TEGAN’S P.O.V
I awoke from my sleep. The vibrations of my bedroom door slamming into the wall as it was opened roughly. The moment I opened my eyes, my father was already across the room, yanking my closet door open while tossing all my clothes out and onto the floor. I sat up abruptly, confused at what was going on. Before I knew it, he was grabbing my arm, yanking so hard I could feel a pop in my joint as he dislocated it from its socket once again. Pain coursed through me, yet no words left my mouth. I could feel the tears as they were brimming the edge of my eyes, threatening to fall. I looked up at his face for any sign as to what might be happening. His expression is only blank.
“You’re leaving today.” I read from his lips as he tossed my weak body onto the ground.
“Gather your shit and come to the dining room.” He said before storming out of my room.
Where could I possibly be going? I barely remember ever being allowed out of the pack house to roam the lands, let alone go outside of the pack lands. The only time I have seen any outsiders is when there is an Alpha meeting and they come here. I, however, have never left before.
I sat up grabbing my shoulder as pain once again coursed through my body. This wasn’t the first time I had been hurt, and I doubt it will be the last.
My name is Tegan Declan, the daughter of Alpha Drake Declan of the Red Blood pack.
I am a werewolf, or at least that’s what my family is. I haven’t received my wolf yet. As wolves, we are supposed to get our other half at the age of 18, but I am now 20 and I have yet to receive one. My father states it is because I am useless and not worthy of having a wolf.
I have the senses of a wolf, however, meaning my sight and senses are impeccable. My hearing, however, is still gone. I was born deaf, which was also uncommon with werewolves, but my ability to sense another’s presence was well above other wolves’ senses, even without my hearing. I made sure to never tell him or any of the other pack members about that part, aside from my caregiver.
Having the bloodline of an Alpha made it also uncommon to not have received a wolf yet, unheard of really. But I know in my heart that she is there, she must be. Maybe she was just hiding from all the trauma I endured in my short life. I hold on to that hope because I have nothing else to hold onto for myself. I am already different from everyone else with my inability to hear; this just makes it even worse. I’m not sure of the answer as to why I have yet to feel my wolf's presence. Helena, my caregiver, calls it being a late bloomer, while everyone else calls it unworthy. Helena has been the only light in my dark life. The only person that truly cared for me. My heart aches that my father and pack hate me so much, I never did anything to deserve that kind of treatment. At least, nothing that I could have controlled.
They all blame me for my mother's death, who was their Luna. I was the last of my siblings to be born, making me the third child in the Declan family, being the only female. However, my birth brought a traumatic ending to my mother's life. She hemorrhaged while giving birth to me. The doctors did everything they could but nothing they did could save her life from what Helena had told me. To top it off, I was born with the disability of not hearing. My father always says being born with this ability makes me useless. He would always state that if we were to be attacked, I would die due to not being aware of my surroundings. I was no different from anyone else aside from not being able to hear, but that never stopped them from treating me cruelly and hurting me any chance they had.
While lost in my thoughts, Helena came in switching off the lights on and off to let me know she was there. Something she always did so it wouldn’t startle me.
“You shouldn’t keep your father waiting.” She signed with me.
Helena was the one who helped me learn sign language. We learned together as a way to communicate. Nobody else cared to learn, they didn’t care to communicate with a degenerate like me including my family.
A sigh left my mouth as I clutched my arm. I used my eyes to look between Helena and my dislocated shoulder since I couldn’t sign.
“He dislocated your shoulder again, didn’t he?” She signed to me, her eyes showing how hurt she felt. I shook my head up and down in response. Helena came over to help.
“This is going to hurt.” She said without signing. I have come to be an expert at reading lips, especially since nobody else would learn sign language. Helena grabbed a discarded shirt and put it in my mouth for me to bite down on. She then counted to three and at three she pulled my arm, rotating it around the shoulder joint to pop it into its place once again. Tears began to fall freely down my cheeks as I bit down extremely hard on the shirt. The pain was overwhelming and hurt without any sedatives.
“There, better?” Helena signed. I then used my hand on the non-injured arm as I balled it into a fist, shaking it up and down for yes.
“Do you know what is going on, where am I going?” I then signed to Helena. A sad look on her face at the question. That can’t be a good sign.
“H?” I signed. It was the way I signed her name. Only a deaf person could give a hearing person a name in sign language from what Helena said. I went with a simple H which is signed by holding out your dominant hand horizontally, palm facing in, with your index and middle fingers held out together, straight and stacked horizontally, index at the top. The rest of the fingers and thumb are curled in. She shook her head as tears started to slip out.
“I can’t say, your dad wanted to tell you.” She then signed as she began to gather my hand-me-down clothes from my half-sister. My dad remarried shortly after my mom passed away, stating that “the pack needed a Luna". He married a widowed woman with one daughter of her own. She was the same age as me. I had longed for a sister, but to no eval she treated me like everyone else, shattering my hopes and dreams of ever having someone other than Helena.
I shook my head and headed downstairs while she remained upstairs gathering my clothes. When I made it to the dining room, a woman no older than 40 with long raven black hair, olive-colored skin with soft green eyes was standing there with my father.
“Ah, she is a beauty indeed, she will do.” The woman said as she shook hands with my father. The lady then handed over a pen with which he used to sign a document. The lady then signed it after him while another person signed below both of their signatures before stamping it. I assume they were notarizing whatever document it was, making it a legal agreement.
As I inched closer, my father looked up to me.
“Perfect, you’re here. This is Lilyanna, the former queen of the werewolf kingdom. You will be going away with her now.” He said with finality written across his face. What does that even mean?