No POV:

It was 6:00am on a Monday.

The members of the Ineritus Pack were awake and bustling round the grounds of their building. Out the windows, beyond the rectangular lands of the pack, was the lifeless barren grounds of the rest of the Underealm. Unknown creatures and entities lurking in the shadows.

On the grounds used for training, outside the building, Dark and  banished shifters, trained their physical strength and agility, pushing themselves to brutal limits to gain strength and power. Inside the building, the few females walked around chittering like hyenas, spreading the days usual round of gossip. Due to their scarce numbers within the pack, the males gawped at them as usual, making them blush and giggle. 

As the three girls walked down the corridors, they came across the house's servant. A skinny, 5"7 girl. Since she was old enough to use a cloth, she was put to work all around the house, cleaning and cooking like a slave.  Despite everyone in the pack already being the rejects of society, and those looked down on, the girl was still treated like an object.

The three female Shifters, Amelia, Rose and Adele, walked up to the girl and loomed over her. She was on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors and skirting boards. Adele, the most high pitched one of them all, started speaking in her naturally maddening voice,

Adele: Heyyy Mutt

The girl turned around. She was visibly exhausted, the dark circles around her eyes deep, and at least two shades deeper then her actual skin colour. Her hair was tied into a messy bun, and all tangled and knotted. She glared at Adele intensely, without standing up, and with as much energy she could muster, she said,

Alaia: My NAME, is not Mutt. it's ALAIA.

Adele rolled her eyes and laughed dryly with the two other girls, she turned back around and said,

Adele: Well you don't need a real name, do you. why name something that's just here to clean, cook and serve?

Alaia was fuming, fists clenched. but today, her energy was already drained and it was only 6:30am. She unclenched her fists and hung her head, looking at the shining floor, embarrassed, upset and tired.  Adele smirked.

Adele: Exactly, that's what I thought.

Adele nodded to Amelia, who proceeded towards Alaia. She raised her foot and suddenly send it crashing down towards her back. Alaia let out a loud cry of pain, and fell forwards, she landed on her hands, arms shaking and threatening to give way, sending her face hitting against the floorboards. The three girls laughed sadistically and walked off, arm in arm. Alaia stood up with much struggle. She brushed off her hands and trudged towards the sink.

Alaia's POV:

I walked towards the sink and ran the hot tap. Slowly I put my hands underneath the running warm water, gently rubbing off the dirt and soothing the cuts and breaks in my dry skin.

Every time

Every fucking time I see those three bitches that roam the halls, they spew some sort of rubbish into my head, and hurt me in one way or another. I used to fight back. I used to try and defend myself from the physical and emotional damage thrown my way. But the consequences of it started to outweigh the benefits, so now I just have to deal with it. I'm going to eventually try and find a way to escape this godforsaken place one way or another. I doubt it will be soon though, I need to figure out how.

On the weekends, i'm allowed to sleep from 12am - 5am. But weekdays? 2am - 3am. Last night I got punished by Marcel. The main man that makes my daily life living hell. I tried to fight back and stand up for myself. Bad choice. The result got me sunk into a deep hole.

The night before- No POV:

Alaia slowly walked to Marcel's office. She knew exactly what was about to happen, so those 10 steps it took to reach his office, were precious. Eventually, she arrived outside the dark brown mahogany office door. Slowly, she raised a shaking hand to the door, she took a deep breath in attempt to brace herself from what was about to happen, not that it worked much. Before she could knock on the door, it came swinging open. The 6"2 looming figure of Marcel appeared before her. He was only 25, but looked much older then he actually was, scars and wrinkle lines on his face. His rough, unpleasant voice knocked Alaia off of her train of thoughts,

Marcel: How long are you going to stand there breathing Mutt?

'Enhanced leopard hearing, of course, stupid'. Alaia mentally scolded herself for her actions, then looked back to Marcel, before she could try and say something to possibly help the situation she was gripped by the front scruff of her tattered t-shirt. Marcel held her in the air with one hand, and slammed the door closed with the other. He threw her to the floor in the corner of his office, and started yelling at her,

Marcel: Who the fuck do you think you are Mutt? You tried fighting back one of the Females. Rose has a broken nose now!

Alaia was fuming at him defending Rose, when she started the fight. She started speaking without thinking about it, forgetting who she was talking to.

Alaia: She kicked me in my bloody stomach! How-

She wasn't given an opportunity to finish her sentence. Before she could continue a hard slap landed round her face. Marcus yanked her up by the arm so she was more level with him, he bent down and growled out through gritted teeth,

Marcus: Don't forget your place. All you are, and all you will ever be, is a Freak. You got Rose to the floor without touching her. Literally. You think that's a good thing? 'Marcus laughed mockingly'. Then you've got another thing coming for you. Even your mate, if he finds you, will automatically reject you, because lets be honest, who wants an ugly freak for a mate? No one. I rejected my mate, because she was weak, and puny. You remind me of her as a matter of fact.

Marcus threw her back into the wall, delivered her a swift punch to the stomach before saying.

Marcus: If your injury hadn't healed, now it definitely won't, for a while. You'll have a visible mark to remind you of your worth, and you'll maybe think twice before trying to hurt someone again.

He threw Alaia back out his office. She hit the wall behind her and fell to the floor in a heap, and  Marcus slammed his office door closed.

Back To The Present- Alaia's POV:

I instinctively put my hand to the bruises on my stomach from yesterday. It was almost healed, and the marks were faint. I was so lost in thought I didn't realise the now scalding water raining down onto my hands. I quickly retracted my hands from in front of me, turned the taps off and dried my hands with a rag. I had to be quick and get back to cleaning, as if everything was not done on time, and to a high enough standard, especially after what happened yesterday, Marcus would really be mad. I continued to dust and polish counters and cabinets in the kitchen, sighing, deep in thought as I wiped and wiped. I glanced outside momentarily.

The few strong females who chose to, and most of the males, were training, following instructions from the head Shifter. I wished I could train, actually be strong and be able to defend myself. Sometimes, I secretly did a few basic attack and defence moves. Making sure I wasn't completely defenceless in the face of danger, I practised in my room. Well, cupboard, it wasn't really a room. It was an old, mouldy cupboard. A thin mattress in the corner, a piece of cloth you could barely call a blanket, and a few pieces of wood, nailed slanted onto the wall for my few possessions I had. The clothes I had were either hand me downs from some of the female Shifters, or clothes I had managed to secretly take from the laundry. Anyways, I trained sometimes in my room, in human form of course.

I don't remember shifting into my Leopard. I vaguely remember once when I was getting beaten quite badly by Marcel, I accidentally force shifted, and attacked him. That's how he got the claw scar down his neck. But after that incident, my punishments and how I was treated got worse, so I didn't dare shift again after that. It was before I was 16, so my fur colour to show my rank hadn't formed yet. I sometimes wonder what my fur would look like now, that i'm 16. I sometimes dream that I shifted and my fur turned out to be gold, and I was a Royal. I was never given an education, and part of that was because I grew up here, but still. A few information books or scripts wouldn't have hurt growing up. But I know a few things about life away from the Underealm. Having picked up bits and bobs from eavesdropping on others and snooping through papers. But anyways, that's just a dream. You just have to accept the present and move on. There's no point thinking about impossible things.

Dreams aren't real....

~To Be Continued~