Forced to Become

Ch 14 gift

I listened to another round of horrible noises, once again beginning with small cries and groans. My stomach was so consistently upset, I could barely eat. It was mostly real food in our bowls these days. I forced myself to swallow down what I had originally craved, so no one missed a meal. I no longer cared about the food like I once did. Even though I was grateful it was no longer dog food, we still had to eat like dogs.

I lost track of time, unsure if this round of screams lasted four or five days. When the boy came in after the screams stopped, he was followed by three small wolves. None of them looked happy. All of them had their heads hanging low and their tails tucked in some.

"Aren't they beautiful?" the boy asked. He directed the wolves to walk in a circle around each of us. To me, they seemed embarrassed and ashamed. "Do you see? They're fine. They survived our gift. They get to be guards now. Soon you all will be guards."

Our lord walked over to me, petting my head for a bit before tilting my head up to look at him. "See, Good one? It's going to be ok." Our boy lord glanced briefly toward the door before lowering his voice. "My home, my real home, has lots of room and was great! You saw it when you arrived. Alpha won't let me stay there, but I'm the royal alpha, not him. When I grow up, I'm going back to my home and you all are coming with me. I promised you a good home here, and it will be, we just have to be patient, ok?"

I gave him a nod even as desperation grew in me. When he grew up! He was around nine years old now. Were we supposed to wait ten frigging years? I felt the silent tears fall. At every turn, I was fed despair, despite the fact the boy thought he was bringing good news.

"Bad one, you're supposed to be next. Do you promise to be good?"

Promise, I thought desperately. If he didn't, that would bump me up to next in line, and I wasn't ready. I didn't think I'd ever be ready!

"I don't want to be a werewolf," the bad one said slowly and distinctly. "I don't want what you're offering. I don't want to turn into a wolf."

The boy hurried over, kneeling next to the bad one. I wondered if the bad one would fight again. He merely had his collar; his chains had never been replaced after Alpha's beating.

"You don't know what you're saying! It's a gift, a great honor." The boy lowered his voice to a whisper, but I still heard him. "Alpha won't like what you're saying. You have to promise to be good! I told him you would! Please, promise to be good!"

I could hear the desperation in our young lord as he tried to convince the bad one. Our lord kept throwing glances toward the open door. The three wolves were cowered down on the far side of me. I was suddenly afraid for all of us if the bad one kept refusing.

The bad one let the boy go on for awhile, talking about how the pain didn't last, how beautiful the bad one would be once it was done. The bad one waited until Alpha stood in the doorway.

"I do not want to be a wolf!" he said, loud and clear.

"So much for the bad one becoming good," Alpha sneered.

"He isn't being bad," our lord said. "He's holding position and not fighting. He's being good. He's afraid of the initial pain. That's all, isn't it bad one? But it will be ok. It's just for a little while, then..."

"You don't get it," the bad one said clearly. "I do not want to be a wolf. You stupid nit! I don't care that it's an honor to you, I don't even really care that it's going to hurt. I DO NOT WANT TO BE A WOLF! I just don't. I don't want to walk on four legs. I don't want..."

That's as far as the bad one got. Alpha strode across the room. "It isn't about what you want," Alpha growled. The bad one was in Alpha's hands again, choking, his feet inches from the floor. "You will be bitten, and after the change, you will be an omega. You will serve those who have accepted this honor."

Alpha began beating the bad one then, and our young lord didn't even try to stop him. The bad one cried out repeatedly as the blows landed on his body. Our boy lord stood in the middle of the room, silently crying as Alpha knocked the bad one around the room. Alpha's diatribe didn't stop as he knocked the bad one to the floor then kicked him again and again before pulling him up, just to hit him down once more.

"You dare refuse our lord's offer?"Alpha yelled over the bad one's cries of pain. "You turn your back on our lord? How dare you? You will cower before every guard for the rest of your days. You will forever be known as the bad one, just so you remember what caused you to be an omega. You want? I'll give you what you want!You want more of this," Alpha ranted over the screams of the bad one as he punched the bad one down again.

"It's enough Alpha," our lord said. He repeated himself louder. "Alpha! It's enough. He's been punished enough. Alpha..."

"Enough?" Alpha turned on our boy lord, snarling. "If you would have disciplined him properly in the beginning he wouldn't be a bad one now. It is your fault that he is like this. Yours! Now I have to discipline him enough to make up for your lapse. I'll teach you how to do it right!"

The beating went on as a punishment and object lesson for our young lord. Our boy lord didn't interrupt again. By the time Alpha was done, the bad one was an unconscious bloody mess in the middle of the room.