Chapter Two: One More Night
1147 Words
They brought me out barefoot, wrists bound, back already stinging from torn skin and old bruises. The sun was brutal, but not as cruel as the eyes watching me.
Alpha Cedric stood off to the side like a general overseeing an execution. Ryder stood behind him, arms folded. His face unreadable. Always unreadable.
I was thrown to the ground before them.
No trial. No defense. No words.
The silver-threaded whip lay coiled beside the guards like a sleeping serpent.
I didn’t beg.
Didn’t look away.
The first lash struck like fire. It split my back and pulled a gasp from my lips before I could stop it.
The second hit lower. I bit down on my own tongue.
The third dragged sideways, tearing into muscle.
And still I stayed upright.
The fourth. Fifth. Sixth.
My body shook. Blood ran down my legs. My vision blurred.
The pack watched.
Some flinched. Most didn’t.
By the eighth lash, I couldn’t feel anything. Just the distant roar in my ears, and the taste of iron on my tongue.
I swayed on my knees, blood soaking the dirt around me. My hands were tied behind my back, my mouth dry, my body trembling.
But my spine?
Still straight.
Then it was over.
The guards stepped back. The whip hung loose in one of their hands, heavy with blood.
The crowd stayed still.
Alpha Cedric stood above me, expression unreadable.
“Let that be a lesson,” he said. “Disrespect comes with a price.”
I didn’t answer.
Not with words.
Not at first.
I should’ve fallen. Should’ve broken.
Instead, I lifted my head — slowly, painfully — and stood.
Not tall.
Not steady.
But defiant.
The wind caught my red hair, matted with blood, like a torn flag refusing to fall.
My face was streaked with dirt and blood, but my eyes — my eyes were still burning.
“You done?” I croaked.
He frowned.
I spat blood into the dirt and slowly — slowly — dragged myself upright on shaking legs.
The crowd stared.
I met their eyes. Every one of them.
And I smiled.
Not sweetly.
Not kindly.
But like someone who’d seen hell… and walked out of it.
“I want you all to remember something.”
My voice was rough. But it carried.
“You didn’t break me.”
Murmurs rippled.
“You bruised me. Burned me. Bled me. But you didn’t win.”
I took one step forward. The guards didn’t move. Maybe they couldn’t.
“One day — maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year — but one day, I will rise. Stronger. Smarter. And you?” I smiled wider. “You’ll kneel. You’ll beg.”
Cedric’s face darkened.
I didn’t care.
“You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.”
And with that, I collapsed — not in surrender, but in defiance.
The kind of fall that says, I’ll be back.
And next time?
I won’t be alone.
~~~~~~~
Our room was barely bigger than a closet. Two narrow cots, a cracked mirror, and a chipped window that let in more wind than light. But it was ours.
It was the only place in the entire pack house that didn’t suffocate me.
Mostly.
I lay on my stomach, arms tucked beneath my chin, too sore to move. My back was a tight sheet of fire wrapped in stiff, stained bandages. Every breath reminded me I was still alive — and every reminder felt like punishment.
Nina sat on her cot, cross-legged and quiet. She kept fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve, glancing at me every few seconds like she was waiting for me to fall apart.
I wouldn’t.
Not yet.
Not here.
“Marshal?” Her voice was small.
“Yeah?”
Silence stretched before she spoke again.
“You’re not staying, are you?”
My jaw tightened.
“No.”
I didn’t even flinch when I said it.
She exhaled sharply, like she'd been holding her breath since they dragged me into the courtyard.
“Are you going tonight?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why not now?”
I turned my head just enough to meet her eyes.
“Because I can’t run on broken legs and bleeding skin. I need one more night. Just one.”
She looked like she wanted to argue — but she didn’t. Instead, she crossed the room and knelt beside me, gently checking the edges of my bandages. Her fingers were cool and careful.
“They didn’t even give you healing salve,” she murmured.
“They didn’t think I deserved it.”
Her hand paused.
“I hate them.”
“Good,” I muttered. “You should.”
She stood and started pacing, arms wrapped around herself. “Where will you go?”
“West,” I said. “There’s rogue land past the ridge. They say healers and outcasts live out there — people who don’t care about rank.”
She looked at me sharply. “You’ll die if they catch you.”
“Then I’ll die free.”
She winced. “Don’t say that.”
“I’d rather be a corpse in the woods than a servant in this hell.”
She didn’t speak for a long time. Just stared at the wall, biting her lip like she wanted to scream.
Finally, she said, “I should come with you.”
“No.”
Her eyes flared. “Why not?”
“Because you’re not ready.”
“And you are?”
“I have to be.”
I sat up slowly, ignoring the fire in my spine, and gripped her wrist. “I need to do this alone, Nina. Just this once. But I swear — I’ll come back for you.”
Her lips trembled, but she nodded.
“I’m going to help you anyway,” she said.
I raised an eyebrow. “Even if I say no?”
“Especially if you say no.”
I couldn’t help it — I laughed. It was a painful, wheezing sound, but real.
She moved to sit beside me on my cot. “I’ll sneak food from the kitchens. A flask of water. I’ve been hiding coins.”
“You’ve been saving money?”
“Since last year,” she said proudly. “I knew you’d snap eventually.”
I turned to look at her, stunned.
She grinned, just a little. “You think I didn’t know this day was coming?”
We sat like that — pressed shoulder to shoulder — two girls the world tried to erase.
“I’m going to miss you,” I said quietly.
“No you won’t,” she said. “You’ll be too busy being legendary.”
I smirked. “You always knew how to make a war wound sound like a badge.”
“Because that’s exactly what it is.”
- Writer
