Thalia's POV
The air is cold as it settles on my bear arms. It's not freezing outside, but the late afternoon does have a nip to it, even if it's summer. A groan escapes my mouth and I lightly bang my head into the muddy forest floor. It rained last night, the sticky forest floor attesting to that fact.
If there is one thing that I am certain of, it is that life is unfair. Bad things happen to people regardless of who you are or what you have done. That is exactly why I'm in this position.
I have done nothing wrong to deserve being beaten, but yet here I am. I am left in the dirt, tossed here by the hands of my abusers. When they beat me, I am not surprised, as this is the treatment I have been receiving ever since I could remember.
A shiver runs through my body and a groan reverberates through the air. Relief runs through my body, because my abusers have left. Their scents linger around me and it feels like it is burning my nostrils. It is a smell that I will never be rid of, as the unique scent of the pack is the most prominent. It is the smell I will always associate with my pain and suffering. The smell of cinnamon is ruined.
What the pack wants, is simple. They want a victim who will scream in pain and plead not to be hurt. The problem with that, is that I no longer feed their sadistic tendencies. I try my best to stay silent and take the pain in stride.
I am the unlucky wolf in the pack. Even if Omegas are seen as the lowest on the chain of hierarchy, they are treated much better than me. It feels like the pack especially saves their cruel and sadistic desires for me to bare.
The packhouse used to be where I lived. A packhouse is a communal like house for the pack. People of any age and status can live in there, even though it does have a VIP like floor which is where the Alpha family has precedence over. The rest of the rooms are assigned by the house manager, he is an Omega named Jeffrey that also has a dislike for me.
I used to live in a dusty old room. It was in the corner of the first floor where the cleaners keep their chemicals, etc. It did not bother me being cast aside into a far corner of the packhouse as there was not a lot of wolves who went there, except when it was decided that I needed a midnight beating.
At fourteen I looked old enough to work and that is what I did. I was unable to work for one of the pack member's businesses as the Alpha likes to make my life difficult. I at least had a shot and landed a job at a human owned bakery. I saved my money and had enough to move out.
I was lucky enough to have the best friend in the world. Blake has always been there for me, as he is the only one in the pack that dares to come close to me. The other wolves avoid me when I am not being beaten by them. Blake helped me move into an abandoned cottage that belonged to his grandmother. She left it for him, and I pay him monthly to live there even if he insists that I do not have to pay a dime.
The pride my wolf and I have would not allow it. Lana nods, ���We do not owe anyone, anything."
I smile at her words. She thinks of the little cottage as her safe haven, we both do. I feel her move back to her part of my subconsciousness.
Our cottage may seem tiny to some, but it's mine. That's all that matters. I can sleep in there without having to worry about the pack dragging me out in the middle of the night. Most of them do not go out of their way to come to my house because it is in a secluded part of the pack territory.
I have the freedom to be who I want when I am in my cottage, that is until the sun comes up and I have to go to work.
I sigh, the trees hanging low as the wind brush through them. It feels like the wind and I are feeling the same sense of delimiting hopelessness.
I had a future, but it was all taken away with a simple 'no'. You see, I had a scholarship to go to a prestigious wolf college, but the Alpha being my biggest tormentor and legal guardian, thought that an institution like the Order of the Lycan would not want me, a lowly wolf, around.
My wolf bristles underneath the surface and I can feel her pulsing underneath my human skin. She is unhappy with the fact that wolves make her out to be a weakling. She knows that we are both strong.
It is toxic how petty the werewolves in the pack truly are. Even the grown wolves would go to great lengths to ensure that I am miserable. I understand it is in a wolf's genetics to follow the rules of the Alpha. He has long made me out to be a burden and the pack has been acting in accordance with the way he treats me. Although, some wolves are more submissive than others and take his word as that of the gods.
What they do not understand, is that I am not an animal that can be abused and ignored when it best suits everyone. I am a living, breathing person.
I have feelings and a life I want to live without pain and abuse. What I do not want, is to live in this pack forever. Lana, my wolf, will not allow me to be treated like dirt for the rest of my life.
I have been saving my money like crazy, and I almost have enough money to leave. I only need another few shifts at the bakery and I am set to live a life without the pressuring of a pack that is menacing and ruthless.
"Why does life have to be like this?" The words are nothing but a whisper into the world. A meaningless effort to try and understand what the hell I ever did to deserve the pain I am feeling. A pain that is almost chronic. It is always present beneath the surface, never giving me an ounce of rest or time to prepare.
"It will not always be like this." I wipe my eyes; this is a part of my life that I am almost done with. I need to do what I have to so that I can survive, I know that my time in the pack is running out and if I stay, I am going to end up dead.
I see a figure lurking in the dark and my sense go into overdrive. "I thought you were done beating me." The darkness makes it even more difficult to see, and it does not help that my one eye is swollen shut. I can make out a silhouette of a big man, he is to my left, moving closer and closer. My breathing is turning erratic.
"Oh, my gods Lia, are you okay?" I sigh and the panic subsides as I realize who it is. Blake is beside me and I relax as his scent engulfs me. He smells like spices and that makes me feel even more at home.
Blake is a strong wolf as he has Alpha blood running through his veins. He is the son of my biggest tormentor, and although they are related, he is nothing like Alpha Manus.
"Who the hell did this to you?" His voice holds a dangerous amount of hatred. His eyes shine with the most sincerity and I feel like crying even more.
He touches my cheek as my lips wobble in answer. "It is done now, Lake, he and his posse already left." Recognition shines in his blue orbs, he knows who I am referring to.
"I swear that I am going to kill Richard, even if he is my brother." I shake my head as anger rolls off him in a familiar anger. I need to diffuse his anger, he cannot go up against Richard, he is the heir to the Alpha title.
"At least you are always there to help me afterwards." His smile is small and apologetic. I know there is nothing much he can do other than take care of me afterwards. After all, he is bound by the words of an Alpha.
"I can't believe my father would forbid me from protecting you from against the pack that attacks you like savages." I shrug as he picks me up into his arms.
He cocoons me like a small child, and it is the safest I have felt since last night when he came over for dinner at my cottage. I know that I have to tell him about my plan to escape but I am terrified because then I will be completely alone.
"It is difficult to stay alive when the world is literally moving against me." Blake's jaw clenches and his hands tighten around me. I look away as it feels like things are just getting too serious at the moment. The woods are dark by this time. The pack members who beat me up did not care that they left me unconscious.
"It could have been worse, the last time you almost died." Blake's blue eyes shine with worry and a dash of rage is present. We both know that if my life keeps on going in this direction, that I will eventually end up dead at the hands of my abusers.
"Well, I'm okay this time. I stayed silent and they went away quickly. Richard didn't join in this time and that is probably why I'm still alive" Blake's fists clench, he looks over at me, his walking slowing down to a stroll.
"If there's a wolf that I like less than my brother, Richard, I'll let you know." His tone is riddled with pure anger. "I don't know how he can sleep at night knowing that he's beating up a woman."
I sigh, shrugging. "I don't know either." Richard has been the worst abuser after, the Alpha. I guess that being cruel runs in their genetics.
We near my cottage, it's secluded from the pack, and I don't mind it at all I rather prefer it. Ever since I could remember, I have been kept away from the rest of the pack, so being here like this is not that bad at all. I could still be living in the packhouse and that would mean constant torture.
I didn't have the freedom and slight luxury then, that I have now. I have my own kitchen and bathroom. It is amazing having my own space.
Blake walks up the small step of my little porch, and I smile at him, wincing as the skin stretches in pain. I will definitely be beyond bruised after the beating I got today, know that my cheek bone is fractured, and my arm must be broken.
No worries though I have a strong wolf and in two days I will be as good as new. "Since I missed my shift at the bakery, do you want to stay and make me dinner?" I look at Blake with my puppy dog eyes.
He rolls his eyes, but I still see worry brewing in them. "Pasta sounds nice."
I sigh in relief knowing that I would not have been able to make my food, my body hurts too much. "You are the best friend ever."