8. Rain

**Rain**

I lay in bed, looking at the ceiling. This is how I mostly spend the days. I don’t even try to get up or to speak to the others.
After my ‘rescue,’ I have been brought to the Black Ruby Rogue Pack, where, despite all my protests, they healed my body. When I saw that they didn’t listen to me, I stopped talking to them. Why bother when no one listened to me, anyway?
When they gave me a room, I just got into bed and just looked at the ceiling. At least twice a day, some werewolf will come to check up on me. I guess they want to know if I am still alive. Jokes on them. I am dead. Finite. Caput. Adios. It’s my stupid body that keeps on living.
And for as long as I have been here, Safia stopped talking to me. I know how much she loved Titan and losing him affected her very badly. So I am alone with my thoughts and memories to haunt and torment me day after day after day.
I hear footsteps behind the door and listen, hoping that whoever it is won’t come into my room. But my hopes are crushed the moment I hear the door open. I close my eyes, pretending I am asleep. With a bit of luck, he or she will leave fast.
Then I scent him. Sandalwood and coconut. The most annoying person in the whole world—Caleb freaking Black. And the Alpha of this place.
Suddenly, the comforter is pulled off of me. I ignore him, still pretending to sleep.
“Who the hell died in here?” I hear him say in a sarcastic voice and I snap my eyes open, and I look at him. “When was the last time you showered?” Caleb asks. I try to remember. Days? Weeks? Can’t remember. I don’t care to remember.
So I just look at him for a few moments.
He is wearing a black gym suit. I wish Safia would show me his expression because, except for his black hair, I have no idea how he looks. Well, he is tall, around 6’3, and well built.
“Glad to see you are still alive, Red. Time to get up!”
“Rain not Red!”
“Rain, Red, same thing! Come on, time to go outside. You have been mopping inside for about four months. It’s enough!”
Four months? I haven’t seen Jordan in four months. I wonder how he is. If he still hates me.
My heart feels like being ripped apart the moment I think about Jordan and I try to grab the comforter and pull it over my head, but Caleb just throws it on the floor. I growl and then curl into a ball and ignore him.
Caleb pulls my feet and I start kicking and trashing. I am sure I hit him because I hear him grunt.
“You kick hard for being just an Omega!”
Just an Omega? I am sick of people making fun of me because I am an Omega.
“Leave me alone, you asshole!” I yell.
“This ‘asshole’ happens to be your Alpha!” Caleb says in an angry tone.
After I got better, Caleb and the other rogues decided I was part of the pack. Never asked me if I agree. So here I am, part of the Black Ruby Rogue Pack.
“I don’t care! I never asked to be part of this pack!”
“Well, you are and you are going to do as I say!” Caleb growls at me. “First, you are going to start with a shower!”
Caleb disappears in the bathroom, and I hear him turning the shower on. I close my eyes, already tired. I am about to fall asleep when Caleb pulls me up and throws me over his shoulder.
“What do you think you are doing?” I yell.
“I am getting you in the shower, Red! Then you are going to eat and then you are going to train with me!” Caleb yells back.
“I don’t want to train! I am tired!” I protest.
But Caleb ignores me and takes me to the bathroom, and makes me stand under the shower dressed.
“You asshole!” I scream at him.
“Shower, Red! You have five minutes!” Caleb says and turns on his heels, leaving me alone in the bathroom.
I stand there, under the water, not doing anything. Warm water falls down my head while I sit down and wrap my arms around my legs. My mind wanders off, and I think about Jordan, like usual.
I miss him so badly.
“Red! Shower! Or else I will get in there and wash you!” I suddenly hear Caleb’s angry voice through the door.
“You would not dare!”
The door opens, and Caleb enters.
I stand quickly, “Fine! I am going to shower! Just leave!”
He looks at me for a few seconds, with an expression I can’t see—I wish Safia would help me.
“Three more minutes, “Caleb says in an irritated tone and then leaves.
I take the wet clothes off and I take my time in the shower, hoping that by the time I get out, Caleb is gone.
When I am done, I grab a bathrobe, put it on, and get out of the bathroom.
The moment I enter the room, I see Caleb looking around my room. If I would find it in myself to care, I would be ashamed about the state in which my room. Dirty dishes and clothes are on the floor, and my bed is a mess.
When he feels my presence, his head turns in my direction.
“I had the impression that Omegas liked to be clean. But you must be an exception,” Caleb says to me.
I shrug, “No one invited you in here.”
Caleb growls. Loudly. I think that at another time I would have felt fear, but now I don’t feel anything.
“I told you, you have three minutes to the shower. You stood ten. Next time, I am going to make you run around the Rogue Village as many laps as minutes you were late,” Caleb growls.
“You are a bully!” I tell him and he snorts.
Caleb points at some gym clothes I hadn't seen when I got out of the bathroom. They are pink, and pink is so not my color.
“Get dressed!” Caleb says in an irritated tone. “I will wait for you in the hallway. You have ten minutes to get dressed and to dry your hair.”
“You really like to order me around!”
“I am your Alpha, it’s my job to order people around!”
“More like Alpha-hole!” I mutter under my breath.
“Five laps around the Rogue Village! Get dressed!” Caleb growls at me and goes to the door.
“Five laps for what?”
“You know damn well for what!”
Before he leaves, I look at the clothes and say in a low tone, “I hate pink! Why couldn’t you bring something in dark colors?”
“I didn’t ask you if you like pink. I told you to get dressed!” Caleb says before closing the door behind him.
Goddess! I can’t stand this male! He is so full of himself! And more importantly, why can’t he leave me alone?
I look at the bed for a minute, debating with myself if I should just ignore Caleb and just get in bed and sleep.
I was about to do just that when I hear Caleb’s angry voice coming from behind the door, “If you get in that bed, I am going to get inside and drag you outside and make you run in that bathrobe!”
I start changing while I mutter as many foul words as I know. When I am dressed, I look at my hair in the mirror but it is so tangled and so full of knots, and I don’t have the energy to take care of it, so I leave it like that. To be honest, I don’t care what my hair looks like.
When I open the door, Caleb is there waiting in front of it, with his back leaned on the wall and his arms folded.
He looks at my hair for a few moments but says nothing. Then he looks at the clothes I am wearing, “When was the last time you ate?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly.
It wasn’t that the rogue pack is starving me, it’s just that most of the time I didn’t bother eating. I would eat only when the female that brings me food forced me to eat.
“Are trying to starve yourself to death, Red?” Caleb growls at me.
“Why the hell do you care?” I growl back at him.
He stares at me for a while before speaking.
“You think you are the only one that suffered? That got abused? Have you even bothered to look around you?” Caleb yells at me.
I don’t reply because I haven’t.
“Have you, Red?”
I am about to say something when a scent of pine tickles my nose. I turn and see a male with brown hair.
“What’s with all the racket?” he asks. Then he sees Caleb and says, “I should have guessed it was you, Caleminator.”
“Could you stop calling me that? It’s Caleb!”
The male ignores Caleb and looks at me, and says in a sweet voice, “You finally got Sweet-Cheeks out of the room. I am Conon, but you can call me Lover-Boy. I am the Beta of this jerk.”
Did he just call me Sweet-Cheeks?
For a moment, I don’t know what to make of Conon.
“Can you stop flirting with every werewolf you see?” Caleb asks.
“Why should I? Besides, Sweet-Cheeks smells so delicious. I bet that she even tastes like ca—” Conon says and Caleb growl. Loudly. Conon puts his hands in the air, “All right! All right! No need to show me your fangs!”
Caleb looks at me, “Let’s eat something before we start training.”
“Are you really going to make me train?”
“Do I look like I am joking?” Caleb asks me in a serious tone.
“Can I train with you?” Conon asks, and I say ‘yes’ while Caleb says ‘no’. Conon laughs.
“Let’s go, Red! I already lost a lot of time with you and I still have a lot to do until this day is over,” Caleb says in an irritated tone.
“No one asked you to lose your precious time with me!” I snap at him.
“Ten laps around the Village!”
I turn on my heels, wanting to get inside my room because there is no way in the world I am going to run that much when Caleb grabs my arms and drags me after him.
“Hope to see you again soon, Sweet-Cheeks,” Conon yells after me, while I try to keep up with Caleb.
“The faster you start working with me, the better for both of us,” Caleb says while he takes me to the kitchen.
When we get inside the kitchen, an older Omega male, that smells like chocolate, greets us. First Caleb and then he looks at me, and in a happy tone he says, “You must be Rain. I am glad to finally meet you. I am Blade.”
“Hi!” I say.
Caleb makes me sit at the table while Blade prepares us breakfast. And then I find myself staring at a plate full of bacon, eggs, and toast.
“The food won’t eat itself if you keep staring at it,” Caleb says while he gobbles down his food.
“I am not hungry,” I say.
Caleb growls, picks up my fork and knife, cuts the bacon, and brings it to my mouth.
“I can eat on my own!” I say and grab the fork from him.
“Then eat!”
I force myself to take a few bites of bacon and toast before I feel full. I stop eating and push the plate away.
“If you don’t like it, I can make you something else,” Blade says.
“No, thank you! The food is amazing,” I say, and I am not lying. “It’s just that I am full.”
“If you ever want to eat something specific, don’t hesitate to tell me. I will be glad to make it for you,” Blade says to me.
Once I would have jumped with excitement if anyone told me he will make my favorite food. But now, I don’t care.
“If you are done eating, let’s go, Red!”
I stand and follow Caleb outside, and for the first time, I see the Rogue Village. I stop to look around for a moment.
Ten big, tall houses and fifteen small ones are built in a big clearing. A thin blanket of snow covers the ground and the roofs of the houses. Some pups are playing in the snow, building some snowmen. Even some adults joined in, playing with the pups.
If I wouldn’t be so dead inside, I think I could appreciate the beauty of this place.
“What month are we in?” I ask.
“In five days it will be 1st of December. Come on, Red. Let’s go running,” Caleb says.
A chilly wind starts to blow and I look at Caleb, “I am cold. I want to go inside.”
“Once we start running, you will forget about the cold.”
I protest for a few minutes, but Caleb drags me after him, forcing me to run. After the first lap around the Rogue Village, I am ready to fall to the ground. Eventually, I stop running.
“Keep running, Red! You still have eight and a half laps to go!” Caleb says.
“I can’t run anymore! My feet hurt!”
“That’s because you are out of shape because you keep mopping over a jerk that rejected you!”
“Fuck you!” I growl at Caleb.
Caleb looks at my body, and then at my face, “Sorry to break it to you, Red, but you are not my type.”
“Good! Because I can’t tell you how much I dislike you!”
“Glad that we agree on something for the first time since we met,” Caleb says.
“If you dislike me as mush as I do, then why bother with me?”
“I have my reasons, Red. Now keep running!”
“I can’t!”
“Sure you can! And when we finish running, you don’t have to see me until tomorrow.”
“You mean I have to do this tomorrow too?” I ask in disbelief.
“Tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on. Now run!” Caleb says in an irritated tone.
I resume running, hoping that once I am finished, I can get back to my room and get in bed and just stay in there forever.
Caleb forces me to run a total of five laps before he looks at his watch. He stops running and looks at me, “We are done for today. I will see you tomorrow at 7 AM.”
And then Caleb walks away, leaving me alone in the middle of the Rogue Village.
I start to drag myself towards the Pack House, thinking of the moment I can get in bed and just lay there when a female with black hair approaches me. She smells like roses.
“Hi! You must be Rain! I am glad to finally meet you! I am Sarah!” she tells me.
I look at her for a few seconds before resuming walking. I don’t want to talk to anyone else.
Sarah starts walking next to me, “How about I help you with your hair? I am the Pack’s hairstylist.”
“I don’t care about my hair!” I say. “I don’t care about anything! I just want to be left alone!” I yell.
I can feel how all the werewolves that are outside turning their heads and looking at me. Tears fall down my face and I hurry to the Pack House.
Sarah keeps walking next to me, “You will feel better when your hair is detangled and properly brushed. I can make you some French braids. You will look lovely.”
“Why can’t you leave me alone?” I ask.
“Because I know how it is to be you,” Sarah tells me.
I stop for a moment to look at her. I wish Safia would tell me Sarah’s facial expression.
“You do?” I finally ask.
“My soulmate, he abused me for a year before he finally rejected me. On the day he rejected me, he beat me so badly I thought I would die. And I would have if not for the Rogue Pack. They took me in and helped me heal.”
I am taken aback by what Sarah told me. And also, I am glad that I found someone to understand the pain I am going through.
Sarah waits patiently for me to speak.
“I would like it if you could help me with my hair,” I finally say.