Chapter 12: Exposure
805 Words
The guards remained silent, their faces carefully blank. None of them wanted to admit that they had allowed Elena to hurt the princes' property.
Kael's patience lasted all of three seconds.
He moved to the bed and ripped the bottom of Lyra's dress with one violent motion, exposing the bleeding wound on her shin. The fabric tore away easily, leaving her leg bare and vulnerable.
Darius rose from his chair, his dark eyes blazing with fury. "Who did this?"
Elena's face had gone pale. She stepped forward, her voice trembling as she spoke.
"She fell," Elena said quickly. "On our way here. She tripped and fell. The injury is her own fault."
It was probably a bad idea to lie. It was definitely a bad idea to lie to Kael when he could smell fear the way others smelled perfume.
Kael walked toward Elena with that scary grin spreading across his face. The kind of grin that made predators look like children playing at being dangerous. Elena began to tremble, her entire body shaking as he approached.
"Repeat what you just said," Kael ordered softly.
Elena's mouth opened and closed like a fish pulled from water. Before she could speak, the door to the examination room opened.
The physician entered, carrying a wooden box filled with instruments and supplies. He was a thin man with gray hair and kind eyes that seemed completely at odds with the violence happening around him.
"Greetings, Your Highnesses," he said, bowing to each of the brothers individually. His voice was smooth and professional. "I trust you are all well? I heard about the recent pack you conquered. Impressive work, as always."
Kael held up a hand. "Elena, you will stay right there. Do not leave this room."
Elena nodded frantically, pressing herself against the wall.
Kael returned to his seat with dramatic flair, settling back like nothing had happened. But his eyes remained fixed on Elena, promising consequences.
The physician, apparently unfazed by the tension in the room, turned his attention to Lyra. He praised the Alphas for acquiring such a fine female breeder, his words making Lyra's stomach twist. Then he approached her, and his expression shifted.
He frowned.
"She is very pale," he said, concern crossing his face. "Why is she so pale?"
When the brothers did not immediately answer, Thad knelt beside the bed and examined the wound on her leg. He sniffed at the blood, his frown deepening.
"Does she not heal?" he asked.
"We are not certain how she sustained the injury," Darius said coldly. "That is why we called you."
Thad cleaned the wound carefully, examining it with professional precision. The infection was beginning to set in, and he worked to remove the damaged tissue before wrapping it in clean cloth.
"She will need proper rest and nutrition," he said. "The wound should have closed by now if she has any werewolf blood at all."
Lyra's heart began to pound. This was it. This was the moment everything would be revealed.
Thad continued his examination, checking her eyes, taking her temperature, asking questions she could not answer because of the gag. Then he moved lower.
"I need to conduct a vaginal examination," he said matter-of-factly. "To ensure she is suitable for breeding."
He looked at her expectantly.
Lyra could not move. The chains held her in place, and the gag prevented her from speaking. She shook her head as much as the restraints allowed, trying to communicate her refusal.
Thad looked at the guards standing around the room. "Hold her legs open."
Two guards moved forward. They grabbed her thighs and forced her legs apart, spreading her completely open for examination. Lyra tried to struggle, tried to close her legs, but their grip was iron.
She could not fight back. She could not resist.
She could only lie there as the physician probed and poked at her most intimate parts like she was a piece of meat on a butcher's block.
Tears streamed down her face. She could not stop them or hold them back. Every violation, every indignity, every moment of powerlessness crashed over her at once.
She was being examined like livestock. Touched like an object. Treated like she had no right to refuse, no right to privacy, no right to her own body.
Her eyes found Asher's across the room.
He was staring at her with a completely stony face, his expression blank and cold. For a moment, their gazes locked. She saw no sympathy there, no hint of the boy who had killed for her. There was nothing but distance and indifference.
He looked away first, turning his head to stare at the wall again.
And in that moment, Lyra understood. He had meant what he said. He no longer cared what happened to her.
She was completely alone.
- Writer
