LESLEY'S POV
"So," my uncle said softly, poison dripping in his words, "You think you can attack my son and get away with it?"
My heart was racing, and my hands felt sweaty. I honestly felt sick.
I was so scared as if there was a rock weighing down on my stomach. Even my wolf cowered away in the back of my mind. Broken, like everything else related to me. I sometimes wished he would just kill me and end my suffering. But my punishment was my uncle's favorite entertainment.
I stood with my arms folded in front of me and avoided his gaze. I knew what was about to happen next.
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My punishment was over and also for the man next to me. He was a pack warrior that Alpha wanted to punish too. The man panted next to me, confused as hell.
"I'm sorry," he said in utter shock. Whoever my uncle brought to punish me said that a lot. Sometimes I believed them like the one in front of me.
"I know," I muttered, heading upstairs to the attic for a shower.
"Wait," he blurted, as he got up from the bed and walked toward me. I turned to him, watching his confused face. "Is this?" He asked, but trailed off.
"Is this what? Normal?" I scoffed, crossing my arms in front of me. "For me, yes, but if you behave in the future, I'm sure you won't get punished again."
"You think this is funny?" He asked, disgust and venom dripping from his voice. He towered over me like a dark, threatening power.
"Yes, I think this is hilarious," I sneered back, not afraid of the dark figure, whose face I would probably force myself to forget by tomorrow. "No, this is my punishment too, for breaking Trevor's nose."
"I'm sorry," he said again, backing off and sitting down on the bed, looking all confused and helpless. "I-I don't know what to think."
He looked at me like I could give him some answer or some sort of help.
"Then don't think," I told him like I told so many others before him. "I realized it helps in the long run."
I was ten when my parents died and my wolf was yet to appear. I moved into the pack-house attic with the other two Omegas. Both males were in their early twenties back then. They had been pack warriors and outright blamed my uncle for killing my brother, so my uncle turned them into Omegas.
From time to time, my uncle would call me down in the guest bedroom from the attic. Often late at night and when most people in the house were asleep.
I do not remember the first time so well. He told me to shut up after I had cried. I was called down from the attic and told to meet him in the guest bedroom. He sat on the bed so that he would be the first person I saw when I got through the door.
He would tell me to lock it. I did that. Then he told me to take off all my clothes. I did as I was told.
The first time I could barely walk was when I got back to the attic. I lay down, sobbing. One of the sleeping warriors snarled at me to shut up and I immediately closed my mouth, scared to enrage them. But to my surprise, the other one got up and came over to me. As he sat across from me, I saw his dark eyes in the sparse moonlight coming from the loft window.
"Hey, little one," he said with a soft smile and lay next to me. He reached out his hand and pulled a stray hair out of my face, which had stuck because of crying, and revealed my pink eye and swollen cheek. "Did he hurt you?"
"Yes," I nodded in a barely audible whisper. He sighed.
"Listen, if you want to survive, then don't let them know they got to you," he told me. "Never let them see they hurt you. They should never see you sad or crying. Never let them know they broke you." He tucked me in and held me close to his chest. The feeling of the warmth emitting from his body made me stop shivering for a while.
"That's how you'll survive as an Omega."
That was when something snapped inside me. My heart hurt so badly and I felt like everything good had left my body and I would never be happy again. Perhaps in a way that was true. The only way I would survive that feeling was to pretend it was not there.
Later, I came to know that the Omega's name was Dean and, for a short while, we were friends. He took care of me. As time passed, we became more than friends. Dean was like a brother to me. When I was being punished, he would sneak food and water to me. He took the blame for my faults. He was the second son of our old Beta. Before they stripped him of his rank; he had been one of the strongest warriors in the Highland Pack. But he never complained about being an Omega.
The best he did for me was to teach me self-defense out of my uncle's knowledge. That was why I stood a chance against a big bully like Trevor. Everything I knew about kicking ass was taught to me by Dean. I loved him for it!
That was until two years ago.
The day I turned 14 and my wolf surfaced, everything changed. I could shift to my wolf form and male-wolf scent could also be marked on me. If my uncle went along and did what he was doing to me, it would be as good as a written confession that he was breaking the law, and the result would be that he could be forced to step down as Alpha.
I was honestly looking forward to that day. There were only two things that I thought might happen. First, he would stop what he was doing and leave me alone, or he would continue and resign as Alpha, leaving us at the mercy of our neighboring packs.
But unfortunately, my uncle had done advanced planning.
I was called into the guest bedroom once again. To my surprise, I saw Dean sitting on the bed. Judging from the expression in his eyes, he was just as surprised as I was.
"You're a big girl now, sweetheart," my uncle said, earning both of our attention.
He was sitting in the room's corner; his hands resting on the armrest of the chair and legs casually crossed.
"No," I heard Dean mutter behind me, while he slowly got up from the bed. He shook his head, backing away from us. His face was pale and panic engulfed him. Dean had figured it out before I did.
"Mate her!" My uncle used his Alpha voice as he commanded Dean to do what he wanted.
The next thing I knew, Dean grabbed my arm with shaking hands and pulled me close to him. In only a matter of seconds, he ripped my clothes off and threw me on the bed.
I screamed and tried to pull away. I quickly jumped up and was ready to fight back. To my surprise and relief, Dean stopped. He looked like he was fighting to gain control over his own will. But an Omega could not resist an Alpha's command.
"Think of her," my uncle continued in the same deep, animalistic voice, "as your mate!"
The second he said that Dean's face turned completely distorted. Blue veins popped out on his temples, with pinpricks of sweat along his hairline. I knew he was fighting with himself, but could not.
When he realized what had happened, he wailed, and he rushed out of the room like he was going to die.
"Fuck! My fucking stupid little Omegas," my uncle said and got up, showing no emotion on his face.
"Clean yourself and get back to the attic," he said as he passed by me like I was nothing but a painting on the wall. Just before he left the room, he turned to me with a grim smile, "And remember, this is our little secret!"
When I reached upstairs, Dean was gone. After a few days, I came to know that he had run away and had become a rogue. They said he went crazy, running into the woods like a stray dog with his limbs dangling in the wind. When I heard, I locked myself in the janitor's closet at school and cried my heart out. I knew what he had done for me. He was my true, and only best friend. After he left, I was utterly and truly alone.
With Dean gone, my uncle started bringing rogues, warriors, and whoever crossed his path straight to the guest bedroom. I just lay there and waited. Waited for the torture to finish. From the corner of my eye, I could see my uncle helping himself. I closed my eyes. I did not want to see that picture.
Every time he left the guest bedroom, once he was done, he instructed everyone not to tell anyone.
I wanted to blame so many people for my suffering, but it would not change what had happened. All I could do was to keep moving forward and keep smiling. Never let them know they got to me. I had to wait for my mate, then me and my wolf would be strong enough for me to take revenge on my uncle, take the pack back and also bring Dean back.