Struggles And Consolation

Eva's POV

My father wanted absolutely nothing to do with me.

That was clear when he asked me out of his home, but not before forcing me to renounce the pack oath, absolving me as a member of the pack and his household. I had begged him so many times to reconsider, but my father was never one to take back his words.

My sister, on the other hand, did not help matters. Instead, I'd say she was adding fuel to fire, giving my father more reasons why he should send me away.

I didn't blame her, she had always regarded me as the child that brought shame and disgrace to her family. Afterall, her home would have been peaceful if her father never found his mate, my mother, and impregnated her.

The first few days away from the pack were the worst. Starvation and exhaustion ate through me like larvae. Occasionally, a stranger would be kind enough to leave me leftovers, and other times, I had to scavenge food myself.

And don't make me tell you how.

Shame and disgust burned through me at what I was becoming and doing to survive, but did I have another choice?

At nights, I slept in parks, and when I was lucky enough, I would find one or two other rogues like myself, women who had been kicked out of their packs because they were in similar situations as I was and we'd huddle together.

I had thought I found sisters who I could go through stuff with only for them to leave in the morning.

I understood. No one wanted to be burdened with taking care of someone else when they could barely keep up with taking care of themselves.

I was about three weeks into living my life like this when beta Henry found me.

It was a hot afternoon, and I needed shade to shield my head from the burning sun. I had nowhere to go, except the pack bench I was sitting on. The forest was a no go, every green leaf around was a pack territory and the thought of what they'd do to a rogue such as myself if they found me anywhere near there sent a shiver down my spine.

Business establishments were a no go, most of them were in pack territories, and the ones which weren't did not want to see a rogue near their establishments. I could have gotten a room but I had no money and there was still the problem of being a rogue.

I had been contemplating my options when I felt that someone had taken the seat next to me. I stood to leave cos I knew what would be coming soon.

I had learnt the hard way a week ago when I stupidly sat where I wasn't supposed to and someone wanted to use the bench. I was a rogue, nothing in the werewolf community was supposed to be used by me.

And I wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Eva?" I stopped as I heard my name. turning, I was surprised to find Beta Henry.

"Beta Henry?" I gasped, glancing around to see if Alpha Trent was here as well. Did he finally come to his senses? Did he remember what happened that night and was here to make amends?

Unfortunately, I did not even see a shadow of him. I turned back to Beta Henry, lowering myself back down into the bench.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "I don't see you as a park person."

"Well, I'm not." He answered, handing me all the bags he was carrying.

My brow creased, looked like he just returned shopping. Did he want me to carry all of these to his car? Was he going to insult me like that?

I'd have been offended but I knew I didn't have a choice. I needed to do this if I wanted to survive another day. I should even be grateful he was sending me on an errand, it meant I was going to make money.

And money meant I could spend one night , maybe two , off the streets.

I collected the bags, glancing around the park for where I could find his car. When I didn't find it with my eyes, I turned back to him.

"Point me in the direction of your car." I said, standing up. "Did you change it?"

He stood as well, his brow knitting together in confusion. "Why do you want my car?"

I glanced down at the bags in my hand. "To keep these. I guess that's why you gave them to me? Well, my price is 20 dollars. I don't usually do odd jobs like this but…"

"Eva," he called, cutting me off. "That's not why I gave you those." He scratched the back of his neck, glancing at his feet for a second. "Actually, I picked them for you, and the baby."

I had been thrown off by his kindness. No one had given two shits about me ever since this happened, not even my family and he… I glanced at the bags again, almost tearing up.

We weren't even that close.

"Why?" I choked out. It was all the words I could speak while trying to hold back my tears.

He did not say a word. He just gave me some money as well and a few change of clothes before leaving.

I never saw him again after that but I never stopped thinking of him. He was my savior when I thought I was alone. The money he gave me took me far enough. I was able to pay for a room, run down and messy, but at least, I had a roof over my head.

The groceries he bought took me quite far as well and when those ran out, the money got me some more before I finally ran out of everything.

Still, he had been a blessing.

Sooner than I expected, I experienced my first labor and that was even more of a struggle. Not that I expected it to be anything less, given my history as a rogue now.

No doctors will attend to me. It's like I was a plague they were all running from.

"You need to be affiliated to a pack to receive treatments here." They said, ignoring the fact that I was probably two seconds away from moaning out my intestines.

"I'm in labor." I intoned; in case they couldn't see that. "I'm about to give birth."

"I'm sorry but we can't admit you here. You have to be –"

"Treat first, ask questions later." A voice said behind me. The doctor looked over my shoulder, and I was in too much pain to turn my head. "She is in labor, give her the fucking treatments."

I couldn't see who it was that came to my rescue again, but I could tell from his dominating aura and the way everyone scrambled about that he was a powerful man. Strong hand went under my arm pits, guiding me into one of the rooms where after several hours of moaning, pushing and grunting, I gave birth to a beautiful male pup.

"That's a beautiful boy you have there." A voice said, I turned to see the most handsome man, apart from Alpha Trent standing there.

His voice was familiar and from the way he was dressed and how he carried himself, I could tell he wasn't a doctor, yet he had stayed with me through out.

I tilted my head? "My savior?" I asked sleepily.

Before my eyes closed shut, I saw a smile filter on his face. "No, they just refer to me as Dale." His voice was a distant echo in my head as sleep rushed up to meet me. "I'm in charge of you now."