~Dahlia's POV~
When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer in the Prince's chamber, and that I was in fact in my room, on my bed, naked and sore like I had been run through by a horse.
It felt blurry… almost distant, but I could still remember the previous night like it was the back of my hand. I could still remember how the Prince had taken me over and over again like some crazed animal, blissfully ignoring the fact that it was my first time. In the throes of our passion, he had bitten me under my left breast and professed his undying love for me, so it was a wonder that I was now in my room… on my bed, as if none of those happened, and now I couldn't help but wonder how I had escaped the king's situation. How he had managed to get them off me without my head being severed in the process.
Another thing I noticed when I stepped out of the room later that day was the hushed whispers and the snide comments fellow omegas threw at me. I had always been fished out as the odd one but today it was far from that. They hated me… and none of them could even bother with hiding it.
Ignoring the obvious hate emanating from them, I went out to the courtyard to do some laundry and I was just halfway into washing the basket of clothes that I'd been asked to wash when Madame Angelique strutted over, her piercing blue eyes blazing with fury.
"Dahlia!" She growled, her voice thunderous, "…what despicable thing did you do yesterday?!"
For a minute, I was stunned into silence. I couldn't say a thing nor move. I thought about denying whatever she must think about me but just as I opened my mouth to speak, flashes of the Prince's naked skin grinding against mine fleeted past my mind's eye and I gulped, dropping my head.
"I have no idea what you mean, ma'am."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a stinging pain on my left cheek, so painful that it had me staggering backward. It took me a moment to realize what had just happened— she had slapped me— and with tears in my eyes, I croaked out;
"What was that for?"
I saw Madame Angelique's eyes flash with rage. She grabbed a fistful of my hair, and using it to propel me forward, she pushed me to the floor, causing me to go headfirst into my large bowl of washing water. "That's for trying to seduce the Prince!"
Wait, what?!
Anger like no other rose like a bile in my throat. My first instinct was to defend myself but upon the realization that that would only make her even angrier, I sealed my mouth shut. In this case, I couldn't defend myself, especially not after everything that happened last night.
Tears spilled out of my eyes as she continued to hit me mercilessly and when she was done, she picked me up like a ragdoll, forced me to my feet and with eyes filled with contempt. She snarled; "Now the prince has left for his training so don't even think you can go looking for him!"
"I wasn't intending t—"
"Shut up and wash!" She snarled, interrupting me, but before I could say another word, she slapped me hard on the face again and turned away. Leaving me all to myself.
It wasn't until she was gone that I allowed the tears to flow freely down my face. I cried hard and for a long time, and it was not because I had been hit but because of my now tainted reputation. I cried because for some reason, the goddess had punished me by triggering my heat at the worst possible time and all the events that followed.
I bowed my head in shame as more tears poured out of my eyes and I was only snapped out of my reverie when I heard chuckles in the distance. I lifted my head just then to see other omegas talking amongst themselves whilst pointing at me, and I needed no soothsayer to know that I was the topic of their conversation.
I had hoped that they would only talk from a distance and would leave me alone, but with the kind of luck that I was currently suffering from, it was no surprise that my wishes were not granted as they soon walked over. I could hear their jeering even before they got to me, even their snickers and the harsh words.
Closing my eyes, I looked away from them as I tried to focus on the task at hand— which I wasn't doing so well— but they didn't get the hint that I wanted to be left alone as soon enough, one of them named Nadine, who was also a cousin to Angelique, pushed me hard, sending me sprawling to the floor.
"You whore! You think you stood a chance with the Alpha's son?" She spat, causing the others to laugh derisively.
"Of course, you don't! You're nothing but a whore! An omega! A far cry from the caliber of women the Prince would want to waste his breath on!" Another screamed in my face and I winced as pain shot to my back.
I didn't owe these girls any explanation and for that, I gave them none, even as they continued to call me names were so vile, even the devil would take notes and hit me everywhere their hands could touch. But I couldn't fight back, I was outnumbered so I laid there with tears in my eyes as they continued to hit me mercilessly.
Slowly, due to the pain, I began to slip into unconsciousness but they didn't stop even when I suddenly went limp.
At that moment, I could only wish for one thing… that I do not survive this day.
But I did.
I even lived to suffer even more torturous days.
*
5 years later.
In the past few years, only one thing has been constant in my life; pain. I have known and seen several kinds of pain ever since my encounter with the Prince all those nights ago, and to worsen matters, I was never vindicated.
Oh, sorry… that wasn't the worst of it all. The worst of it all is the fact that our one night together led to the birth of my daughter, Amara, and for some reason, the members of this despicable pack soon decided that she is to suffer the same fate as I did.
Alpha Logan, the Prince's father, was the worst of them all as he derived immense pleasure from mistreating my daughter and I, and sometimes, I couldn't help but wonder if he was like this to me as a way of punishing me for trying to 'seduce' his son or because he was just as certain as I was that my child belonged to him.
While other members of the pack believed that my daughter was a bastard— they had managed to paint me as a wanton— I knew better, and I am certain that the Alpha did too because I always saw the way he stared at her with a tinge of hate… and recognition. I always noticed the way he would brush his fingers over her hair, and the way he would yell out at me shortly afterwards.
One afternoon, he sent for me, and while I braced myself for the absolute worst, thinking that he was out to punish me as usual, I was shocked when instead he invited me into his office and asked me to sit.
My first reaction was a gasp. I feared sitting down on one of his chairs. I was too filthy to do that and he had made it his life's duty to always remind me of how filthy I was in the past.
With a thousand and one thoughts flying across my mind, I finally managed to croak out the one question that bothered me the most. I asked; "Why am I here, Alpha?"
The room fell silent as soon as I did and I watched him as he picked up a piece of paper, folded it in half before inserting it into a brown Manila envelope and then sealed the envelope with his saliva.
He sat up and with the usual hate in his eyes, he said; "My son is returning from training next week."
As soon as he said that, my eyes widened and my heart soon began to pound frantically against my chest. I wondered why the Alpha was telling me something like this, and now that I think about it, I finally realized that he's always known that my child was the Prince's.
He knew and he didn't care.
I frowned as he continued; "…And I want you to leave this pack before he returns. If by the end of the week I still find you around here. I'll kill you and I'll kill that filth you call your daughter. Do you understand me?"
A shiver ran through me as his words sunk in and when I looked up at him, I saw rage in his eyes. And a promise. A promise of agonizing torture. Right then and there, I decided that I didn't need to be told twice. I nodded.
"Yes Sir."