

I never really understood why my parents had left us. They had both been so loving from what I could remember and were so happy when Amelia had been born. When they got to know they were having a girl my parents had been ecstatic and had basically thrown a party in celebration. What changed a few months after she was born I guess I’ll never know. I had really missed them in the beginning. Their hugs, kisses, love and the feeling of safety I had when I was with them. One thing I remembered was how protective they were over Amelia and they had made sure that I was the same. It was why I had refused to let anyone else hold her in the beginning and even after that I only allowed Asher and his parents. Asher because I saw that he was the same way towards her as me and his parents because I felt I owed them at least that much trust. 

Eventually of course, the memory of my real parents slowly faded away. I was too young to hold onto them that fiercely. The only thing that had remained was my protectiveness over Amelia. But with her spending more time doing pack work and school that lessened as well. I had thought she could take care of herself, she had after all been doing fine till now without me looking over her every second. Moreover, I felt that our bond was strong enough and if she ever felt any worry she would come to me herself the way she had after that dinner. 

With such musings in my mind I finally drifted off to sleep but not before telling myself that I still needed to keep somewhat of an eye on my younger sister so that if things got too much then I could step in.