Page 5 of Rejected and Pregnant by the Lycan King

I survived because of Amara.

No, Kylie. You survived because of you! You are strong and worthy of love. Amara is drawn to that,and someday soon,others will be as well.

My lycan always says these things to me, but I haven’t been able to fully believe those words. Every time I do, that’s when my father comes along and berates me for something I did or didn’t do.

It’s kind of hard to believe you are meant for something greater than cleaning a pack house when you are told that’s all you’re worth every day since you were a kid. You’d think I would learn to be more careful throughout my day to make sure everything is perfect and not give my father a reason to be angry. Mistakes happen, but to him, the demand for perfection was unmatched.

No one is perfect, little one. Not even your father. If he were perfect, he’d treat you like a daughter and not a burden.

The gentle caress of my lycan’s presence flooded through me. She needed me to know she was here for me, something I always loved about her. The comfort of her presence also brought on a wave of healing, loosening the tension in my shoulders.

“It’s hard not to think like that with a dad like mine.”

Amara poked her head out into the hallway, making sure no one would overhear me speaking ill of the alpha—something my father would punish harshly if he found out. Something I knew all too well.

“Well, the alpha doesn’t understand that what you lack in power, you make up for in heart. You care about the pack more than he does, for the most part. As you clean, you also leave uplifting notes for the pack for them to find—yet none of them know it’s you. You also make sure everyone’s favorite snacks are always in the cabinets and fridge, so no one has to go through a bad time without their comfort food.” Amara kneeled down to be eye level with me and wore a sympathetic smile. “I see you, my friend. You are so much more than what your father makes you believe. If it weren’t for you, this pack would descend into chaos.”

Oh, how wonderful would it be if that were true? I wasn’t the heart of this pack. My mother was, when she was alive, and until my father took a new mate, he was the heart—a blackened heart who ruled with an iron fist. Something told me if the king found the time to search the kingdom for his mate, maybe my father could do the same.

After I asked the king to transfer me, perhaps I could also ask him to urge my dad to search for a new mate. If my father didn’t want to make Ivy the luna of this pack, then he needed to find someone else. Soon.

***

After Amara helped me in the bathroom, I moved into the hall. The one thing my father did well was ensure the omegas were left to handle the cleaning and that certain areas were blocked off so we could do a thorough job before he let them back in. While I was in the bathroom, many of the pack seemed to mingle downstairs while the cleaning happened upstairs. After I finished in the bathroom, I could hear everyone throughout the house. I needed to work fast.

If time hadn’t been on my side before everyone moved upstairs, I’d be in for it. My conversation with Amara put me behind my usual schedule. I normally had the top floor completely clean by now. It was always assigned to me since my father’s room was on that floor. As I heard approaching footsteps on the stairs, I filled the bucket with water and soap and pulled it into the hallway to complete my last task on this floor. The gait of the approaching person made me tremble. This wasn’t who I expected to come up here at this time of day. This couldn’t be good.

I moved too quickly, twisting my foot awkwardly, and tripped over the bucket. My body crashed to the ground, and pain radiated through me from the fall. I grabbed my shoulder, which had taken the brunt of it, and then something cold and wet coated my side. At first, I thought it was blood, but then I realized it would be warm, not cold. I looked over to see the bucket on its side. What I felt was the cleaning water.

With my father coming.

And he hated messes.

“What is the meaning of this?” he snarled as he reached the top of the stairs. “What did you do?”

Shit. This was not good. It wouldn’t matter that it was an accident. What mattered was that I had made a mistake. Again.

When his claws dug into my scalp and I felt the pressure of my hair being pulled as I was dragged to my feet, my lycan surged to the surface to keep me calm. It didn’t work. My body shook as my eyes met my father’s brown ones, which were glowing gold with the rage warring inside him. I cast my gaze down to avoid provoking him further. My feet dangled off the ground, and my head felt like it would explode if he didn’t put me down soon. I couldn’t risk doing anything to piss him off further—one wrong move, and he’d hurl me down the stairs. My body had already been through enough. Between cleaning and then that fall, I didn’t need my father inflicting anything else on me.

“I’m tired of cleaning up your fucking messes. That’s twice in twenty-four hours you’ve done something to piss me off. Maybe you need more persuading to watch what the fuck you’re doing.”

When my feet finally touched the ground, I felt a little relief, but then my father yanked my hair and dragged me down the stairs with a fistful of my hair wrapped around his hand, knuckles white. I couldn’t tell which hurt worse—the hairs being ripped from my head or the pressure on my scalp from being dragged. Either way, my vision blurred with stinging tears that filled my eyes. I tried to lessen the pain by putting my hands on my father’s, but I heard him snarl in response. There was nothing else for me to do other than let him do what he wanted right then. I was at his mercy.

Which was the worst thing to be.

After two sets of stairs, my heart thumped louder in my chest than anything else. It was the only thing I could hear outside of my father’s growling. If anyone witnessed this, they wouldn’t dare help me. Anyone who got between the alpha and someone he wanted to punish ended up dead. We could only be heading toward the dungeon.

Unfortunately, I was proven right. When we reached the bottom of a near-endless staircase, I was swallowed by the darkness of the dungeon’s depths. My father dropped me to the ground, and I shook violently as I waited for the punishment. I knew better than to think this was over. This was far from over. His movements were fast, and suddenly, his hands were around my wrists, yanking me to my feet. I felt the rope scratch at my skin as it was pulled up above my head. Before I knew it, my feet weren’t on the ground, and the rope bit into my skin enough to draw blood. I dangled above the ground, and my shoulders screamed from the pain as I waited for what came next.

The alpha stepped into view, the yellow lights above glinted off his shaved head. The menacing look on his face made my blood run cold. His muscles rippled underneath his button-up shirt as he unbuttoned the cuffs to roll them above his elbows. I knew what this meant. If I wanted to survive, I needed to drift off into my happy place. He wouldn’t be satisfied with the results until I was unconscious. Sometimes, he threw a bucket of cold water on me to wake me up so he could start over again.

As I went back to that field and dreamed of my mate, who would take me away from all of this, I felt his fist connect with my side. I sucked in a breath, knowing that if I screamed, it would only send him into a worse fit of rage. If I wanted to live long enoughto meet the king and request to leave this pack, I needed to endure this.

A punch to my temple came quicker than I expected. I don’t know how much time had passed, but when I came to, I was in a cell at the end of the hallway. This was so that even if someone came down here, they wouldn’t see me, and I’d be stuck until my father came back for me. Who knows how long that would be? Days, most likely. The last time I was in here, it took him four days before he released me. I expected this to go the same way.

While tucking my knees into my chest, I curled into a ball to bring myself some warmth as I lay on the stone floor against the stone wall. The bars of the cage added to the coldness of the room, and my body ached as I moved.

4

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