Cuts

Amber

I was not living my best life, but I definitely did not want to die yet. My life was miserable and there were lots of times when I wished to die. But it was simply not the time for me to die yet. I had a family. What would happen to my mother and siblings? They still needed me.

The moment I slipped off the window, I closed my eyes, waiting for a fall to come. The window was very far from the ground and that was why I felt that it would take some time for me to fall, but the fall never came. I waited and waited, closing my eyes tight, but I never felt any pain, instead, I heard a low hiss.

“Seriously?” The person sounded annoyed and his hiss was followed by the sound of a dog bark. “Do you really want to die? You're not even struggling.” He repeated and that was when I felt the tight hold of his hand on my wrists. I was not falling.

My eyes immediately flew open and Kael was holding me over the window, with my whole body dangling outside. He was holding my hands. I looked down and the height scared me. I would never survive that fall.

My whole body tensed up. “Please don't let go!!” I was quick to cry out. He hated me and that was the perfect situation to get rid of me. It was over once he released me.

“Please, bring me back up.” A new wave of tears began to stream down my face. “Please.” I began to struggle as he was not moving, trying to drag myself up as my legs dangled in the air, but it was of no avail.

Kael moved and I really thought that he was finally going to release me to fall to my death, but to my relief, he dragged me up. He did it so effortlessly like I was just a piece of paper. “What is wrong with you?” He yelled at me the moment he made me stand and the first thing I did was to move away from the window. Any mistake could happen again and he would not save me.

“I….i..” I cried. “Please don't hit me,” I begged in tears and then he hissed.

“I'm not going to hit you. I was never going to hit you.” He muttered through gritted teeth and my eyes widened as I stared at him. But his fists. They were clenched.

“Your fists were—” My voice trailed off when he gave me a sharp look.

“I clenched my fists does not mean that I was going to hit you.” But he had tried to drown me and even suffocated me twice. And that was what Dad did each time he wanted to beat up my mother or me. He never slapped us. He rained blows on us.

“I’m sorry for talking back to you the other day.” I fell to my knees. It was too much for me and I was going to keep apologizing till the Alpha king decided that he had forgiven me. Zoe barked at me again but she remained standing by her owner’s side.

“What I did was stupid of me. I came for a selection, not to play nice with a dog. Talking back at you was stupid, please forgive me Aloha Kael.” Since he was angry because of that, it was only best that I apologize. With that, he'd leave me alone.

“Stand up and get out.” He snapped and my body flinched but I refused to move.

“I'm not leaving until you forgive me,” I muttered, trying to keep a firm tone.

“It's an order, get out.” His voice turned colder but I refused to move. I was not going to leave. I wanted him to stop being angry at me, but it seemed like my actions were only pissing him off the most.

“I said leave!!” He growled at me and the next moment, he was standing in front of me. He grabbed me by my elbow and forced me to stand.

“Please don't hit me. Please.” Alpha Kael hissed as he began to drag me towards the hallway that led to the rooms where the selection girls stayed. My feet scrambled against the polished floor, my nails scraping uselessly at his wrist.

“Move,” he growled, his voice low and dangerous.

I stumbled, trying to keep up, but my bare foot caught on the edge of a rug. I crashed forward, the side of my head slamming against the wall with a sickening crack. Stars burst in my vision, and I tasted blood as my teeth cut into my lower lip.

Pain shot through my shoulder as Kael jerked me up again, uncaring. Tears blurred my sight, hot and helpless, but he didn’t slow down. Instead, he pulled me harder, my skin burning where his claws dug into my flesh.

“Stop crying,” he snapped, his nails puncturing deep until I felt warm blood trickling down my arm.

My knees buckled beneath me, but he kept dragging me, my body scraping along the floor. Every movement sent a wave of pain crashing over me. My head throbbed, my lip was split, and my shoulder felt like it was on fire.

Somewhere inside, a small, defiant voice begged me to fight back, but my body refused to obey. All I could do was sob, each sound swallowed by the cold, echoing corridor.

He suddenly stopped moving. His hand twitched against my arm, and his chest rose and fell sharply as if he were trying to control himself.

“Gods, you’re so… annoying,” he snarled, his voice low and vibrating with barely restrained anger.

For a moment, I thought he might finally let go, but instead, he turned his head, glaring at me with eyes that burned like molten gold. His jaw worked as if he were fighting the urge to do something worse.

We stood there in tense silence, my heart thundering in my ears, my blood dripping onto the floor between us. His hold on me was still unyielding, but his body had gone rigid, as if he were trying to decide whether to drag me further… or rip me apart right there.

But his next words shocked me. “Come with me. Don't make this worse.” He began to walk in another direction. I slowly dragged my feet behind him and then he stopped walking.

“You are too slow.” He hissed, sweeping me off my feet and the next place I found myself was his shoulders as he walked away.