[03]

AUTUMN:

It had been a week after the beta’s rejection and I was pretending that everything was normal. No. My bad. There were no pretensions anymore because no one was giving me their attention. No one.  So there was no pretending at all since they did not see me.

I was doing my usual work in the pack house. Cleaning the hallway. Wiping the portraits on the wall. Wiping the dust of the enormous sculptures. Everything was monotonous. And it was already tiring. 

Lazily, I dragged the mop back to the utility room. I had already finished cleaning everything. There were a few omega's that I had met, but no one bothered to say their greetings. All feared me. 

A gasp escaped my lips when I felt the sticky liquid on my hair. With shaky hands, I reached out and found out it was nothing but an egg thrown on my hair. 

Again? Incidents like this were no longer new.

The hall rang with laughter coming from my pack members. 

‘Don’t tell me you will do nothing?’ Trisha asked, baring her teeth to me.  'It is not nothing,' Trisha, my wolf demanded. 'You don't tolerate abuses, Autumn. I'm not born to fight them. Burn them alive. They were like this to you because you let them. You have to fight for crying out loud!’

Compared to me, Trisha was the feisty type while I was the one who would choose peace over violence. I did not want to have enemies.

And she became more feisty after the rejection. She wanted war in all aspects. She bit and snapped at anyone. She wanted me to cause a fight and a scene. In short, she was that little she-devil inside my head wanting everyone's head. 

'That's not going to happen. I will not kill anyone,' I retorted and pretended that my wolf did not even offer that one. ‘I will suck up everything until they stop. They will stop, I know. They will eventually get tired.’

She rolled her eyes at me. 

‘In your dreams. If you will just let me, I will burn them alive like what they said you did to your family. Let’s show them what you’re capable of doing, Autumn. To stop this. I am fucking sick of this! Why do I have to deal with them, too! Let me out and kill them alive!’

A shiver ran down my spine. My wolf was capable of that. And she would be unstoppable because of the rejection. I was afraid that she would get mad in the long run. The only hope I had was my second chance mate. 

If only he would come. 

Glancing over my shoulder, my hunch was confirmed when I saw it was the daughter of the delta of the pack, who was also honored to be the next Luna of the pack—Sabrina.  Or maybe she would be the next mate of Beta Maddox. 

“Oops. My hands slipped. Sorry, slave,” she declared and threw back her head and laughed. 

The other girls followed. They were her minions who loved to follow her lead. As if they had no mind of their own. 

I glared at her. 

‘Yes, that's it. Let’s give her a painful death. We need to torture her and rejoice in her death,’ my wolf urged.  ‘Extend your sharp claws, Autumn and let's give her a dose of her own medicine.’

I gulped as Trisha would not even stop forcing me. 

‘No.’

‘No? Why not?’ 

‘Let's not do that. Or the alpha will banish me or worse kill me.’

Hugh was now the alpha of the pack. However, he was already out of reach. No. Not only him. But Maddox, too. They had forgotten about me. Forgotten about the promise that we made for each other that no one would leave anyone. 

I was left alone. 

The worst ending of all was not Beta Maddox rejecting me. It was how our friendship fell apart all because of what happened to my family.

The thought of them brought another wave of pain inside my chest. 

I did not deserve to live. It should be me who is dead by now. Not them. 

‘You were left alone because you're weak.’

Grounding my teeth, I replied, ‘Shut up. You don't have to do that. Do you want me to get killed?’

‘You won’t. We will burn them alive. All of them like what they keep on saying to us. What’s the point of living when our mate rejected us?’

She was affected by the rejection. I thought…she was stronger than mine. But then again, not all strong were strong until the end. 

And now…Beta Maddox rejected me because I was cursed and he did not want to share the curse. 

Everyone believed that I was cursed and that I was the reason for my family’s death. My dad, mom, and brother were all lost to the fire. 

I blinked a couple of times when pain exploded on my left cheeks.

Sabrina. She slapped me. Hard that I almost blacked out. 

“What?” she asked. “Look down or you’ll be blind!” she spat. When I did not do as I was told, she continued, “What? You're going to kill me like what you did to your family? You want to burn me, too?”

‘Kill that bitch!’ Trisha roared. She wanted to be out. My fingers started turning into claws, but I bit my lower lip and drew blood. 

Trisha must not take over or else, there will be blood in this hallway. 

‘Kill her and then what do you think will happen to me?’

‘You stop her saying nonsense!’

‘What she said was true. I killed my family!’ I answered back. 

The pain since my chest tripled. I dropped my hands and lowered my gaze.

Yeah.

Everyone believed that I was the one who killed my family in the fire. I could not blame them, I was the only survivor. And it was my fault that the house went on fire. 

It was fifteen years already, but the pain was too great. One of the pack’s lightest warriors was suddenly lost to the fire all because of his daughter—his cursed daughter. The witch had told him when  I was born that I will bring nothing but tragedy on them, which my dad only shrugged off. 

Until that incident happened.

My eyes simmered with tears, and looked up to stop the tears from falling. I must not cry. Not in front of them. Not in front of Sabrina who already treated me like trash even though we were still children. She wanted to be friends with us, but Maddox and Hugh won't allow her. It was the very reason for her hatred towards me. 

“You murderer!” Sabrina called while pointing her hands at me. “Don't you dare look at me like that.”

Her minions laughed at me. 

My chest tightened while tears were about to fall. 

‘Don’t you dare cry, you fool. You're not going to give her the satisfaction.’

I was already a laughing stock and Trisha did not want me to shed tears because of them.

‘It’s too painful.’

‘It is painful because you are weak. Don't cry. They are not worth it. Cry or I will leave you and you will be forced to deal with them. All of them.’

I did not want my wolf to leave me. She was the only one I had right now and if she leaves me like what Maddox and Hugh did…

“Aw, she's going to cry. Does losing them make you feel guilty, already, you bitch?” she asked. 

My hands shook and I balled my palms into a fist. 

Must not punch her. 

When I did not answer, she forced me to look into her blue eyes. I refused to squint when her fingernails dug  into mine.

The small wound will heal, but the embarrassment she was inflicting me would not. Especially when my pack members were looking at us as if we were in a freaking show. They would always bully me. And there was nothing new to that. 

"You're hurting me," I declared. 

‘Kill that bitch.’

"Am I?" she asked. "How about this?" she inquired and her right hand connected to my right cheek. 

It seemed like the world had spun and turned black. For a split second. 

Shaking my head, I cleared my vision. 

Laughters were heard all over the hall. 

They were enjoying this. That was how I humored them. 

"What's the meaning of this?" The crowd suddenly turned silent when a booming voice resounded like thunder. I did not have to look around and see who that person was. Beta Maddox. The beta of Sunny Pack, where I belonged.  My mate. Ex-mate. My ex-childhood friend. 

I did not care if he would reject me. But how could he throw away our friendship? Was it meaningless to him? To him and Alpha Hugh?

My heart hammered against my chest. 

Why was he here? I thought he was on a mission with Hugh.