chapter 3

Lillian's POV:

I stood at the far end corner of the hall that was lavishly decorated. Everyone was busy chatting while some were eating and drinking happily.

I was the only one who stood alone and looked out of place. I couldn't keep my gaze up for more than a few minutes because I didn't want to be accused of something or threatened by another pack member.

Although whenever I looked up, I stole a few glances at the Alpha who stood in front of us whispering sweet words into Leah's ear while she blushed.

The party had begun, at least that's what I thought, yet they weren't saying anything and half an hour had gone by of us witnessing their flirting.

Leah wore a beautiful blue strapless short dress that matched her heels. Her hair was straightened like silk that fell perfectly to her back.

Her face was covered in beautiful makeup and red lipstick.Whenever she laughed, she raised her hand to cover her mouth, showing off a diamond ring that the Alpha had gifted her not so long ago on her twentieth birthday.

Although she looked good, the Alpha stole the attention of everyone.

His medium curly brunette hair was kind of shining, even from afar, and whenever he smiled, showing off his beautiful white teeth and dimples, my heart fluttered.

His ear and lip piercings only added to how sexy he was. He wore a dark blue shirt to match Leah's dress, leaving the first three buttons undone. His black trousers only showed off his amazing long legs and great build.

All the she-wolves' eyes were on him, and I was positive he was aware of it.

I lowered my eyes and looked at myself sadly.

For years, I felt insecure about my body, even now. My back had skin folds, and my stomach was like that of a pregnant woman.

I also had stretch marks on my stomach, breasts, and thighs. One would think that it was impossible for a she-wolf to have, yet here I was.

Although I had taken a bath, I still didn't look good, that I knew, and the baggy pink dress I was putting on didn't match my white hair or my light brown eyes.

"Ugly," I muttered to myself and then looked up and met the Gamma's gaze.

He stood with a few warriors and the Beta, looking my way. He smirked and then muttered something into one of the warriors' ears.

The warrior chuckled softly before he gave a bow and went to where the Alpha was standing.

"Excuse me, Alpha, I apologize for interrupting your conversation," he said with a bow.

The Alpha looked at him in annoyance, then sighed softly.

"What is it?" He asked coldly.

"I and the other warriors want to praise you for all your achievements and how amazing you are with Miss Leah," he said in a respectful tone and continued.

"I do understand that you have an important announcement coming up, but the Gamma and a few other warriors were wondering if you could allow us to make one of the weak Omegas our fun bait for our entertainment," he said as my heart picked up.

For a second, the Alpha looked bored, but when Leah tip-toed and whispered something in his ear, his face lit up.

"Fine, but I'll expect you to be back in an hour. Now if you will excuse me, I have something to do," he answered and then wrapped his arm around Leah's back and walked away with her, leaving everyone laughing at how horny he was.

My heart was hurting at their words, yet I forced myself to smile even when my wolf was whimpering.

I looked down and sniffed, trying so hard to push back the tears.

When I felt the atmosphere around me change, I quickly looked up and noticed how the warriors were approaching me. I desperately wanted to run away, yet their aura scared me enough to freeze in one place.

"What do we have here?" The warrior who had spoken to the Alpha asked.

I was able to ask them what they wanted when I was grabbed on each side of my arms and dragged.

I was about to scream when a loud, threatening growl silenced me. It was the Beta's and a warning to keep quiet. If I was to go against him, my punishment would be severe. I didn't want to be put in the dark room for nearly a month like they did one time in the past.

Not only was I starving to death and only allowed half a glass of water every two days, I was only taken to the toilet every three days with a blindfold.

It was so bad that I vowed to be on my best behavior since then because I nearly died from starvation.

"Please, I apologize for whatever I did," I pleaded.

"Shut up," came the Gamma's orders.

My wolf instantly submitted, but I couldn't shut up.

"Please," I sobbed.

A few minutes had gone by, yet they were still dragging me into the forest. I knew that even if I were to scream at the top of my voice, no one could come and save me.

They all hated me. The only thing I could think of was to prepare myself for anything.

"Is this far enough, Beta?" The warrior on my left side asked.

"Yup," came his reluctant response.

The warrior instantly let me go and pushed me forward with laughter.

"Listen up, you little worthless omega bitch. Right now, we are bored as well as pissed over the news we heard from Leah. So we will make this clear to you. In order for you to entertain us, we are going to give you a five-minute head start to run, and then we will take off after you," the Gamma said.

"If you manage to stay away from us and cross the river in time using a boat which is there, then we promise to leave you alone. But if you don't make it, then we will get to do anything we want to you. Now the time starts ticking," he said, and that was enough to send me off running.

If there was one thing we all knew in the pack, it was that the Gamma was very mischievous, and he never meant what he said because he enjoyed making pack members suffer.

Whenever he gave orders and someone failed to follow them, he literally found a way of killing them or making them disappear from the pack.

Me standing still would have only angered him enough to hurt me like I had witnessed before. I needed to cross that river as soon as possible.

My breath was labored, and my throat was dry. I felt weak due to overworking, and I was terrified for my life.

My wolf had a problem as well; she was so weak that she couldn't fully take over or allow us to shift. Even at a crucial time when we were being hit, all she could do was growl.

I couldn't understand what was wrong with her. But because she was still a great part of me, I embraced her very being.

"Little fat pig, here we come," I heard the Gamma say in our pack's mind link.

"Stay away from the open field," my wolf ordered as I instantly made a turn running towards a lot of trees. In my life, there was never a day I went to the border or river despite hearing about them.

I felt so confused as everything was new to me, and I had no idea where I was running to.

"River ahead," my wolf yelped, and I could smell it too.

I picked up my pace and rushed there. When the river came into view, I began looking around and slowed down.

I stood still, breathing heavily for a few minutes to catch a breath. After feeling much better, I began searching for the boat the Gamma had talked about.

"Move," my wolf ordered in a loud growl.

"Stop growling at me! You know how scared we are of the river!" I yelled back, then looked at the river.

"You know that we don't know how to swim. If we dive in, something might make us its food or worse, we could drown," I whispered huskily, then quickly turned when the growls sounded near.

The warriors, Gamma and Beta, appeared in their wolf form.

The more they moved closer, the more I moved backwards, shaking my head and pleading to them in fear.

The Beta growled louder, making the place slightly shake. I quickly moved backwards and lost my balance, falling into the river.

The first thing I felt was my nose and throat hurt as I tried to swim. I was swallowing water and trying to scream at the same time; my eyes were hurting, and my heart was hurting as the warriors' laughter filled my ears.

My throat felt like it was burning as the force felt like I was choking. I was terrified, yet I was losing my strength to swim up.