LUX

4. Friend

|| vote, spread world peace, love one another 

  ~**~  

"I just don't understand how she's doing this. We've stuck her in a silver cage and injected wolfsbane. How can this happen?" I hear the hushed tone outside my cell.

I've been stuck in here for months but they've all blended together. There is no light coming into my cell so I don't know if it's day or night. This building is quiet, no one ever comes in here except the young warriors who were tasked to guard my cell. One comes in every so often to inject my arm with the milky white substance that weakens the wolf inside.

I fought him the first few times he came in here, refusing to go down. The first three times he needed to call in extra help from two other warriors to hold me down while he shot me. Slowly my wolf weakened and it only took one warrior to hold me down and inject me. They're weakening me. The food they bring me is scarce and the little amount of water I receive every few days is put into a  bowl so I have to drink it like an animal.

I'm curled into a ball in the corner of the cell, careful not to touch the walls. I may be physically weakened but my mind is not. I spend my time in this cell thinking about my past life, about how it was when I was with my mother, not the woman who gave birth to me but the woman who raised me. She expected so much more of me, she always told me I was made for more. She had so much faith in me.

I try not to think about that as much, but when Gleneth brought her up a few days ago, all I could think about were the words she would tell me. 

It's no secret my wolf is stronger than others, she makes her presence known and she puts fear into those who try to put her down. She is no doubt a queen -- but I am not that.

I think about one of the last conversations I had with my mama before she brought me to this forsaken pack. She explained the story of the man and the woman who tried so hard for a boy and ended up with a girl – me. It's taken me time to realize this. I thought the story was fake for a very long time -- every time I would be punished, my brother would be fine. I reconsidered these thoughts when my brother's scars matched my own.

Not only did he bear the marks of the two whips but of all the whips I have ever received. If this story was true to its word, my brother is feeling everything that is happening to me now. Meaning, the effects of starvation and wolfsbane – a plan that is back fired.

"How is it that he is getting weaker than her?" another hushed voice asks. "It's becoming impossible to break this wolf – she's too strong."

I have to come back stronger this time. My father will not be able to bring me down without harming his precious heir. The one they all hate, they have no choice but to save.

The role is my birth right, no one else's. I must prove to this pack that I am their true leader, their true Alpha. My brother can train as much as he would like but he will never be as strong as me. He will never be able to lead the pack as I can. A beta is his true nature, he will stand proudly at my right side and we will lead.

"You two!" A familiar females voice calls. "Have you no brains? You're not only killing her. Go see the Alpha's son, see what you are doing!"

Gleneth.

"But Gleneth, the alpha has told us not to leave. She needs to be supervised." The first man says.

"And what is the girl going to do? She's curled into the corner, for moonsake. Go, away I will fix this mess." The healer orders.

I can hear the faint sound of keys being passed and the two men walking away.

They are there every day. They think I cannot hear them but I do, it's a faint reminder that I am not completely alone. I hear them speak of the state of the pack, my father has become a tyrant. Families keep their kids inside, teenagers are forced to spend more times training, and females are forced into domestic jobs and not allowed to train.