Chapter 005: The savage rot

Lyra

They said what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but that was a LIE! What doesn't kill you makes you wish you were dead.

And right now I wanted to die!

Sometimes… The only thing keeping me from falling apart was my memories, I didn't even know why I was still alive, there was nothing to live for.

All my life I had hoped and prayed for my mate to take me out of this place, or maybe when my sister became Luna I wouldn't suffer the humiliation I did.

But that wasn't the case, my two hopes were completely shattered leaving me with nothing.

I held my memories tight, like it was a tiny bit of sunlight in a dark place. When the cold bites deep and my stomach hurt from hunger, and my body shakes from weakness—I go back there.

To that day, the first time I felt safe.

FLASHBACK – Crescent Moon Pack, Age 12

It was the Harvest Moon Festival.

The courtyard was alive with laughter and music, the older wolves dancing, the pack warriors sparring in circles.

But I wasn’t allowed near any of those festivities.

Even as a child I wondered why everyone in the pack treated me like a plague, it didn't add up, my parents were high ranking pack members and everyone loved my sister.

But I was treated like I said worthless.

As a child I was always sick, the runt of the pack, they said I was more human and wolf and I would never be able to transform into a wolf.

I didn't know what that meant then, but I know since then everyone treated me differently.

I’d been given a rust-colored dress too big for my tiny body, and I trailed behind the other pups like a ghost no one wanted.

“Hey, freak!” a boy sneered, it was Daren, his father was the head of the warriors. “Where is your wolf? Oh wait—right. She’s dead inside you.”

The others laughed.

Before I could run, a foot kicked my shin and I went sprawling face-first into the mud.

I tasted dirt. My palms scraped against the gravel. Their cruelty and laughter echoed in my ear.

One girl yanked at my hair and then another boy rubbed berries into my dress, staining it like blood.

“She is useless,” someone said. “She shouldn’t even be in the pack.”

They circled me, chanting:

“Wolfless. Worthless. Weakling.”

Each word like a stone targeted straight at my heart.

I curled in on myself, wishing I could vanish.

Then came her voice.

“Touch her again,” Selene said, “and I will show you exactly what I am capable of.”

They immediately went silent, in the whole pack Chaos Selene was the one who always took care of me.

The bullies scattered like dry leaves in the wind.

I looked up with mud smeared across my face, tears mixing with it and there she was.

My Selene. Hair woven in golden braids like the warrior princess she was, eyes blazing like fire ready to consume whoever wanted to hurt me.

My sister. My protector. My world.

She crouched down beside me and wrapped her arms around my trembling frame.

“I hate them,” I sobbed into her chest… I hate it here.

“I know,” she whispered, rocking me gently. “But they will never touch you again.”

She wiped my cheeks with the sleeve of her pretty dress, not caring that it was stained. Then she looked me in the eye and said, “I will always protect you, Lyra. Always. No matter what.”

And I believed her without even second guessing because I didn't need to.

Because back then, she was my strength. My voice when I didn’t have one. The only reason I ever believed I had a place in this pack.

Or in the world.

BACK TO PRESENT – Dungeon

Now? I sat in the dark, alone, curled in a ball, bones aching, body limp. My hair was a matted mess stuck to my skin, my lips were cracked and broken, and my cloth was reduced to nothing but threads.

I hadn't eaten since god knew how long. Even breathing hurts.

That memory of her arms around me was the only thing keeping me alive.

But memories don’t last forever.

And I was starting to wonder if when she said “I will always protect you” was just as dead as the sunlight that never reached this cell.

I guess that offer had an expiration date.

My stomach growled so violently I flinched. I licked at my dry lips, but there was nothing left to swallow.

I didn't even have freaking saliva, I wondered why he kept me alive, but I quickly answered myself, he wanted a life in white and he wanted to break me.

But I would rather die, was there anyone who cares if I survived? I waited for an answer till the silence answered me.

The walls didn’t care.

My mate didn't care.

The Moon Goddess didn’t care.

And maybe… maybe Selene didn’t either.

I don’t even know how long I have been rotting in this gods-forsaken dungeon.

Time was not real down here. Just cold, darkness. Just that cursed drip-drip of water leaking from somewhere in the stone ceiling was mocking me, counting the seconds I would have been forgotten.

An Alpha was meant to be a protector, he was supposed to look after his pack members with his very last breath, and a mate is meant to do that to this mate

But Kael didn't know the meaning of the word ‘protector’ if it slammed him in the face.

He wasn't my mate, he was my curse and sister’s soon-to-be husband.

My stomach was hurting like hell and my throat’s too raw for screams now, lips cracked, voice broken.

My unshifted wolf is almost gone, like she’s retreating from the world that keeps proving I absolutely do not belong in it.

And then I heard the sound of boots on stone.

I tensed up almost immediately and Every muscle in me locked up, trembling from cold and pure instinct. I already know who it is.

The iron door opened, and there he is.

Alpha Kael.

He filled the doorway with his tall and broad physique, dripping in power and menace. His black hair is pulled back, a few strands falling loose around his chiseled face. His silver eyes are colder than the walls around me, and yet… they flare for just a moment when he sees me.

“You look like hell,” he said flatly without any emotion whatsoever.

No “are you alright,” no remorse. Just that!

I drag myself to sit up, bracing on shaking arms. “Are you still saying’ no,”

So this was what I was about, he came to see if I had finally agreed, I wanted to show him that he couldn't break me.

“I am not going to be your dirty little secret, Kael.”

His lips twitched as he looked both amused and annoyed. “I have to say, I'm impressed that you still have fight in you,” he muttered.

But it was far from fight.

“Still got pride,” I snapped, even as my vision was blurry.

He stepped forward, close enough that his scent made my head spin.

My traitorous body reacted and the bond lit up even as I tried to kill it.

“Then rot,” he said very softly, like it was from a place of kindness, this man was a trained psychopath . “Rot until you learn obedience.”

He turned to leave, but paused in the doorway, his silver eyes glinting. “You say no again, and I won’t come back.”

I spat at him. It doesn’t land, just slides down my chin. Still, the message is clear.

… Fuck you Kael, fuck your proposal, rot in hell…

He leaves without another word, the door slamming shut with a finality that makes my heart break.

Sometimes about it told me I was going to rot here.

**

Days pass. I think. Maybe it was hours, it doesn’t matter, when you're trapped in a shoe box time was nothing but an illusion.

The hunger had worsened, the last time I ate was at that cursed party where I snuck smoked ribs from the kitchen.

My nails were bloody from scraping at the walls, by now I had started to hallucinate, Kael’s face above mine, Selene’s laughter echoing. Their hands locked, and they shared a kiss.

I screamed but it seemed as if no one could hear me. I looked at Selene with love and affection as if she was something meant to be protected.

Then, when I thought I might truly fade the door opened again but it was softer this time letting me know it wasn't Alpha Kael.

I blinked to be sure I wasn't hallucinating again, but she actually was here.

“Mira?” My voice is barely audible.

She rushed to embrace me.

“Gods, Lyra,” she gasped as the horror showed on her face. “You look like a corpse.”

I tried to smile but it cracked my lip open.

She knelt beside me, yellow skirts brushing the grime and dirt “I bribed every damn guard with coins, jewelry and my favorite scarf.”

I interrupted her immediately. “That was the only thing you have of your parents.” I said.

Mira was too good for her own good, she shouldn't have done that.

“But you are the only person I have now.”

I didn't even know I was crying till hot tears touched my cheeks.

“Don't cry Lyra, you'll make me cry the bastards would not let me bring food—but I smuggled this.”

She pullsx out a tiny glass vial, and for a second, I swear it shines like moonlight.

It was water, clean, precious water.

She brought it to my lips, and I gulped it down like it was the only thing I ever needed.

Some spill down my chin, but I don’t care. It tastes like mercy.

“Tell me what happened,” she whispered as her fingers brushed mine.

My chest shook as I finally speak the words aloud. “Kael... he’s my mate.”

She gasped. “What? No—no, Selene’s with him. They ae—”

“I know.” My throat closed. “But the night of the ceremony… he kissed me. He—he touched me. Almost marked me. The bond is real, Mira. I felt it. I still feel it.”

Her mouth fell open, hand went straight to her chest as if she was finding it hard to believe.

But… how could he…?”

Before I can answer, before I can tell her how he locked me away, how he made me choose between being his whore or dying here—

The dungeon door slammed open again.

We both jump. Mira scrambles to her feet, shielding me instinctively.

Gavyn, Kael’s beta stepped in, maybe he sent his beg to finish the job.

His eyes were unreadable as he looked like an assassin with his leather armour.

“Out,” he said to Mira, sounding very impatient, Mira glared at him.

That's my girl, my feisty but defenceless girl and she was willing to face the beta for me

She hesitated. “She needs help—”

“Out,” he repeated, and this time she listened. But not before placing the empty vial beside me with a glare that says she would be back.

And knowing her I was certain of that.

Then we were alone.

He slowly approached, crouching in front of me like I was something fragile and dangerous all at once.

“I came to see if you were still alive,” Gavyn said quietly. “And… because I heard you scream.”

I said nothing. Just look at him with dead eyes.

“I know what Kael did,” he continued. “What he almost did.” His jaw flexes. “I saw it. That night. I stopped him.”

I blinyk. “You…?”

“I was in the trees. When he kissed you. When he was about to mark you. I interrupted it.”

“Why?” My voice was hoarse. At least someone believes me, at least I know I wasn't making it up . “Why would you stop him?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Just reaches into his belt and pulls out a cloth-wrapped bundle. He places it beside me, bread. Dried meat and more water.

“Because someone had to,” he murmured. “I was saving you Lyra.”

I didn't even have the willpower to make sense of what he was saying, all I cared about right now was the scent of food that was making my head spin.

He stood up. “Eat, rest and remember do not give in, Lyra.”

And then, before I can ask more about what he saw, about why he was helping—the left and the door slammed shut.

And then I was left alone with a scrap of food, and a hundred unanswered questions.

And for the first time since that cursed night, something in me whispered to me.

Just don't survive, fight.