"I Understand What He is Doing"
Selena was staring out the window as she couldn't sleep.
It had been four days since Xavier had announced her punishment. Even though Selena had thought that she will do whatever she can to convince Xavier of her innocence, she wasn't ready for all that she had to face.
Demoting a wolf to the rank of an omega was a very serious and rare punishment. She knew about the punishment, but she didn't know what kinds of incidents follow that. Betrayal is on the highest level of offence for the wolves. But she thought these people were her family, she hadn't expected it to be this bad.
The past four days had been hard and Selena was still getting used to it. She was used to waking up early as it was her habit when she was being trained to be an alpha. Never did she feel too lethargic to wake up. But now it was pure torture, and she didn't know how long she'll be able to take it.
However, she didn't wanna give Stacy another chance to abuse her again. So getting up and washing her face, she headed to the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone.
On the night that she received her 'punishment', Selena had gone on a run to let her wolf out. Izzy however, didn't talk to her at all. She was furious. Yes, she loved her mate already, but she loved her human more. As a wolf, she was more prone to not wanting to lose her mate and the family she had made. But it also hurt her pride that Xavier believed those allegations; and above all these, Izzy was more protective over her human than anything else/ it made her see red that her human trying to prove when she didn't need to. Selena however, just wanted her family back.
When they returned that night, Stacy was waiting for her on the main gate of the packhouse with a smirk plastered on her face.
"Xavier," she paused, to rub it in her face that she can call him Xavier whereas Selena has to stick to 'alpha', "asked me to show you to your new room."
Seeing her, for the first time that night, Selena felt angry. That smirk on her face made it very clear that this girl definitely had something to do with the whole incident. From the moment Selena had seen her, she knew Stacy had a thing for Xavier. However, Xavier didn't pay much attention to it; for him, Stacy was always just one of his close friends and this was just a phase which she would get over once she found her mate.
Selena nodded and Stacy walked in front of her as she followed. She was lead to a room on the far end on the ground floor, away from the rooms of all the warriors. Stacy opened the door and walked in.
"This is your room," she said, raising her arms up, "On Xavier's order I have moved a few of your clothes here." Selena went to the cupboard and opened it, there were only a few sets of clothes here, four, to be more precise. When Selena turned to look at Stacy again, she had that cruel grin on her face, "C'mon, girl. As an omega, you don't need so many clothes anymore. These are enough. I hope you don't have a problem. I took the rest of your clothes"
Selena hadn't said anything and had just nodded her head. Stacy smiled sweetly at her, "You know Selena, as a demoted omega, you are inferior to all of us now," she stood in front of her suddenly and before Selena could blink, a hard slap sounded in the room as she felt the sting in her cheek. Selena looked at Stacy with wide eyes as her fury was rising now, "Respond with words when someone talks to you."
Stacy had left the room leaving Selena struggling to hold her fury under control.
As a demoted omega, she had to now serve the pack with everything she had and she will only get a chance at a normal life again if the alpha thinks she has served enough of her punishment. The very next morning, Ryan had given her a list of jobs that she had to do now.
It was not a list per se. All it said was, 'Help everyone you can. I will talk to Xavier,' that had made her smile, at least she still had her best friend.
Three days later, nothing had changed. Helping was just the cover. Stacy and her few friends had made sure that everyone knew what Selena was accused of. Most of them couldn't believe her, and they didn't want to punish her in any way, as they knew she was the mate of their alpha, their Luna, and they didn't want to risk facing the wrath of their alpha. The few others were angry, they felt betrayed. The first group of people didn't particularly make her life harder. But the second group, under the leadership of Stacy, made sure to make her life a living hell. Selena was made to do all the work all by herself and with little help from others.
Since that first morning, she hadn't heard anything from Ryan. Rumours however stated that the alpha spent most of his time outside the pack-house. People thought he was trying to get over the betrayal of his mate, courtesy of Stacy. Ryan was thus left with the hard work of doing all the pack related work. Selena felt Izzy's anger rising once again.
'Give him a chance, Izzy. He is just very angry.'
'I am angry as well. Hell, I'm furious. He should have listened to us at least once.' Izzy vanished saying this. Selena sighed.
By the time the door to the dining room and kitchen was opened by the people in the pack-house, breakfast was done.
Selena was waiting by the counter in case anyone needed anything. However, no one spoke to her. In fact, everyone completely ignored her, except for Stacy, who had made it the mission of her life to rub it in her face that she was now a demoted omega.
"Good morning, Stacy," Selena said, knowing she has to greet as Stacy is right now superior in rank to her.
"Not so good for you, dear omega?" Stacy smiled sweetly and with that, she stepped on her foot with her stilettoes.
Selena whimpered but the sudden pain but became quiet immediately. She will not appear to be weak in front of her. Stacy had a smug look on her face as she started walking towards the tables.
Ryan, who was behind Stacy, looked at Selena sympathetically before quickly covering it up. Selena growled mentally as the look of sympathy was something she hated the most.
'You and me both,' Izzy growled.
She could see Ryan had kept his food on the table where his mate was and then went towards Stacy. She could only wonder what he was talking to her about. Ileana had met eyes with Selena more than once but didn't know what to say to her. She was just as confused as to everything that was happening.
Selena had eaten a little bit before everyone came. As soon as everyone sat to eat, Selena left the room to see what else she had to do. The packhouse was huge and one of her duties was to clean the packhouse. After she had cleaned the house and helped everyone else with everything as much as she could, she went back to the kitchen. Time to wash the dishes and make lunch.
The dining, as she had assumed was devoid of people except for Stacy who sat there with all of her followers talking and giggling like a teenager. The sight made Selena's blood boil. God, how she hated her...
Without uttering a single word, she went straight to the sink to wash the dishes and they started speaking louder making sure I heard them.
"I'm gonna go to Xavier tonight. The coast is clear right now. No more bitches to stop me from taking what is mine." She said cheerfully and extra loudly.
'Let's. Will. Rip. Off. Her. Head. And. Use. Her. Wolf. Skin. As. A. Rug. In. Our. Room,' Selena growled mentally.
'With pleasure.' Izzy sneered.
One thing Selena didn't like about her wolf was she can get angered very easily. She loved her wolf with everything. But she also knew that Izzy didn't ever get angry without a good enough reason. She tried her best to keep her anger down for now. Stacy didn't need to know the effect she had on Selena.
"I'm sure the alpha's gonna love you. I mean who doesn't? You're just what every guy desires," one of the girls there said excitedly. Selena's blood was boiling now.
'Calm down, trust our mate, he won't sleep with her.' Izzy said. She was furious with these people, but she still had faith that Xavier wouldn't disrespect her like that.
'And what makes you so sure?' Selena asked grumbling.
'He's our mate, Sel; he is just angry, not stupid.' Selena hoped so.
Selena's conversation with her best friend was rudely interrupted when Stacy decided that it would be cool to pour her orange juice over the dishes Selena had just washed. This time, she growled loudly, there's only so much a wolf with alpha blood can tolerate.
"Tsk, I'm sorry I dropped that. I didn't mean to. But you shouldn't growl at me, Selena. Respect each and every pack member remember?"
"Yes Stacy, I'm sorry for growling at you," she said, her head bowed in front of Stacy as her wolf growled.
"Of course you are." she snickered and left the room with her friends. It didn't take long for her to cook lunch after that.
Selena had retired to her room only for a while, she didn't even get lunch, she wasn't hungry. She knew she will have to go back to work again soon, but she was so tired. A few thoughts however kept her up by assaulting her mind.
However, she didn't manage to get any rest. No matter how many times she tried to sleep, she would keep seeing Xavier's face. That still had her trying though. The final straw, however, was when she saw her mom.
She was just falling asleep, when she heard her mother's voice say, "Fight, my girl."
It was faint, but Selena will recognize her mother's voice anywhere. She sat up breathing heavily. She knew she couldn't get any sleep with these thoughts. Giving up on sleep, she went to make dinner.
Once again, Selena stood by the counter as all the warriors sat to eat. After everyone was sitting, she went to make her own plate. However, she was stopped, once again, by Stacy. The warrior ranked wolf was taking full advantage of her alpha being not present, for Selena knew she wouldn't have gone this far if Xavier was here. Since she was good friends with Xavier, she wasn't as scared of the beta as the other members were too.
"I thought you were asked to cook food for us. Did the alpha or beta state anything about your eating? Yet here you are breaking the rules and taking food for yourself."
"You weren't there when they told me anything. Eavesdropping were you?" Selena asked with a smirk. Maybe it was her mother's voice that gave her this sudden boost of energy.
Stacy hadn't expected her to speak back and looked stunned for a second before recovering.
The slap came suddenly.
Selena didn't even know why she was caught off-guard. Stacy had proven time and again how much she loved to hit her.
"Respect me, bitch. You're no Alpha or Luna now; just a lowlife omega." She slapped her hand which was holding the plate making her drop the plate with its contents.
"Clean that shit up and get out of here, bitch." Selena nodded as she went on smugly to her seat. She sighed before going towards the sink.
Taking a wet cloth, Selena walked to the place where the food had spilt. For only a second, her eyes diverted from where she was going and met Ryan's. The Beta looked pained, and Ileana beside him looked ready to kill Stacy. That had almost made her smile, and maybe she would have too if she hadn't tripped on the leg of one of Stacy's followers.
Selena had only a second to grasp what was happening before she fell on the broke prices of the plate.
A sound of a chair scraping the floor was heard and Selena didn't need to be a genius to know that it was Ileana and Ryan. They didn't come forward though. Ryan stood still, his face blank, and he held his mate back. As beta and beta female, if they disobeyed their alpha, the pack wouldn't respect the alpha too.
Selena winced while pulling the glass pieces out of her hand but she didn't make a single sound. These were animals. Showing hurt would only be feeding them more. Managing a strong face, she pulled out little pieces of glass from her hands and legs. She could feel one of them on her stomach but the others couldn't see it as her shirt had ridden up when she fell. Pulling it out will only mean more bleeding and a messy kitchen floor. She let it be for then. She didn't waste a second more. Hurriedly she just cleaned the mess and walked into her room.
Selena went straight to the shower and turned it on. Standing under the warm water, she finally let the tears out. The wounds burnt under the warm water, but her emotional wounds were much larger than these physical ones. As a werewolf alpha, it will take her at the most twenty minutes for these wounds to heal. The wound in her stomach was the deepest. She knew it would scar, but hopefully, it won't be a permanent scar.
After her shower, she patched up her wound and sat fully clothed in her room. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on it. The wounds were healing slower as she hadn't eaten anything since the morning.
Selena took deep breathes trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. This seemed worse than how the hunters treated her. They were enemies, it was expected from them, coming from the people she considered family here, it hurt more than I could even imagine.
Half an hour later, Selena went back to the kitchen to clean up the dishes, which she knew everybody would leave for her, courtesy of Stacy. Selena worked rapidly as she just wanted it to be over. Finishing it up, she drank a glass of water and was just going to leave when the door opened the door and Ileana entered.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I know you didn't do it. Please don't hate him. I don't know what he is thinking. He...." Ileana was rambling nervously. She didn't want her brother to be without his mate.
"If I hated him, I wouldn't have been here facing his punishment," Ileana sighed on hearing Selena, "And you might not understand, I hate to say it, but as a wolf trained to be an alpha, I understand what he is doing." Ileana looked confused. Selena continued, "As an alpha, he has to put his pack first, even before his mate."
"That does not justify what he is doing," Ileana said angrily.
Selena smiled, "I know. I wish he would have at least heard what I had to say."
Ileana's face softened, "My brother feels betrayed Selena. He cannot feel your thoughts; the circumstances are completely against you. He feels like if he will give you the benefit of doubt, he will be blinded by the mate bond."
Selena sighed. She hated it, but it made sense. She stayed quiet.
"I'll talk to him. I don't even know what he is doing."
"What do you mean?"
"He leaves early every morning and comes back late at night. He spends the whole day out and we didn't talk to him for days now. The last Ryan saw him was on that night..." Selena nodded, she didn't know what to say, "Hopefully dad will be able to knock some sense into him." Ileana grumbled.
"When is he coming back?" Selena asked.
"We don't know for sure. Ryan didn't tell him the whole thing as he didn't want them to rush home carelessly. They will be back mostly within two more weeks I think."
Selena nodded. Ileana smiled sadly and pulled her in for a hug. Selena held back the whimper when she pressed hard against her wounded stomach and hugged her back. She was grateful for this little conversation that they had.
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Chapter 4 ends here. I hope you guys like it!
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