Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Chapter 2

For a moment, everything seemed to pause around me.

My heart was still hammering against my ribcage as I gently opened my eyes.

The room was still. Alpha Theron held the goblet halfway to my face, his attention, like the others, drawn to someone at the table.

Alpha Darius was standing again, his eyes burning with something I couldn't understand. Rage?

He walked down slowly from the high table to us.

Why had he stopped Alpha Theron? Perhaps he wanted to do it himself.

I felt an icy shiver run down my spine.

"She can't die now," Alpha Darius said, taking the goblet from Alpha Theron.

Alpha Theron looked annoyed, but he quickly fixed his expression.

"What do you mean, Alpha Darius?" he asked, his voice strained.

"I need to find out who sent her to poison me," Alpha Darius replied, his eyes sliding to mine in a way that made my chest tighten.

"Who knows? One of the elders or council must have put her up to it," he added loudly, his eyes dangerously dark now.

Murmurs escaped the hall.

Alpha Theron widened his eyes and attempted to protest, but Alpha Darius interrupted him.

"I'm just saying, Alpha Theron. I have made quite a number of enemies." He turned to the guard. "Lock her up."

I didn't know if I should be grateful or sad that my death was being delayed, but I felt a bit relieved.

Sloane's eyes locked with mine as the guard dragged me out. A smirk appeared on her face but disappeared so quickly I almost thought I had imagined it.

The metallic door of the dungeon swung open and the guard threw me inside.

Darkness engulfed me. I rested my back against the wall and slid down to the floor, hugging my knees to my chest as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Everyone knew Alpha Darius to be unforgiving. He wouldn't spare me.

I stared into the darkness, hoping for a miracle to happen. Someone coming in to save me or to prove my innocence.

But I knew no one was coming. No one was going to save me. They never had before and tonight would be no different.

After what seemed like forever, the metallic door clanked and opened. I jerked up, my heart suddenly pounding faster.

But I knew those footsteps. I had memorized them the way you memorize something that has hurt you enough times.

My stomach dropped before I even saw his face.

My father stood outside in the dark, his eyes glinting with intense fury, and the tiny hope I had died instantly.

"Father—"

"Don't!" His voice was cold, cutting me off before I could even start.

"I didn't do it, Father. I would never—" I whispered, attempting to crawl to the end of the dungeon, but I felt a hard kick connecting with my side before I could finish.

The air knocked out of my lungs in a brutal rush and I stumbled backward, gasping. A hard cough escaped my mouth, spreading exploding pain across my ribs.

"Who sent you?" he spat.

"Nobody," I coughed, curling inwardly. "Nobody sent me, I swear by the moon—"

Another kick.

My body hit the cold floor and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from screaming in pain.

I had learned a long time ago that screaming or begging made it worse. The fastest way for all this to be over was through silence, and so I held it in.

But the kicks didn't stop. They got harder.

"You shameless excuse of a wolf! I should have let you die with your mother. You are a disgrace!" he spat, his eyes glowing with fury in the dark.

"Please, Father…" I begged him to stop.

"How dare you poison the Alpha's guest?" he yelled, reaching for my hair.

I screamed as he pulled me up and flung me against the wall. My back hit first, then my head.

Stars burst across my vision and I felt myself bruising all over.

"You're a shame. A weakling just like your mother!” he rambled under his breath, but I could barely hear him speak anymore.

His voice became distant, like I was hearing him underwater, but the kicks didn't cease.

My eyes closed. Warm blood trickled down the side of my face as I lay in the dark, my consciousness leaving me.

~~~~~

I tried to open my eyes but the lids were heavy. I forced them open. A sharp brightness overwhelmed me and my lids shut back.

Slowly I opened them again, my head hurting badly.

I wasn't in the dungeon anymore. The room was bright and smelled of crushed herbs.

The healer's wing.

I didn't know how long I had been unconscious or how I had gotten here. The last thing I remembered was the cold dungeon floor and my father's voice going distant.

I tried to stand but my body could barely move. I managed to sit up, my eyes adjusting to the light.

I wasn't alone. Healer Varyn sat across the room by the fireplace, his back turned to me. An old wolf with more years of experience than most wolves had years of life.

"You're awake," he announced without turning around.

"Y—yes," I answered quietly.

The crackling sound of the fire filled the room.

"How did I get here?" The question slipped out before I could stop it.

He turned to me, and his mouth twitched slightly. He stood from the armchair, limping on one leg.

"You were brought in last night by the guards after they found you passed out and wounded." He gave me a sympathetic look. "You heal faster than expected just like your mother.”

He mumbled the last words but I heard him. He knew my mother but wouldn't tell me anything about her.

I didn't respond. It had always been that way. Healing quicker than I should for someone without a wolf.

I had kept it a secret, not wanting to draw more attention to myself than I already did.

"Why did they save me?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"I don't know, child. Perhaps Alpha Darius doesn't want you dead." He paused, his eyes filled with concern. "For now."

I'm still breathing because Alpha Darius wanted me alive.

"I didn't do it. Believe me, healer Varyn. I didn't poison the Alpha. I don't know how the poison got into the drink—"

"I know," he cut in quietly.

He knows. He believed me.

Someone, for the first time, believed me.

Tears welled in my eyes but I blinked them back.

Not now.

"I know you didn't do it. Someone must have used you to carry out their evil work."

"Sloane," I muttered.

"I can't go back to the dungeon. They'll kill me." My voice cracked and the tears I was holding back streamed down my cheeks.

"Everyone will be at the mating ceremony tonight. The guards won't return until tomorrow morning." He shifted his weight from his limping leg, his old eyes glinting with something I understood instantly.

He was helping me escape.

I nodded to show I understood and he gave me a small smile before leaving the room with his walking stick.

I wasn't going to stay and let them kill me. Tonight, while everyone was at the mating ceremony, I would run.