Luna's Odyssey

Dahlia's POV "I learned long ago that pain could be pleasurable if you knew how to turn it into power and I intended to make them feel it back." This is my story The sting of silver cut through my back, hot and sharp, like fire dragging through flesh. A strangled cry tore from my throat before I could stop it. Daniel’s voice boomed behind me, deep and cold. “Silence, Dahlia.” The Alpha of Moon Stone Pack didn’t raise his tone — he didn’t need to. His power filled the small dungeon, pressing against the air itself. Every werewolf feared that voice. I once did too. Now, I just hated that it still made me tremble. The chains binding my wrists bit deeper into my skin as I hung from them. The damp walls glistened with torchlight, and the scent of old blood clung to the air. Mine added to the collection. I had stopped counting how many times they brought me here. But tonight felt different. Tonight, Alpha Daniel wanted to make an example. He wiped the blade clean, his expression void of emotion. “Do you know why you are here, Dahlia?” My lips trembled as I let out a frustrated sigh before answering. “Because I can’t shift.” His jaw tightened. “Because you refuse to.” ‘How is it my fault if I can't shift?’ I thought silently to myself. I wanted to laugh or maybe cry. There was no wolf inside me to summon, no hidden strength. Just emptiness. He didn’t understand. None of them did. “Your weakness infects this pack,” Alpha Daniel continued, breaking me out of my trance as he paced in front of me. “The Moon Stone Pack stands on dominance and power. Yet my daughter’s servant walks wolfless among us. Do you know what that makes me look like?” There it is. The real reason. Not justice but pride. Not order but to his silly ego. He didn’t beat me because I had failed the pack. He beat me because my existence made him look flawed. “Father, don’t waste your time explaining.” I turned around to see Katherine from across the room, her voice smooth and amused. “She is too dumb to understand.” She leaned against the wall, her arms folded, her long red hair catching the dim light. Her eyes, the same silver as his gleamed with satisfaction. Alpha Daniel’s daughter. The pack’s princess. And the person who hated me most. Katherine smiled at me, her lips curling. “You should have known your place, Dahlia. Trying to talk back to me in front of the others… that was bold.” I flinched. So that’s what this was about. She had provoked me earlier, mocked me for being wolfless, and I had snapped. I had told her that having a wolf didn’t make her strong, just cruel. Now, I was paying the price for speaking the truth. Alpha Daniel turned, gripping my chin roughly. “You humiliated my daughter before the pack. You challenged her authority. You made me look weak.” I tried to hold his gaze, even as my vision blurred. “Maybe strength isn’t measured by how much pain you can cause.” The slap came fast. Stars burst behind my eyes. “You are lucky I haven’t ended you yet,” he said through gritted teeth. “You will serve as a reminder, a living lesson in obedience. Every scar on your back will remind my pack what happens to those who forget their place.” He didn’t want my death. He wanted my suffering. Fear was his control, and unfortunately, I was his tool. Katherine’s laughter rang out, soft, melodic, venomous. “You’re right, Father. She is far more useful alive. The pack needs something to pity, something to hate.” She glared at me with disgust as those words left her mouth. Her words dug deeper than the blade ever could. If looks could kill, I would have been dead by now. I bit down hard, refusing to cry again. The tears would only please them. ‘You can survive this,’ I told myself. You’ve survived worse. But as Alpha Daniel picked up the blade again, my resolve wavered. He dragged it across my shoulder. Each movement was slow, and deliberate. I gasped, as the pain was to much to hold it in. One cut. One line of pain. Strong enough to silence everything else. The dungeon seemed to fade, the walls, the torches, even Katherine’s cruel smirk. All I could hear was my heartbeat thudding in my ears. And in that brief moment of silence, I thought of the moon above us, full, distant, and out of reach. When I was younger, I used to pray to it. I would ask the Moon Goddess to give me my wolf. To make me normal. To make them stop looking at me like I was broken. But no matter how much I begged, there was never an answer. Only silence. Maybe I wasn’t meant to have one. Maybe I was never meant to belong here. Daniel’s voice broke through my thoughts. “Tell me, Dahlia,” I looked up at the Alpha as he spoke. “When you close your eyes, do you hear her? Your wolf?” I shook my head weakly. “There’s nothing. Just me.” His mouth twisted. “Then you truly are worthless.” The blade dropped to the floor with a dull clatter. “Leave her,” he told Katherine. “Let her think about her place in this pack.” Katherine’s heels clicked as she followed him out, her perfume lingering in the air long after the heavy door slammed shut. And then there was silence again. Real silence. I slumped forward, my body trembling. The cold from the stone floor seeped into my skin. My breathing slowed. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream. I just… stared at the torchlight flickering on the wall, watching it fade in and out like it was struggling to survive too. One day, I thought, they’ll see what weakness really looks like. The edges of my vision darkened. The world blurred, torches melting into shadows, the dripping water echoing like distant heartbeats. My last thought before it all went black was quiet, almost a whisper. If I ever find her… my wolf… none of them will touch me again. Then everything turned blank.