My Mate Is An Omega
Chapter 18

Caleb POV

"Caleb! Caleb, are you okay?"

The young she-wolf ran in my direction, but I didn't lift my face to look at her. From the corner of my eye, I could still see her beautiful wavy hair dancing in the wind. She was only fourteen, but her body had already started to develop; I couldn't help but notice her subtle curves through the thin white dress. I had to admit, she looked quite good for an Omega.

"Caleb!" she cried out one last time, throwing herself at me. I knew she was hugging me with all of her strength, but it wasn't a lot. She was so delicate, so frail, yet she still worried about me - the strong, powerful Gamma's son. "What... are you hurt?" She grabbed the sides of my face firmly, forcing me to look at her. I could fight her off if I wanted to, but part of me wanted to show her the damage that had been done. Part of me wanted her to see under the mask of the unbreakable boy I pretended to be. Her silky fingers traced my bottom lip, which had a deep cut - it was the only wound my rapid-healing body hadn't been able to fix yet. I winced when she brought her thumb closer to the cut, and she immediately pulled away.

"I'm sorry. What happened?" I would only meet my wolf in two years, but my heightened senses allowed me to hear the rapid sound of her heartbeat just fine. She was scared. For me.

Sitting on one of the benches in the ninebark garden, I turned my attention back to the view. At the highest part of the territory, it felt as if I were on top of the world. The immensity in front of my eyes made me feel so small and irrelevant. "Alpha Aiden banished my father from the pack. He left an hour ago," I finally revealed.

"Why?" she whispered in disbelief. When I remained in silence, she decided to change her question. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, I guess." I shrugged. "I'm glad the bastard is gone. He was a shitty a*s father anyway. I just don't get why the Alpha didn't turn me into a rogue as well. I'm his useless son."

"You're nothing like him, Caleb." The sincerity in her voice pulled me to look back at her again. She was so pure... so innocent. "You're kind, fair, and strong. You will be an amazing Gamma, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, right," I snorted, unwilling to dwell on the subject.

She seemed to understand, as she carefully sat down beside me to place her hand over mine. We were a million worlds apart; she was an Omega, and I was next in line to be Gamma. But she was still a valuable friend. Whenever she was near, she made my heart skip a beat. I wondered if the feeling would go away when I turn eighteen and replace my true mate. We remained in silence just enjoying each other's company for a while, until I heard her voice again.

"But wait. How did you get hurt, Caleb?" Her beautiful hazel eyes widened with shock as I looked away. "Don't tell me your father..."

Our conversation was interrupted by loud bangs. The world around me started to twist and shake as I faded into darkness. When I managed to open my eyes again, I immediately shot up in bed, gasping for air. It took me a few moments to realize I was in my room. Seconds later, the insistent knocks on my door were back.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" I recognized Cedar's voice on the other side. "Time to get up! The gym bathrooms won't clean themselves!" he called out. The amusement in his voice made me grunt as I covered my face with my pillow in annoyance. Once again, I had been dreaming about Caitlyn. In fact, they weren't dreams; they were memories. Boris would barely speak to me, but he kept projecting those echoes of the past to me, making it impossible for me to forget our rejected mate. It was his new method of torturing me, and he seemed to enjoy it very much. Although he didn't respond to me, I tried to convince him to stop a thousand times. I even started taking wolfsbane pills before going to sleep to weaken him. After every single one of my attempts failed, I just gave up.

Frustrated, I eventually forced myself to get out of bed before the Alpha barged in to drag me out himself. I picked up my black t-shirt and shorts from the floor of my messy room, throwing them on hurriedly. Not bothering to look at my poor reflection in the mirror, I walked out unceremoniously.

As soon as I got to the common area of the pack house, I could already hear pack members whispering as I walked past them wearing my usual frown. The people who once bowed their heads at me, now just giggled and stared. I heard Lacey had been spreading rumors about me after I ditched her, but I didn't give a s**t. The disrespect was infuriating at first, but I learned to deal with it, just like I dealt with everything else in my life. A scowl was usually enough to scare the fuckers away.

I got a little bit of peace once I made it to the warriors' bathroom at the gym. The mix of blood and sweat constituted a foul smell which was impossible to ignore. As usual, I grabbed the mop and started by cleaning the dirty floor.

After years of studying and training hard to become a Gamma, it was humiliating to do an Omega's job. Words couldn't possibly describe how much I hated it. Still, I knew I had been lucky. I had been acting out ever since I turned eighteen, and I was sure the only reason why Cedar hadn't demoted me yet was because he hoped I would change. He was in the room when his father banished mine after I was beaten for being the son of a weak woman, and he didn't want to see history repeat itself. He didn't want me to become a reflection of my a*****e father, but as they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I was weak like my mother, and a d**k like my father.

It all happened because of Caitlyn, I reminded myself. I was on the right track before I found out she was my mate, and if she didn't stand in my way, I might have actually managed to become a decent Gamma. However, when I realized she was my destined partner, it dawned on me; my sorry excuse of a father had been right about me all along. Even the Moon Goddess saw me as an Omega due to my mother's blood, which is why she decided to pair me with one.

For the past couple of years, I had been underperforming because of the stress caused by the awful realization. My first reaction was to get away from my mate, ignore my feelings for her in an attempt to pretend they weren't real, but it was impossible. My wolf craved for her - I craved for her. At some point, my love turned into despair, then into hatred. The Omega girl represented all the things I fought so hard not to become. If I gave into the mate bond, she would be my downfall; I would be in the same position my father put himself into when he accepted my mother as his mate. And I was adamant to prove everyone, including myself, that I would never be as weak as him. For a long time, I prepared myself for the day I would reject Caitlyn.

So when the time came, I knew exactly what to do. Yet, judging by the way life turned out for me, I guess the damage had already been done - my reputation had already been stained by her.

A few hours later, I was finally done cleaning the entire gym bathroom. The rumors were always worse when the pack members saw me do my walk of shame back to the pack house. As usual, I headed straight into Cedar's office, not bothering to take a shower first; if I had to go through this every day for an entire month, I would make sure he suffered too. The other wolves eyed me with curiosity as I made my way inside, probably thinking I was back to working as a Gamma, when reality was much worse.

The Alpha's gaze fell on me the second I walked through the door, closing it behind me. He crinkled his nose at my stench, but didn't say a word about it. I couldn't help but feel a little satisfied with his reaction. Unwilling to get into more trouble, I bowed my head at both him and the Elder, who was sitting right beside him. For the past couple of weeks, the two of them had been helping me daily to get Boris to speak to me again. Not only did he stop communicating with me, but he also refused to come out. I couldn't take part in training while I was unable to shift, and I couldn't be a Gamma unless I could protect the pack.

"Any updates on Boris?" Cedar asked, flipping through the pages of an old book.

"Still silent as the grave," I huffed. "Though he did call me stupid a few days ago."

"Well, can't argue with him." Of course, he didn't miss the opportunity to further humiliate me. I had to hold in a growl; whether I liked it or not, I needed his help. "Elder Floyd and I were discussing our next options while we waited for you. We don't have good news." Honestly, I wasn't surprised. "Since all of the methods we tried so far didn't yield fruits, we're down to our last resort. But I don't think you're gonna like it much."

"Just say what I have to do already." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Alright. Elder Floyd, can you please explain the process to our impatient Gamma?"

The old man frowned at me, but did as the Alpha said. "It is known that the wolf side will usually come out when his human counterpart is on their deathbed. It is the animal's instinct to try and fight for survival."

"Great. So what are you planning on doing? Torturing me?" The silence I got in response, as well as a small smirk from Cedar, made me frown. "Awesome. Whatever! If this will force the dumb wolf to come out, so be it."

"As you wish." The young leader nodded, already rising from his seat.

The three of us headed towards the dungeons, which were located on the south border of the territory. It was a stone structure with a few cells designated for prisoners - usually rogues, trespassers, or traitors. It was also used as an interrogation room, and where they kept tools for different methods of t*****e. Werewolves were tough creatures who didn't break easily, so a number of creative techniques had to be used in order to get them to speak. I couldn't wait to replace out what my kind Alpha had in store for me. Cedar and I walked to the center of the dungeons while the Elder watched us from a distance. Both of us removed our shirts to prevent them from getting stained - it was about to get very bloody.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked him hesitantly.

The black-haired man cracked his neck before raising his fists in an offensive stance. "I was thinking about beating the crap out of you." "Nice," I scoffed. "Bring it on, Alpha."

I held my head up high when he threw the first punch at me; I didn't even wince. Cedar's bloodline made him stronger than any other wolf in the pack, and I wasn't surprised to see he wasn't holding back. A strong pain struck me when he hit my nose, breaking it as he sent me flying across the room until I hit my back against the wall. His following moves were so fast I couldn't even comprehend what was going on.

Pain. Pain. More pain. After landing a few good hits on my face, he moved down my ribs and my stomach. I didn't need to look at my body to feel the bruises spreading. My bones were being broken, my skin was being torn open. A punch to my stomach knocked the air out of my lungs, and just as I instinctively opened my mouth in a desperate attempt to get some oxygen, he hit my jaw, instantly fracturing it. He didn't give me a break; he kept beating me until I was a bloody mess lying on the cold floor. "Anything yet?" he asked, standing on top of me. He waited for an answer for approximately five seconds until he noticed I wasn't physically able to reply. I could see him turning to the Elder from the corner of my eye. "It's not working."

"You should try something different." I heard the old man's voice, followed by the sound of something metallic hitting the ground beside us. My heart raced as panic took over me.

"Ungh...Wh..." I desperately tried to speak, but it was no use.

The next second, I felt myself slowly slip out of consciousness as something sharp dug into my stomach - the burning sensation told me Cedar was using some kind of silver blade. Allowing me no time to breathe, he twisted the knife inside of me, making me cough blood. Another blow to the side of my face brought me back, but I could barely open my swollen eyes. I wanted to scream as the blade was slowly pulled out, only to cause an agonizing pain as it carved another hole in my body. With the little strength I had left, I lifted one of my hands and wrapped it around Cedar's wrist, begging him to stop.

At the same time, I felt the bones in my jaw crack as they painfully healed. "E-enough..." I breathed out.

I wanted to sigh in relief, but all I could do was cough as the Alpha lifted himself off me. Never before in my life had I been in so much pain. My entire body ached, my skin burned, my head pounded. It was extremely hard to breath, and I was completely wiped out, both because of the beating and because of the energy I spent healing the countless injuries. Still, Boris didn't give any signs he was ready to come out.

"I told you, stupid," my wolf's faint voice was weak, but it made me open my eyes. "I'm not afraid to die. I'd rather lose my life than be tied to worthless scum like you for another second."

"You could have said that sooner," I spat, realizing I had gone through all of this for nothing.

"I wanted to watch you suffer. Just like you made me suffer when you rejected our mate." Those were his final words before retreating to the darkness.

Defeated, I looked up to replace Cedar staring at me with a neutral semblance. Not once did he try to lift me off the ground, or help ease my pain in any way. This man, who had once been one of my closest friends, didn't show any emotion as he watched me lie helplessly on the floor of the dirty dungeons, bleeding out.

"I have a feeling... you're enjoying the situation... much more than you should," I breathed out, my chest aching every time I tried to speak.

"Believe me, I'm not." His sincere answer confused me. "Don't get me wrong, you deserve the punishment after what you did. But it still pains me to see the situation you put yourself into."

Through blurry eyes, I watched Cedar turn around to leave as the darkness started to consume me. When I blacked out, I was completely on my own.