Chasing the rejected Luna

02: Pain

Sophia

Dianne had always hated me for reasons I could not fathom. Not only did she hate me, she abused me and beat me at any slightest opportunity. Looking across from her, I knew she wanted the perfect opportunity to beat me up again.

I took a step back from her and she followed me.

"Your eyes are red. Have you been crying? Did the freak think herself to be important because she was mated to the future Alpha?" She laughed like a maniac and I looked to the ground, avoiding her gaze. She was a bitch. A real one and she acts everything like it, not bothering to hide her disgusting nature.

"Have you suddenly gone deaf?" She screeched and held my shirt, dragging me to her. Her Perfume irritated my nose and I looked everywhere but her.

"I wasn't crying. And I had never thought myself to be important" I whispered and glared at the floor. Hard.

"Good. You are trash and should stay where you belong," she said to me and released my dress with a hiss.

I stumbled on my feet and made to pass by her and she deliberately moved to my way and I bumped into her. A slap landed on my face.

My lips trembled from the impact of the slap but I didn't utter any word of protest or cry.

"Why don't you cry bitch?!" She hit me again and I gritted my teeth. She always wanted to see me cry but no matter how hard she hits me, I never cried.

I guessed she was pained she wasn't in the room where I was being rejected by Alexander. It pained her not to see me cry. My eyes were puffy from the tears I shed from his rejection. But never again. These people were heartless. The little love I had for Alexander disappeared the moment he rejected me.

"No matter how much you try to hide your tears, I know you are pained you were rejected. You must be delusional to think you would be made our Luna," she spat and kicked my knee which made to fall on my face. Dianne was evil. So evil I doubted if she was the real daughter of her mother. I

wished she could fall ill and experience so much pain so she'll know how it feels to be in so much pain.

"I never thought I would be your Luna. You would never be my Luna either," I said through gritted teeth, while I endured the pain she was inflicting all over my body from her kicks. Suddenly she stopped and gasped.

"What did you just say? Why don't we show all the pack members how disrespectful you are to your new Luna." She grabbed my hair and pain erupted from my scalp and I yelped at it. I never knew I said the last part out. It was supposed to stay with me - in my head. But my lips betrayed me.

She dragged me by my hair to the middle of the pack's field where some warriors were training. I tried to free her hands from my head but she was too strong coupled with the grip she had on me.

My body scraped the rough ground, leaving some scratches on my skin.

"Hello everyone. Guess what this trash did. She challenged me to a fight," Dianne said and everyone gasped including me. I knew Dianne had always been out for my blood but not to this extent.

"I didn't do that. I would never do that," I tried to tell everyone but my voice only came out pitifully weak.

Fear gripped my bones. I was scared of what she would do to me if she shifted to her wolf. I would die for real this time.

"What's this noise about?" Alexander came out from the crowd and stood behind Dianne before resting his hand on her waist. It was too painful to watch them as I turned my face away from them.

"Baby, Sophia challenged me to a fight," she whined to him and hid her face in his chest.

From the floor where I was seated, my hands fisted on the grass from the pain in my chest. The image of them together hurt so much that it felt like I was inhaling lead instead of oxygen.

Alexander turned to me with a cold gaze. The place quietened down, everyone watching what he would say. It was a known fact around the pack that Dianne was Alexander's girlfriend. They were always joined by the hip. Or rather, Dianne was always glued to Alexander's hip, marking a territory that wasn't hers. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

"Challenging a pack member who is higher in status than you is considered disrespectful. And so, you shall be taken to the dungeon and whipped." He said, his eyes never leaving mine.

"What? I didn't challenge her. She's not telling the truth. Dianne, please tell everyone the truth."

"Are you calling me a liar?" She inquired in a fake solemn voice. "Alexander, can't you see? Not only did she challenge me, but she's also calling me a liar."

"No, please I don't mean to say you are a liar," I said frantically. I hated going to the dungeon. I didn't heal like a normal werewolf because I don't have a wolf. The process of healing would be extremely painful and slow. It is faster than that of a human.

"Then, what do you mean?" Alexander asked.

"I…I…" I was tongue-tied. I stared at them from the ground - the perfect couple everyone worshipped. Nothing I said or do will make them change their mind. So I accepted it. I shut my mouth as tears blurred my vision.

I didn't look up to know a satisfied smirk would be dancing on Dianne's face. She had gotten what she wanted again. Dianne 100. Sophia 0.

"She can't even defend herself because she knows she's lying," Dianne said, her hand placed on Alexander's chest.

"Sophia, why did you challenge Dianne, knowing fully well she's my girlfriend and future Luna of this pack?" Alexander asked. And a low murmur broke out.

I looked up just in time to see a smirk on Dianne's face. This has been what she had always wanted - to be Luna of the pack.

"I didn't challenge her," I muttered to myself.

"Sophia," Alexander warned, a low growl erupting from him. A shiver of pleasure ran down my spine involuntary as my name rolled off his tongue.

The mate bond was still there as I haven't accepted his rejection yet. I don't know what I was waiting for. As much as I tried to deny it, a small part of me still wanted him to come back to his senses, to tell me it was all a joke.

"I'm sorry Dianne," I said, my chest constricting painfully from the shame and humiliation.

"I can't hear you. Louder," she said and I could detect the joy that seeped from her words. Bitch.

"I'm sorry Dianne that I challenged you to a fight," I said again, louder like she had asked. Even if I was lying to save my ass, I knew I would still be punished. A lone tear of indignation ran down my cheeks.

I quickly looked to the ground to avoid it from being seen by anyone. Dianne must have seen it as I heard a snicker from her.

"Dianne, she's apologized," Alexander said.

"Fine, you're forgiven. Only because of my baby here," Dianne said and I could imagine her saying it with a roll of her eyes.

As much as I tried to console myself, the day was as depressing as the rest of my life here in this pack. I might as well leave and never return.

"Guards. Take her to the dungeon and whip her fifty for challenging her superior," Alexander's voice boomed without a hint of emotion.

Two guards came in and dragged me like a rag doll to the dungeon I was all too familiar with. I was thrown on the dirt floor. The only pretty dress I had was ripped from my shoulders, exposing my bare back.

A guard threw me to the metal table which was where I was usually tied to be whipped. I didn't struggle as I found it to be quite pointless.

The guards and the rest of the pack members derived joy from seeing me in pain, in grief. I let them bind me to the metal table without a struggle.

It was cold against my skin. I bit my dress to muffle the scream I knew would eventually come from me. Across my back were different whip marks from different whips. Whenever I made the slightest mistake, I was brought here to be whipped.

The Alpha treated me like I didn't exist and his son did the same until today when I saw his eyes blaze at me for the first time since I was fifteen when I was wrongly accused of killing his best friend; the Beta's son. Dianne's half-brother.

I heard the guard take up the whip. No matter no much I was whipped, I never got used to the pain. Each time brought a different kind of pain and now wasn't different as the whip came down on my bare back and a scream tore through my lungs. I was whipped until I could no longer scream and I passed out from the pain.