Chapter 4

Shannon

My head felt like it was going to split in half or like someone was busy hammering at it making it hurt so much. My eyes were heavy with tears that I refused to let fall, Austin will not make me cry not again, he has made me cry enough, not again, I refuse. I walked slowly to my room balancing with the wall so that I don’t fall.

For once I am grateful that he had my room on the same floor as his and his office. Only his room and mine are on this floor. Beta Eliot is staying on the third floor right below us, when I got to my room I pushed the door open, my eyes were beginning to blur and I know it is due to the blood loss.

I can feel the back of my head getting wet going all the way to my neck and I know it is not sweat making me wet but blood coming from the fresh wound on my head. I walked all the way to the bathroom then open the small cabinet that is there with all the different pain medication that aunt Nancy gets me.

I pick a container with the most strong medicine and I took two pills from it and popped them in my mouth then drank water from the tap to force it down. I need this to work soon because Sandy will be here and if I am not ready to go to this damn shopping when she gets here then she will tell Austin and I am going to be in even more trouble.

I sat on the toilet seat and closed my eyes feeling the pain in my head. While I was still sitting there waiting for the headache to subside, I heard the door opening then closing, I cursed whoever is at the door internally and forced my eyes to open looking at the direction the person will be coming in from.

Aunt Nancy appears and I sighed in relief. I thought it was Sandy, am glad it's only aunt Nancy and not her. I am not in the mood for her right now because I am still going to be stuck with her for hours at the mall. “Betty saw you coming out of the alpha’s office and told me that you did not look good, what did he do to you now child?” asked Aunt Nancy with a worried look.

“Can you please check on the wound on my head aunt Nancy? I think it's deep because I am losing a lot of blood, I can feel it.” I ignored her question and asked her what I needed her to help me with. I will not be able to treat this wound as I will not be able to see it, aunt Nancy’s hand flew to her mouth and covered it as if not wanting to make a sound but tears glittered in her eyes.

She quickly regained her composure probably thinking about what I said about losing blood. She carefully inspects my head with her hands moving delicately on my head trying to locate the wound, her touch is light and I can't help but feel sleepy. The medication is strong and is only to be consumed before one goes to bed but I did not have the luxury of sleep right now.

My alpha gave me tasks to complete and I must complete them without fail. Aunt Nancy finally locates the wound and she gaps then her hands start to tremble. She is crying I know, aunt Nancy has a heart of gold and is very sensitive. Things like these hurt her, that is why I keep a lot of the things that Austin does to me or she should have died of depression by now.

“It’s not deep but you are bleeding a lot, I am not sure why but I will clean it then dress it after helping you wash your hair.” Aunt Nancy informs me and I just nod. I don’t have the strength to speak right now, I have to save everything bit of energy I have in me right now to be able to deal with Sandy later.

My little sister used to love and look up to me. Things changed when she turned eighteen and shifted. I was still without a wolf, she started believing what our brother always says, that I am a pathetic human whose’s kind killed our parents but she called me worse, she called me a slave. Oh! How I hate being called that, our parents never called me that.

They loved me, even when they told us that I was not theirs with worried looks on their faces anticipating the worst kind of reaction from me, I was okay, I was not mad at them, instead I was grateful. They didn’t have to take me in, they could have taken me to the pack orphanage and let me be raised like any other orphan but they took me in and loved me as their own.

They never made me feel like I was not their biological daughter, never once treating me differently and I am grateful for that. I understand Austin’s resentment towards me sometimes but then other times I just don’t get why he can't get over their deaths and wonder how long will it take for him to accept that they are gone and that it wasn’t my fault.

How long it will take for him to realize that he is taking his anger out on an innocent person and how long it will take before his mistreatment of me come to an end? Just how long will it be till this is over? I felt aunt Nancy move me from the toilet seat and placed me on a chair close to the sink then opened the water.

She had the strength to move me, believe me when I say even at her old age her wolf strength was still there, I sometimes envy her and wish to have my own wolf, as she does. “Move your head to the back a little child.” I did not answer aunt Nancy, I just did as told, she started washing my hair and I closed my eyes feeling the headache subside with her gentle touch.

I can imagine how red the water is with my blood, Austin punishes me all the time but my punishments were no different from those given to pack members. They consisted of a shot of wolfbane except for the silver chains because they did nothing to me because am human. In place of silver chains, he would make the pack doctor give me a dose of the silver shot which manages to knock me out for a day or two.

Never has it ever gotten to a point that I would bleed or have bruises because of a beating i got from him because he never lays his hands on me, besides today. Is that even called laying a hand on me? I mean technically he didn’t, he threw a stapler at me, I don’t know, I am still trying the process the events of today.

The water stopped running, I guess she was done, she dried my hair with a towel then picked me up and placed me on my bed. She took a hairdryer and dried my hair. After that, she took a first aid kit and dressed my wound. I felt so much better, the headache was gone leaving only a dull pain but it was not too much.

I wanted to lay down for a moment before I change and leave for the mall. “I heard you are going to the mall, do you want me to take out a change of clothes for you?” she asked me and I nodded. I heard her move away from me, am sure going to my closet to take out clothes for me. I was drifting off to slumber when a squeaky voice called my name.

Who else could it be if not my sister? “Shan!” she called out one more time, I don’t know why she would call me from the corridor instead of just coming in. I did not bother answering her because I had no strength, she comes in and sees me on the bed. “Did Austin tell you about shopping?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He told me but I felt a little dizzy and I thought to lay down for a bit till it subsides.” I lied, what is the point of telling her the truth anyway? “Oh, okay then, get ready we have to leave. You will find me outside and Rosy is coming with us.” She tells me then leaves the room without giving me a chance to respond.

I can already feel a headache coming, Rosey is going with us and I don’t know why but I don’t like the girl. Maybe because she likes throwing herself at Austin and he actually smiles at her. Or maybe it’s because she was sleeping with Gamma Laurence, then two months down the line she was in beta Eliot’s bed then jumped to Austin’s bed.

I don’t know if she is sleeping with Austin but I wouldn’t put it past her, the girl likes people with powerful positions and she doesn’t mind being their bed warmer. Aunt Nancy hands me my clothes and she helps me take off the ones I was wearing. She thinks am still five years old this one with the way she treats me.

When I am done undressing she helps me up on the ones she took out for me. “Now, what I want you to do is for you to focus on what you went there to do, don’t entertain Rosy because you know that she likes provoking you and is very rude. Ignore her by all means, I don’t want you coming back and getting another punishment because of her.” Aunt Nancy says all that in one breath.

She really doesn’t like Rosy, I don’t like her either, she has a way of ticking me off and I just lose it. “Also, try and ignore your little sister, Sandy is no longer the sweet little girl who used to look up to you, she has grown and she is different. Be careful around her.” She warns me. “I will do as you say, aunt Nancy,” I assure her.

As much as I love my sister, aunt Nancy was right, she was no longer the Sandy I know, she has changed, just like her brother did. You know when our parents died, I thought that we will be there for each other and support each other. But I was gravely disappointed when Austin came in after hearing about their death fuming into the dining room in the packhouse.

It was around lunchtime and most of the pack members were in having lunch laughing and joking with one another. He came in and I saw how angry he was, I stood up going to him in an attempt to find out what was wrong and maybe comfort him. But he pushed me hard and I stumbled back then lost my balance and fell on my ass.

My eyes widened at the action but then he yelled at me in front of everyone calling me and my kind murderers who killed his parents. Sadly, that is how I found out about our parent’s passing, I was hurt but my heart went out to him. They were my parents too and I thought that he was just angry and that he will come around.

But his next words made me who I am today. He swore in front of the pack that he will make my life a living hell so that my kind knows that they were nothing but slaves in his eyes, insignificant ants that he could crush under his feet, and that included me.

I was hurt by his words but part of me understood that he was angry and hoped that when he calmed down he was going to apologize. But boy! Was I wrong, he woke me up at 4am the following morning to do chores for him to get ready for the day, that was the beginning and from there, things went downhill for me, until now.