Chapter 81

Dylan POV

Why, why does the king insist on consistently abusing me? I haven’t done anything wrong at all, and yet here I was once again cowering in front of him.

“A lashing is a mild punishment for what you have done.” I was getting really scared now, both my body and my mind couldn’t take any more pain. I couldn’t take a lashing. The last one was far too excessive. “Give us a name…” the alpha continued his interrogation while the king remained ridged.

I had to think, and I had to think fast. I couldn’t actually tell them who helped me smuggle things in, they’d be put to death in a heartbeat, but I also couldn’t stand any more physical abuse. Think… think.

Eventually I watched as the king lost his patience with me, he raised his arm up with the whip tightly in his grasp with every intention of swinging it down on me. God he wasn’t bluffing, how could he even think about doing this to me again.

“MY MOM!” I blurted it out fast and loudly as panic swept over me.

“Your mother?” Adrian looked to me finally and frowned while his father asked me the question. I just nodded my head rapidly. No one could harm my mom more than she already was. “Bull shit!”

“It’s not… The phone… the phone was just used to replace the number of stock. My mom worked in the inventory sector you can check it. She… She ran numbers and made sure the human rations were all handed out equally. That is Until she began to give extra to people, using me as the delivery girl. It was perfect Because she could just claim that they were a few short some weeks and stock pile up for those who needed it.” Was that believable? I was quite proud of myself for the massive lie I’d cooked up in my head, on the spot, in front of imminent danger. The three wolves that were present in the room went completely silent until the whip came down on my skinny upper arm causing me to wince and grab it falling to my knees in front of the king to show respect.

“And who helped her?” I shook my head, now holding the bleeding cut with my other hand.

“I… I don’t know… I just kept the phone hidden in case it was found. You were all much more likely to go easier on me due to my age.” Please, believe me, god I prayed, I pray silently to whatever higher power was listening to my cries. I couldn’t live in so much fear anymore.

“Remove your top!” King Josh’s sentence stopped my breath as I looked at him and shook my head repeatedly while remaining on my knees in front of him. I had no intention of taking another lashing. “Remove it or I will do it for you!” His eyes flickered to black as he growled causing me to cower in on myself more.

“Your grace, maybe we should wait to deal her punishment, she can’t take another lashing, we all know that, and they hardly have the desired affect anyway because she still acts out.” Adrian spoke calmly but his body language screamed anything but calm. He was ridged and looked almost ready to attack the king on the spot.

“I don’t care if she can take it or not.” I was grabbed by my skinny wrist and pulled up with my arm onto my feet. I was so light that the king really could just throw me around like it was nothing. Once I was on my feet he grabbed my prisoners top from the hem and yanked it roughly over my head causing my legs to give in on me.

I didn’t care about my breasts being on show for once, I was much more focused on keeping my horribly scarred back away from the audience of three and most importantly away from the whip the king held.

“Face the door on your knees and place your hands on it… now!” All sense of adoration was gone, there was not a single hint of emotion in king joshs voice and I knew if I didn’t comply then I’d face even worse. Dear god let this kill me, please let this one be my end.

I slowly turned around and placed my shaking hands on the door showing my back to the room. A loud gasp left Adrian’s lips and I frowned in embarrassment. Sure I’d had a backless dress on at the education announcement, but it didn’t show my entire canvas of scars. This time my entire flesh was on show, and the sheer amount of permanent marks I had received. My head lowered and tears were quick to stream out of my eyes, landing on the carpet below me.

Before I could comprehend what he had done the whip came down on my spine, I was skinny, very skinny and the whip hit my rib cage like a brick would hit a wall. Pain erupted from the site and a loud cry left me, the pain caused me to recoil and turn my back away crying hysterically, and that was only one lash.

I hadn’t realized how tender and sensitive my skin would be after the last flogging I received, but everything about that one strike erupted in pure agony.

“Turn and face the door!” I shook my head and curled up as tightly as I could go, I was embarrassed, so embarrassed at being this weak in front of Adrian, but I couldn’t put on my facade any longer. I sat sobbing, hugging my knees to my chest as closely as possible, keeping my now slightly bleeding back facing the door I should be leaning against.

“Wait…” Adrian stepped forward and looked at me, his eyes almost black themselves. I always forget sometimes that people are higher up wolves then I truly realized. “Could I not do it? I’m to take over as alpha next year after I graduate, and I have never punished a human.”

What was he playing at, he looked serious, his face even looked like a shadow had clouded it. He looked almost cruel, why would he want to inflict pain on me. I’d done nothing to him or his stupid sister.

“Dylan here has received one too many punishments. So now I must force her to see things from our world.” It’s not even televised. Granted half of me is glad that it wasn’t, but I figured a while back that the more people that see what my life was like, the more people will begin to at least question the wolves actions.

“Your doing this over something that happened months ago…” it didn’t matter what I muttered out through my sobs and whimpers, there was no getting through to his grace. Maybe if I tried a different tactic. “Why do you enjoy causing me so much pain?” I heard my voice crack at the end of my sentence and shook my head slowly letting my tears fall. I felt all three heads slowly meet my lowered one and eventually looked at the king, my arm, my back and my face still all slowly trickling with blood from the three cuts the whip gave me.

“Why did I get cursed with a mate like you?” He practically spat at me while he looked at me clearly disgusted by me. “The moon goddess is a cruel benevolent.” He chuckled hollowly before bending down and wiping the cut on my cheek with his thumb, smearing the bit of blood over the rest of the area. His eyes suddenly went all glassy as if he was mind linking someone and his subconscious returned to the room once more.

“You’ll stay in the dungeon until a punishment can be thought through! I assure you though, you will receive a sound lashing.” Before I could cower back or lower my head again, king Josh had grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it hard, pulling my frail body with it. A cry left me at the pain as he began to drag my topless body through the pack house and down some really dark steps using my hair as a leash.

Once we were down there I sighed, at least I’d be alone. It was damp and musty, but was much warmer than the palace dungeon, in fact, I would go as far as to say it was basically a hotel compared to the palace dungeons.

The king wasted no time in throwing me into one of the cells and let my body hit the concrete floor hard, my hands slapped onto the floor painfully, and my knees along with them. I was quickly grabbed again only to notice Warren was stood behind the king, a large set of thick and heavy cuffs in his hands, the ones I’d been wearing when we first arrived here in the limousine.

They were connected to my limbs tightly, then the cell door was slammed shut leaving me still topless and very much alone. I cried to myself for hours, being down there made my mind wander over everything that had happened, over everything I had been through, until I eventually managed to doze off.

I wasn’t asleep long, when I heard the cell door open, and groaned why could no one just leave me alone? Why must I suffer so god damn much.

“Your grace?” I heard a hushed tone but ignored it, I couldn’t be bothered with anyone at the minute. “Dylan…” rolling my eyes, I awkwardly turned around on the floor only to come face to face with Adrian and Nick. I couldn’t believe the traitor himself was here.

“Are you ok?” Nick asked while looking at my back, it wasn’t as deep as it could have been. I nodded my head and sighed, I was seeing a very childish side to Nick lately. It was almost as if I was the only one who saw the king for what he is. Everyone else had their heads buried in the sand, consumed by their new life.

“Hurry up, we’ve got a van coming in 20 minutes for you.” A van? My half closed eyes met Adrian and woke up instantly when I saw his face.

“Wait… what?!”