THE IMPRISON WOLF
1179 Words
A blind man sang into the hollow of the night, fingers trembling against the worn of guitar strings. His voice carried softly through the empty street, filling the silence with inspiration of love.
Around him, a group of drunk men swayed unsteadily, laughter dulled by alcohol, their spirits strangely caught by the melody. Beside them, a lone dog sat still in silent, like a guardian watching over men who could no longer guard themselves.
“If we are going to be separated…
The only thing I’ll be thinking about is..
There are no happy moments…
As long as I’m with you…”
The dog did not bark. It only listened.
Far beyond the street, rising like a shadow against the sky, stood an ancient mansion. The House of Wolves. Its walls were old, heavy with secrets and bloodlines older than memory. Beneath that house, deep in its cold underbelly, a female wolf cried without sound.
She stood there, her hands bound tightly by a silver rope, anchored to a massive stone. Her body shook, and the pain left her breathless. With her feet shackled, it was clear that even if the rope were going to be pulled, she wouldn’t be able to run away, as the chains holding her feet were locked in place.
Each c***k of the thorned whip against her skin drew pure tears from her eyes. Her lips quivered, biting back her screams that no longer had strength to rise.
"Shhhagg!"
The sound of sliced through the chamber.
That was the tenth strike.
“Surely you will die tonight if you do not speak,” said Alpha Danrieve Cruz.
Alpha Danrieve Cruz—the King of the human wolves of Cruzenbierg. Six years had passed since he ascended the throne, after the mysterious death of his elder brother, Demitre. The traitor was never found. Since then, the kingdom had known only iron discipline. To his people, he was cold. Ruthless. A king carved from grief and suspicion.
“My king,” the warden spoke carefully, unease trembling in his voice. “That was already ten lashes. Her wolf will not survive if we continue.”
The King remain silent, starring at a woman in front of him, with full of blood in her body. She looked like a dead one.
But... he heard a heartbeat.
“She's still alive,” he said calmly.
Danrieve lifted his gaze.
Before him, a woman hung with her head bowed, her face hidden beneath her tangled hair. Blood traced her dress, dripping steadily onto the stone floor. Other guards behind can tell that she is unconcious now. While the other guards can say that she's not breathing anymore.
And yet, he could still hear her heartbeat?
“Make it fifteen.”
The warden’s hands tightened around the whip. His eyes dropped to the floor as if mercy might be found there. He felt something twist inside his heart, pity, perhaps, but he dared not defy the king.
"Shhhagg!"
Once. second, third. Until his counts reached five.
The warden stopped, his face drained of color as he stared at the lifeless lady standing before him.
“My king…”
“Do not worry,” Danrieve interrupted. “She still alive.”
How did the king know?
The woman had been imprisoned for a week. No food. No water. No mercy.
Time had dissolved inside the stone cell, measured only by the drip of rusted chains and the slow fading of pain into numbness. Her body no longer remembered hunger, it had gone beyond that, into something quieter and far more dangerous. A hollow stillness had settled inside her chest, as though even suffering had grown tired of her.
They dragged her out at dawn and punished her for ten slashes.
Each strike echoed through the courtyard like a judge’s sentence, the sound sharp and final. By the fifth, her knees had given way. By the eigth counts, her screams had faded into broken breaths that barely reached the air. By the ten to fifteenth… there was nothing left to take.
When they were done, silence fell.
Her body hung suspended by the ropes, head bowed, arms slack, hair clinging to her face like wet shadows. Blood dried in dark lines across her back, unmoving, as though it no longer belonged to something living. Her chest did not rise. No breath fogged the cold morning air. Even the guards stepped back, uneasy, unsure of where cruelty ended and death began.
She looked like a carcass left behind after a hunt, used, discarded, and forgotten.
Someone muttered that she was gone.
The wind stirred her torn clothing, lifting it gently, almost tenderly, as if the world itself was testing whether she still remained. But her body did not respond. No flinch. No tremor. No sound.
Only the rope creaked.
And for a moment...it seemed as though death had finally claimed what pain could not.
Yet Danrieve inhaled slowly. From the air itself, from the faintest echo of scent and silence, he sensed it,
Something refusing to die.
And for the first time in years, the ruthless king felt something unfamiliar stir with mercy, not cruelty,
but unease.
The air carried something faint, the echo of life can touched his skin, woven into his scent and instinct. Something resilient. Something that should not exist… yet it did.
His jaw tightened. For the first time in years, doubt slipped through the cracks of his control.
While outside from this house, from far away, the blind man’s song reached its final notes.
The drunk men stood silent now, bottles forgotten at their sides. The dog lifted its head, ears twitching, as if sensing that there is someone's coming beyond the street, it's silver eye's starring at the distances.
While the song finally ended.
Now finally, the silence returned.
But... the deep beneath the House of Wolves, a broken and wounded female wolf, hold for her life...
unseen, unheard, yet her body refusing to die...
Who's is this imprisoned woman? Why is it that the King's is so cruel to her.
The Omega, trusted by the King arrived, and he immediately reported.
"My king..." Omega lowered his head slightly.
"Speak.."
"We found new traces, my team is now on their way to the North mountains"
"Just make sure to bring him to me alive!" the King's ordered.
After hearing the conversation, the eyes of the woman bound in front slowly opened. As if she had woken up from sleep, even though her head and face were full of blood, and struggling the pain. She was listening to the all voices around her, and also she can hear even the heart beat of the King.
"I gave you a chance to survive, not until I found your father. I need him, not you. So if you still don’t want to cooperate with me, then don’t blame me. I’ll be the one who has to take your life." The Alpha said
But the imprisoned woman did not speak, as if she was just listening to what he was saying.
- Writer
