Reclaiming Herself—Completed

Chapter Fifteen

Danielle.

Wincing at the slight touch, Danielle heard her omega apologize for the up-teenth time. She stared at herself in the mirror, her face completely devoid of all emotion. Her eyes looked dead. It matched how she felt. The omega was applying several coats of make-up to her face. She’d never worn so much in her life, but the bruises needed to be covered.

Her body ached. d**k had not been kind to her last night after storming away from the Summit. As he had promised, he chained her to his bed and abused her body. Thankfully, he’d forgotten about the threats on her omega’s life. He must have been too drunk to remember. She was also willing to admit to herself that she’d rather get a beating from him and even be taken against her will if it meant that he didn’t ask her to mark him. His neck remained bare from her mark.

“I’m done,” the omega, Kristen, said quietly. “You look beautiful as always, Luna.”

“Thank you, Kristen. It’s only because of your hard work, I assure you,” Danielle replied robotically.

She found herself totally disconnecting from the world most days. Though it hadn’t been ideal, Danielle at least had some fight in her when she was trapped in her silver cell. Having to see d**k every day and be in his bed took the will to live right out of her. Even now, knowing that her mate was alive and wanted her scared her more than she could handle. Before getting captured by Richard, Danielle had an ideal version of what being mated looked like. She couldn’t remember her parents' bond well, but she had seen the way her former alpha and luna interacted and wanted what they had. However, her only experience with any sort of relationship was with d**k and she had had more than enough. Perhaps if she could somehow escape…

“You look respectable, good,” Richard’s rough voice disrupted her thoughts.

Richard was standing behind her with both his arms on either side of the chair she was sitting in. He was leaning over her, looking at her through the mirror.

“You look much better than you did this morning. You should have healed faster. Work on that,” he continued. “No luna should take more than 12 hours to heal from the minor cut you got.”

Danielle only nodded and looked to her hands resting forcefully still in her lap. She knew she couldn’t say anything. It wasn’t just a cut he’d given her. She had practiced walking on the leg that only had a “cut” on it for over an hour that morning already to hide the limp. What Richard called a small cut was really a long, inch deep claw slice running from the base of her ankle to her mid thigh. Kristen had wrapped it tightly with fresh bandages after she’d broken the scab and bled through the first one. She was purposefully wearing bell bottom jeans today to hide the bulge of the wrap. He'd also given her a new black eye and swollen lip. Thankfully, the gift of make-up was truly powerful, and Kristen had natural talent. It was the only reason she was still alive at this point now that her other purpose had worn out from Richard’s men.

“I’ll have my witch look into why you aren’t healing like you ought to be. It hasn’t been a problem before, at least, not that I can recall,” Richard said. “But, we can’t focus on that just yet. The New Council Investigator is almost here, so you need to be on your best behavior and say everything exactly as you rehearsed.”

“Yes, master,” Danielle whispered.

“Tell me the story. And be confident like my Luna should be. Don’t disgrace me, you hear?”

“Y–yes, master,” she said with a stronger voice.

“You know what will happen if he doesn’t believe you, right?”

Danielle nodded.

“Good. It would be a waste to lose all my slaves and stock, but you should know that I’m not playing around, especially with how serious this could turn out to be. I mean, Danielle, I’ll let my men f**k every single female slave in this house in front of you to death if you f**k this up. Their lives will be on you. Their cries will be your fault. Make no mistake.”

“Yes, Alpha,” she stated, hardening her features and switching into a mentally detached version of herself.

“Tell me what happened last night from your point of view.”

“I was talking with some women and my mate when I realized I needed to use the restroom. So, I excused myself and asked an attendant where the bathroom was. She pointed it out to me, and I followed her directions. As I was walking down the hallway, my shoe caught on the hem of my dress, and I stumbled. Someone reached for my shoulder to steady me. I turned to thank the person, but instead, he shoved me up against the wall and pulled my dress up. I tried to fight him off and called for my mate to help, but he covered my mouth with his hand. He was very strong. I then heard his pants unzip and feared the worst. It was then that my dear mate showed up and saved me from the man. I’m very grateful to him for getting there in time before anything more serious could happen.”

“Did he r**e you?”

“Thankfully, he didn’t have the chance to enter me without my permission, but he intent was clearly there. Had my mate waited any longer, then I–I think–no, I know he would have.”

“Did you know the man you attacked you?”

“No, I’d never seen him before. I don’t know why he’d wanted to attack me. The only thing I can think of is that I was a woman, alone, in a dark hallway.”

Richard nodded, pleased. The only thing he disliked was that she needed to the phrase mate instead of his name. However, out of paranoia, his name sounded off coming from her lips. He chose the safer option by making her use the word mate instead.

“You’re ready. This is your story. This is what happened. Do not deviate. If he asks any question that we didn’t specially go over, say you don’t remember, cannot recall, whatever. Just, don’t answer. Don’t back yourself into a corner. He will try to poke holes in your story to prove the validity, so only stick to the facts. Only say what we’ve rehearsed.”

“Yes, alpha, of course.” Danielle replied automatically.

She watched as his eyes glazed over for a moment before saying, “He’s here. Let’s get downstairs to greet our Investigator.”

Danielle stood, using the chair and vanity to help her. She winced as she put pressure on her leg and earned a scowl from Richard as he noticed.

“Cut that out. You cannot show weakness. Do you understand? Her life’s on the line if the Investigator catches wind of this,” Richard said, pointing at Kristen.

Kristen’s face whitened in fear. Danielle tried to give her a reassuring smile as she schooled her features to remain passive as she took a few steps forward. It took everything within her to not scream out as bolts of pain shot up her leg. The only silver lining Danielle could think of was that maybe Richard wouldn’t carve into her body as much if she wasn’t healing. He couldn’t show her around if she was cut to ribbons. His thirst for her blood and seeing her in pain was starting to terrify her.

Danielle was moving slowly, and by the time she made it out of the room, down the stairs, and outside to greet the black SUV that had pulled up, she was fighting tears. Investigators were rumored to be highly analytical and very perceptive. She’d never met one before, but had learned from a young age that they were never good news. It was no wonder that Richard was so worried about the visit. If anything was off, he’d be the one to answer for it.

Surprising everyone, but mostly Richard, a woman stepped out of the car. She wore a smart black suit with a crisp collared powdered blue shirt peeping out. Her hair was a blonde pixie cut with longer-styled bangs that dipped over the right side of her face. To the naked eye, she wore no make-up, and her brown eyes partially hid behind her round, thick-rimmed glasses. The Investigator did not smile at those who greeted her.

“Alpha Richard. It’s been a while,” she said in a monotone voice as she gracefully approached them.

Richard cleared his throat and held out his hand for a handshake. “Yes. It has been, uh, some time. Welcome back to the Silver Sliver Pack.”

The Investigator ignored his hand and turned her attention to Danielle, who refrained from shrinking back into herself due to the intense stare from the other woman.

“And you’re the Luna?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Danielle replied.

The Investigator gave her a once over look and seemed to nod to herself. “You match the description. I am New Council Member Investigator Sharon. I will be conducting your interview about the accusations your mate apparently claimed happened last night.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“I guess. Where shall we go? Your office?” Sharon questioned.

Danielle’s eyes grew wide and she looked to Richard.

“Uh, she doesn’t have an office. You can use mine,” Richard said, caught off guard.

“She doesn’t have an office? And she is the Luna? That is very odd. I’d rather not use your office. Take us somewhere private, Luna Danielle. Take me to wherever is deemed your space.”

Again, Danielle looked towards Richard, unsure of how to answer. “H–how about out back? We have a nice garden.”

“Perfect. Luna Danielle, please lead the way. Just Luna Danielle. No one else is needed. Thank you.”