Silver Blood

One

(Aria's P.O.V.)

The pain, it's too much. I feel the sticky wetness of my blood oozing down my tear-stained cheeks. I have long since given up trying to scream for help, it does no good. No one cares......they never have. I'm a runt, I am nothing.

The man standing above me is as bad as Satan himself, weilding a blood spotted baseball bat poised to strike. His ripped jeans are spattered crimson with my blood along with his bare chest. Throughmy heavily blurred vision I can see the malicious smile spread across his face, drawing the eye to the scar across the left side of his "perfect" features.

I have lost count of how many times I have layed on this cold, damp floor over the past week. Everything I do is a misdeed: walking too fast, being late to meetings by mere seconds, and most of all looking the Alpha directly in the eyes. It's been like this ever since my mother was killed during the battle against another pack that apparently went off the map years ago. As if my world wasn't already broken enough. Why he does this to me.....I wish I could say I knew that answer. Maybe it's my runt blood. The daughter of a beta is expected to be strong, strong enough to protect the pack when needed. But me, I am weak. Weak to the point of humans. I'm not a fighter, I can barely lift half of my body weight let alone hold my own against a rogue or worse....a witch.

My infraction this time, the reason I'm a bloody heap on the ground, is all because of Naomi. Who is she? The pack slut.....oh I'm sorry, I meant the most amazing person in the known universe. Or so she tells everyone. I know better though. The only thing she's ever been good at is fucking guys into getting anything she wants. Honestly, I'm pretty sure she's slept with almost every male pack member.....maybe even a few females. It's like the stench of sex is permanently attached to her disgustingly slender body. All I did was point out something any idiot with half a brain could see.

It was in the kitchen of the pack house. Marcus, the omega's son, was standing proudly in frontof his fellow meatheads bragging about something, his latest conquest no doubt. Boys are disgusting. I flipped my light brown curls over my shoulder and used my wolf hearing to catch their conversation.

"Man guys I''m telling you there is NOTHING that chick won't do in bed!" Marcus said.

"Eh think she'd let me try her on for size," one of the meatheads said, winking and grinning at his friends.

"Hell yeah," yelled another. "Naomi is so easy all it takes is a few bucks!"

The grroup laughed loudly while I just scoffed and rolled my eyes. Of course they're talking about Naomi, every guy this side of the country has had their "magical" night with her. The guys must have heard my huff because three heads turned in my direction, smirking.

"What's a matter Aria? Jealous it wasn't you I was fucking senseless?" Marcus asked coyly.

I glared at him, imagining taking a knife off the counter and slicing that idiotic smirk right off his face. "In your dreams Marcus. I just find it interesting how proud you are to fuck a girl half the males in the pack have already had. I mean who knows what diseases she's carrying, might want to get yourself checked, pal."

That wiped the smirk off his face, I thought with a grin of my own. But my victory was short lived because Marcus's eyes widened, staring behind me. I turned around and found myself face to face with a fuming Naomi. She had a murderus glint in her hazel eyes.

"You know, Aria, it's really rude to talk about people behind their back," she growled, grasping the front of my shirt.

There was no way I was backing down, not this time. My brown eyes met hers with a smirk. "What's wrong Naomi can't handle a bit of the truth? Are you so much of a slut that you can't see past your own filth?" I spat with venom.

A look of shock washed over her features before I felt a sharp sting across my cheek. The guys behind us gasped, while my face contorted with pure rage towards Naomi. I ball up my hands and swing my fist at her face, but before it can connect a warm hand closed around my fist and squeezed tightly eonugh to cause pain. I gasped and looked up finding myself looking into the icy blue eyes of Alpha Jackson. Everyone in the kitchen bowed their heads, including Naomi,but not before I saw her triumphant grin.

"Aria Blackwell, do you know that fighting in the pack house is forbidden or have you forgotten the rules!" Alpha Jackson boomed, making me flinch in fear.

"I-I I'm sorry Alpha," I said weakly.

"There is no excuse for this kind of behavior. You will come with me immediately for your punishment, and if anyone else has something to say then they can gladly join you," he said glaring harshly at the others, daring any of the to challenge him. But of course no one would. Who would want to fight a losing battle?

I hear the loud crck of the bat as it breaks in half from the force of hitting the floor. Everything hurts. The pain is excruciating. I can't move, can't breathe without writhing in agony. Even the smallest movement is death. I seea dark abyss looming toward me becokning me in. I happily comply and go forward letting the darkness pull me in with long black tentacles.

I faintly hear Alpha Jackson's footsteps leaving the room, before I succumb to the bittersweet blackness and go numb.