Rise of The Abused Wolf

I watched as her chest rose and fell, slowly growing shallow with each breath. Reaching up a shaky hand, she grasped my much too tiny hand. Her skeletal fingers looked like they would break at any second as they tried to tighten their hold. "Prom...ise.. me..." She rasped, sucking in puffs of air, her glazed eyes trying to find me. "You… must…" "Mommy." I whimpered, trying to hold back the tears. I remembered that Austin said that if I cried then I would get a beating. I couldn’t cry. "I promise." Taking in more air, she continued to search my face. What she was looking for I didn’t know. "I’m sorry..." She murmured as her grip loosened. "I… never…" Before the words could leave her lips, her eyes grew wide as all life faded from them. Her hand, that had been holding mine only seconds prior, loosened and then fell to the bed beside her now still body. "Mommy." I gasped, placing my hands on her side. "MOMMY!" Hands grabbed me from behind, pulling me as I tried to fight. Letting screams escape me, I tried to get free, tried to get to my now unmoving mother. I had to save her. I couldn’t leave her there. I knew if I left her there, she would never see me again. I knew it. Jumping up, I let a silent scream escape me. Around me, I could feel my blanket squeezing me like a snake. I don’t know how it managed to wrap around me, but it was suffocating. Fighting it off, I ran a hand across my face, wiping the freezing sweat from my skin. "Shit." I huffed, trying to catch my breath. It had been so long since I had that dream, or I guess you could say that it was a nightmare. No matter how you looked at it, that day was a nightmare, a nightmare that would haunt me till I died. That day, everything changed. Everything ended when she died. My peaceful days ended. My little shred of happiness ended. I guess you could even say that my life ended. From that day on, my stepfather changed for the worst. It started with little things here and there, harsh words, items thrown. But it soon escalated to physical violence. When my mother passed, I never thought that my stepfather would do that. Sure, it happened with my stepbrother and his friends. Even our pack mates when I was allowed out of the house to run errands. But my stepfather never did. Since that day, I have endured the abuse from both men, knowing that I had no place to say stop or fight back. As wolves, we went by the hierarchy of the pack. I was an omega, and my stepfather was the alpha. As the alpha, that meant that my stepbrother Austin was the alpha heir. Both were powerful, and if I even attempted to stand up to them, that meant death. Sighing I tried to push away the thoughts that were beginning to swarm my mind. Getting out of bed, I prepared to head downstairs only to stop when a sudden bang shook the entire place. Confused, I waited, listening to see if I could hear anything indicating what was going on. After a minute, another loud bang erupted, this time much louder, followed by boisterous laughter from my stepfather. "AURORA!" His voice boomed, causing me to jump. "I know you’re awake. Come down here." Immediately, I felt the pull of the alpha command he was using. I didn’t understand why he was using his ability on me. I would have gone anyway, but my body began to move on its own. Cursing I braced myself for what could possibly be waiting for me downstairs. Last I remembered when I went to bed, my stepfather and brother had begun to drink, wanting to enjoy a victory against an opposing pack. From what I heard earlier in the day, it was a bloody battle and my stepfather and brother were ruthless, complete monsters. Deep inside, I couldn’t stop thinking that was probably true, especially given the way they treated me. "GET DOWN HERE, YOU LAZY b***h!" My stepbrother roared, drawing me back to the situation at hand. Somehow, I had already managed to make it to the top of the stairs, and my legs were starting to lead me down to where the two men sat. The stench of beer lingered in the air along with musk and the slight hint of blood. The smell alone made me want to gag, but I couldn’t get away from it. "About time." My stepfather snapped as I made my way into the main room, where both men sat with glasses full of beer in their hands. "Don’t you know to f*****g come when I call?" I did know, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to. "I’m sorry." I responded, trying to look away from the strange look on my stepbrother’s face. Something about it was making me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t determine what it was. "Go get us more beer!" my stepfather boomed, throwing his empty bottle at me. Managing to dodge, I watched with wide eyes as it slammed against the wall behind me and burst into a million shards. "Are you crazy?" I asked, realizing that he was actually trying to hit me with it. "What did you say?" My stepfather snarled, jumping up from where he sat. "Say it again?" Biting back my reply, I began to back away from my stepfather as he quickly began to close the distance between us. "I gotta piss." Austin announced, completely ignoring what was going on. Getting up, he headed out of the room, leaving just my stepfather and me there. Quickly turning my attention forward, I found my back hitting the wall, trapping me entirely as my stepfather approached. "Please, I didn’t mean…" I stammered just as the man’s hand shot out and wrapped around my neck. "Who do you think you are to speak to me like that, you b***h?" He snarled, tightening his grip just enough to start causing discomfort. "I AM THE ALPHA OF THIS PACK!" "I… I…." I tried, but was unable to form proper words with my stepfather cutting off my airway. "You, you." My stepfather laughed, his eyes flashing with joy. "You’re just a useless b***h that woman left for me to take care of!" That woman… I couldn’t believe what I was hearing right now. Did my stepfather really address my mother as "that woman"? Way back when we escaped our real pack, my stepfather was the one that took us in and cared for us. From what I witnessed, he truly loved my mother from the bottom of his heart. That was why when all the abuse from my stepbrother and his packmates started, I never said a word about it. I didn’t want to ruin what they had. "Please…" I began trying to calm him down. I needed to get free, otherwise I was going to end up passing out. "Let…" The world around me was beginning to blur as black spots danced before my eyes. My lungs screamed in my chest, begging for air. It seemed that this man was actually going to kill me, and I was much too weak to stop him.