"No, no, don't leave me. Please! Please!" The red-haired young woman ignored the little girl's cry, turned, and walked away hastily; She left the little girl standing in front of the big intimidating Packhouse.
The little girl slumped onto the dirt, wailing at the young woman's retreating figure... But, she never turned back.
"Audrey, Audrey, get up!. You're going to be late...again."
Audrey jolted up in her tiny single bed.
"I'm up, I'm up." She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Morning, Ms. Bridget." She greeted in between her yawns.
"Same dream again?" Ms. Bridget asked, stroking Audrey's red hair. Audrey nodded.
"It's okay child, everything's going to be all right." Ms. Bridget removed the thin blanket from Audrey, pulled her out of bed, and pushed her into the bathroom.
"But we have to survive first, right? Now, wash up and get going before he chops your head off." She heard the old lady giggle before leaving her room.
Audrey did not have time to think about the dream she'd been having for the past sixteen years. She rushed to her shower, well...water in a bucket, and ran out of the bathroom. She checked the old clock hanging on her wall; it was 5: a.m. If she did not hasten up, she would get in trouble with the Alpha… Again.
She didn't want that, her back still ached from carrying a hundred logs of wood yesterday, so she wouldn't need any punishment anytime soon.
She wore her favorite worn-out baggy joggers and an oversized shirt, put her red hair in a bun, and rushed out of her tiny room.
Audrey stood in front of the Alpha's house, her heart beating rapidly, she never understood the reason why he had asked for her to become his maid on her tenth birthday, and now, she was seventeen and still did not understand it, was it just so he could keep a close eye on her to know when she had merited a punishment?
"Oh, look who it is, it's the Pack's wolfless slut!" A blonde girl said as she emerged from a corner with her group of friends.
Audrey knew instantly that her day was doomed as she'd met Cara and her clique first thing that morning.
She refused to look at them and went to continue walking into the Packhouse; she needed to finish her business in the Alpha's condo before he returned from his rub; it never turned out well if he met her in his condo.
But Cara wasn't about to let her go easily, she never missed the opportunity to bully her.
"Hey, bitch!" Cara grabbed Audrey's arm, her nails digging into her skin and hurting her.
"Ouch! Please let go; it hurts," Audrey winced in pain, scanning around the area for anyone to help her, even though she knew it was rare for someone to help her as long as the Grey Blood Pack was concerned.
"Shut up!" Cara aggressively yanked Audrey's hair, pulling her down to the floor.
"Argh!" Audrey screamed as she felt the scalding pain in her scalp.
"Look at you; you think because you're the only one allowed into the Alpha's house, you have the chance to become his mate?" One of the girls asked condescendingly, kicking Audrey's tummy.
Audrey coughed and held her tummy, using the other hand to shield her head.
The girls laughed at her, taking turns to kick her all over.
"Drag her to the forest!" Cara ordered menacingly.
"No! Please, I beg you, not the forest!" Audrey struggled to run away but they overshadowed her easily.
Audrey screamed and begged as they roughly dragged her past the practice field and into the forest. She knew what they were about to do to her, it wasn't the first time.
"Tie her up, girls," Cara commanded.
The girls easily held Audrey up against the bark of a tree and fished out the rope they had hidden behind a shrub for this particular purpose and used it to tie Audrey to the tree. Laughing mockingly at her as they did.
"Cara, please, let me go; I beg you!" Before Audrey could finish talking, one of the girls slapped her hard on her cheek.
"You don't have the right to beg me, you idiot," Cara went forward and grabbed Audrey by the chin.
"Do you have a wolf?" Cara asked looking aggressively into Audrey's eyes.
"N-no," Audrey replied.
"Are you fit to be the Alpha's mate?" Cara asked again.
Audrey shook her head, "No, I-I don't want to- Ugh!" The air left Audrey's lungs as Cara punched her chest.
"You're pathetic, ugly, stupid, and, to crown it all, you're wolfless," Cara spat on Audrey's face.
The girls were all giggling behind Cara, supporting her evil act.
"I promise, I have no intention of becoming Luna; the Alpha hates me, everyone knows that; please, untie me; I promise to leave the Pack and never return," Audrey begged desperately, tears streaming down her face.
"Grace, get the bucket," Cara said to one of the girls.
"Already did," Grace replied.
The girls high-fived each other and carried the bucket of water toward Audrey.
Audrey quietly sobbed, helplessly staring at her bullies as they joined hands together and lifted the bucket over her head, mercilessly pouring the smelly, dirty water they got from the Pack's kitchen over her head.
A chorus of laughter echoed around her as she struggled to breathe with the water soaking her hair and sipping down her face and body.
"Let's go girls, today, no one's coming to release her till midnight," Cara ordered.
Audrey cried in misery as she watched the girls turn their backs on her and walk away, giggling with satisfaction at what they'd done to her.
Audrey cried helplessly, this was her life in the Grey Blood Pack, from one trouble to another. If it wasn't with the girls, it was with other members of the pack, and, if it wasn't with any of the mentioned, it was always with the almighty Alpha.
***
Alpha Lake was returning from his morning run with his beta when he scented the familiar lavender scent in the forests. He instantly got enraged as he recognized the smell.
As he walked in the direction of the scent, his anger was increasing with every step he took.
How dare she try to run away from him? After all the pain her mother put him through!
He was furious, he knew Audrey might try to escape the pack someday, and that's why she was never allowed out of the pack premises.
"Alpha, maybe she was just exploring the woods since she's never been allowed out here before," Andrew, his beta, tried to reason as he saw the murderous look on Alpha Lake's face.
"Silence, Andrew!" Alpha Lake growled.
Andrew instantly lowered his head in submission; he knew it was better to steer clear of the Alpha when he was angry.
Alpha Lake believed that smelling her scent in the forest meant that she was trying to run away and was now hiding as she saw him first.
But he was an Alpha; nothing could get past him, and she would never be able to escape him.
She was his to punish. His to kill.
Alpha Lake took the last turn around a tree and came face to face with a tied-up Audrey.
Audrey instantly sensed someone in front of her, and when she looked up, her soul swiftly left her body. She saw the bare chest of the Alpha in front of her eyes, and she knew that tying her up to a tree was a blessing in disguise compared to what she was about to face.
"Interesting, tying yourself up to gain pity from me?" Alpha Lake asked as he menacingly walked toward Audrey.
Andrew stood at a distance, watching his Alpha.
Audrey vigorously shook her head, "No, I wouldn't dare, it was Cara, she- Aarrgh!"
Slap!
"Shut up!" Alpha Lake slapped Audrey and angrily wrapped his hand around her neck, staring down maliciously into her green eyes.
His wolf immediately started to stress inside his head like it always did whenever he was punishing Audrey, but he ignored it, as usual.
Audrey choked, trying to keep her eyes away from staring into his dark gray eyes, she felt like she was going to die the next second from how hard he was choking her.
"You're just as useless as your whole mother," He spoke menacingly and lowered his face to hers.
"If you ever think for once that you could escape from me, the day you try is the day you die!" He roughly slammed her head to the tree, the side of her head bleeding instantly.
"N-n-no, Alpha, I wasn't p-plan-Aaaarrrrrrrgh!" Audrey screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt his sharp claws scratch her neck.
"You're not worthy of calling me Alpha, I am your master," Alpha Lake said in a dangerous tone, holding her chin painfully between his fingers.
Audrey managed to nod, the fresh bleeding wound on her neck straining as she stared up at his perfect face with her tear-stained own.
"Since you want to explore the forests, I won't stop you," Alpha Lake said and roughly released her face.
He indifferently turned away from her and started walking back to the Pack.