Reclaiming Herself—Completed

Chapter Nineteen

Danielle.

***Mature content throughout the chapter. Read with caution. s****l trauma and abuse.***

Blinking her eyes slowly open, she stared up at the ceiling. Her body ached from the torment Richard had put her through the night before. Letting out a sigh, she carefully sat up and assessed the damage. Her leg wound still wasn’t fully healed, and out of spite, Richard had given her a matching cut on her right leg. She peeled back the make-shift bandages and winced as it stung. She knew she needed to clean it out before it became infected. Her neck was still sore and scabbed over from when he had forcibly marked her. It took everything in her to keep her tears from falling.

Danielle climbed out of the bed and limped to the bathroom, taking the next hour to wash her body and take care of the several new deep gashes on her body. She vaguely wondered how much longer she’d lived at this rate. Richard was well aware that her body wasn’t healing like it used to, and yet, he wasn’t refraining from marring her body. Her lack of healing was only pissing him off more, which led to him taking it out on her already wounded body. It was a frustrating cycle.

Dressing herself in a loose t-shirt and jeans, she grabbed a pair of slippers and threw her hair into a ponytail. She hadn’t seen Kristen in a few days, which had her worried, so she went without make-up, knowing that she must look gaunt and haggard. Danielle hadn’t gotten a full night’s sleep since she was told Caleb had been killed. Even the news that he was actually alive hadn’t helped ease her mind.

Taking a deep breath and then letting it out, Danielle told herself to confront Richard about the interview. Sharon had promised to help her, but she’d heard nothing back, and this sent her brain spiraling down the rabbit hole of doubt. If Richard ever learned of what they talked about and how she was able to give Sharon insight into her situation, she knew he would make her pay in the most unforgiving way.

Danielle took a shaky step down the steps and forced herself to keep going, one step at a time. Making it down the stairs, she went directly to his office, where she heard several voices talking quietly. Thankfully, it wasn’t too quiet for their enhanced hearing.

“–time. It just takes time. I told you that before you accepted the deal. Things of this nature are sensitive, so just trust in the process,” a woman was saying.

She heard Richard growl. “You never mentioned it would take this long. You said up to a few weeks, maybe more. It’s been more. How much longer?”

“Well, things would have been fine had they not met. That did halt the process some. Now that she’s met him, the magic isn’t as effective as it once was.”

“Fix it.”

The woman sighed. “It isn’t that easy. I could give you a silencer, which would cost more. Or, you could give me the one she’s already wearing, and I can reapply the magic.”

“Good. Do that then.”

“The only downside to that option is that it will restart the process.”

Richard roared. “WHAT? YOU SAID IT WOULD BE SIMPLE. AND NOW THIS?”

“Alpha, please,” a second woman’s voice chimed in. “With the reapplication, it shouldn’t take as long. Yes, the process will start over, but we promise it’ll be a larger dose, which means that it’ll shorten the time.”

“Can you promise that?” Richard asked, obviously irritated.

There was a moment of silence before the first woman answered, “Yes. I swear my life on it. May the Lady of the Night take me from this realm if she is not completely yours by the end of the second week.”

“I’ll give you–”

“What’s this?” Antonio’s voice hissed in her ear.

Danielle jumped in fright, turning to face him. He pressed up against her, cornering her against the wall.

“Is my Luna eavesdropping on my Alpha?” he smirked. “You know how Alpha feels about such matters. I can only imagine what he’d do to you if I told him. Maybe he’d let me watch.”

Antonio let his fingers trace the side of her face, much to her disgust.

“You know how the Alpha feels about other men coveting his Luna, don’t you? I wonder what he would do to you. Maybe he’d let me watch,” Danielle spat back at him.

She raised an eyebrow at him and tried to push him off of her. Antonio easily caught her hand and twisted her around, shoving her against the wall once more. He then bent over her with his lips near her ear.

“Careful Luna. You’re quite the temptress. You don’t want to provoke me. When Alpha leaves for his trips, that makes you awfully vulnerable, wouldn’t you say?”

“You’d incur the wrath of his anger just to get your rocks off? You must want to know what it feels like to be cockless.”

Antonio snarled at her, and in his anger, he pulled her back from the wall only to slam her back into it hard enough to rattle the pictures.

“Keep going, Luna,” he challenged. “Tempt me and watch what happens. I’ll make you swallow your words as I’m deep throating you. We’ll see how good that tongue of yours really is. Alpha can’t seem to get enough. I’d love a taste for myself. Don’t forget that you were just a worthless slave before the Alpha took you in. I’ll make you beg for forgi–”

“What the f**k is this?” Richard yelled at them.

Antonio immediately let go of Danielle and bowed his head. “I caught the Luna eavesdropping, Alpha. I was just trying to teach her a lesson. She should know her place.”

Richard’s angry eyes narrowed at her. “Explain.”

“Your Beta is trying to hide the fact that he threatened to f**k me while you were gone. I came here only to ask about the interview with the Investigator. He’s the one who threw me against the wall and said he wanted to see what my tongue would do with his d**k in my mouth,” Danielle replied back calmly.

She knew she needed to use Richard’s jealousy to her advantage if she was going to make it out of this situation unscathed.

“What?” Richard asked, his voice deadly.

Antonio’s face paled. “Sh–she’s lying. She’ll say anything to get out of a punishment.”

“And you think you can punish my Luna?”

“N-no,” the beta replied, looking down at the floor. “I just wanted to take care of this quietly for you, since you have so much going on already.”

Ricahrd crossed his arms over his chest. “So, you want to take on Alpha duties. Are you trying to overthrow me?”

“NO!” Antonio shouted, falling to the ground before his alpha. “Never! Forgive me, Alpha.”

Richard ignored his beta on the floor. He snatched Danielle’s wrist and yanked her towards him, causing her to fall into his arms. His other hand gripped her throat, and he stared into her eyes.

“Were you eavesdropping, Luna?”

“I would never go against your wishes, Alpha,” she replied, attempting to steady her heart rate and school her features.

He studied her for a moment and then let her go.

“Give me your bracelet.”

“But, you told me to never to take it off,” she said.

“Yes, but it needs to be cleaned. You’ll get it back shortly. They only need it for a little bit.”

Danielle nodded obediently, and let him slip the bracelet off. What she didn’t say was that she’d attempted to take the damn thing off already, but it wouldn’t budge. Seeing him slide it off so easily confirmed her suspicions that the item she’d heard them talking about was definitely the bracelet.

She noticed that the moment the bracelet left her skin, she instantly felt better; felt more like herself. The pain from her wounds lessened and even breathing seemed easier and fuller. Biting her lower lip, Danielle realized that the piece of jewelry was poisoning her. It had to do with her and her mate. She felt it in her gut. She had met him at the party the night she was given the bracelet. Somehow, it was trying to get rid of her mate bond.

Richard gave her a questioning look, to which she only smiled at him.

“I just miss it already,” she said. “It is, after all, the first piece of jewelry you’ve given me.”

Grinning back at her, Richard kissed her temple. “I’m glad to know you like it that much. Perhaps I’ll get you other pieces to match if you continue to be such a good Luna.”

“That would be very generous of you.”

Richard pulled her into his office, dismissing his beta and the two women from his office. Danielle only caught a brief glimpse of the women before they hurried out of the room with the bracelet in hand.

“Sit,” he commanded.

As she did, he pulled out an envelope. “This is from the New Council. I only received it today. It seems they’ve finished conducting the investigation and have decided how to proceed forward.”

Danielle waited with baited breath.

“The man who assaulted you only received probation. He will be watched carefully, but that’s all. Because he didn’t actually r**e you, there will be no further action taken. I only got a warning. Isn’t that great? They seemed to believe your story. The Investigator especially.”

Richard grinned at her, and it made her feel sick.

“That is the best outcome for you, isn’t it?”

“For us, Danielle. Best outcome for us. We are a team.”

She remained quiet.

“I’ve been thinking, Danielle. It’s time.”

“For what?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

Richard stood from his desk and came around to kneel in front of her. She’d never seen him act so gently towards her, and it made her want to run.

“It’s time to mark me back, Luna. Isn’t it a bit odd to have a Luna marked but not have her Alpha marked in return?”

Danielle felt herself go numb at the thought. To be forever tied to this brute of a man made her skin crawl. It made her want to vomit. She couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t.

“I–I’m not sure…” she started, her brain racing for an excuse.

Richard’s cheerful smile quickly soured. “This doesn’t sound favorable to you? You’re a f*****g Luna. I’ve made you a Luna! You should be bowing before me. Thanking me every day. I saved you from that god-forsaken pack forever ago. I am your savior, and you can’t even fathom doing this for me? You’re mine, in every sense of the word. I’ve made sure of that. You will f*****g mark me, Danielle.”

“I can’t,” she breathed.

Scowling at her, Richard smacked her across the face. She winced in pain.

“You will do as I say.”

Danielle cowered on the couch as Richard hit her again, drawing blood along her cheek. He grabbed her arms in one hand and let his other turn into his wolf’s claws.

“Why is everything such a fight with you?” he questioned. “This is such a small ask, Danielle. Just mark me. Easy. It could’ve been done already!”

Seeing her refrain from answering him, Richard tore her shirt off, slicing it into ribbons. He then took one claw and dug into her ribs. Danielle let out a cry, a tear escaping from her eye as pain seared through her.

“You know what?” he asked rhetorically. “While this does satisfy me, nothing is as delicious as making you watch me kill someone.”

Richard was quiet for a second while Danielle’s heart dropped. Richard grinned maliciously at her before dragging her over to the corner of the room. There, he chained Danielle to the wall in silver cuffs. A few minutes later, the door opened and a blonde head fell to the floor. Kristen looked up, fear evident on her face. The two women’s eyes briefly met as Richard grabbed Kristen by the hair.

“You leave me no choice, Danielle. This is on you. Your defiance has cost this omega her life. I’m going to kill her because you just can’t seem to understand that you are mine. Whatever I want from you, I get. You will bend to my will. Breaking you in, I must say, has been the highlight of my life.”

Danielle shook her head. “No. Please, don't! She’s done nothing.”

“It doesn’t matter, now. It’s too late. Her life is forfeit.”

She watched then as Richard brutally sliced Kristen’s neck until her head was completely severed from her body. He then dropped the omega’s lifeless body to the ground and tossed her head into Danielle’s lap, who screamed in terror as Kristen’s head rolled to the side. Her eyes were forever frozen in fear and, stared, unblinkingly up at Danielle.

Richard’s form then stood over her, dragging the body. Danielle attempted to scoot away, but there was only so far she could go.

“I’m going to f**k you in her still warm blood, Danielle. And you’re going to think about what you’ve done.”

Danielle frantically shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. Richard then got on top of her, subduing her attempts to fight him off. He unzipped his pants before making good on his threat.

Once he was finished, he left her in the corner of his office, chained to the wall. She was silent, her body and mind numb. She was told that she would remain in the omega’s blood until her bracelet was ready. Time passed, but she didn’t feel it. She was void of emotion. She didn’t even register when the two women entered the room. She didn’t hear their reactions to the state of the office or how Richard was still covered in blood. She didn’t hear their inquiries about her or even feel them help her up after removing the chains.

It wasn’t until she met the green eyes of the woman in front of her that she felt something. A memory, stirring in the back of her head. She knew this woman. Her–her parents had known this woman.

“Maria,” she mumbled and watched the other woman’s eyes widen in horror at the mention of her name.