2. Soon, He Would End It All

The Year 2032, January

Ravi woke up with a start. He was having yet another bad dream. He tried moving and he hissed in pain. He had forgotten that his body was injured and he was still sore. Last night, he received yet another bad beating from his father Philip: the Alpha of the Moon Light Pack. Why was he beaten though? He couldn't remember. The beatings had become so numerous that he barely left tabs nowadays.

Ravi can't even remember why he got beaten as at many other times. This was because he was always even beaten for the smallest of mistakes. Last night it was something his step sister had accused him of. His father never listened to him. It didn't matter that Ravi was an alpha and the first son of the family. No. His step mother made sure that he never forgot his place in the clan: the lowest of them all in the pack. And Ravi, resigned to his fate, had agreed even without words.

He carried royal blood but he was treated worse than a servant. This was because he worked without pay, was always beaten and was never taken to school. He did not even graduate high school because his father said that there was no need of educating a servant. A failure. Trash. Good for nothing - like his mother.

Ravi turned when he was sixteen, that was two years ago. Turning into a wolf is a very important step in any wolf's life. It is usually celebrated with pomp and gaiety. Not even talking about when a royal turns and an alpha at that. He still remembers when his step brother, who is just a year younger than him turned. His father, the king, invited who was who and a very big banquet was thrown. That was the first day since his mother's death did Ravi eat something he had not cooked.

But when Ravi turned, he was alone in the forest. No one cared or even remembered. He was happy when he found out that he was an alpha. He thought that that would make Alpha Philip happy and change his status in the family. He still remembers the conversation between him and his father that day. It was a conversation he looked forward to but one he lived to regret.

He came from the forest all tired and in pain. His bones had cracked, stretched, bent and all and since he was alone, the pain was unbearable. He screamed and cried and then after he turned, he was the most majestic ever. His wolf was dark: a very dark sheen colour that was almost shiny. And then he stood at a height that was even bigger than his actual size as a human. He was sure that, even though he wasn't allowed to see other wolves in training, he was among the strongest and biggest in his clan. He was sure that he would make the best Alpha Moon Light Pack has ever raised. "Father will be proud of me," he thought happily as he skipped home to share the good news.

He thus came from the forest all excited ready to tell his father what happened. He found the middle aged man in his office working on the affairs of the clan. After knocking, he was welcomed by a deep male voice. The voice he hated and feared and the voice he always wished could speak to him with warmth again like when his mama was still alive.

"Come in," the voice said and he braced himself and opened the door and entered. His father sat on the revolving office chair looking all majestic like the king he was.

When his father raised his head and saw him, he changed his facial expression to that of annoyance.

"What do you want?" The irritated voice that seemed to be annoyed already asked the boy that was standing there looking all beaten but carrying hope with a nervous smile.

"F-father... I... I... I...," he started but before that scrutinizing gaze that seemed to bore into his flesh, he forgot what it was he wanted to say for a while there and he found himself stuttering and stammering.

"What do you want? Are you a child? As you can see I'm busy and don't have time to waste," alpha Philip bellowed and Ravi braced himself.

He cleared his throat and closed his eyes. He wanted to say it all at once before his father could get angry at him like he always did. When it came to this son, Alpha Philip Wilbur had a short fuse.

"Father... I changed into my wolf... I am...," he started but before he could say that he was an alpha, his father bellowed again.

"So what? You want to be congratulated? Is it something to be celebrated that you changed? I am a wolf and your mother was one. You knew that you are a wolf. What is new about changing? Don't waste my time again if you don't have

anything important to tell me. Now, go back to the kitchen. I dont want to hear your mother complaining that the food was late," with that, he dismissed the boy who felt beaten.

Ravi's heart was in pain. He didn't know what he did for his father to hate him that much. He shed tears like was norm and went to his room. He cried for hours but he had to brace himself because he still had a pack to feed. In this pack, whether it rained or snowed, whether he was sick or well, he had to work. Cooking three meals a day for more than a hundred people was his duty.

The moonlight pack had more than three thousand people. More than fifty and their families lived in the Royal mansion as they helped Alpha Philip run the affairs of the pack. It was Ravi who cooked and cleaned for them. He had to wake up before four in the morning because if breakfast was not ready by seven, he would get a thorough beating regardless of the time of the day.

His mother died when he was eight. He did not know what happened to her and all he was told was that she was killed by rogue wolves. He remembers standing next to his mother's casket as he looked at that cold body. The face that used to smile at him and warm his day was now lying there cold. He shed tears but his father reprimanded him: a man never shows his weakness before people. So, a young boy of eight had to swallow his pain and watch his mother's body get buried never to see her again.

All was well for a month until after his father brought a woman home with a boy, Ravi's age, and said that she was his new mother. That was when things changed. His life took a turn for the worse as his once loving, though strict, father became a monster who always inflicted pain on his son. All he did was listen to his new wife and his new son. It became worse when his new step sister was born.

Form then on, he became the worker in the big house and he never had a minute of rest. He was eighteen now and nothing had changed. He was still the same beaten young lad without a future. No, wait. He had a future: the slave of the Moon Light Pack.

Even after he changed, he could never practice with the other wolves. He never had the time and was never given the chance to. His work was in the kitchen and laundry room. He had cried until he never felt pain anymore. They would beat him and he never even shed a tear before them: a man never shows his pain. Wasn't that what he was told? And when he didn't shed any tears, that made his father more mad at him. He would receive more beating.

He hadn't learnt anything about being a wolf and so, even at eighteen, he didn't know how to heal himself. He had a million scars, both physically and emotionally. His heart was broken and he felt beaten. Everyday, he lost the meaning of life. Soon, he would end it all.

Ravi turned and looked at the alarm clock at the small table. He was given this by his stepmother to help him always keep time. It was ten minutes past three in the morning. He had a few more minutes to sleep but sleep was elusive. He couldn't sleep and he decided to wake up and get on with preparing breakfast. The earlier the better anyway.

He sighed and dragged his beaten, painful, tired thin self to the bathroom to freshen up for another long day.

He sighed wondering for how long more he was going to take this.

Maybe it would be better if he followed his mama in the grave. Maybe nature would favour him and he would be reborn to his mother again in another family.

Anyway, today, he had a zillion things to do.