Chapter 4: So many ways

Davina's POV

Lucien let me stay in the pack house, and for a few days, he seemed to ignore me. His words during our last breakfast still twisted my heart, but I was trying to move past it. I knew that I had given him a part of myself before, but I needed to let that go now. He should not be able to hurt me anymore. I had seen worse— like when my father was killed on the day that was supposed to be my wedding.

Here didn't feel like home anymore, after watching the whole pack turn on my dad and I. The pack house had become a gilded prison. I wandered the hall like a ghost, ignored, forgotten, yet watched. Always watched.

I was not allowed to leave, to step out of the house. The house I grew up in had somehow become my own cage.

I had tried a few times, but a guard or two would always pull me back and throw me back in. They wouldn't say a word to me. They didn't feel the need to. I was no longer the glorified daughter of Alpha Gideon. I was now... I didn't even know who or what I was anymore.

That was why I was so surprised that nobody stopped me as I tried to step out today.

I just wanted to see the sun. To connect with nature. To breathe something that didn't feel like betrayal and old memories.

I would be turning twenty in a few days and I would be getting my wolf on the coming full moon. I had looked forward to it with so much excitement, even dreamt of it. But now, all I felt was emptiness.

Dad would not be there to see me.

There would be no one to wish me a happy birthday. No one to witness my shifting. No one to help me manage the pain. I hugged myself as if that would protect me from my cruel new reality.

"Davina!" I heard my name, the voice heavy with animosity. I didn't turn. I was not in the mood for his shenanigans.

I was close to the massive gates now, but I had not moved forward in minutes. I had been standing in a spot, lost in my own thoughts.

"Davina!" He called again, followed my a rough grip of my right arm. "Who the fuck told you that you can step out of the house?"

I rolled my eyes hard and turned to see Kane. He was glowering at me, as if something about me disgusted him to his very core. I was beginning to believe that he had his personal vendetta against me.

"Get your hands off me."

I could do nothing as he began to drag me back inside. His hands were tight, claws out slightly, bruising my skin, but he didn't give a fuck.

I was tempted to plead, but I was reminded that this was not the Kane I knew. Just like Lucien, he treated me well, he was protective of me. But all of those were an act.

"Let her go!"

The voice startled both of us. Kane paused mid-stride, and I whipped my head just in time to see Rowan walking in through the gates. His eyes were cold as he glared at Kane.

"What did you say?" Kane asked with a bitterness I didn't understand.

"Can't you see what you are doing to her? She's bleeding for goddess' sake."

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating. Rowan had barely looked at me in days. He wasn't as cold as Lucien and Kane, but he'd still stood in silence while I was dragged, humiliated and stripped off my life.

Now, he was standing in Kane's way, and it didn't make sense to me.

"She is lucky that I am not doing so much worse." Kane seethed.

"You know, it's her father we have something against. Davina is innocent!" He half yelled, almost in desperation.

I flinched.

Did he pity me? I didn't want his pity, because I was going to wipe them all.

"She is his daughter, and that man doesn't deserve to have his blood spared."

He spoke with so much disdain that I could not help but wonder what exactly my dad did.

"For fuck's sake, nothing is up to you. Lucien didn't give you permission to punish her."

"Watch me." Kane said. "And you— know your place."

Rowan's jaws worked at that.

Kane was Lucien's second in command while he was a Gamma, while Rowan was just a really skilled warrior. He could not disobey Kane.

A series of arguments passed between them, which I did myself the favour of tuning out. In the end, Rowan gave up and Kane dragged me to the other side of the massive compound.

Everyone was watching, seeing how he was treating me. Some pitied, some scoffed at me, while others were just there for the drama. But I didn't feel embarrassed. I was too empty inside for such flimsy feelings.

Kane took me to the dungeons, and he pushed me roughly into a cell, as if he was purposely trying to get me wounded.

I could not defend myself. I never learnt to fight physically. I had always been sheltered and protected. And now, everything had come to bite me back in the ass.

Being locked in the pack house basement was one thing, but the dungeon was a whole different case. It was dark, quiet, pest filled, lonely, horrifying. I didn't want to spend a minute here. But I still didn't beg Kenneth. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction, not as if he would let me out anyway.

Time passed. Maybe three days, maybe four, but I was still in here. No food, no water. I held my stomach as I curled myself on the cold harsh floor, ignoring the bites from insects and rodents. My stomach linings were twisting, protesting, begging for food. My throat dried and hoarse.

I was going to die. And I didn't like the idea. Not without making Lucien and his minions pay. They said my father did something to them. My plan was to send them to meet him so they could all take it up in the afterlife.

I tried not to cry, but my body gave up before my pride did, and my shoulders shook as sobs wracked me. The pain was too much, the betrayal, the loneliness, it was all too much for me.

I didn't know if I slept or passed out, but I woke up again to the sound of metals clanging. Someone was at the door, wanting to open it.

I didn't move from my position, but my eyes did.

The person succeeded with the door and entered. I lifted my gaze to meet him.

Lucien.

He didn't speak at first. He just stood there, staring at me like I was something strange. Like someone he had not seen before. I was certain I looked pathetic right now. Far from the sunshine that I had always been.

"Get up." His voice was sharp enough to slice glass.

I didn't move. I wasn't even sure I could. There was no energy left in me.

Something flickered in his eyes. Not regret. Not victory either. I couldn't exactly tell what it was.

"You look like you are going to die soon." He observed, his gaze a little too focused on my body, assessing me like I was some specimen, and I was forced to tear my eyes from his.

"Thanks for noticing." I could not help my sarcastic response.

Lucien stared at me for a moment too long, I might had been too conscious if I hadn't decided not to give a fuck. Then without warning, he bent down and scooped me up into his arms.

I flinched, confused by his sudden decision of being my rescuer.

"Oh, there is a conscience down there." I murmured, my voice weak and charred. He stepped out with me, holding me a little too gently. I was almost reminded of the Lucien that I knew before my father's death.

I forced that thought out as soon as it came.

"You will be a fool to think that I am saving you, Little Rose." His voice promised a kind wickedness that still managed to make me shiver.

"Why don't you kill me then?" I asked, only out of curiosity. Because I didn't want to die. Not yet.

Lucien lowered his gaze to meet mine, and my heart did something it wasn't supposed to at closeness and intensity. I sucked in a breath.

"There are so many ways to kill a person." He drawled, his lips curling into a sinister smirk. "And not all of them involves taking a life, Little Rose."

The implications of his words sent me trembling in crippling fear.