Chapter 2: A Brutal Night of Survival

(Pov: Lina)

It has been four weeks since Albert's unwanted visit, and two days ago I was finally able to return to my home.

My wounds are almost healed, except for the one on my leg, which still looks horrible. Unfortunately, the bone has broken in three different places. After getting used to my new routine of medication and ample rest due to my leg, I could finally return to the gym.

The streets leading to my destination are empty, and I'm grateful for that. This way, no one can mock me further, adding to my already notorious reputation as a fake, now coupled with a limp.

I arrive at the gym a little late, as I have to adopt a slower walking pace. As I enter the hallway that leads to my room, I spot Lukky, my trainer with a medium, round butt, who greets me with a wide smile.

"Good to see you, Lina," the trainer greets me. "I missed you a lot."

"Thank you, trainer," I respond with a friendly smile. "Did I miss much during my time away?"

"Yes, but with the brilliant academist you are, you'll catch up soon," he says. Placing his right arm around my shoulders. Together, we walk towards the room. "Lina, I know no one will catch you up on the topics you missed. So if you can and want to, stay here at the gym after classes, and I'll cover the missed subjects for you."

"Thank you so much, trainer," I remove his arm from my shoulders and give him a tight hug as a sign of gratitude. "What would I do without you?"

"An academist with no future," I punch his shoulder. "Ouch! Did I say something wrong?"

I don't respond and give him another one of my friendly and grateful smiles. After opening the door to the room, I enter, and everyone present looks me up and down, whispering about me.

"What a pity she's back." "She should have died in that forest." "No one would have missed her anyway." "We were better off without this fake's presence," among other phrases I hear as I walk to my seat in the room.

"Silence!" the trainer shouts, and everyone falls silent. "I don't want anyone here talking about Lina. Is that clear?"

"Yes!" they respond.

The class begins, and I don't pay attention. My mind is occupied with the day I ran away into the dark forest. What happened? Why didn't I die? These are the questions that haunt me every day since Beta Albert's visit.

The break starts, and I'm the last one to leave the room.

"Have a good break, Lina!" the trainer wishes me.

"Thank you, and the same to you!" I leave the room.

At this very moment, I find myself in the library. I'm studying an old book about alphas, betas, and omegas to find out what's in me or, rather, what's missing. Why haven't I transformed yet? What's wrong with me? Why do people hate me so much? Could I be paying for something I did in the past but can't remember?

Distracted, while looking at the book, I am surprised by someone talking.

"Hello, weirdo," Melanie taunts. "What a shame! You're still alive."

Melanie is the alpha's eldest daughter, whom I beat up during training. She's even worse than the beta of the supreme. Her high-pitched voice is irritating, and ever since I arrived here. She and her clique, who like to be called "blue bloods," have been harassing me. Now, tell me the reason. Well, I have no idea either. All I know is that I'm bullied because I'm already sixteen and haven't had my first transformation yet. The norm is to have the first transformation at twelve and find your mate at sixteen. But I don't that's the real reason for all this persecution, as it started when I was ten years old.

"Come on, fake omega, where's all that courage you had during training?" Dayla, Melanie's cousin, slaps my head. "We want to see it now."

I don't respond. I do as always-I ignore them.

During the wrestling training class, I don't know where I got so much courage and strength. I defeated a she-wolf who will soon become the new alpha of the pack. At least once, I made her feel pain and humiliation, like she does to me every single day.

"Since you don't want to cooperate with agent, we're going to have to teach you a lesson about not messing with people above your level, omega," declares Logan, Melanie's lackey and also her partner.

Once again, I ignore them, and then a strong blow to the head and black out.

When I wake up, I hear nothing. It's complete silence, not even the sound of my own breathing, which is so calm that it makes no noise. I try to move, but I can't. I realize that I'm tied to a chair with ropes around my arms, torso, and legs. I try to scream for help, but I can't because there's tape covering my mouth.

I'm not frightened, but I don't like feeling trapped. I don't like being confined in locked places because I suffer from claustrophobia. And now, being tied up, with my mouth taped shut, and in a locked place, I panic. My throat burns from the sobs held within. My vision blurs from the tears flooding my eyes, and my heart beats faster than a samba drum.

A movie of my entire happy, suffering, humiliated, excluded, persecuted and outraged life plays through my mind. And I think that this will be the end of me.

Yes! It must be true. I'm a fake omega. I must not be a real wolf. They must have switched me at birth, and that's why I ended up in the wrong place.

I hear the sound of an old door opening. Melanie, Dayla, Logan, David and Leandra appear, all with sinister smiles on their faces. My fear intensifies. What will they do to me? Will they finally get rid of the fake omega, as they've always said they would?

Lost in my thoughts, I can only feel the tape being ripped from my mouth. I don't scream, though, yet when Logan's fist collide against my mouth, I let out a loud, very loud, groan of pain. My mouth bleeds and anger grows inside me.

"This is so you never dare to raise your head in the presence of my mate again, you filthy fake omega," he spits in my face. "You disgust me."

The ropes being removed, and I'm thrown to the ground, hitting my head and opening a small cut on my forehead. I taste more and more blood in my mouth. Now I'm being beaten by everyone in the pack, except for Melanie.

Punches to my head, kicks to my ribs, stomps on my broken leg. I can't take it anymore. It's too many against one. As I'm about to bid farewell to my consciousness, Melanie signals for them to stop, and they obey her. She approaches me, crouches down, and brushes the hair away from my bloodied face.

"This is a taste of what I can and will do to you. So take a piece of advice from your future alpha: don't get in my way if you don't want to be crushed."

Melanie stands up and kicks me in the face, making me roll backward twice. Then, I can't bear it anymore. I say goodbye to my consciousness and welcome the darkness.

I don't know how much time has passed. I wake up and feel an excruciating pain take over my body, making me roar like a wounded animal. When the pain decreases by less than 1% of my body, I crawl across the filthy floor of that place. The place where I find myself is an abandoned mattress factory. They used to make illegal weapons for the witches, who once inhabited this land. It has been closed for over six centuries, or so the inhabitants of this pack say.

When I finally manage to escape, I look up at the sky and see all the stars shining alongside the crescent moon. Judging

by the lights in the houses that are turned off, I realize it's past midnight.

With tears streaming down my eyes, I crawl along the long, rocky road that will lead me home. I can't walk because my right leg is broken, and the other one is injured. Together, they can't do much after the beating we received.

When I finally reach my home, my body is even more bruised than before. Blood drips from the cuts caused by the rocks I had to crawl over to get here.

With great difficulty, I manage to lift myself up and open my door. But as it opens, I fall face-first onto the floor. I crawl inside and, using my injured leg, I close the door without locking it. I crawl upstairs toward my room.

As I enter, I go straight to the bathroom, still dressed, and crawl to the shower. I stretch myself out and turn on the water. It's ice-cold, making my bones ache even more, but I don't care. I need to clean myself to be able to sleep.

After long minutes underwater, I manage to take off all my clothes. Still lying on the floor, I start to scrub myself.

When I finish my painful shower, I leave the bathroom naked and crawl to my bed. I lie down and cover myself with my thick comforter, allowing myself to finally sleep.