Rejected and Forsaken

Filth and Fists

Nine years later

Lily woke up from her nightmare when she was dragged out of bed by her ankles. The image of her mother's terrified green eyes and the sound of her shouting at Lily to run were still playing in her mind as she landed heavily on her bedroom floor.

Her shoulder took the brunt of her weight, and she could already feel the bruise forming, adding yet another purple mark to her body. She let out a small whimper of pain but refused to give her father the satisfaction of hearing her scream. It grew harder not to cry out, though, when he kicked her in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her.

"Get up," he spat. "We're having a pack meeting in two hours, and I need you to clean the house. The place is a f*****g mess," he said in disgust as if he weren't the one responsible for the messy condition of their house.

He stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Lily pushed herself off the floor slowly, feeling every ache in her body as she stood up and walked to the bathroom.

She took a quick shower, scrubbing furiously at her body, which felt filthy from her father's hands. She could still feel his hands wrapped around her ankles, yanking her out of her sleep. Lily ignored the pain as she used her sponge to scrub at her tender stomach and shoulder.

Her new bruises twinged as she got dressed, but at least she felt clean. The pair of light blue jeans, the white shirt with a pattern of tiny purple flowers, and the pair of comfortable converse were all items she’d found at the thrift store where she bought most of her clothes.

She worked the evening shift at a coffee shop, so she had money for things like clothes and toiletries, which her father had long stopped buying for her. Lily also occasionally babysat for a werewolf family, who were the only ones in the pack who didn't treat her like a social pariah.

She wasn’t exactly making a fortune, though, and she tried to save as much as she could, so she rarely treated herself to clothes that weren't second-hand. All her savings were stashed in a hollowed-out book on her shelf, and the money would stay there until the day she graduated high school. After that, she could finally leave the town that had become her nightmare.

After piling her long golden brown hair into a bun, Lily made her way downstairs to clean up the house. It was where all pack meetings were held, but those meetings only served to make her feel like even more of an outsider. Nobody ever spoke to or even acknowledged her at them—their Alpha had ordered them not to.

Her role in pack meetings consisted solely of cleaning up the house before they started and standing quietly in the corner while they took place.

Not for the first time, Lily wished she were brave enough to leave the house in its current state so that the pack could see how their mighty Alpha lived. She wasn't brave enough to face the wrath of her father if she did that, though, so she reluctantly started cleaning. Her father had become a slob after his mate had died.

Their untidy house was just another reminder of the mess their lives had become. Not that she needed reminding when the bruises and scrapes on her skin were a daily reminder of how much things had changed. What used to be a beautiful home had become a war zone of food wrappers, filth, and fists.

There were dirty dishes on the kitchen table and food crumbs on the sofas. Lily hated living in the mess, but she also refused to clean up after her father, only to have him undo all her work an hour later. So she lived with her disgust until he ordered her to clean like he had that morning.

It took her over an hour to vacuum, scrub, and mop the downstairs area into spotless and almost unrecognizable rooms. By the time she was done, there were only five minutes left until the meeting started, so she ran up to her room to make herself more presentable.

Her father may not have liked her anymore, but he always insisted that she look good at the meetings to show a strong front for the pack. It seemed illogical to her, considering how he had ordered his wolves to ignore her presence, but her father had stopped being logical the day his other half had been murdered.

Lily quickly braided her hair and put on some lip gloss. She couldn't afford any other make-up, and even the lip gloss was a luxury she rarely used. Luckily, her green eyes were lined by naturally dark and thick eyelashes, and, as a werewolf, her pale skin was flawless except for the few freckles on her nose.

She would have loved to have some concealer to cover the dark circles under her eyes, but she suspected there wasn't one good enough to completely cover the bruise-like rings. Years of poor sleep couldn’t be hidden that easily.

Lily had just reached the bottom of the stairs when the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of pack members. She ran to open the door only to find Kyle and his parents on the other side.

Even after all this time, she was still attracted to her brother's friend. Kyle was her first crush, and it seemed like none of the cruel things he said or did killed her feelings for him. Lily hated how pathetic it made her feel. She would give anything to make her crush go away.

Her heart twisted painfully when he sneered at her in disgust before walking into the house. His parents didn't even bother to glance at her as they followed him in. The rest of the pack arrived in much the same way until the living room and kitchen were filled with chatting werewolves.

The only one who greeted her was Eli Stevenson, the father of the girl she babysat for, but even then, he could only give her a small smile and a nod so he didn't risk the Alpha's anger. The small gesture meant more to Lily than she would ever admit after years of being ignored by the other pack members.

Eli’s wife, Amanda, must have been at home with their six-year-old daughter, Bella, who was much too young to attend meetings. Only one member from each family was required to attend pack meetings, so it wasn't uncommon.

Eli, Amanda, and Bella were like family, and they were the reason Lily could get out of bed in the morning, even when all she wanted to do was crawl under the covers and never get up.

Amanda had found Lily crying outside the school building when she was nine and had taken her under her wing. She had taken Lily to buy her first bra, had helped her when she had her first period, and had been like a mother to her when Lily desperately needed one. Amanda would never replace her real mom, but she had been there for Lily when everyone else had abandoned her.

Eli had welcomed her into their family as well, and Lily could happily say that he had become a replacement for her father. She sometimes missed her old dad, the one who wasn't so consumed by loss, but there had always been some darkness in him. Lily felt no guilt for considering Eli as her dad when her real father had so easily turned his back on her.

Eli had done more for Lily in the past month than her real father had done for her in the past nine years. Unfortunately, they couldn't show their affection for each other in front of the pack because if the Alpha found out, he was sure to do everything he could to end Lily’s relationship with the Stevensons. So, after greeting her, Eli left her at the door and went to talk to a group of male werewolves.

Once everyone had arrived, the Alpha graced them with his presence, and Sam followed dutifully behind him. The Alpha led them all into the enormous space that acted as a kind of boardroom for pack meetings. Once they’d all filed in, there were about fifty werewolves in the room, and they only made up about a third of the pack.

The ones with higher ranks sat in chairs at the long table in the middle of the space, and Lily’s father sat at the head. The rest of the pack stood with their backs against the walls of the room, and Lily took her place as far from the Alpha as possible.

Her father was in his late forties, but he looked at least ten years older than his age. Werewolves didn't age as quickly as humans, but his hair was showing grey already, and his forehead was lined from years' worth of frowns. If anybody thought he was weak because of how he looked, though, they would be sorely mistaken.

After his mate's death, he had become more dangerous and more angry. The pack feared him, but even they couldn’t know how cruel he really was. He hid the darkest parts of himself from those outside his family, so it came as no surprise to Lily when he sat at the head of the table wearing a deceptively calm expression.

"We have a few important things to discuss," he said, signaling the start of the meeting, "But before we do that, I would like to announce that my son has found his mate," her father said with what sounded like sincere pride.

A werewolf could only find their mate once both them and their mate had gone through their first shift, which happened when they turned eighteen. Sam was nineteen, but Jessica had only turned eighteen a few days ago, so they had only realized they were mates then.

On cue, Sam turned to the girl sitting next to him and kissed her forehead affectionately, his love for her clear on his face. Their obvious happiness sent a pang of hurt through Lily’s chest. Sam's love for Jessica only emphasized that he was capable of caring. He just refused to give his sister any affection. Lily missed him, but she may as well not have even existed for how little he seemed to miss her.

"Their bonding ceremony will take place in two weeks, and the whole pack is invited to attend," Lily's father announced. His love—or at least fatherly pride—for Sam was evident in his voice. It was nothing new, but it still hurt Lily to hear it when his disdain for her was so apparent.

The pack's support of the match was obvious, especially from Jessica's father, Beta Davidson, who sat next to the Alpha. Everyone gazed at the couple with approval, knowing that Jessica, being the Beta's daughter, was from a strong bloodline. Their next Alpha couldn't have asked for a better mate.

Aside from Lily, Eli was the only one who didn't look impressed. He gave her a sympathetic look and a small, encouraging smile. Lily smiled back, letting him know she was okay, before turning her attention back to her father.

Her breath caught when she saw his eyes were narrowed and moving between her and Eli. She knew that they would both probably be paying for the display of affection later, but for now, her father managed to control his temper, slipping his mask back on as if nothing had happened.

"Onto other matters, we are expecting the arrival of new members in the coming days. A family asked my permission to move to this territory, and seeing as we need more wolves, I accepted," the Alpha continued.

A wave of surprise went through the room. It was rare for werewolves to move to other territories unless they were moving to be with their mates. But that didn't seem to be the case here. Whatever the reason was for the family moving to Hood River, their small town in Oregon, Lily found herself hopeful and curious about them.

She barely focused on the meeting after that point, as the rest of it consisted of trivial issues that were much less interesting than daydreaming about the new pack members. She wondered what they would be like or if they would snub her, just like the rest of the pack had when they found out what happened to her mother.

It seemed likely that they would. The Alpha would make sure of it, and if the people who had known Lily for her whole life could turn their back on her, why not people she had never met before?

Still, Lily found herself hoping that they would be different. Maybe they wouldn't hate her or ignore her like the others did. Maybe they would be kind, like Eli and Amanda. But Lily knew it was silly to hope. Hope had only ever led her to disappointment.

She pushed thoughts of the mysterious new pack members aside and focused on her father as he concluded the meeting.

"Thank you all for coming," he said, hiding his true nature behind a mask of civility. "If any of you have any issues you wish to discuss with me, you may stay behind and do so now."

With his words, everyone filed out of the room except for two males. Lily left as well and went upstairs to her bedroom. She felt tired after all the cleaning she’d done and after standing through the whole meeting, so she lay on her bed and closed her eyes.

Her nap only lasted half an hour before she was woken up by the sound of her father's heavy footsteps on the stairs. She held her breath, wishing for the loud steps to pass her bedroom, but her hopes died when her door was flung open, and he walked in.

Lily jumped out of her bed, putting herself in a less vulnerable position—not that it would help much. He towered over her small frame.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?" he asked.

Lily swallowed nervously, not knowing what she could say that wouldn’t just make him angrier.

"I saw the way you and Eli looked at each other,” he said. “Are you really so desperate for love that you have to resort to sleeping with a mated man?” he sneered. “It's embarrassing.”

Lily recoiled in disgust. "What? Is that seriously what you think? What the hell is wrong with you!" she shouted in exasperation, not realizing her mistake until it was too late to take it back.

The shock from his assumption had made her lose control, and she had talked back to him for the first time in years. Standing up to him sent a jolt of satisfaction through her, but it was quickly crushed when his fist hit her face.

It was the first time he had hit her there since he usually preferred to keep his abuse to areas people wouldn't see. Lily’s vision went black as she fell to the floor, but it slowly cleared until she could see her father standing over her prone body, staring down at her with hate.

"Don't ever f*****g talk to me like that again!" he yelled at her, stomping on her hand so hard she nearly passed out from the pain.

Lily couldn't contain her scream. The agony only worsened when he grabbed her injured hand as she struggled with him. He bent her index finger back so far that she heard the bone c***k.

The last thought Lily had before she fainted was, at least he didn't break my right hand this time.