1
510 Kata
"Oh, come on, Summer, stay put! We can't have you showing yourself like this to our guests."
Rhys's voice cut through my thoughts. I stood in our bedroom, wearing the silk dress I'd picked out carefully for his birthday party. Hoping maybe tonight would be different.
"Rhys, it's your big birthday party tonight!" I pleaded. "I should be there with you—"
"Are you incapable of understanding a simple request, huh?"
His voice had that edge now. The one that came before his hands did.
"Do you want another torture? Or do you want me to lock you in the basement again?"
The smirk on his face made my stomach turn. The basement. Always the basement. Like father, like husband.
I shook my head quickly, hating how easily fear made me small. My body was already exhausted from all the torture I'd endured over the past two days.
"I'm your husband. My word is the law, Summer!"
The word *husband* tasted wrong. It tasted like broken promises and shattered dreams.
"But…I have the right to be there…"
Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. I had no rights here.
"Say that again!"
He grabbed my hair, yanking hard. Pain exploded across my scalp. My eyes watered but I wouldn't cry. Not yet.
"Listen here, you b***h. I can't have my guests, especially all the Alpha's pack leaders, seeing you. You're my disgrace. A worthless barren wife!"
*Barren.* The word carved through every defense I'd built.
"And because of you, I didn't get crowned again this year! It's all your fault!"
"Rhys, there's still hope. The doc said that I—"
"Shut the f**k up, Summer!"
His fingers clamped around my chin, squeezing until I tasted copper in my mouth.
"Or else you'll regret it!"
"Rhys, darling, we should start getting ready."
Luna Jocelyn appeared in the doorway, watching with that cold smile that never reached her eyes.
"Hold on, Mom..."
Rhys shoved me hard. I hit the marble floor—palms scraping, knees cracking against expensive Italian stone. Fresh blood bloomed across my back where old wounds hadn't healed yet.
"Today's your special day," Luna Jocelyn said softly to her son, her hand gentle on his shoulder. "Don't let your mood be ruined because of this stupid wench."
She looked at me with pure contempt. I watched from the floor as she touched Rhys with real love—the kind mothers gave their children.
I used to have that once. Before my mother died. Before I became nothing.
"Mom..."
"Rhys, we don't want to be late for the party starting in half an hour, right?"
"Okay, Mom… Can you help me give her some medicine? Her wolf is weak right now, and she won't be able to cure herself."
He walked out without looking back. He never looked back anymore.
"Don't worry, darling. I will take care of this bitch."
Luna Jocelyn's heels clicked toward me. She pulled out a small bottle from her fur coat.
"Drink this. Rhys doesn't want you dead yet."
- Penulis
