Chapter 6: Scar

Scar felt a dull snap as he flew several meters in the air to hit a mammoth tree which broke his fall. He groaned animatedly, staying on the forest floor and holding to his sides where the broken rib was already healing.

Their sassy laughter filled the forest as usual, and he rolled animatedly on the ground for effect, perfecting his act.

“Get up sissy,” Wade said, making their laughter increase.

Scar lay there for a second or so more, basking in the little window of rest he had.

“Get up fool,” Danielle added in her silver voice.

Scar groaned, this time in surrender. Anytime Danielle came around the torture usually lasted longer. She was the only daughter of Alpha Oden, another pack several miles away. Wade’s father Alpha Toni was trying to get her and Wade married so as to unite their packs, and he was Wade’s way of showing off his prowess.  

“Scar, Get up!” It was the battle instructor, Hayden. The command in his voice gripped Scar hard, forcing him to struggle up to his feet.

He wondered what picture he might have painted as he stood the wolves pointed at him and burst into another rounds of laughter. As usual, he would look dirty, stained by the brown sand and grass, his clothes torn by their sharp claws and the craps barely hanging on his body, new scars joining and crisscrossing the numerous hideous ones on his body. He would have painted the perfect picture of a beast in human form.

All his recent wounds have healed now, and he was already so used to the beatings he could decide not to have made a sound if they went on for hours. But he knew doing that would mean that they would continue torturing him and push the boundaries, no matter what Alpha Toni had said about anyone causing him any permanent harm.

“How about we see if we can add any lasting scar to the thunder mark,” Wade Said.                    

“Yes! Yes!” The beta youths surrounding Wade and Danielle howled in their usual fawning manner.

“I want to go first!” Danielle growled, shape shifting fast.

Scar sighed, steeling himself. This was the hard part where they tried to add more scars to the ones which had already taken over all of his body. Slowly and steadily over space of sixteen years they had covered every inch of skin on his body with claw marks like a tattoo. It had started with Wade’s elder brother Roc who was more of his age-mate, but when Roc and his friends outgrew it, Wade and his lackey had taken over.

That was how he got the name. Scar. First from the long wicked slash from his forehead down to his thigh that nearly claimed his life when he was younger, and then from the ones Wade and the others had added to his skin during the course of their trainings over the years.

 He barely had a moment’s warning before Danielle appeared before him, her strike making him fly to hit another tree meters away. Three long lines appeared on his chest, quickly filling up with blood. Then the marks began to heal very fast just before the first drop of blood landed on the floor, leaving scars.

“I can never get over how he can heal so fast,” Danielle declared just as the marks closed up.

“He is no real werewolf. What should have made him to possess a wolf went into making him weird, and that’s why he has no wolf,” Wade said mockingly.

Danielle struck again, hitting him right at the same spot and drawing blood.

He could have evaded her attack for all her speed even though he was in human form, he could see her movements just as clear as day.

“Fight!” Danielle commanded.

Scar drew himself straight and took a stance. He did not try to evade her attack but merely protected his vitals as she struck. Very soon Wade could take it no more and joined in the fun, making it hard for him to protect himself. The both of them threw him this way and that, making stinging pains ring all over his body from the claw marks they drew on his skin.

They went on for about an hour with the other betas joining the duo and beating him until he could take it no more and lay weakly on the ground.

Wade then directed the Betas for the finishing act, in which they took turns pissing on his weak broken body on the floor amidst their wicked laughter.

Scar felt his wolf rear angrily for the thousandth time as the urine pattered on his body where he lay coiled in a ball, fighting hard to break free. But the heavy stacks of shackles binding the wolf held it firmly, making him coil in pain for real this time as it struck deep to his soul.

“Easy…” Scar hissed at his wolf.

“Bastards! I want to-” the wolf howled hard, its struggles weakening as the shackles bound it tighter and tighter, sapping its strength.   

“Reno,” Scar hissed again as the pain became unbearable. It was like sharp spikes were striking at the core of his being and his soul wanted to break off his body.

“Stop, Reno…” Scar called again weakly as the wolf put in one last bit of struggle to no avail. They had tried again and again but pure force never worked, rather it agitated the shackles and made them bind tighter.

The wolf howled, long and hard, and then it stopped its struggles, going limp. Nobody heard or sensed the wolf’s cries and struggles except for Scar, and its last shout of pain and anger resounded in his head for a long time.

Slowly, the pain eased and all went back to normal. Wade and the others had left, their laughter ringing in the distance.

“Get yourself back to the quarters and clean up. You must set the hall for dinner this night,” the battle instructor, Hayden, commanded before he also turned around and left him alone in the forest.

Scar shook after a moment of inaction, slowly forcing himself to a sitting position. The tangy taste of blood mixed with urine which had somehow found its way into his mouth tasted upon his tongue. He spat out, the spit falling on his leg out of weakness to send it far away.

His sharp ears caught her footsteps before he sighted her. Simi. He quickly gathered what little strength he had, rising to his feet before she arrived before him. He never wanted her to see him like this, but she wouldn’t listen, always appearing to assist him when they were gone.

She stopped before him, her innocent brown eyes filling up with tears as she took in his state.

The Sorrow in her eyes broke his heart for the umpteenth time. Despite how much he got beaten every day and how she would come to pick him up one would think she would already be used to seeing him like this, but no, she would always be broken to see him like this.

“Darell,” Simi hissed. Only she called him Darell, and she had given him the name saying it meant warrior in their language.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Scar said, taking a step forward towards the stream where he would bathe before going to the quarters to wear new clothes, and then the dinner hall.

She appeared beside him immediately, supporting him.

“I’m Okay,” Scar hissed.

“No you’re not. Your physical wounds might be healed, but that does not mean you are Okay,” Simi replied. She reached up and ran her fair melanin hand on the rows and rows of scars on his dark chest, uncaring about the dirt or urine on his body.

He looked down into her eyes, lost in the fire of love he saw there. I’m not worth this much love, I’m not worth her, he thought.

She was an Omega, an orphan like he was, but she still had prospects. Her wolf was not shackled or unseen like his. She was beautiful enough to maybe one day catch the eye of a beta or even Alpha Toni and become one of his numerous concubines, but she had chosen to tie her lot with him, making her fall to the lowest rung among the Omegas and servants because of her association with him.

“Let’s go to the quarters,” Simi said, turning him around. “You’ll be able to bathe, change, and go faster to the hall,” she added, her tone somber.

“What’s wrong?” Scar asked, sensing the undertone in her voice.

Simi fell silent for a while, leading him through the copse of trees.

“What is it?” Scar pressed.

Simi sighed. “Alpha Oden and Vilo are around.”

Scar missed a step, a hard scowl masking his face. He should have guessed one of them might come around since Danielle had been around here for two days now. It only meant that his clowning would continue till after dinner.

“But why do they hate you so much? Do they even have any feeling at all?” Simi asked rhetorically.

Scar’s face was hard-set as several images ran through his mind, darkness clouding his heart. He knew why. But just like he had never told anyone that he had had a wolf since he was ten, the fateful day that changed his life forever, he had also never let it know to her or anyone else that he knew also why Alpha Toni and Alpha Oden treated him so bad.

“Hey, Sissy!” Wade’s voice brought them to a halt as they stepped out of the forest. He soon appeared before them with three other betas. “Did you see Danielle’s bracelet?” He asked Scar, but his attention was on Simi who was at Scar’s side the whole time.

“No,” Scar growled, replying louder than necessary. He succeeded in drawing Wade’s attention to himself.

“So you have a girlfriend ehn?” Wade sneered. “She’s not to bad herself.” He turned back to Simi, eying her with lust pasted vividly on his face.

“I didn’t see any bracelet,” Scar added, loud again. He was clenching his teeth hard, doing everything possible to hold still and not do something he would come to regret. But he hated the look Wade was giving Simi.

“What are you doing with a waste like him?” Wade said to Simi, licking his lips.

Simi bowed her head, looking down and saying nothing.

Scar felt his wolf stir again as rage slowly filled him. “We have to get to the dinner hall,” Scar cut in, taking a step forward. Simi pulled at his arm, trying to force him to a stop, but he wouldn’t allow her, making her take another step with him.

“Dinner hall enh?” A mischievous look ran across Wade’s face. “Very well, you’ll truly be needed there.” He nodded.

“Let’s go.” Wade commanded his lackeys. He took one more long look at Simi before he turned and left with the other betas.

“Bastard runt!” Scar hissed, watching them go out of sight.

“We’re wasting time, you need to get to the dinner hall in less than thirty minutes,” Simi said, bringing him back to the present.

Scar nodded, and they continued to the quarters.