ELARA'S POV

I heard the sound of my cell door opening again, it never ended nicely whenever my cell door was opened.

I had started getting used to expecting pain whenever I heard it being opened, maybe today would be different, I thought to myself.

There was a guard standing there with a light and he said to me "You. Up".

I tried standing up as carefully as I could because my whole body ached from Yvette's assault.

I stood on my feet and my legs trembled, but I knew I had to be strong or it would even be worse. The guard turned and started walking, I walked behind him and tried to keep up to his pace.

"Please. How long have I been here?" I was hoping he would reply to me because he was the one that brought me bread and water daily. 

I didn't hear a word from him for a few moments.

"A week," he said. I guessed rightly then, he had given me food for 6 days, it was hard to keep track of time in the dungeon, it was underground and morning or night didn't make a difference.

He walked briskly and I lagged behind and then we eventually got out of the dungeon and we went out through the back entrance of the pack.

We kept walking for a few minutes and then he stopped. I felt relieved because I wasn't sure how much longer I could walk.

"Here, you have been ordered by the Alpha to transport these rocks from here to there" he said, pointing at the other end of the pack house.

I thought to myself "that's the whole other end of the pack house, how will I do this?"

"But...I can't do this, I wouldn't be able to do this..please" I didn't even know why I was begging, I knew my pleas would not be heard.

I knew this was a punishment from the Alpha, but I physically couldn't do this, there were a ton of rocks and the distance was so long to cover. 

"Failure to complete everything by nightfall and you will be whipped 20 times" he said strictly, before walking off.

What the hell? I physically couldn't do that, I was never too strong, I could clean and wash for as long as I could, but I doubt I would even be able to lift these rocks. 

I shed tears again, this was becoming too much, I knew it wasn't necessary but the Alpha just wanted to punish me, for what? For being his mate?

I had cried so much these past few days my eyes hurt.

I couldn't do this, but I had to try, I had been whipped before and I really didn't want to relive it.

It was a few years ago, I stole bread from the kitchen and I was caught, I was whipped just 5 times and I couldn't walk for days after that, the scars were still on my back. I was treated once a day, because they didn't want to lose the cleaner of the pack, it was hell for me. I shuddered at the thought.

I decided it would be best to try and move them rather than get whipped. So I got to work.

I walked closer to the pile of rocks and noticed some were smaller than the others, I decided to start with the small ones, there were no tools to work with, only my bare hands.

I took one look at the pile again and bent down to try and lift one of the smaller rocks, it didn't budge, I tried again and after a while, after straining every muscle in my body, I finally lifted it and held it close to my body, I slowly pulled my legs and walked to the place I was to carry them to. 

It took me a few minutes, and when I made it there, I was panting and out of breath. 

I felt someone looking at me and then I turned back and saw the Alpha in the distance, I stared at him for a while, thinking of how cruel he was and then I decided to get back to work.

I took my eyes off him and when I looked back, he was no longer there. "Even better" I muttered to myself. But other people still had waited around, watching me, this was public humiliation.

I made it back to where the pile of rocks were and I bent to pick up another rock.

Rock after rock, walk after walk, hours had gone down, I hadn't been given food or water and the pile of rocks still stood tall, daunting.

I couldn't move my legs anymore, my arms were heavy and it was almost dark. I knew I wouldn't be able to get it done today.

"I shouldn't have even tried" I said, tears started falling again. I was getting sick and tired of crying every damn time.

I just stood there, motionless, I knew I couldn't finish before time, so I resigned to my fate.

As tears fell, my knees fell to the ground and then the fear of the whipping started creeping in.

A guard walked up to me and said "you will be flogged if you fail to complete this task"

I had no words, I knelt there crying helplessly. I know I had tried my best and I tried to numb myself.

After a few moments, another guard came and picked me up. I was carried to where I would be flogged, my hands and legs were tied to a large rock I hugged.

I had been numb the whole process, wondering and thinking.

Then I heard the whoosh of the whip, slicing through the air.

Whack!!

It came down hard and unforgiving on my skin, I could feel my skin break, every bit of numbness I had fled away, I could feel everything, every nail on the whip, the coldness and hotness of the whip.

My eyes widened in desperation and I started struggling against the ropes.

"No...no please" I screamed, that was just the first whip, I had 19 more to go.

The second one came, even more unforgiving than the second.

I screamed for my life, every fiber in my body burned.

Then came the third, the fourth, up until the 10th and I knew I couldn't take it anymore.

I had lost the strength to scream, I raised my head and saw people looking at me, some of them had pitiful looks on their faces. I saw the Alpha in the distance, looking at me, expressionless.

I couldn't move, I couldn't say a word, I could only cry and my eyes hurt now.

The next whip came down on my back, and the minute I felt it, the same minute I blacked out.

THIRD PERSON POV

18 YEARS AGO

The forest had always known her, even before she knew herself. In the pouring night, occasionally brightened with flashes of lightning.

A sound was heard from the woods.

"Did you hear that?" One of the guards said to his partner.

"Hear what?" His partner replied.

"That. Listen carefully, it sounds like....a baby" the first guard said.

The second guard strained his ear and listened carefully, and truly, piercing through the storm and the thunder, a loud shrill cry could be heard, far into the woods. His eyes widened.

"Who could have left a baby in the woods?" He said to his partner.

"I don't know, should we check it out?" The first guard replied.

The second guard nodded and they started walking towards the sound. 

They tried sniffing their way, but they couldn't get a scent of a wolf, and the rain only threw off whatever scent they tried to pick up. The rain quenched the fire from their torches but they moved on anyway.

After some minutes in the pouring rain, the crying sound became clearer and nearer and then a few feet ahead...a baby, wrapped in robe, at the foot of a tree.

Their eyes widened in shock, there really was a child here, and a new born at that.

"We have to report this to the Alpha immediately" the first guard said while kneeling to pick up the baby soaked from the rain, the minute he cradled the baby in his arms, the crying ceased.

Both guards didn't hesitate and ran towards the pack house as fast as they could.

He watched from the trees as they picked her up and ran off towards the pack.

"That should do for now" he said, and disappeared with the rain.

.......

"Alpha, there are two patrol guards outside, they say they have something important to report" the beta said to the Alpha.

Alpha Tyran. That was his name. Alpha Kane's father.

"Let them in" he grunted. The beta nodded and walked away.

A few seconds later, both guards walked in, drenched from the rain, with the baby in hand.

The Alpha looked them up and down. "Who owns the child?" The alpha asked, his face stern and emotionless.

"Alpha, we don't know, we found the baby crying near the pack border" the first guard said.

"Hmm... and no one was with the child?" He asked.

"No one sir" they responded.

He stood up and walked towards the child.

"She has no scent" he said.

"Take her to the pack healer, have her examined and given to the maids"

"Yes sir" they said and walked away.

A few moments later, the beta came to the Alpha with the results.

"Sir, the healer has had the child examined, it seems the child has no wolf, neither is she human, because she doesn't smell like a human" the beta said.

The Alpha's face wrinkled, this was a strange occurrence, but it didn't matter to him.

"Keep her with the maids, she is of no use to us, but there is no need to dispose of her".

The beta nodded and walked away.

The years passed and Elara grew in the pack, she had no initiation ceremony because she was regarded as an outcast, less than a wolf.

She tried to live away from the eyes of others, but they always found a way to taunt her. That has been her life in the pack, from one cruelty to another.

Nobody cared she was alone, no one cared she had no family. The ones that didn't torture her or taunt her simply...ignored her.

They wouldn't lift a finger to help when she was being abused, and she had grown accustomed to that, for a while, she decided it was peace, and had decided to live that way, up until now.

PRESENT DAY.

ELARA'S POV

"I survived", the words left my lips the second I regained consciousness, but I didn't think I would be able to survive much longer.

My hands reached to touch my back and I felt something wrapped around my torso. My wounds had been tended to.

Was this an act of mercy? Or just a way to prepare me for whatever was next? These thoughts ran through my mind.

I let out a loud cough, my whole body ached. I didn't know how long I had been unconscious for, I needed to find out and I needed water too.

I tried to reach for the cup of water but my body ached so badly and I could feel my wounds opening up again.

Fresh tears flowed freely down my cheek. I might have cried these past few weeks more than I had cried in my whole life altogether.

I had always tried to be strong, tried to survive being in the pack, hoping that it would make me feel less of an outcast, hoping it would make me more accepted.

I had hoped being in this was a test of my strength and I was ready to go through it all and be strong to live.

But I couldn't anymore, more tears rolled down my eyes as I stared in the dark.

They had always regarded me as an outcast and I would forever be one in their eyes.

There was nothing I could do to change their minds at this point, it was clear as day, no matter what I did, no matter the effort I put in. I would always be an outcast, because I didn't have a wolf.

The cold breeze blew in and I felt my body shiver and goosebumps all over my arms, I tried to shelter myself from the cold but my wounds just opened further. I bit back a cry.

"I am an outcast in this world" I said loudly, I could no longer hold back the tears and I sobbed bitterly.

And then, in the silence, in the midst of my cries.

I heard it.

"No, you are not an outcast", the faintest of voices said.

There it was again, the voice that had spoken to me earlier, only now, I could recognize it, the voice was female.

ELARA'S POV

I looked around frantically, as much as my back would allow me. Trying to find the source of the voice. 

"Who is that?" I said into the darkness. No reply.

"Please, tell me who you are? Are you here to help me? I pleaded. Silence again.

"Please, whoever you are, I need your help now more than ever. I can sense you, I can sense the cold before you speak, please tell me who you are?" I asked while straining my ears to listen.

After a few moments, I knew I was not going to get a reply. The voice decided when to talk to me. 

This dashed my hopes, I had thought I had someone, anyone, looking after me and assuring me. 

"It must be my mind playing tricks on me, I guess" I resigned.

"But what if there actually was someone to help me, how would they even get in and get me out of here?"

I chuckled sadly to myself at the realization that I might just be doomed to a life of suffering and maybe. Death.

I was scared for whatever plans the Alpha had for me. I am scared for my life.

"I don't want to die yet" I sobbed. I didn't know how much more my body could take, I could still feel the bond, it was faint but it was there.

This cursed bond, I wish I could rip it out and die from the pain, instead of suffering.

"Why is the bond still in place even after the Alpha rejected me?" I thought to myself, maybe I had to reject him too.

Okay. I'll do it.

"I, Elara Cornell, reject Alpha Kane as my mate, I don't want anything to do with him and I want the mate bond gone" I said, and waited. A minute passed, two, ten. Nothing happened. I felt for the bond, and it was still there, unmoving, mocking me.

This bond made me vulnerable to the Alpha's attacks any my rejection didn't do anything to it. I had never heard of this. I truly truly hoped the Alpha was trying to severe the bond. Maybe then, I could plead for my life and he would let me go.

A few hours had passed, my back felt slightly better, slightly, I tried to sit up and get the water I needed, it hurt like hell but I had to, I needed to have a drink of water.

I used my hands and pushed myself up from the straw bed, slowly but surely, I couldn't sit up fully yet so I stretched my hands and picked up the cup of water.

A sliver of joy ran through me at completing this small task.

I greedily drank from the water, it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

A blinding pain flashed through me. "ahhhhh" the cup fell from my hands, hitting my bed with a thud.

This pain. It was back. I remember the pain, it was from the night Yvette was with the Alpha.

He was probably trying to punish me through the bond since he couldn't punish me physically without risking me dying on him.

How cruel!

I didn't want this. I hate him, with every pain I felt, my hate for him only just increased.

With each anger I felt, my disdain for him increased. I had never felt this strongly toward anyone, not even when the bond snapped into place. 

But now, I was ready to get rid of this, I didn't want to feel this. 

He had no right to have this much control over me.

I don't know how but I could feel the pain and reach into it  and I could recognize it.

Tears brimmed at the corner of my eyes, I didn't want to feel this pain, I didn't want the alpha to have such power over me.

I didn't want anyone to have such power over me.

"I don't want to feel this pain" I whispered, but I meant it from my guts

In my heart, I reached for the pain, with my mind's eye, I reached for the bond.

"I don't want this pain" I said, stronger and louder this time.

I could see the bond behind my closed eyelids, it glowed and looked like it burned, I reached out to touch it, my fingers grazed it and the light dimmed.

The pain reduced to a low throb.

I sighed in relief.

I didn't know how, but the bond had been weakened.

I slowly turned to lay on my front because I didn't want my back to hurt from the floor, my eyes were starting to close.

I suddenly felt tired. I lay down and my eyes fluttered close as I drifted into a painless sleep.

The bond had been weakened.

This was my last thought before drifting off to sleep.

......

I was dreaming a happy dream.

In a field..with flowers...I danced round happily, looking at somewhere so beautiful.

The place smelt so wonderful.

Was this how death was? I thought to myself.

I knew I was dreaming but it was starting to blur.

I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and saw nothing, just an endless field of flowers.

I turned back and I saw the bond, burning, glowing.

I wasn't scared of the pain anymore. I wasn't scared of the bond.

Then I heard the voice again.

"Reach out to it, touch it"

This time, I didn't question the voice or turn around to look for the source.

I smiled, reached out my hands and touched it and it immediately felt cool to the touch, no longer burning.

I heard the same words again in my dream.

This time not from me.

"You have weakened the bond, Elara," she said.

I smiled. Happy in my sleep.

I knew waking up to reality and I would be met with only darkness and pain.

So I held onto this peace as long as sleep would let me.

Because when I woke...the darkness would be waiting.