CHAPTER FIVE - AN OMINOUS RETURN
1245 Words
ELENA’S POV
Walking back to the Beta's house feels longer than the entire night I had spent in the forest.
My body is sore, not just because of what I allowed the Alpha do to me last night, but because it is bracing itself for the punishments I would probably receive when I get back.
In all my years in Beta Rowan's house, I never once tried to run away, and now the one time I try, the Luna Goddess decides to make a fool out of me.
I can still hear the Alpha's voice.
The coldness in his accusation, the hatred in his eyes. I have never believed in fairytales, but our connection last night made me open my heart to hope.
Now my hopes have been turned into something dark, something manipulative.
I bit my lower lip hard, fighting off the urge to cry.
I don't want to cry, not for him.
If I hadn't met him. If I hadn't deceived myself into believing that we had this connection. If I had managed to push him off, I would have been free by now.
Now, the guards are back at the border gate, the Alpha has accused and rejected me and I am back here, in my miserable reality all because I let myself believe in a fantasy.
My heart is racing as I reach the Beta's gates. My hands are trembling in fear.
What would the Beta do to a runaway slave?
What would Madam Miranda or the psychotic Cassandra do?
It's nothing you haven't faced before.
I brace myself and finally knock on the gate. The guards open up and I can tell that they are surprised to see me. There is a mix of dread and pity on their faces.
“You should not have come back,” one of the guards whispers.
His words only make my heart race even faster in fear.
I have angered the Beta household and now, I will face the consequences.
Madam Miranda is talking with Beta Rowan in the living room when I step in.
“Speaking of the devil…” I can feel Miranda's beady eyes on me. “How dare you try to sneak out of this house? Have we been so lenient that you---"
Her words trail off as Beta Rowan walks towards me and lands a slap on my face, making me fall with its impact.
His dark eyes are cold as they glare down at me.
“How dare you?!” He thunders at me. “How dare a weak Omega like you, try to bring shame to my family? Do you know that I was just about to send guards to arrest your uncle?”
My heart sinks at the mention of my uncle. Of the family that abandoned me.
“You need to be whipped,” Madam Miranda cuts in. “You snuck out of this house to a place only the Goddess knows, and look at the state that you came back in?”
Her cutting words make me feel more anxious about my clothes.
I lower my head and keep silent. They are probably going to torture me regardless.
“After everything we have done for you, you still tried to escape,” Miranda continues. “I knew it. I always knew you were ungrateful.”
“Guards get the whip and flog her thirty strokes of the cane,” Madam Miranda thunders.
I see Beta Rowan pull her aside. “Thirty strokes of the wolf whip would kill her,” he whispers.
“If she faints we can give her a healing potion, but she must be punished today!” Miranda insists.
My hands are trembling as the whip is brought out.
In all my years here, I have never been flogged with the Wolf's whip.
I wonder if it would truly kill me.
“I want to be the one to flog her,” Cassandra's cold voice suddenly announces at the top of the stairs.
I raise my head slightly to see the gleeful expression on her face.
She looks pleased.
Too pleased.
Miranda says nothing as Cassandra takes the whip.
“Elena darling, get on your knees,” she says sweetly.
I don't beg or argue.
I have accepted my fate.
If this is where I am supposed to die then so be it.
The first stroke cracks across my back like a lightning strike. I howl out in pain while Cassandra laughs.
She strikes again and again.
Each lashing is stronger than before.
I feel my eyes lower by the fifteen strike, like I am about to pass out.
“Guards bring water and splash it on her face, where is the fun in flogging her if she faints,” Cassandra orders.
Within minutes, water is splashed on me and she resumes her flogging.
By the time she is done, my back is unrecognizable, bleeding while the pain seeps through my spine to the rest of my body.
I am rooted to the spot, unable to move.
“That will teach you not to act foolish next time,” Cassandra hisses as she throws the whip in front of me and walks away.
“I told you not to come back,” the guard from earlier whispers as I am dragged outside and laid under the scorching sun.
I lay there for hours, while the heat burns into my open wounds. The pain is agonizing, slow, endless.
At some point I stop trying not to cry and I just allow the tears to fall helplessly down my eyes.
It is evening when the guards return. A healing potion is applied to my wounds carefully, sealing my torn skin and healing the scars.
By the time they leave, my skin is back as it was but I can still feel the pain, the trauma of the whip on me.
I have to run away again, if the Luna Goddess won't help me then I am going to die trying.
I force myself to walk back into my room.
I collapse in bed immediately, never dreaming that I would ever miss the warmth of this tiny space.
Everything hurts. My body, my heart, my pride.
I think of Alpha Landon again, of his body on mine, of his hungry mouth and tears fill my eyes.
They are all scum in this pack, all of them.
For the first time since this morning, I can feel something sharp and dark rising inside me.
Not fear or sorrow.
Something else.
Something darker.
I am about to fall asleep when I hear a soft knock at my door.
My eyes jolt open immediately and I stiffen.
No one knocks gently in this house
No one knocks at this hour.
So who is that?
My instincts are roaring in alert as I walk to the door..
“Who is there?” I ask timidly.
“It is Beta Rowan, open the door,” he replies, his voice low but firm.
I don't want to open the door, but I don't have a choice.
I open the door fully to find him standing outside with an unreadable expression on his face.
“May I come in?” he asks softly.
Too softly.
A chill slides down my spine.
Something is wrong.
Something very, very wrong.
I nod and open the door wider and he steps inside.
And the room suddenly feels too small… too dark… too dangerous.
- Writer
