Chapter 1: A broken human

Mildred

From the moment I was born to an Omega couple in the terrible Red Moon Pack, it was clear that my life would not be easy.

And it got even worse when a rogue attack set fire to the pack. My parents died trying to save me.

As I grew into my teenage years, the absence of a wolf within me marked me as an outcast. Mockery and torment became the norm, leaving me feeling like nothing more than a broken human.

I was the girl they laughed at, and even when some of them had forgotten my existence, others insisted on torturing me.

"Look who's here! The sad human, aren't you ashamed to be a burden?" said Barry, approaching me and looking at me with disgust.

"Look how disgusting she is!" yelled some older guys, those closer to the Alpha who enjoyed violence.

"We should check if she's a woman..." The Beta's son came up to me to touch me.

"Don't come near me!" I said and slapped him and pushed him away from me. He knocked me so hard that I fell to the ground.

"She's a little bitch.... do you think you can hit me?" he said, laughing.

"She shouldn't be with us, all thanks to our Luna taking pity on her, the orphan without a wolf," said another. Possibly, she would never have one; she wasn't a real she-wolf.

Not that Luna had much consideration for me either; I was left in a faraway hut with only one friend, another Omega, Eileen.

She took pity on me, brought me food, and taught me a few things. But mostly, she brought me art supplies. She was gone for a few months, and I hadn't heard from her."

Suddenly, Barry came over and grabbed my leg to pull me up, trying to lift my dress.

"Hey... she is so ugly that... she must be a virgin... don't you think? And while I'm sure it's no honor... we should take her to Randy's to welcome him... you know, have fun with her. ," Ivan, Beta's son, said, and I felt the air go out of my lungs.

"I'm sure she's not even good for fun; she has absolutely nothing that looks like a woman; I'm pretty sure she is a little rat," said another, and more laughter broke out.

To my great discomfort, the Alpha's son had always been a very attractive, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, and like all the girls in the pack... I dreamed about him.

Not of being his mate, of course, but I imagined what it would be like to have a man like him look at me, to have someone look at me with different eyes.

Sometimes, I dreamed of him. Occasionally, I dreamed of things that later seemed to come true. But I was convinced that this dream was nothing more than an illusion.

Randall was back... since his older brother had died in a war the pack had gone to, he was going to inherit the position of Alpha.

He would be the top man, and he had no mate. It had been long since the wolves had found their true mates.

"At the end of the day... she'll never have a mate. Who would want a weak, orphaned, skinny, scarred human?" said Barry. Scars from wounds they had given me themselves.

There were times when they had thrown me in the river, beaten me, locked me in a closet... they all hated me. Now they had me on the ground and were kicking me.

"Leave me alone; I'm a pack member like everyone else!" I yelled, and Barry grabbed my neck as I kicked.

"Oh yeah? You think you're one of us?"

"What's going on here?" I heard a resonant voice and felt my blood run cold. Suddenly, I was released by Randall.

My crush looked much better than I had imagined. I hadn't seen him in years, and now he looked muscular, tall, and strong. He had to be a true Alpha, and he smelled delicious.

His friends waved and hugged him, but he stood still. He made a face of disgust when he smelled my stinky human scent."

"Mildred... the human," he said suddenly.

"Randy... we wanted to surprise you... the prettiest girl in the whole pack... just for you: Stinky Mildred!" said Ivan, and everyone laughed again.

"On several occasions, the Alpha's son helped destroy my paintings and watched as his friends beat me up and called me all sorts of names."

"What happened? Don't you want her, Randy?"

"No... of course not," the Alpha's son replied, staring at me, and he wrinkled his nose.

"She smells bad to you too, doesn't it? What happens is that Mildred smells like a human..." said Barry.

"What can we do?"

"I think... It must be a disease, don't you think? And some diseases must be eradicated at the root," said another.

Suddenly, I was lifted off the ground and tied up, and I watched as they quickly started to bring things in, "and when they locked me in my little hut, and I smelled smoke, I knew I was lost."

"Guys, what are you doing?" Randall asks.

"Please get me out of here....help!" I screamed.

I was terrified of fire; it had killed my parents, and I suffered from the thought of drowning or burning to death.

"The disease is stopped by fire," says Barry.

"Aren't you supposed to be one of us? If you were, you could easily free yourself and come out unharmed!" Ivan shouted, his words echoing as everyone howled in agreement. Suddenly, I began to cough violently, my throat constricting with pain. I thought I was going to die here.

"Enough, guys!" yelled Randall.

I was running out of oxygen as I felt the heat spread through my hut. My throat hurt, and tears came to my eyes. It was the end of me.

But then, suddenly, I found myself outside, surrounded by their mocking laughter.

"She's finally dead!"

"Nobody would miss stinking Mildred anyway!"

"Come on! Come on! Breathe!" I heard a voice close by, and when I took a breath, I saw that Randall was practically on top of me, giving me CPR and sighing in relief when I opened my eyes.

I was still coughing. And I couldn't talk.

Everyone else seemed disappointed that I was alive, and they left when it started to rain.

"Let's go, Randy...we've wasted enough time on her,"

They left me there as I lay on the ground, unable to move. The rain had put out the fire, and I was shivering coldly.

I saved what I could and crawled into my bed, dreaming that I was walking in the woods, running away. I didn't even cry anymore. What for?

But the next morning someone knocked on the door, and I was so surprised when I saw it was...

Randall?