Maisie’s POV
The moment we crossed back into Blood Mood territory, I couldn't breathe again as fear filled my whole body as I replayed Gaius's last words in my head.
My body ached with every movement; Gaius’s hard shoulder dug into my ribs as he carried me like a captured animal.
I wanted to fight. I wanted to scream. But I didn't have any strength left in me.
My father walked silently ahead of us, Beau beside him. Neither looked back. Neither cared that I was bleeding into Gaius’s shoulder. Neither cared that I had begged strangers for help. All they saw was defiance that needed to be crushed.
The dungeon door slammed behind us, and the sound echoed through the stone walls like a death bell. Gaius threw me on the cold floor as if I were a broken doll. Pain shot up my spine. I curled into myself, trying to catch my breath, but my father’s heavy steps came toward me.
Before I could look up, his hand gripped my hair and dragged me across the floor. My scalp burned. My throat tightened. I clawed at his fingers, but he was too strong.
“You have embarrassed this family enough!” he shouted as he threw me against the stone wall.
My head hit the rock so hard I saw a white flash. My vision blurred. The room swayed. My father did not care. His fist connected with my cheek. Then another punch. Then another. I tasted blood in my mouth. I tried to block him, but my arms were weak and shaking.
“Running from your pack,” he hissed. “Disobeying your Beta. Making us look like fools. What have you become?”
I wanted to speak, but I could barely breathe. My ribs hurt too much. I curled into a ball, hoping he would stop, but that only made him angrier. He kicked me in the stomach. Air rushed out of my lungs. My vision turned black at the edges.
I heard Beau laugh in the background.
“Come on, Father, hit her harder. Teach her a real lesson.”
I wanted to scream at him, but I had no voice left.
My father lifted me by the collar of my shirt and slammed me against the wall again. My head hit the rock. Something warm trickled down my neck.
“Why did you do it?” he growled. “Why did you run?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out but a broken sound. I could not breathe. I could not beg. I could not fight. Every part of me hurt.
He punched me again.
And again.
The pain became so sharp, so constant, that I felt something shut off inside me. My ears rang. The world drifted away. My father’s voice grew distant, as if I were underwater. I could no longer feel the cold floor. I could no longer feel my limbs.
I became numb. Completely numb.
My father froze.
“Maisie…?”
He shook my shoulder, but I did not react. I stared past him, unseeing.
For the first time, I heard a faint panic in his voice.
“Maisie. Look at me.”
I couldn’t. My body was gone. My spirit was somewhere far away. I could not feel anything anymore.
My father stepped back slowly.
Gaius walked forward and crouched in front of me. He grabbed my chin, forcing my head up. His eyes were burning with the same anger from earlier, but now they held something worse. Madness.
“You think playing dead will help you?” he whispered. “You think I will pity you?”
I said nothing.
Gaius leaned closer, his grip tightening.
“You helped Claire escape. You think I don’t know? You think I am stupid? She would never run without you. She loved you like a sister.”
I closed my eyes. Not because of him, but because the pain behind my skull made it hard to focus.
“You let her meet that rogue,” Gaius hissed. “You let her go to him. You watched her walk away. You ruined everything.”
I rasped out a weak whisper. “I… did not know…”
He slapped me across the face.
“Liar.”
My cheek burned. Tears filled my eyes, not from the pain, but from helplessness. He wanted the truth I did not have. He wanted answers I could not give.
“I swear,” I whispered. “I don’t know where she is.”
He shoved my head back.
“You will talk. Sooner or later, you will break. And when you do, I will be waiting.”
He stood up and kicked my ribs. I curled in on myself again, coughing as sharp pain shot through my chest. I felt something inside me c***k. My vision blurred.
Gaius shook his head in disgust.
“You should have shifted by now, but you haven’t. You cannot heal fast like other wolves. So your pain will last longer.”
He smiled cruelly.
“Good.”
He walked out.
I don’t know how long I lay on the floor after that. Minutes. Hours. Time meant nothing. Every breath hurt. Every blink burned. I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to breathe through the pain.
I must have drifted off for a moment because I didn’t hear the door open. But I felt something cold splash across my face.
Ice cold water.
My body jerked violently as I gasped for air. Beau stood above me with an empty bucket in his hand.
“Wake up,” he said cheerfully. “I’m not done watching you suffer.”
My teeth chattered as water dripped from my hair and clothes. I hugged myself, shaking from the cold and pain.
Beau squatted beside me.
“You know, it would have been easier if Father had killed you. But no. He wants you alive. He wants you to learn what happens to bit*hes like you.”
I stared at him, my throat too raw to speak.
He flicked my forehead with his finger.
“Don’t worry. Gaius will deal with you properly. I can’t wait.”
He stood and walked to the door.
“Welcome to your new life, little rat.”
He left, slamming the door behind him.
I lay there shivering until my father returned again. His expression was stiff. Cold. Maybe even disappointed.
He looked at me for a long moment before speaking.
“You are being demoted,” he said. “From today, you will no longer experience the luxury of being a Beta’s daughter, you are a servant in the pack house.”
I almost laughed.
A servant? Hadn’t I been treated like one all my life?
I forced myself to sit up a little. Pain shot through my ribs, but I held his gaze.
“I have always been a servant,” I whispered. “You never treated me like your daughter.”
His jaw tightened. “Do not start with that.”
“You stopped being a parent to me long ago,” I said. My voice was weak but steady. “You chose Zoe. You chose Beau. You chose everyone except me.”
He looked away.
For the first time in years, he had no answer.
“I will send a guard to move you,” he said, voice flat. “Prepare yourself.”
He turned and left. Silence filled the dungeon again.
My body ached everywhere. My heart felt heavier than my bruises. I curled up on the floor and pressed my forehead to my knees.