Chapter 3 Pain

At six years old, a frightened, scared, and lonely little boy was found wandering just inside the Blood Moon Pack territory. The little boy thought this was his salvation. 

He thought he had found a safe place to live and people to care for him, but it turned out to be anything but that.

  

He spent the first two years of his life there, locked in a basement, cold, alone, and hungry. 

Hunger and thirst were thankfully the only torture he endured for those first two years. 

Things changed when he turned eight, but not for the better. 

He was just a small boy, and he was put to work, learning how to cook and clean the entire packhouse. It was a challenging task for an 8-year-old. He made a lot of mistakes, and with those mistakes came

punishments to help him learn.

As he got older, the beatings became worse. When he reached 13, it seemed like a turning point, but not for the better. The Alpha decided the small, frail boy was the perfect object to release his anger on.

Aiden learned what a whip was, and he learned to fear it. Hanging from the ceiling became a standard form of punishment, and that whip frequently shredded his skin and clothes. 

No one paid him any attention, at least not the attention you'd want. But upstairs and out of the basement, sunlight came in through the windows, allowing him to feel the warmth of the sun when he was near the windows. He could look out to see the green grass and tall trees. He yearned for freedom. He yearned to run free in the woods and feel the ground beneath his feet. 

He often wondered what it would be like to have a friend, someone he could run through the woods with. It would be nice if just one person wasn't mean to him. It would be nice if just one person noticed him and saw him as a person, not just a thing. 

Upstairs and out of the basement was nice in those rare moments when he was alone and could feel the Sun through the window. But in the basement, no one was there to trip him, push him down, or call him names. There were no mistakes to be made in the basement, nor was there fear of punishment. But it was dark, cold, damp, and lonely down there.

                            ~§~

Aiden's POV

I woke to the alarm going off at 4:30 in the morning. I felt like I had just fallen asleep. I was exhausted, and my body ached. I didn't want to move; I wanted to go back to sleep. I wished for once I could sleep in, but I know that would never happen. 

I lay there for a few minutes before forcing myself to crawl out of bed. However, it's not much of a bed. It's an old, worn sleeping bag that I found in the garbage years ago, but it's better than nothing. It's better than the cold, hard cement ground. 

As I roll over, I wince from the pain in my ribs, and I carefully pull myself to my feet. My knees wobbled, and the room momentarily spun. I waited for the dizziness to pass before moving. 

My body felt like it had been run over by a train, but it was just the alpha's fist. Memories of why my body hurt flashed in my head, and I squeezed my eyes closed, wishing those memories away.

I knew the alpha was in a bad mood last night. I knew I would never make it through the evening without triggering him, but I tried my hardest not to. 

He kept glaring at me as he stuffed his ugly face. It grossed me out to see him eating like that. He was like a pig, slurping and biting into his food like a damn animal. I almost gagged when I saw the juices dripping down his face, and he didn't even bother to wipe it. 

I wasn't the only one who noticed the alpha's anger; everyone in the room kept their distance.

I tried to avoid him. I tried as hard as I could not to make any mistakes during dinner. Everything was going well until I was clearing the table. As I began walking back toward the kitchen, a plate slipped from my hand and shattered when it hit the floor. My stomach dropped, and tears immediately filled my eyes. I knew this was the moment he was waiting for, and there was no escaping the punishment that was coming.

In the blink of an eye, the alpha had a fistful of my hair and was dragging me toward the basement. I cried out and reached up, trying to grab my hair to lessen the pain and hope he doesn't rip it from my scalp. 

I tried apologizing, and I begged, but no amount of begging would get him to stop. I felt every step that my body was dragged down, hitting bruises and wounds that hadn't even begun to heal yet.

  

The alpha tossed me onto the floor in the same area where I received all my punishments. It's an area in the basement, not too far from my sleeping bag.

I think he chose this spot because it's the only place in the basement that has a light. It's a small, dim light hanging on a string from the ceiling. 

The air is forced from my lungs with a kick to my stomach. I curled forward, grabbing my stomach, and coughed as I tried to fill my lungs. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not protecting my face. Everything went dark as pain radiated through my face from his foot connecting with it. 

I felt the straps being placed around my wrist, and a moment later, I was suddenly yanked off the floor as I was pulled into the air. I cried out from the sudden and painful sensation.

I stayed awake longer than I wanted to this time. The alpha took his frustrations and anger out on me with his fist, and then, when he was sick of that, he turned to the whip. I woke up hours later on the cold, hard floor, lying in a pool of blood…

I slowly walk to my two buckets of water and sigh at the red, cloudy water from cleaning myself up last night. 

I looked down and saw that the bandages around my torso were soaked. I walk over to my box of old sheets and pull one out. I sat down on my sleeping bag and began tearing the sheet into strips for bandages. Once I'm done, I begin the painstaking task of removing my bandage. It hurts as I slowly remove it. I whimper and my lip trembles as tears roll down my face. 

I hate this! This is when I feel the loneliest. No one to take care of me. No one to help change my bandages and tell me how bad my back is. I know it's raw; it hurts so bad. The bandage pulls the dry blood that sticks to it, but I have to keep going. I need to change it so I can get dressed and start cooking breakfast. 

It's hard to do by myself, but I manage to do it somehow. Somehow, I managed to wrap the strip of sheet that is now my bandage around my torso and cover my back. 

Once I'm done, I dig through my box of clothes to find something to wear. I don't have much left. The alpha keeps destroying what clothes I have each time he beats me. 

My clothes aren't much; they weren't even mine to begin with. They were things other people no longer wanted, things I found that they discarded. 

A small smile forms on my face when I find my favorite outfit. It's not much to others, but to me it's the nicest thing I have. The pants actually fit, I don't need a string to hold them up, and the pale turquoise shirt is the prettiest color I've ever seen. There's not a single stain on it. Each time I wear it, I make sure not to get anything on it, and that's just what I'll do again today, I thought, smiling as I turned to get dressed. 

It wasn't long before the smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes filled the packhouse. 

I hid in the back of the kitchen, beside the counter and pantry, as everyone ate breakfast. I tried to be invisible. The last thing I want is for anyone to see me. They don't hurt me like the alpha does, but they pick on me. They push me around, trip me, and laugh at my expense. 

The only other person I really have to look out for is the alpha's youngest son, Jackson. 

The alpha has two sons. Matthew is the oldest by one year, and Jackson is the youngest at 24. Matthew has never hurt me; in fact, when I was younger, it was quite the opposite. Jackson, on the other hand, can sometimes be worse than his father. He doesn't beat me like his father; he does other things. 

He says he's not gay, but every time he catches me alone, he uses my mouth for his pleasure. 

I suppose I should be happy that he's never raped me. He said he'll never do that because he's not gay and he'll never stick his dick in another man's ass. But he has no problem fucking my mouth.

I've tried to refuse many times, but that only results in a beating, and in the end, I'm forced to suck him off anyway. 

This is my life… the hell I live every day. 

                            ~§~

I'm exhausted by the time I finish cleaning up after breakfast, but I have to keep going. I'm not allowed to stop. I weakly climb the stairs and head for Jackson's room. I like cleaning his room first after breakfast since I know he'll be on the training field. This way, there's no chance of running into him and being forced to my knees. 

I feel like I'm on autopilot as I clean his room. My mind has checked out, but I've done this so long that my body knows the movements by heart. 

His room is clean for the most part, but his sheets are always all over the place. It's like he wrestles a monster in his sleep each night. 

Once I'm finished with his room, I move to the bathroom and start with a shower. Once everything is clean, I finish my cleaning with the floor.

I grabbed my bucket of water and got on my hands and knees to clean the floor. I start at the back and work my way toward the door. 

I am halfway done when I hear someone in the room behind me, and I look over my shoulder. My stomach dropped when I saw Jackson standing by the door. 

What is he doing back? He should still be at the training field for at least another hour! 

His lips curl up when he sees the fear on my face and the way my body begins to tremble.

 “That's the perfect position for you. You’re just the way I like you — on your knees,” Jackson said and began walking toward me. 

I turned my head and looked forward, away from him. I squeezed my eyes closed and prayed he'd go away, but he didn't. My lips trembled as he stopped directly behind me. 

I cried out when he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked back on my head, forcing me to look up at him.

His smirk deepened as his eyes raked over my face. He bit his bottom lip when his eyes landed on mine. 

“I love seeing those lips wrapped around my dick,” he said in a low voice as he reached down with his free hand and unzipped his pants. 

He let go of my hair and spun me around to face him. He grabbed my face and squeezed my cheeks, pressing my lips together like a fish as he dug into his pants with his free hand and pulled out his dick. 

The tears flowed down my cheeks, and my chest stuttered as I tried not to cry. I didn't want to do this. This was the last thing I wanted. I was exhausted, my body hurt so badly, and I was hungry. And now this bastard wants me to suck his dick...

But Jackson didn't just want Aiden to suck his dick; he couldn't wait to choke him with it. He loved seeing the fear in the omega's eyes, and he loved it when he cried. 

Jackson's cock sprang free, and the Omega's shoulders shook as he cried.

The Omega flinched when Jackson slapped his cheek with his dick. “Open wide,” Jackson smirked.

 As soon as the Omega's mouth opened, Jackson thrusted his cock into Aiden's mouth. He felt the head of his cock hit the back of Aiden's throat as it slid down, choking the Omega. Tears flowed down Aiden's face as Jackson fucked his mouth. 

It seemed like Jackson had anger of his own that he had to work out, and he used Aiden's mouth to release this anger. 

Jackson was rougher than normal. He gripped Aiden's head tight, and his hips moved fast, thrusting his cock in and out of the Omega's mouth, rough and hard, choking and gagging him.

“Oh yeah!” Jackson breathes out, gripping Aiden's head tighter and grunting.

“Fuck!... That's it, you suck that cock, you fucking fag!” Jackson growls and is unable to hold back any longer. The beautiful mess he made of the Omega is too much, too beautiful. His face is stained with tears, red and blotchy from crying. Spit drips from his chin, and his plump lips are red and swollen, looking beautiful wrapped around his cock.

Jackson’s cock swells. His movements become faster and sloppier. He growls as he jams his cock even further down the Omega's throat and groans as he cums…

I felt his cock pulsing as he shot each disgusting, hot jet inside my mouth. I feel it hit the back of my throat, and I gag for what seems like the millionth time. 

His cock slides out of my mouth and takes a step back. His chest heaves as he catches his breath. He looks me over, and I can see how happy he is with what he just did to me.

“Swallow my cum, and don't you dare spill a drop!” Jackson demanded before shoving my head and forcing me to fall onto my butt.

I swallowed and immediately took a large breath in to fill my lungs, but began coughing. I felt this asshole pat me on the head like I'm his pet. “Good boy,” Jackson said, laughing as he left the bathroom.  

I let my body fall to the floor, and my shoulders shook as I cried. I let it all out, I allowed myself to cry out loud. I hate my life, and at times like this, I wish it were over.

I didn't allow myself to lie there long; I knew there was still work I had to finish before lunch. 

Lunch went by uneventfully, and I was thankful for that. After cleaning the kitchen, I went back to cleaning the pack house.  Thankfully, I only have the third floor left. If I can just get through dinner without upsetting the alpha, then I'll have the whole evening off, which will give me time to catch up on much-needed sleep. Maybe my wolf will be strong enough after that to help heal some of these wounds. 

It didn't take me long to figure out bathrooms weren't my lucky thing today. I had just finished cleaning the alpha's bathroom. I grabbed the bucket and turned to leave, but unfortunately, as I came out of the bathroom, I ran straight into the alpha. The dirty mop water spilled all over him and the carpet. My heart sank, and I knew this was it for me. I knew this time I might not make it out of it alive.

Excruciating pain radiated through my face, and I went flying backwards. Blood instantly gushed from my mouth and nose, and my sight was blurry. Everything sounded muffled and distant; I felt more helpless than I ever felt in my life. 

His hand wrapped around my hair, yanked my body around, and began dragging me out of his room and down the stairs toward the basement.

It wasn't long before I found myself hanging in that familiar position from the ceiling. My body trembled, and I couldn't stop crying if I wanted to. I cried harder when he pulled the whip out. 

Each lash felt like it was on fire. The whip hit my back and wrapped around my torso. It felt like the skin was being torn from my body. I felt the warmth of my blood flowing down my cold body.

My screams were so loud the whole pack had to hear me. My favorite clothes were shredded and hung from my body.

I don't know when I passed out, but when I woke up, I was still hanging from the ceiling, and he was gone. I wasn't awake for long, but I woke up to my body hitting the floor with a thud. I cried out when my body hit the ground. The pain was unbearable. 

The alpha left me lying there and didn't say a word as he walked up the stairs and turned the light off.

I lay there for quite some time crying. I couldn't figure out why he hated me so much. I couldn't figure out why everyone hated me so much. What did I do so wrong that everyone hates me? Why can't just one person care about me?

Why does life have to be so hard? 

How long will I have to live like this? 

Is this what it's going to be like until I die?

This isn't how I want to die! 

I gathered as much strength as I could and slowly pushed myself off the ground. I ignored the pain radiating through my body. 

I couldn't stay here any longer. If I do, this is how I'll die. He's getting worse with me, and I don't know how much more I can take. If I'm going to die, I'd rather die trying to escape. 

There has to be something else out there. There has to be something better than this! I'd rather die trying to find it.

I don't know when he broke my clock, but it's broken. With no windows, I have no idea what time of day it is. 

I carefully and quietly climb the stairs and pray that it's nighttime. I carefully cracked the door open, and only darkness peeks through. I push it open further and peek out to make sure the coast is clear. I breathe a breath of relief when I don't see anyone and fully step out of the basement. 

My heart races as I slowly make my way toward the front of the dark packhouse. I look out the window, and just as expected, it's nighttime. 

This is it… It's now or never. 

My lips part, and I breathe a shaky breath in before running for the door. I pull the door open and bolt out, leaping off the porch. I feel the grass below my feet, but I can't enjoy it; my only focus is getting as far away from this hell as possible. 

I wait until I'm in the woods, and then I allow Winter to push forward and take over. The shift wasn't as fast as it should have been. But it's to be expected for a wolf who has never run free, and hardly shifts, not to mention the condition my body is in.

Winter's claws dig into the ground as he kicks off and runs deeper into the woods. He feels the Earth under his paws for the first time, but just like me, he didn't have time to enjoy it. 

So many different scents invade his nose, and he fights the urge to explore them. The need to get far away as fast as possible is too dire. We need to get away before someone spots us.

We can sense the edge of the territory approaching, and excitement rolls through us. But that excitement quickly disappears when two patrol guards come out of nowhere and try to catch us.

Winter zigzags through the trees, trying to lose them, and is successful when one tumbles down a hill. Unfortunately, we didn't lose both of them, and Winter yelps as we're tackled to the ground.

Winter tries to fight him off, but he's too weak because of me. By pure luck, Winter managed to fling the wolf off of him. The wolf's head hit a rock, and he went limp. Winter scrambled to his feet and took off for the edge of the territory that was so close.

I felt the moment I passed that invisible line that marks the edge of our territory, but we didn't stop. Winter kept running. More wolves were chasing us now, so we had to keep going.

Winter slid to a stop at the edge of a cliff, and I pushed forward, looking over the edge with Winter. 

We looked back toward the stampede of wolves rapidly approaching, and my stomach dropped. Winter looked back over the edge, and I peered down with him, trying to calculate how far the drop was and if we'd survive landing in the raging water below. 

I couldn't tell; all I knew was it was a long way down, the water below was moving fast, and neither I nor Winter knew anything about swimming. 

I looked back at the pack of wolves who were snarling and almost to us, and knew that if we stayed, they'd tear us apart and kill us. 

We looked at the river one more time and then back at the wolves, and I knew I'd rather die jumping than be torn apart until I died. With that thought, Winter turned and leapt over the edge.

I felt a sense of peace as we fell. 

“I love you, Winter!” I said to my wolf before our body hit the water, and everything went dark.