Zayne was pacing in his cage, feeling the tension and excitement clinging in the air. Kids were gathering around the training fields while a nervous chatter started. The young wolf sniffed, tasting the air before growling softly.
Teenagers gathering at the fields meant another training day and that meant that Zayne was in for a world of pain. The little wolf tried to remember the reason why he was stuffed in the cage but he didn't need to think much; it was drilled into his head each and every day of his miserable life.
First of all, his mother hadn't been allowed to breed; as the Alpha's cousin, her marriage had been arranged at birth, where she had been promised to some Alpha in a distant pack but instead, she had fallen for a Rogue and traded the freedom of her own pup to go and live with her mate.
A whimper slipped from Zayne's lips as one of the dominant males passed by, curling its lip in disgust. The pup quickly averted his eyes from the Beta, knowing that he was no match for the powerful wolf that towered over him in either form.
The Alpha was already walking down the stairs of the Pack House, eyes aimed at the pacing pup with murderous intent. Zayne flattened his ears and lowered to his stomach. Maybe he shouldn't have lunged for the meat that the Beta had been dangling in front of him this morning, scratching the man in the process.
Even if he had been starved for weeks.
It barely drew a drop of blood, but it had already resulted into a beating with bruises that were just beginning to heal. With each step that the Alpha took, Zayne dropped down and before the Alpha was even halfway, he was completely rolled on his back, his whole form shaking in fear as his tail curled against his stomach.
"Pathetic." The power of that voice rolled over the pup, making it whimper in fear as the man reached the cage and opened it. Zayne's instincts were screaming at him to run, to dodge the wrath of the pack's leader or even go rogue, anything but staying put.
A normal pack member would feel the wrath of the Alpha but would still be able to stand. Zayne felt as if the waves of power that rolled of the leader of the pack was crushing him down. His instincts were taking over, reducing the Omega to a shaking pile of miserable fur.
He didn't need for the Alpha to act on his anger; he felt it. For him, it felt as if a vice was placed around his head with the Alpha on the other end, squeezing it tighter and tighter, just from the disgust he felt being around the Omega.
His ears flew pack and a panicked yelp escaped him when the pup felt claws digging into his scruff as he was yanked out of the cage before he was carried back to the training field. The Beta walked one step behind his Alpha, already carrying the muzzle and chain.
The pup was roughly thrown against the metal pole and before it could blink, the muzzle was attached firmly on its head, preventing it to bite and harm any of its attackers. When the two men stepped back, Zayne was chained to the pole, preventing him from fleeing, biting or finding any escape.
As the Beta stepped up and started to tell the children to shift, Zayne's golden eyes nervously zipped from one young wolf to the other. Every single pup that shifted was bigger than him, more muscular and powerful.
And that was the second and most important reason why the pack hated him. If he would've been born a powerful Alpha or even Beta, he could've proved himself. But luck wasn't on his side; not only was Zayne destined to be the pack's only Omega, his wolf had decided to keep its puppy-like features, along with a stunted growth.
The pups that surrounded him were of the same age or even younger, ranging from ten year old down to his fellow teenagers. But in wolf form, Zayne's head barely reached the shoulders of the teen wolves and even the ten year olds had several inches more on them.
As soon as the Alpha had realized that the boy stopped growing when he was six, he had beaten Zayne to an inch of his life, tossed him in a cage and forbade the boy to ever shift back again.
Shifting was a necessity of a werewolf's life and it was nearly impossible to keep a werewolf from shifting back and forth between it's wilder and its human form. But every time Zayne slipped up, he had been brutally punished.
Now, over a decade later, the teen was outmatched and outweighed by pups half his age, all of them staring at him with looks of confusion, hesitance or attention as the Beta waved at the chained pup.
"Today's lesson is all about attack. If rogues attack the pack, you need to be ready to defend yourselves. You need to react instinctively, let your wolf fight for you while your human side can focus on the strategic aspects of the battle."
The Beta grinned maliciously at the pup, which shivered in fear and crawled backwards as far as his chain would allow him to. "I will call your name and you'll attack your target until I tell you to stop. That is an order!" He boomed as some of the younger kids protested.
When the first kid stepped forwards, a massive black wolf that had already reached adulthood, Zayne whimpered and tugged at his restraints, desperately wanting to run, to hide from his pack.
There was a time where Zayne would growl and attempt to defend himself. When he was younger, his wolf would hide in the back of his mind and let Zayne handle things. The boy would then logically follow the flight or fight principle.
That was in the past though; his wolf was now in full control and Zayne stopped to ask for control over their body. The fight had been replaced with fear until the boy's mind consisted of bare nerves linked directly to his Omega instincts.
Zayne had been taught through trial, error and a lot of beatings that resisting would only make things worse. The best thing he could do, was take his punishment.
And pray that afterwards, he wouldn't have to suffer the cruelty of this world anymore.