Six: Undercover

Aria’s POV

The dull ache in my lower abdomen roused me from sleep at the crack of dawn, followed by the loud blaring of my alarm clock. Hastily, I reached for it and turned it off to avoid waking my dad as I wasn’t ready for his trouble so early in the morning. I expelled a deep breath, but just as I tried to close my eyes to get a few more minutes of sleep, a piercing pain twisted in my abdomen and a whimper slipped out of my lips at the same time as I felt my panties dampen.

“Shit!” I cussed in a barely audible voice, a painful groan following thereafter, and one of my hands flew to my stomach to cradle my abdomen as I turned to lay on my stomach, with tears welling up in my eyes.

It was my period.

I hated this time of the month because I was never prepared for it and my cramps were always after my life. Worse still, it was a school morning and I had a test that day, hence, staying away from school wasn’t in the cards for me.

It had been a week since I escaped from the nurse at the school clinic and I hadn’t returned to school after that incident. I knew it was only wise to remain at home until my injuries healed and luckily for me, my dad had been in a good mood all week and hadn’t transferred his aggression on me. Hence, my bruises were healing well and the pain in my ankle was gone. I could walk without limping.

Another intense pain twisted in my gut and a low whimper slipped out of my lips, making me curl into a ball at one end of the bed, with my eyes shut tight and a cold shiver wracking my entire body. But suddenly, I heard the door swing open with a loud bang, and my eyes instantly snapped open to see my dad standing by the door, with a fierce expression etched on his face, his dark brooding eyes eating me up.

A gulp worked its way down my throat and I instantly sat up, ignoring the pain twisting my lower abdomen.

“D-dad…” I stuttered, blinking back the tears that had been in my eyes and I quickly wiped them off so he wouldn’t notice them, but the moment he took a step into the room, I hastily scampered out of bed, moving to the wall just to put the much-needed distance between us as my heart began hammering against my chest, with anxiety threatening to choke me.

“What time do you think it is?” he roared, walking into the room, and getting closer to the bed but I kept my focus on him, slowly inching towards the bathroom door, the closer he got.

“Umm… I…” I swallowed and my eyes quickly darted to the alarm clock on my nightstand but that was my mistake. Within a twinkle of an eye, he was next to me, his body pressed tightly against mine as he caged me between the hard wall and his huge body with both of my arms raised above my head and pinned to the wall in his hold. 

My palpitating heart increased its rate and a lump formed in my throat, just as bile rose in it, with a sob threatening to escape but I remained still.

“You little slut,” he gritted, his eyes glaring at me, a cold and menacing look etched on his face. As he spoke, I could inhale the alcohol in his breath.

It was barely 7 a.m. and he was already drunk to stupor.

“I pay so much to get you educated and you still refuse to acknowledge that. Aren’t you supposed to be up and ready for school?” he barked and my soul nearly jumped out of my body. I heard Hailey’s faint whimper, but I blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill from the intensity of the growing pain in my abdomen. “Answer me!” he roared when I remained quiet.

“Y-yes, Dad. I was… I was about to prepare before you came in,”

“Liar!” He yelled and at this point, I could feel the burning anger radiating off him. 

Maybe I’d been too excited that he’d let me be for the past week. I shouldn’t have celebrated it but should have been smart enough to know he’d come for me when I was least prepared.

A wave of regret hit me at the same time as more pain shot through me from my stomach and a groan slipped out of my lips before I could hold it in. His brows instantly furrowed in a frown and his eyes grew darker.

“It’s that time of the month,” he growled, sniffing but I violently shook my head, hoping he’d believe me but I should have known better.

Ignoring me, he dipped his hand into the waistband of my shorts to find out for himself and I saw the way his eyes lit up with a sinister smile, baring his teeth and showing his elongated canine as his tongue swiped across his lips.

“You’ve been a very terrible child, Aria, and today, you’re gonna take punishment for all of your atrocities.”

I opened my mouth to speak, to beg for his mercy as I wasn’t mentally and physically prepared for what was about to happen but before I could utter a word, he spun me around and pushed me flushed against the wall, slapping one of his palms over my mouth to keep me shut but it didn’t prevent the scream of agony that tore out of my throat from the forceful penetration.

I was late for school by the time I left home, two hours later. I’d managed to pick my battered self from the floor where the monster left me after he’d gotten his fill. I felt so dirty and irritated with myself as I’d laid on the floor crying that even Hailey couldn’t console me. She was so quiet that I’d thought she’d finally decided to leave me to find some peace but as I walked into the school premises, I felt her presence within me.

“Time to put on your big girl panties, Aria,” her voice came but I remained quiet, too emotionally drained to even try to pretend I was fine. All I wanted to do was to get done with the test and maybe escape to the lake thereafter.

I felt so dirty that I’d had to scrub myself multiple times with a very hard washcloth, while bathing under the steaming hot shower water, in hopes of getting rid of his touch and hands on my body. I’d even gone to the extent of wearing much more heavy perfumes than usual to mask my scent because I believed everyone would know how abominable I’ve become as soon as they get a whiff of it and it’d kill me to know they’ve finally discovered my dirty secret and how unfit I was to be around them.

The hood of the huge hoodie I wore covered my hair, making it blanket my face, thereby hiding me from curious eyes. The entire hallways were as quiet as a graveyard as I approached the classroom where the test I had that morning was ongoing.

I got there to see it had already begun and the teacher, Mrs. Thompson was invigilating them but as soon as she laid eyes on me, she stopped in her tracks, a slight frown marring her face.

“You’re late, Miss Logan,”

“I’m…” I cleared my throat and tried to sound as calm as I could, despite the raging storm within me. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Thompson, I…”

“Come in and settle down for your test. You have about twenty minutes left and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to waste any more of it,”

I nodded in appreciation and stepped into the class. She handed me the test paper and I got into my usual seat at the back of the class. But the moment I sat down, the pain from my cramps returned with full force, making me wince but I bit down hard on my lips to keep in my sobs.  It seemed like walking from my home to school and after all I’d faced at the hands of my dad that morning, the pain had only grown worse and I was being punished for it.

I flipped the test paper open and tried reading the questions but they blurred in my vision as the ache in my abdomen became stronger. I slowly rested my head on my desk and closed my eyes, praying it went away quickly so I could concentrate on my test but I must have slept off because the next time my eyes snapped open, it was from the thudding heart and footsteps, coming towards the classroom.

I saw the students handing their sheets to Mrs. Thompson when my sleepy haze began to clear but I was too distracted by the approaching footsteps and the racing heart, accompanied by a familiar woodsy scent that I couldn’t place, to understand what was truly happening. But realization instantly dawned on me when Alpha Shane suddenly appeared at the doorway, and my heart dropped, my eyes widening in fear.

His eyes darted across the class until they landed on mine, and I felt the sudden tug in my heart but my adrenaline kicked in and I shot up to my feet, ready to bolt.

“Miss Logan?”

I vaguely heard Mrs. Thompson’s voice as my eyes were intently fixed on the alpha and the moment he took a step, I was flying out of the open window, ignoring my cramps and my common sense.