Chapter 2: I have sinned

Davina's POV

Rowan and Kane dragged Dad to the execution grounds, and Lucien dragged me along, his grip on my arms tight, unlike anything that I remember. His fingers bit into my skin, hard enough to bruise but I didn't cry out. Not because I wasn't in pain, but because I could not believe this was happening. The world felt surreal, like I was walking through a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.

For a moment, I considered the fact that it was not him, that he had been possessed by a demon. But how do I explain the actions of the others? The shaman, the warriors, the elders, even the Omegas present.

This wasn't spontaneous. It was a long, well planned out and calculated betrayal.

When we got to the execution grounds, the air was knocked out of my lungs as I took sight of the gallows. My chest tightened and my heart squeezed. They were going to hang him.

They would not dare.

But the resolution in their faces made my heart skip. It was the look of wolves who had waited for years to get justice. I wanted to understand, but nothing made sense.

"See? I am going to kill your father." Lucien murmured behind me, his voice sending chills of terror down my spine. "But first," he said, voice drooping lower, darker. "I am going to kill you first and make him watch."

"Lucien, should I go on my knees? Let my daughter go." Dad pleaded, panic and fear flitting through his eyes. He looked nothing like the confident Alpha I remember, and watching him beg like that made my heart squeeze.

Lucien shook his head, his hand trailing my face and arms like I was meat.

"What did we do to you?" Dad asked, his voice trembling in a manner that was strange to me, that was very unlike him.

Lucien stilled, his hand pausing mid-stroke. A chill went through me as silence stretched among us. Then he let out a chuckle, a low humourless one, everything cruel.

"I remember everything." Lucien murmured mysteriously.

Dad looked confused for a moment, before something like realization crossed his eyes. He froze, and I was left even more confused.

"Let Davina go. I will do anything. She knows nothing." Dad pleaded, what seemed like a paralyzing fear seemed to consume him.

"You have two options." Lucien taunted my father. "Let me kill Davina along with you."

Dad shook his head quickly, not even wanting to consider it.

"Or let her live, but she will be my willing slave."

Dad wanted to beg, wanted to go down on his knees, but I intervened before he could.

"I agree."

Lucien turned me to face him, and I was forced to look into the eyes of the devil. His gaze was so intense that it burned. But not in the way that it did before. This was something different.

It wasn't admiration. It wasn't desire. It was darker, something repulsive, something that reached deep within me and twisted my guts in an unfriendly manner. It was a hunger not of the body, but of the soul.

Yet, I didn't flinch.

I held his gaze with determination, even as my body trembled.

"Are you sure?" He drawled slowly, his voice thick with mockery.

"Yes." I bit out the word bitterly, but with conviction.

If he was going to kill my father, I would not let him kill me too. I would let him believe he had won, I would let him think I was broken, but I would survive this and I would come for him.

Lucien studied my face for a moment too long. That hand that used to cup my face gently, gripped my chin like it was made of steel and turned me from side to side, searching for what I had no idea about.

"Go to your father. Say your last words to him." Lucien whispered to me.

His words made the whole situation real, that I was going to lose my father today. Today that was supposed to be my wedding day.

He not only broke my heart to beyond recognizable pieces, but he decided to take the only family I had left from me. He wanted to break me from the inside out.

Slowly, I turned to my dad. My heart was bleeding as I watched him, as I watched the broken silhouette of the man who once stood as Alpha.

I held my chest physically, as if it would help ease the pain inside, as I walked forward.

"What is going on, Dad?" I asked him slowly, wanting— desperately trying to understand.

Dad's eyes welled up in a way that made my chest tighten so much, I found it difficult to breathe.

"Forgive me, Sweetheart."

I shook my head, still not understanding anything, and it was killing me inside. "Tell me. Make me understand."

"I want you to know..." Dad said, his eyes shut tight. "...that I love you. And I wished things had turned out differently."

"What the fuck is going on?" I growled this time, my body shaking now from anger and frustration mixed with every other thing I was feeling.

"I have sinned." Dad whispered, and from the look in his eyes, I knew that I would not be getting more than that.

'I have seen the most ruthless of Lucien..." Dad continued in the mindlink. 'I know what he is capable of, and I know what he would do to you to get back at me.' He gestured for me to come closer, and when I did, his hands framed my face gently, his fingers quivering around my jaw. 'The moment you get your wolf after you turn twenty, I want you to leave. Find a way, leave this pack and never return. Trust no one. Because if you stay, Lucien will make you wish you had chosen death today.'

"That's enough!" Lucien declared. "Take her away."

Kane walked over to drag me out.

"No, wait. I still have things to say. Give us one minute."

Kane's grip was even tighter than Lucien's. He didn't say a word to me. He just roughly pulled my arms out of the clearing, before clamping one hand over my mouth.

He stayed. Waiting.

"I want you to hear the moment they hang him." He whispered, pressing his hand hard against my mouth. "Let it be the last sound of him that you remember."

Goddess help me, because I heard it— his screams, his thrashing, his pleas. I heard it, I felt it, and it was horrifying.