Clare winced in pain as her aunt cleaned her cuts with a disinfectant. Her whole body ached like hell and throbbed all over.
The bruises on her were mocking telltales of her pride as she had refused the offer to train with Omegas like herself.
The delta, Tony had left with her parents and with the beta extremely busy a acting Alpha, that left her Uncle Drew to train all the ranks.
It wasn't Jeff this time, it was her cousin, Rick that did her the honors. He bit and clawed at her so bad that she was sure to be black and blue the next day.
It wasn't a new thing to her so she could handle the pain. What she could not handle was the embarrassment from the snickers and laughters as she was used as a scapegoat.
What had she ever done to deserve this much hate from her pack? How can people have so much dislike for someone they knew next to nothing about?
She hissed as she felt another jolt of pain while trying to find a comfortable position on the couch she was seated on which was proving impossible to achieve.
She would have to skip school the next day, she bet. It usually was never this bad but she guessed they were taking the opportunity of her parents being absent to properly punish and humiliate her.
If only she were stronger.
"Clare you really need to start sticking up for yourself out there." Her aunt said gently clutching her injured hand in hers.
Clare softly sighed giving her aunt's hand a slight squeeze. "Aunt Lilith, you know I would if I could. I physically can't, I'm not strong enough."
"Oh, but you are my dear. You are much more stronger than you think." said her Aunt.
Clare stared at her aunt as the words rang a bell. Those exact words had been said to her by someone else.
The moon goddess in her dream to be specific.
"Aunt Lilith." Clare called and waited for her aunt's little hum of before she asked. "You are not secretly a goddess are you?"
Her aunt stared at her face as though trying to know why she might have asked such a question.
"No," Her aunt finally answered "No I am not a goddess, Clare."
Clare nodded in response wondering why she had even asked her aunt that question. Her Aunt was reality and her dream was a figment of her imagination. Of course, she would immortalize such an important person to her that way.
She sat in silence the rest of the time as her aunt finished wrapping her up. At the end of it, she felt like a walking mummy. She was definitely sleeping over tonight and skipping school tomorrow.
Clare lifted her head up from the table at the sound of the chair beside hers woke her up from her sleep.
Her aunt Lilith didn't let her sleep in or skip school.
Aunt Lilith gave her a whole lecturer about how knowledge is power and school was very important. She gave her a serum to drink and sent her on her merry way.
Clare wasn't sure if she should be surprised that Hunter was sitting beside her. Last week, they had both spoken together for more than two minutes which meant she could safely say they were friends.
Or the closest she had ever came to having one.
Hunter sat heavily in his seat tilted to the left so that he was facing her and then he looked her over.
"What's up with you?" He asked her. "Why do you put on Hoodies everyday."
"Why do you put on yours?" She shot back at him."
He shrugged. "I don't want to tell."
Clare glared at him. "Then why did you ask me? It's none of your business either."
"It just bothers me how you look like the feminine version of myself. You shouldn't look like me because I'm everything you are not."
Clare huffed and turned her back on Hunter Pyrros. The nerve of him, coming to her seat and telling her what to wear an what not to.
Did he mean that he was cooler or maybe strong than she was? So he had a car, and his parents were rich and he was handsome - and popular didn't mean he could tell her what to do.
The rest of the day, she avoided Hunter and ignored his incessant stares to focus wholeheartedly on her lessons.
And during lunch break, she took her book to the girls bathroom and read there.