The Broken Wolf Queen

CHAPTER 12 — Punishment

CHAPTER 12 — Punishment

The heavy oak doors of the Drovann manor slammed shut with a force that rattled the glass in the chandeliers. Alpha Kael marched through the foyer, his charcoal silk cloak billowing behind him, his face a twisted mask of pure, frustrated rage.

The journey back from the capital had done nothing to cool his blood. Every mile had only magnified the humiliation he felt in the Citadel’s alcove. Damian’s words echoed in his ears like a slap—Use my name again without the proper title, and I will ensure you never have the breath to speak it again. The boy king was tightening his grip on the territories, using his royal scouts and strategic positioning to keep Kael on a short leash. Kael had gotten his reinforcements, but they came with the bitter taste of royal surveillance. Damian’s growing authority was becoming a suffocating wall, and Kael hated being cornered.

He tore off his cloak and flung it at a trembling servant. He needed an outlet. He needed to remind himself that within the borders of Shadowfang, his word was absolute law and his power was unchallenged.

"Bring the Nightfall girl to my chambers," Kael barked, his voice vibrating with a dangerous Alpha frequency. "Now."

He paced the floor of his private study, his claws involuntarily breaking through his skin, gouging deep tracks into the mahogany desk. He wanted to see her break. He wanted to look into those defiant, silver-gray eyes and strip away whatever pride she had left, using her to purge the irritation that the King had planted in his chest.

Minutes ticked by before the door opened. Two beta maids entered the room, shifting their weight uncomfortably as they carried Aurora between them.

Kael stopped pacing, his eyes narrowing as he looked at his new plaything. The irritation in his chest instantly morphed into a cold, sharp shock.

Aurora’s head hung low, her silver-blonde hair tangled and dull, hiding her face. But it was her body that drew his gaze. The tight tunic she wore hung off her like a discarded rag. Her collarbones protruded like sharp ridges beneath her pale skin, and her wrists were so thin they looked as though they would snap under the slightest pressure. Over the past week, she had melted away, losing a terrifying amount of weight. She wasn't just weak; she looked like a corpse that had forgotten to lie down.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kael growled, stepping toward them. The maids instinctively shrank back, lowering their heads. Kael reached out, grabbing Aurora’s chin and forcing her face up. Her eyes were glassy, unfocused, and heavily shadowed by dark, purple hollows. "She looks like a skeleton. I bought a wolf, not a ghost."

He glared at the older maid who stood at the front, his chest heaving. "I demanded an explanation! I left her in your care for a week. As my new plaything, I wanted to play with her. I never ordered you to starve her to death!"

The older maid swallowed hard, her voice trembling but defensive. "Alpha... you ordered her locked in the deep cellar with the heavy dose of wolfsbane. We were not told to feed her. Protocol dictates that prisoners of high treason in the lower stratum receive no rations unless specified."

The utter stupidity of the answer snapped the last thread of Kael’s restraint.

He didn't just strike; his inner wolf surged forward in a flash of raw, violent speed. Kael's backhand caught the older maid squarely across the face. The force of the blow sent her flying across the room, a brutal trajectory that only ended when her body slammed hard into the stone wall. She hit the floor with a sickening thud, a sharp groan escaping her lips as she clutched her fractured ribs.

The other maids shrieked, dropping to their knees, letting Aurora slump uselessly to the carpet.

"Idiots! Incompetent fools!" Kael roared, his Alpha aura flooding the room, bringing the remaining servants to their bellies. "If she dies, your lives are forfeit! I do not keep prizes just to watch them rot from neglect!"

He looked down at Aurora. Even in her starved, semi-conscious state, as she lay weakly on the floor, he could see it. Behind those glassy, drug-veiled eyes, a tiny, buried ember of defiance still flickered. She wasn't looking at him with the whimpering submission of a broken wolf; she was looking through him with a quiet, icy hatred.

Kael’s heart hammered. He felt a dark, twisted thrill in his veins. Yes. That was what he wanted to break. If she starved to death, the game was over before it even began. The wolfsbane in her system would keep her docile and block her inner spirit, but her physical body needed to survive for his amusement.

"Get her out of my sight," Kael commanded, his voice dropping to a harsh, ragged whisper. "Move her to an upper-floor cell immediately. One with a window. Wash the filth off her, and feed her. She is to receive exactly two meals a day. No more, no less. I want her flesh restored, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Alpha. Right away, Alpha," the remaining maids whimpered. They scrambled forward, hurriedly lifting Aurora’s frail form off the floor and rushing out of the study as if the devil himself were chasing them.

Once the door clicked shut, the heavy silence of the study returned, thick with the scent of fear and spilled blood. Kael stood in the center of the room, his breathing heavy, his hands still trembling with the residual fury of his encounter with King Damian. His anger was a living, breathing beast, and the departure of the prize had left it unappeased.

His eyes slowly drifted to the corner of the room.

The older maid was still on the floor, groaning, holding her bruised side, trying to crawl toward the exit. Blood trickled from her split lip, staining the expensive rug.

A cruel, predatory smile slowly spread across Kael’s face. He walked over to her, his steps slow and deliberate, like a wolf cornering a wounded rabbit.

"You failed to understand my desires," Kael murmured, his voice laced with a terrifying calm.

Before she could beg for mercy, Kael reached down, his powerful grip locking around her throat. With brute strength, he hoisted her up, pinning her brutally against the stone wall. The maid gasped for air, her fingers clawing uselessly at his iron wrist. Kael’s eyes flashed a dangerous, feral amber as he looked at her. He didn't care about her pain; he only cared about the release.

With a violent jerk of his free hand, he gripped the front of her uniform and tore the clothes clean off her body, shredding the fabric into rags. The maid let out a choked sob as the cold air hit her skin, completely trapped beneath the weight of her furious Alpha, who was ready to take out every ounce of his political frustration on the flesh beneath his hands.