Chapter 1 - Abused

Elizabeth POV

            “No please, Alpha, I can explain,” I scream as I am dragged by my hair toward the courtyard of the Red Woods Pack.  Nothing good ever came from being dragged to the courtyard.  This was not the first time I had been taken here but every time I prayed it would be my last.

            I had scars from years of visiting this courtyard.  I tried to be strong, but as an Omega, there were times I could not hold in the pain of the whippings I had received.  I was angry and scared.  This was not my fault.  It rarely was.  This time it was the Alpha’s daughter who spilled food on herself and blamed me for having done it.

            I was not even near her when I supposedly did the deed.  The Alpha knew this as he was sitting at the table.  But as he always told me, “Omega, I cannot let this slide.  Then the others will try to abuse the ranked members,” he growled at me numerous times.  I never understood why he compared me to the other Omegas.

            The other Omegas had a Pack house they were permitted to stay in.  Mind you it was significantly smaller than the Pack house the ranked members lived in.  The same Pack house I lived in.  Many had thought I was originally going to be given the perk of being the head Omega and get a room in the Pack house. 

            That never came.  I was pushed towards the basement stairs the first day I was brought into the Pack house.  Luna Nancy shoved me ahead of her down the basement stairs that first day I had arrived.  It had terrified me.  I did not understand what was happening.  Before I had been dragged to the Pack house, I was with my loving parents who told me how special I was on a regular basis.  I went to school, I did well in my classes and had plans to study to become a Pack nurse.  I loved helping people and that was what I wanted to do to give back to my Pack.

            But when the Alpha and Luna came to take me away on my sixteenth birthday, their loving stares turned to scowls and they simply shut the door as I was dragged away.  “What did they say?” I screamed as my parents shut the door.  “Why are you doing this?” I screamed as I was being shoved into the back of an SUV by a warrior.  I was not even afforded the courtesy of sitting on a seat.

            “Shut up Omega,” the Luna said to me.  I felt tears forming in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.  I had no idea what was happening.  Only that I was being blamed for something I clearly had not done.  I was going to be punished for something I was not aware of doing.  Sniffling, the Luna whips her head around looking at me.

            “Quit that sniffling.  You know what you have done.  You will be punished for it,” she says coldly.  “I do not know what I have done.  I am sorry, Luna Nancy,” I say to her frantically.  “You will only call me Luna from now on,” she replies as she simply stares straight ahead.  The Alpha pays no attention to me too busy on his phone.

            Being drawn back to the present moment, I feel my hands being tied to the posts for the lashes I would receive for something I did not do.  I felt my anger roll over me, I felt my weak wolf try to come forward to protect me, but she could not.  My poor wolf had suffered the past two years while I had served as an Omega slave to my Pack.  We were underfed and abused.

            I got my wolf when I turned sixteen.  It was rare for an Omega to get their wolf so early, but I had.  My parents were incredibly shocked with the news; however, they encouraged me keep it secret.  I had been excited and needed to tell someone.  So, I had only told my best friend, Tina, that I had shifted into a beautiful golden wolf.  My wolf was bigger than the typical Omega wolf.  My parents did not know why, but they were suddenly scared.  And secretive.  They never explained anything to me.  But I soon learned that shifting as an Omega was a curse for me and my wolf, Ashley. 

            I loved my wolf’s name, and I loved her.  She loved me.  She was the only one who loved me.  I would see my parents from time to time when they came to the Pack house for events.  They never even spared me a glance.  They simply acted as if I had not existed.  As if I was an embarrassment to the family.

            Feeling the cool breeze on my back, I brace myself for what is to come.  I see out of the corner of my eye the Alpha being handed the whip.  The whip was just as bad as any instrument to give me lashes.  I had earned fifteen for this alleged act.  Many who had joined stood around to watch.  At the front was the Alpha’s daughter, Sidney.  I saw her smirk as I heard the first whistle of the whip in the air before I felt it hit my body.

            I simply stared at Sydney as her smile started to falter.  I would kill her one day.  One day I would get out of this mess.  I did not know how or when, but I had promised my wolf, Ashley, that I would escape.  I was watched closely at all times.  It was not like I had any money.  Where most Omegas were paid a nominal wage, I received nothing.  There was no opportunity for me to save money.

            I took thrown out clothes to wear.  At first, I would go through the tossed-out clothes of the Pack members in the Pack House but that was quickly stopped when I was looking rather well for an Omega.  The clothes were torn from my body that day in the dining hall by Sidney and her cruel friends.  I was left standing in nothing but my bra and panties while everyone stared at my skinny body.

            I ran from the room hearing the laughter of all the Pack members.  I ran down the stairs and put on a pair of old clothes I had left over from my parents.  I was saddened at losing the nice clothes but would never be caught dead in anything I had not brought with me.  Or had been specifically given to me by the Luna.

            It was like they had wanted to cover me up in some way.  I was given bland colors that did not compliment my figure or my coloring.  I was a blond-haired young woman with purple eyes.  I was petite standing at 5’2”.  When I was going to school, the boys my age would tease me that they could get lost in my purple eyes.  Although I was an Omega, I had been popular.  Until I was not.

            The day I came to the Pack House to work as the Omega slave.  As we reached the tenth lashing, my will power started to crumble.  I could feel the tears tracking down my thin cheeks.  I could see the shift in Sidney as she started to smile broadly at my pain.  It was like she got off on my abuse in some way.  Goddess knew I was the brunt of her abuse.  Her hands may have never touched me, but it was most often her fault that I was being punished.

            As the final lash hit my back, I slumped forwards exhausted from trying to hold myself together.  I quietly sobbed as the Alpha moved forward.  He leaned into my face and with his hot, horrid smelling breath he reminded me of my place.  “Remember little Omega.  You have a role in this Pack house.  It is to do as you are told and not to fuck up.  The next round will be twenty lashes.  I am not sure you will be able to survive twenty lashes,” he says with a chuckle.

            As per the usual, I am left in the courtyard for hours to serve as a lesson to others that the Alpha does not tolerate anything in his Pack.  The only thing that made no sense is I was the only one who ever got punished.  I knew others in this shit hole did wrong; however, they never underwent the lessons I did.

I stood there feeling my body start to shake with the pain coursing throughout it.  I could hear the flies around my open wounds, and I shivered at the thoughts of the infection I was at risk of getting.  The Alpha never let me go to the Pack hospital.  I had to rely on Ashley to try and help heal me.  It took longer than a regular wolf, but she did what she could.

            I have no concept of time as I am standing between the posts.  I threw up what minimal food contents I had been permitted to eat earlier in the day.  I felt rather than heard someone walking up behind me.  The Beta of the Pack.  He was worse than the Alpha and Luna.  He wanted me for himself and kept saying that when I turned eighteen, he hoped I would be his mate.  He had great plans for me.  And if I was not his mate, he would take me as his chosen mate at the upcoming Summer’s Gala.

            Our Pack was hosting the Gala this year.  They had been planning for the past six months.  I would be permitted to prepare the food for the event but would not see the beautiful dresses.  I would not see the Pack members finding their mates.  The excitement that would be buzzing around everyone.

            The Beta rubs his body against mine.  Roughly.  So that the pain from my lashes makes me cry out.  He laughs his sickening laugh and I feel his hard member on my hip.  “I cannot wait to have you, Omega,” he says to me.  I feel my body shaking in true fear.  “The Alpha has promised me if I do not find my mate at the Gala in a couple weeks, I can have you,” he says cruelly.

            I would rather die than let him take me.  I say nothing as the tears choke me.  I feel, rather than see, the Beta slice the ropes with his wolf claws.  The ropes that were holding me to the poles.  I crumble to the ground unable to hold myself up.  Beta Carl chuckles as he reaches his hands around my waist tossing me over his shoulder.

            I cry out in pain at having my back stretched and opening already wet wounds.  He smacks my ass, “Keep quiet or they will come out and administer more,” he promises.  As we enter the Pack House, I see Pack members wandering around.  I close my eyes from the embarrassment of once again being carried into the house and taken downstairs to the basement.

            The Beta stomps down the stairs and walks over to where my small cot is kept with a ratty blanket, I had found that was thrown out.  Although it was tattered, it was mine and offered me comfort on those cold nights I was unable to rest.  Tonight, would be one of those nights.  As he tossed me carelessly onto the cot, he bends down breathing in my face.

            “Two more weeks, and I will be enjoying that little body of yours,” he whispers to me before standing and walking back up the stairs slamming the door shut.  I close my eyes as sobs wrack my body.