Chapter 2: Beneath the Alpha’s Cruel Heel

The hall stretches before me, it's dark entrance engulfing me as I walk through the doors. Gabriel's growl, "Come out here, girl. “We're not finished”, echoes in my mind, a sharp snap that frays my nerves painfully. 

My boots scrape the stone, every step more burdensome than the one before, the dagger abandoned in my room a phantom heaviness on my chest. 

He’s standing still, a massive figure in the wavering torchlight, his hair streaked with silver gleaming like the fur of a beast. His eyes sparkled, malice honed to a razor's edge, and I halted a few steps away, chin raised even with the quaking in my legs. 

“You still imagine yourself as his daughter?” he mocks with a smirk, his voice saturated with disdain. Before I can respond, his hand darts forward, seizing the leather string around my neck, Father's charm, a crescent moon sculpted from bone. 

My final fragment of him. I reach for it, but he pulls strongly, the chain digging into my skin before it breaks. The pendant falls to the ground, and I reach out, too late. 

His boot stomps on it, pulverizing it to powder beneath his heel. "You're worthless," he remarks, a twisted joy curling his mouth.

My throat tightens, a sob rising, but I swallow it down, tasting blood from biting my lip too hard. That tether’s gone, Father’s gone, and Gabriel’s smile implies he understands it cuts deeper than any blade. 

He doesn’t allow me a moment to relax. His grip seizes my arm, pulling me into the pack square like a sheep to its doom. 

The night is chilly, yet the crowd’s gazes are chillier, a great deal of them congregated beneath the twisted oaks, their features illuminated by moonlight and malevolence. 

“Kneel,” he growls, pushing me down. My knees collide with the ground, jagged stones pressing in, and I clench my jaw as he looms above me. “This is not the child of an Alpha!” he bellows, his voice a storm that rattles the foliage. 

He tosses a clump of dirt at my face, damp, coarse, irritating my eyes. Laughter bursts forth, loud and uneven, cutting through the mist. Kael is present, grinning alongside the others, and a cub I don't recognize mocks, "Trade bait!" 

Shame heats my cheeks, intense and weighty, yet underneath it, anger boils. My hands ball into the muck, fingers carving half-moons into my hands. 

Why does he want me to be shattered? A week until the Sun Pack, and he’s wearing me down to nothing first, why? I blink away the dirt from my eyes, glaring at him through the haze. 

His smile wavers for a moment, as if he notices the spark I'm concealing, and that just drives him to push harder, dust settling on my tongue. The audience's laughter diminishes as I maintain eye contact with him, challenging him to escalate his actions. 

He certainly does. At dawn, I'm pushed into a storage room beside the hallway, the door crashing shut with a bang that resonates in my head. 

No windows, no daylight, only wet stone and the stench of mildew. “Now you’re insignificant,” he hisses through the bars, his expression a darkened grimace. 

I extend my hand, fingertips grazing the metal, and his foot crashes down. Pain erupts, blazing, scorching through my arm as my fingertips crush. I stifle a scream, holding my hand while he walks away, his laughter echoing off the walls. 

The darkness envelops me, dense and stifling, as I lean back against the stone, gasping for air. My fingers ache, twisted at unnatural angles, yet his words penetrate further, he’s concealing something. 

I’m not a garbage to him; I’m a threat. But, what is the reason? 

Time drips into quietness, my stomach eating away at itself, my tongue parched like the soil still stuck on my face. 

A shuffle disturbs the silence, gentle footwear, a metallic sound. A young, nervous guard passes a tin cup of water through the bars. 

His gaze flickers, then he whispers, “He’s always despised you, ever since your father picked her.” I stand still, the cup shaking in my hand. Who was selected? Evelyn? My mother's expression appears, her quietness from last night, her turned-away eyes. 

“What do you…..” I begin, but footsteps thud down the corridor, loud and intentional. He runs away, water splashing over my injured hand, giving me a fragment of truth that I can't assemble. 

Gabriel despised me ever since Father picked Evelyn. Wasn’t she compelled into that relationship? My mind whirls, inquiries stacking like rocks on my chest. 

The door slams open at twilight, and Gabriel’s figure, his outline filling the space. He tugs at my hair, pulling me up, roots ripping, scalp crying out, and hauls me into the dimming light. 

I trip, my legs feeling numb, and he pushes me into the wall, a knife glinting in his grasp. Chilly metal rests against my neck, the blade grazing my heartbeat. “Six days,” he snarls, breath warm and pungent. 

"Hope Jason puts you down swiftly." His grin is wild, teeth exposed like a wolf over its catch, yet his eyes glimmer, fear, not victory. My heart falters. He’s not only heartless; he’s desperate. 

Eager for my departure, wishing I never arrived at the Sun Pack unharmed, or aware of something I'm oblivious to. 

The edge pierces, a slight prick, and I grit my teeth, “What frightens you?” His hold becomes firmer, yet he remains silent, merely pushing me down and walking away, leaving me lying in the dirt. 

I stagger to my room, each step a struggle, my hands swollen and painful, my head pounds, and the cut on my throat bleeds red onto my shirt. 

The room is vacant, moonlight pouring in through broken windows, and I rest against the wall, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth. Six days. He’s dismantling me little by little, yet that fear reflected in his eyes, it’s a fracture in his shield. 

I’m a danger he can’t handle, and Evelyn is caught up in it, her silence more powerful than his shouts. I set off, hobbling toward my door, when a shadow moves in front. 

I become stiff. Evelyn is positioned at the end of the hall, her dark silks merging with the shadows, her expression inscrutable. Her blue eyes fix on mine, chill, motionless, an emptiness where a mother's affection ought to exist. 

She remains still, silent, simply observing. My heart races, the atmosphere around us heavy with an unexpressed sentiment, one that connects Gabriel’s anger to her treachery. 

"What is it that you want?" I murmur, yet she moves back, stepping into the shadows, leaving me with the heaviness of her gaze. Yet, I could still sense her silhouette hovering nearby as if she were observing me.