Reclaiming Herself—Completed

Chapter One Danielle. ***Mature content throughout the chapter. Read with caution. s****l trauma and abuse.*** Blood mixed with sweat mixed with tears slid down her face. She grunted as yet another slice of the whip opened a fresh cut on her flesh. She ignored the cruel grin of her capture. She ignored the slanderous remarks, and the way he looked at her body. She ignored how aroused he became as he sliced her open time and time again. Instead, Danielle Johnson focused on the feeling of when the sun hit her skin on a warm, summer day. How she would dip her toes into a pool to cool herself down. She focused on the smell of freshly baked cookies, and how that smell could fill the entire room and make her mouth salivate. She focused on the things she would do after she tore the sorry excuse of a man who was torturing her to pieces. She was a waif of the person she used to be. Before finding herself in the Silver Sliver Pack being tortured by its alpha, she had been fun-loving and full of life. Her fiery red hair matched her personality. She prided herself on being a pack warrior at the young age of 16, growing her fighting techniques and skills and honing her body to be a lethal weapon. She was well-muscled and slight, but she certainly packed a punch when she wanted to. Her mocha skin only made her bright red eyes stand out further. However, all that had changed when he ruined everything good in her life and stole her away. She spat out a wad of bile, blood, and saliva onto the floor and gave the man a challenging glare. “Is that all for today, alpha? All you can stomach? You’re going easier on me than yesterday. Get your fill already?” she taunted. She watched as his face turned red with fury. He stormed over to her and grabbed her by her curly hair, pulling backwards to expose her neck to him. With both of her arms outstretched and chained to the wall behind her, she knew she couldn’t stop him even if she wanted to. But, she still had her words, and with them, she could manipulate this asshole, even if it meant more pain for herself. Danielle held onto this power because it was just that–a power over the alpha that had captured her. His kind was the scum of the earth, which is part of why she was so defiant against him. Alpha Richard Degrano, or d**k as she so lovingly called him, took everything away from her. He took her pack away and enslaved her friends, family, and pack members. She had been forced to watch d**k behead her alpha, the only man she had ever looked up to as a father figure. Danielle assumed that she would eventually be sold along with her pack sisters; however, even after a year, he still seemed as interested in her as when she first arrived. “Do you think this is all a game, my little wolf?” he breathed into her face. Chuckling mirthlessly, Danielle said, “I’d have to willingly participate for this to be a game.” Richard took a deep breath in, taking in her scent. “How you tease me,” he whispered. He then stuck out his tongue and licked up one side of her face. She grimaced in disgust, and he only laughed with pleasure. He pushed her against the wall, the chains pulling hard on her wrists and cutting into them. The silver hissed against her raw wounds. Richard unbuckled his belt and pulled out his erect p***s, pressing it against her. Danielle swallowed hard and closed her eyes. This was worse than the torture. He kept her in the nude for these moments when he couldn’t resist her any longer. She took no pleasure from him forcing himself upon her. Richard slid the tip of a knife blade down her torso. “Look at me. I want to see those beautiful red eyes of yours,” he commanded. “No,” she replied defiantly. Letting go of her hair, he grabbed her face in one hand and slipped the blade into her skin in between two of her ribs. “I said, look at me,” he repeated, his voice dangerous. Danielle kept her eyes shut and feigned a smile. “Make me.” Richard jammed the knife all the way into her, and she gasped in pain. He was the reason she didn’t double over from the excruciating feeling because he was holding her up with his hand. It was a moment later when she felt him go inside of her. Danielle clenched her hands into fists as he pumped clumsily. He was never any good. She waited for him to get it over with, disconnecting her mind from her body. Danielle took herself to a safe place that she had created within her own mind. It was the only place she thought she could be safe now. Safe from Richard. Safe from the pain. Safe from her own memories. This was her life, and this is how she believed she’d die. After several dragging minutes of him grabbing onto her body, her hair, her dignity, Richard grunted one final time and climaxed. He sighed, content. He then kissed her roughly and left her, slamming the door to her room, which was just a glorified cell. The sound reverberated off the walls, and she knew that she’d seriously pissed him off. The silver dagger still protruded from her abdomen. It would not have a chance to heal until he or a servant removed it. Her cell was windowless, so she had no idea how long it would be. Usually, they’d unchain her from the wall during the night to let her rest and heal from the session with Richard. That was her only indication she had for time passing. Feeling something wet on her cheeks, Danielle rubbed them on her shoulders. It took her a minute to realize that she was crying. Taking a few breaths, she calmed herself down and waited and waited and waited. Finally, a male servant entered. It was Caleb, and she sent him a rueful smile. “You really did a job of it today, Dani,” he said quietly, releasing one of her wrists. “He’s in a fury. Beat a girl to death and then practically another because he’d forgotten he’d already sold her. Now he has to come up with some story about how she was diseased and offer the guy another girl. What did you do?” “Denied him the only thing he can’t take away from me. The usual. He was already in a mood when he got here. There wasn’t any foreplay. The d**k went straight to whipping the s**t outta me,” Danielle replied, massaging her wrists after Caleb freed her. They were screaming in agony. But, that was nothing compared to what she was about to feel. “Ready?” Caleb asked, gripping onto the handle. She nodded, and he yanked. Danielle let out a scream, and Caleb had to steady her as she swayed. She definitely hadn’t eaten enough before the day’s torture session, not as if it was her choice anyway. “You need to be careful if you want to make it out of here.” “Make it out of here?” Danielle scoffed. “As if that’ll ever be an option for me. You know how he is. After that last escape attempt, I think…” She shook her head. “I think I’ll die here. By his hands. One of these days, he’ll go too far, and that’ll be the end for me. But you, Caleb, you can make it out. You can run away and find your mate–” Caleb’s sour look stopped her before she could finish. “My mate won’t want me. I’m not even a man anymore. You’re not the only one who’s been gutted.” “She still might. You don’t know.” “I can’t even give her a pup! I can’t… There’s a part of our relationship I can never give her. She’ll reject me on the spot or at least as soon as she finds out.” “Caleb,” Danielle tried. He shook his head. “You know as well as I do that none of us can leave. Not alive anyway. The moment his operation gets leaked, he’ll end us all before we can even make it to the door. It’s just a pipe dream, and we all know it.” Danielle sighed. “The only thing keeping me going is the thought of you leaving, finding your mate, and living happily ever after.” “Not you finding yours?” “We’ve talked about this.” Caleb shrugged. “I know, but I still don’t get it. Not every man is like him. I’m not like Dick.” Danielle gave him a rare, sincere smile. “If only you were my mate. I’d accept you. s**t, after everything he’s done to me, I wouldn’t even need that type of relationship.” Caleb helped her onto her cot and smoothed out her hair. He then kissed the top of her head. “Don’t give up. Neither us of can. We need to find something or someone to live for, even if it is each other,” he said. “Once we give up hope, then we really have tossed in the towel for good, and I don’t know… Maybe one of us will finally get that pipe dream.” Danielle looked down at her hands and angry, red wrists. “Maybe,” she whispered. Checking his watch, Caleb cursed. He hurried to bring in her sad dinner, which consisted of old bread and cold soup. “One more day. Just make it one more day,” he said as he started walking out. “You say that every day,” Danielle replied, picking up the bread. Caleb nodded. “Sleep well.” She watched as he shut the door. She then heard him lock her in for the night. She sighed and ate her food in silence. “One more day,” she mumbled to herself. “Can I really make it another day in this hell?” She felt her wolf attempt to comfort her. She hadn’t been able to shift since the day she was taken by him. There was always too much in her system to keep her weak. She used to be strong. She used to be a fighter. She used to believe that one day, she’d make it out of that room. She used to think a lot of things.