5

Gossips and whispers followed me wherever I went throughout the pack house. People were eager to see me and then make that face that says ‘are you serious?’ before turning away and engaging in more gossip. Even Peter stopped harassing me. He told me to go rest one day. REST! Can you believe it?

Alarmingly, Lucinda hasn’t contacted me after that dreadful day, but I can sense her everywhere. She is like a spider hovering over me, playing with me, knowing well she can consume me anytime.

Mom on the other hand believed my innocence immediately because she knew I had never crossed paths with Adrian before. She said if I could just lay low for a couple of days, people will forget about this.

So I did. 

She was wrong. The rumour became stronger each day.

Peaking from behind a pillar to make sure there was no one outside, I quickly rushed out of the pack house to work, aka clean up the ground. 

 Just as I reached the ground and rejoiced my tiny sneaking out, someone tapped on my shoulder.

About ten girls surrounded me within a moment, trapping me in the middle. I recognize them, all fellow omegas, staring at me with gleaming eyes.

Crap. Adrian had a crazy bunch of fan girls who sighed at his every move. How could I forget that? My heart rate picked up as I started to stumble back a little, “I- guys… what are you doing?”

 “Finally out of the kitchen, huh?” a girl tilted her head to the side, “fond memories. You must be missing them, don’t you?”

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said in a trembling, hesitant voice.

 “Quit pretending!” a girl jumped out from behind and pushed her way through the circle to get to me. I remember her name is Emily.  Her shiny blue eyes sparkled with excitement. It was kind of creepy actually.

 “Why were you so shocked? Whom were you expecting to see here so sneakily?” Mina, a girl that was a bit younger than me giggled mischievously.

“I’m working?” I frowned, not getting the meaning.

 “Oh come on! We all already know all about you. Stop all this and just spill the deets!”

Oh goodness, is this chaotic mess ever going to end?

“You know? How was he? How did you both end up in the kitchen alone? Who took the first step?” Emily rushed off to spill all the questions.

“It is not like that.” I lifted my hands up in front of them, palms facing them, and explained, “guys…”

 “Isn’t this same like those storybooks say?” Aysha muttered with a dreamy look in her eyes, her hands clasped together, “an omega and an alpha meet unexpectedly. Their eyes locked, and then the next minute they are together in the sheets, hooking up again and again…”

 “We are NOT hooking up!” 

 “We all saw it! How wild was it?” Mina asked excitedly, “all those ripped clothes of alpha on the ground and your knees red and swollen… it definitely looked like he had you on his palm.”

 “We did not do anything in the kitchen, guys!” 

 No one listened to me.

 “Ooooh… her face was red too. Alpha was definitely on the dominant side.”

 “August, you must be shocked right? Was it your first time? It definitely became too much for the first night.”

 “Are your knees still hurting? Did he come back for more?”

 “Surely!!” Emily flipped around to face me, “speak up! Tell us everything! We are dying here.”

 I took a deep breath and dropped my hands, “NOTHING happened between him and me! We just slept because the door got locked!”

 “Stop with all the hiding now already. Ayesha whined, “we know what happened and you keep on hiding. Just tell us how it was! Or we’ll never let you leave here!”

 I pressed my lips together tightly in order to suppress my scream of frustration. Fine. If this is the only way I can get rid of them then..

“Okay.” I whispered, “I’ll tell you guys only. No one can spill it to another soul, okay? I’ll know it’s you if someone else is talking about it. And I’ll tell Adrian, you know what’s gonna happen, right?”

 They all nodded and swore they are gonna keep the secret.

“Okay. Now tell us,” Emily grinned, her hands grabbing mine, “how did Adrian look up close?”

Like the sun.

 “He looked alright.” I said nonchalantly, “that jaw is definitely real. His eyes are dark and he did not creep me out by the look on his face so I guess he is okay.”

 “OOooooo…” Emily giggled and leaned close, “I heard his ears go red when he is shy. Did it happen?”

 “I don’t remember.” I muttered and sat up straight to lean close to the group, “I don’t think he gets shy easily though.”

 “Not even when he is naked?” Mina put her hand on her mouth dramatically.

 I thought about how proud he was sprawling around the kitchen in all his glory without even a hint of shyness and then muttered, “Yep.”

 “Oh my gosh!” everyone snickered, “how are his abs? Does he have six packs or eight?”

Smirking, I said in a hushed tone like I was about to tell them a national secret, “Six-packs. Really, really toned.

Several gasps escaped their mouths. Their eyes glimmering with imagination.

 “I wish I was there to see it,” Mina said dreamily.

 “Same…” many girls muttered at the same time with a hungry look in their eyes.

 Suddenly the dreamy look in their gazes disappeared and they all went quiet. Their eyes were wide and staring at something over my head behind me.

 With knitted eyebrows, I turned around and looked up. Lucinda was standing there, her eyes locked with mine.  

Fuck. Fuck fuckfuckfuckfuck!

 “Is it really appropriate to mention the Alpha family like this?” She is still smiling, but somehow twisted.

 Something BAD is gonna happen. 

 “I’ve wanted to talk to you August,” She said, “Will you come with me?” 

 Panic grew inside me like lava out of a volcano, sweat covered my forehead. Oh no I have a terrible habit when I’m nervous. I became so tensed and nervous that I felt the food I just had barely half an hour ago rise up to my throat. 

 Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

 I slapped my palm on my mouth, and shot out of my seat, “Move!” I barely managed to splutter out while forcefully pushing everyone aside and running toward the sink in the washroom.

 Immediately I threw up everything I had eaten.

 A girly scream echoed in the hall behind me, “OMG! August is pregnant with Adrian’s baby!”

“I just have the flu or something. I am not pregnant!” I tried to explain hurriedly as I ran toward the group. And somehow it looked even more suspicious. 

 The stares at me did not change and instead, they all looked at me like they had never seen anyone more pitiful. And I knew why. My heart was pounding like a jackhammer and my mind was in chaos. 

 Having a fling with Alpha's son is groundless gossip. But being pregnant with alpha blood? I am just an omega! I am like the last one to eat at the table and the first one to be expected to clean up. Alpha is at the level of a king and alpha’s son… a prince. 

 ‘Thud.’

 A hard slap fell across my face, making me fall down to the ground with excruciating pain in my cheek. The right side of my face felt numb and pain. I lifted up my face again with tearful eyes at the person standing over me.

 Lucinda is freaking losing it.

 “Grab this ungrateful vamp and tie her up,” Lucinda growled dangerously. Her hands shivered on her sides in fists and her eyes pinned upon me like she was staring at a pathetic creature.

 Guards rushed inside the hall and grabbed me by my arms. Their powerful hands snatched me off the ground in one swift move.

 “Stop! I am not pregnant!” I shouted desperately, “it’s all lies.”

 “Stuff some rag in her mouth to shut her up.” Lucinda snapped. Her orders were swiftly followed by the guard. They grabbed a dirty rag off the table and forcefully pushed it in my mouth to silence me. 

 And then as if she decided to recollect her image. “I can not believe you committed such a sin! You don’t care about our pack’s reputation at all, do you?”

 “Follow me,” Lucinda said in a barely calm voice and started walking swiftly through the hall. Everyone was a silent spectator to what was being done to me. Their gazes followed me as the guards dragged me out of the hall.

 With deeply instilled fear racing through my chest, I saw them take me toward Alpha Bruno’s office.

 Fuck!

 Alpha Bruno is as traditional as the werewolf rituals go and as strict and stubborn as an ox. I’ve never met him before. But I did hear stories of him banishing an omega who tried to seduce Adrian. Nothing happened between her and Adrian, but the punishment was brutal. No one heard of her again.

 A guard knocked on the door. ‘Come in.’ a low serious voice ordered. Lucinda grabbed the handles, pushed open the door, and walked right in.

 Alpha Bruno turned around. He was double my size, so it will be easy for him to just snap my neck and throw me away to save his son’s future. His gaze is a dark, dangerous one. One that showed he had seen the world in all its cruelty and now I could be the next victim..

he looked at me and then at Lucinda with a questioning gaze. 

Lucinda bowed in front of him in respect before straightening and then whispered in his ears.

The look in Alpha Bruno’s eyes changed within a second. His jaw tightened. His hand grabbed the intercom off the table and pressed a number on speed dial.

 “Come to my office,” he muttered to the mysterious one and hung up.

 A knock came on the door and the pack doctor, Dr. Jake walked in. 

 He is a young man who had just joined our pack a few months ago. It was even more embarrassing for me to be examined by someone like him.

 “You are the new doctor?” Alpha pinned him under his scrutinizing gaze.

 “Yes, Alpha.” Dr. Jake bowed down in respect in front of him and then straightened. His face remained emotionless and plain, waiting for the alpha’s orders.

 “What I am about to ask of you shall remain within the walls of this room.” Alpha Bruno said calmly but the threat in his voice was clear. “One wrong word of this out of your mouth to others, you will be expelled from the pack and I don’t need to tell you what happens to discarded rogues, do I, doctor?”

 Dr. Jake’s calm expression slipped for a brief moment to be covered by a sense of fear. But he quickly masked it up and replied, “Of course, alpha.”

 Alpha Bruno nodded his head in approval and then motioned toward me with his eyebrows, 

 “Is she pregnant?”

 Dr. Jake turned to me. His gaze held insecurity and a hint of fear.

“Stand up,” he said in a gentle voice.

 I did not get a chance to follow his words. His arms gripped mine forcefully and painfully, then pulled me up on my feet.

“I need to do a pelvic exam to confirm.” He said out loud.

No! No, no no no no! What the fuck?!

Pelvic Exam?! In front of all these people?!

I stumble back my feet, my legs shaking so hard that I was about to fall down on the ground in fear.

I turned my gaze in Alpha Bruno’s direction. My eyes wide with shock, and my lips barely able to move and plead breathlessly, “Alpha, don’t do this to me here. I- I am begging you. Please.”

“Stop wasting my fucking time!” Alpha Bruno growled out in annoyance at the guards, “get this done. I need its result right now! Adrian can never be tainted with such nonsense!”

I trembled, stumbling back on my feet.

The guards moved toward me immediately following alpha’s command. They snatched my body, ripping my thin t shirt off my body.

“I will go to the hospital room willingly. I will comply! I swear, alpha.” I screamed as the guards grabbed me, my breaths choking, “alpha! Alpha!!!”

One of the guards picked up the dirty rag off the floor and shoved it in my mouth forcefully. Its stink again filled my mouth and nose. 

When I could not scream anymore, they snatched me by arms and legs, and dragged me to the couch in the corner like I was an unruly animal threw me on the couch. One of them pinned my upper body while the other one grabbed my legs and ripped the trousers off of my legs. There were so many hands on me, rough palms on my skin. 

I spat out the dirty rag with difficulty, terrified screams leaving my mouth immediately, “No! Please! Don’t! Miss! Miss Lucinda, please! I am a girl like you! Don’t let them do this to me. Miss-!”

SLAP! 

The guard holding my uppper body hit me across my face. My neck twisted at a angle that it left me aching in terrible pain. My eyes rolled, and a strange ringing started in my ears, leaving me deaf for several seconds.

The guard holding me had said something in a booming voice. It was so obvious that they had ill intentions. Why on earth would they rip off my t shirt for a pelvic exam?

My bra was unhooked and ripped off my chest, my breasts were now bare in front of everyone.

"Oh my… August, since when you haven't changed your panties? How can there be holes? It is not healthy, you know?" Lucinda said in a fake worried tone.

The young doctor walked toward me quickly with his hands covered in gloves. Guard forcefully twisted my leg at a painful angle. I could not scream. I could not even breathe! Tears fell on my cheeks, and my body trembled with fear. With nothing but numbness ringing in my ears, I sobbed with terror covering my chest.

The doctor grabbed my panties, and slipped them off my legs. "I will make it quick." The doctor muttered in a low voice.

I struggled desperately, but the doctor came again. He grabbed my knee and pulled it sideways to expose me.

Suddenly the door to the room slammed open.