CHAPTER TWO

Riley

Very many full moons pass. Many winters pass.

Now I’m sixteen and bigger. I have learnt how to cook, how to embroider and stitch clothes, while working for Cassy’s Ma in her seamstress store. I own a few beds of flowers which I planted at the entrance of our house. I also learnt how to hammer in nails while assisting Pa in fixing our leaking roof.

Yes, Pa no longer drinks a lot. It has been reduced from every night to three nights every moon. This happened after a night he got so drunk that I had to go pick him up from the ground and take him home. One complaint led to another, and then we got so angry and began yelling at each other. These ended in us hugging each other tightly while both crying, with Pa repeating “I’m so sorry.”

So the drinking didn’t stop, but it reduced. He no longer forgets my name. Pa now goes to work on people’s farms to earn a few coins and food crops. He even talks to me.

One day, he said I was pretty just like my mom. I had gone to bed that night with a happy heart, and I saw an older version of me holding me in my dreams.

I have also learnt how to weave my own hair. It has gotten thicker and longer all the way to my back, so it’s easier to reach.

I sit in front of our broken mirror, weaving my hair into two pigtails.

I am at the first when Cassy runs into my one-roomed house, out of breath.

I jump in fright and go to her.

“You scared me. What is it?”

I have that bitter taste at the back of my throat, which I have whenever something bad is about to occur. But I wave that feeling away and intently stare at Cassy, waiting for her to say something.

She has her hand over her heart as she tries to breathe slower.

“B…base.” Cassy stutters.

“Alpha’s base? What about it?”

“Y…Your Pa.”

My heart comes straight up to my mouth.

I go grab her by the shoulders. “What about my Pa? Is he at the Alpha’s base?”

As she nods, the bitter taste multiplies.

“Fl…flogging.”

My goodness.

My eyes widen as I take a moment to process the situation.

Nobody goes to the Alpha’s Base without being summoned, as it is where our Alpha lives; a place for celebration, judgment, and punishment, but my Pa is there. So, I don’t think twice before I break into a run out of the house.

The joints on my legs hurt, my feet are burning, and there is something wet and sticky sliding down my left cheek. Sweat or maybe blood from when I had fallen and scratched my face on a cut root. Maybe. But I don’t care.

All I focus on as I run is the word ‘flogging’.

My own pa?

No.

Almost out of breath, I get to a few meters from Alpha’s base, then I hear a scream that tears at my heart. And if it was possible, I became a current and ran the fastest I could to the scene.

The Alpha’s base had a large house in it, a large open field with large tall trees surrounding the space like a barricade.

I burst through this barricade, and the sight that greets me stops me dead in my tracks. I stand frozen, blinking rapidly to be sure that the sweat hasn’t gotten into my eyes and blurred my sight.

I blink many times, but my father still has his hands tied around the bench where he lies flat on his belly. Pa’s face is scrunched up in pain as a hefty man with the Gamma tattoo on his right shoulder raises the whip, ready to strike again.

My legs refuse to move as I watch the whip go down to Pa’s back in a sharp stroke. His scream tears me out of my shock.

“Please!” I scream and, without gauging anyone’s reaction, I rush to where Pa is and gently throw myself on him.

I feel him wince and pull back. “So sorry, Pa.”

I hold his face in my hands. Pain is evident in his eyes. His bright blue eyes, which I got, are now dull and blurred, and more wrinkles have appeared on his face. His pale skin is indented by a huge bruise on both cheeks. He had been slapped.

“Pa?” my voice broke as I whispered.

“Move away.” A very authoritative voice rang out far behind me.

 I turn.

There the Alpha stands, on a wooden platform, tall and strong, a rod in hand. Something about Alpha Stanley’s huge frame adds to the respect he commands and his authority. The sight of him reawakens the fright I thought was dead in me.

I crawl forward and bow to him, face to the ground.

“I…I greet you, Alpha.”

I stutter whenever I get nervous, but this has to do with fear, anger, and confusion. I had never envisioned sixteen-year-old me in the presence of the Alpha of our pack.

“Who?” his strong voice rang out again, making my already cold blood get colder.

“Ri…Riley.”

“Riley Green?”

Every werewolf in this territory is part of and solely loyal to the Green Creek Pack, so we all go by the name of the pack, ‘Green’.

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Who is that man to you?”

We are a pack of seventys and everybody knows everybody, but Alpha Stanley is not one to be bothered knowing all.

I take a glance at Pa and notice that the whipping has been put on hold.

“He is my father.”

Alpha nods.

“I was made aware that he is a mere Omega.”

The use of the word ‘mere’ made me swallow hard. And I say nothing.

“Are you aware of the pack’s rules?”

It is something Cassy always recited. She said her mom forced her to memorize it as it is very important, so I got inquisitive and learnt it too. It is a long row of Dos and Don’ts of the pack.

“Yes, Alpha.” I put my face down

“So you are aware of what the pay is for stealing?”

I don’t know if that is a statement or question, but…

Stealing?!

I turn sharply to stare at Pa. As our eyes meet, he immediately closes his, and with great effort, turns his head to the other side.

Definitely guilty.

My heart drops to its normal position with a heavy slam.

Avoiding Alpha’s gaze, I spoke. “We are so sorry. So so sorry.” Tears pilling and blocking my vision.

“No, that’s not it. The pay is not pleading and crying. Getting flogged till the person you stole from is tired and fed up of hearing you scream. That is the pay.”

The fact that I know that made the tears push forth more to break free. But no one would see me cry.

No one.

I remain quiet and look up at Alpha, pleading with my eyes.

“A lot of complaints have been getting to me about his behaviors, but all have been ignored, being that such is expected from a man who has lost his Mate. But it has been more than a decade, and there is no justification for stealing in my pack!”

I see no obvious way out of this, but if desperation were a person, it would be me.

Alpha raises his hand, and in his palm lies a set of shiny golden earrings.

“Your father stole this.”

Can my heart break any further? I had stolen that to give it to me. A werewolf only gets one mate in its lifetime. Pa’s was dead, because of me. And now he is getting whipped because of me. But I never ask for such things.

I bite my lip to hold the tears.

“He was told to work at the farm behind the house, but he went further to do more work. He went into the couple’s room and took this pretty thing. And with the rage they came in here with, I’m not sure they would tire of hearing screams anytime soon.” He pauses and turns his head.

I follow with my gaze and see the couple standing in a spot at the right-hand side of the platform where the Alpha stood.

Then I realize we are not alone.

A large group of people had gathered to behold the verdict. Some stand at my right, others at my left, all eyes on me. I had not noticed them in my troubled and desperate state.

“Or are you?” Alpha directs this to the couple.

The tall, lanky man is the first to speak. “I had to give Jerry the goldsmith twenty gold coins for that.”

There is a low murmur in the crowd at this confession.

The short, round woman’s low voice shuns the crowd. “He gave me that after we had our first pup. It one of my most cherished possessions. And he took it.” She points at Pa.

Meaning, no.

“See? So let’s get back to where we left off.” Alpha orders.

What? No.

“PLEASE,” I scream, making everyone and everything pause

I kneel up and rub my palms frantically together, facing the couple.

“Please, he is all I have. He stole that because I told him I wanted, no, needed pretty earrings as my Winter gift, as I had none. He took that because of me, so please have mercy. In fact I’ll do anything you want. Anything. Don’t just hurt my Pa.” I have a copper taste in my mouth. Blood. Drawn from how hard I bite my lip to hold back tears.

“Please,” I repeat.

Pa and I leave Alpha’s base with him severely injured and with me sad, as I know I will be resuming at that couple’s home tomorrow to become a live-in maid.

Without pay.

For how long?

I don’t know.