Saved By The Enemy?

Chapter 2 - Mate

CHAPTER 2 - MATE

Adelphia went back to the kitchen and started preparing the food for the rest of the pack. At eight the elders left the dining hall and the others came down. Adelphia quickly cleared the table and set it again without meeting anyone’s eyes. No one talked to her and she didn’t say anything either. As far as the pack was concerned she didn’t exist. That was fine with her. It meant that her beatings had been greatly reduced. They would still beat her when they needed to take out their anger on someone or when they were bored but she didn’t suffer as greatly as she did in the past. Though they were always careful not to break her bones as they didn’t want her missing a day of work nor did they want the pack doctor to waste his time on her. The fact that she learned to not cry out in pain anymore also abated the beatings. When she stopped making noise at the pack’s cruel mistreatment of her, their fascination towards her ebbed. It’s been a long time since she said anything, a long time since she made any noise whatsoever. It made her wonder what would happen if she tried to talk.

 The pack took their seats and Adelphia served them their food being careful not to spill any. She served the soon to be alpha first. Waller. He was her cruellest tormentor. He didn’t bother with simply hitting her instead he liked using his silver pocket knife on her. He was the reason for the scars on her body. Though he was careful too. Never cutting deep enough for her to bleed to death, never allowing her that final escape from her hell.  The seat beside Waller was empty. There was no one next in line for the beta position. By all rights it should be hers. She was the only member of the pack with beta blood but that position was taken away from her also. She served the rest of the pack and was on her way out of the hall when Waller spoke.

 “Adelphia your birthday is the day after tomorrow, right?”

He didn’t wait for her to reply. Not that she would have. She knew that he knew perfectly well when her birthday was. He kept careful track of it every year following her sixth birthday.

 “Wait for me in my room at 4 that day. I’ll give you your present.”

Everyone laughed they knew well what Waller would be giving her. She knew it too. She turned back to face him keeping her eyes fixated to the ground and gave a small nod in acknowledgment of his order. She then bowed and hurriedly left the room before anyone could decide that they wanted to give her, her birthday beating early. She started cleaning the kitchen, washing the dishes in scalding hot soapy water as the other finished their meal and left for school. She wasn’t allowed to go to school. She had work to do here. The school was run by the alpha and the pack was far away from human civilisation so no human came to check on why she wasn’t attending. Though secretly she was glad that for these hours while everyone was away at school or work and she was left on her own. She did her work quietly and efficiently eating the cold leftovers the others didn’t eat. It wasn’t much. Everyone knew that what they didn’t eat would be given to her so they ate as much as they could and she wasn't allowed to cook more for herself. The rest of the day and the next went by in the usual way until Wednesday.

            Her birthday. The most dreaded day of the year. Everyone made sure to beat her at least once on this day. It was not something to celebrate as everyone hated her existence. This time it would be worse than ever. It will be her first shift and that in itself was painful even with someone helping you. She knew that no one would be there to help her through it. I’ll just have to make it on my own and once I shift I can leave. She kept this thought in her head all through the day as she worked and silently took the beatings of her pack members till it was time for her to go to Waller’s room and wait for him. She stood in the middle of the room careful not to touch anything as it would make him mad and her torture worse. Every year on her birthday Waller would spend hours carving up her skin. When she was young she screamed and tried to fight against him but the adults helped him hold her down. In the beginning he could only do it for a few minutes as the cuts he made were far too deep and to go on any longer would have killed her. That was something they didn’t want.

 Adelphia stood rooted to the spot as she waited for Waller. Afraid of the pain she knew was coming. The fact that she had to go through this every year didn’t lessen the pain. She learned to handle it, to control herself, to prevent herself from screaming and crying. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of hearing her pain. Though she couldn’t fight against them physically as she received no training and had little strength due to malnutrition, she wasn’t weak. The fact that she hadn’t killed herself was proof of that; no weak person can go through what she has been through and still want to live. The others didn’t think like that. They thought that she gave up on fighting against them. That she kept her head down to show them respect in hope of lessening her beatings. They didn’t know the truth. She kept her head down so that they wouldn’t see the burning hatred in her eyes, so that they wouldn’t notice that they hadn’t broken her. She still held hope deep inside her heart that she could escape. The moment she shifted she had to run.

She had everything carefully planned this time. She knew they would leave her alone for her first shift as that would cause her more pain. At that moment, while they were being careful to avoid her she will make a run for it. This was her only chance. After this if they caught her they’d never let her out of their sight.

The door opened and Waller came in. Bringing with him a strange sweet smell that she hadn’t smelled before. The smell attracted  her wolf to the surface. Is it time for my shift? But that shouldn’t be. It’s too early and it’s supposed to hurt. So what is this? She wondered at the strange sensations going through her telling her to go closer to him. It took all she had to resist the urge.

“Mate,” he whispered the word so low that would she not have been a werewolf she would not have been able to hear it. That one word prompted Adelphia to raise her head and look Waller in the eye for the first time in ten years. His bright blue eyes showed nothing but hatred for her and she knew what he was going to say before he even uttered the words.

 “I Waller Kellner reject you, Adelphia Carder as mate.”

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