Where do I begin with my story? Well, for starters, I was adopted by the most horrible people or pack you could ask for. I grew up in slavery working as their maid my whole life. A few days ago I found my mate who I know to be Alpha Adriano, the most fearsome and esteemed Alpha out there. He might as well be King. So, I did what any other logical person would do. I ran. Unfortunately, my trip away from the pack only lasted a day because last night the trackers caught up to me. And today...today is now known as the Offering.
The offering is the most vicious way for a wolf to be torture. It is divided into two torturous ways:
Firstly, Strappado.
Strappado is an uncomfortable form of torture that doesn't necessarily end in death. Instrappado, the offered is strung up by the wrists, behind the head. The awkward angle is pretty much guaranteed to cause an agonizing dislocation of the shoulders, but if it doesn't, weights may be added.
Then, if the dislocation of the shoulders isn't enough, they added another...Corte Lento.
Also known as "slow slicing" or"death by a thousand cuts". The offered is tied to a post and bits of skin and limbs are gradually removed one by one, usually culminating in a final cut to the heart or decapitation. But, because we are werewolves and healing happens fast when sliced by anything ordinary, the knives are made from a very special silver and then, to make matters worse, dipped into a rare type of wolfsbane to slow the healing and to make the death of the offered more excruciating.
Nobody ever does this anymore because it is a horrible way for anyone to die. Then again, my pack isn't anybody...they just do as they please because they are the third strongest pack in the world of werewolves.
It's currently 3 p.m. Elil took me to the packhouse where Kamilah, Arilyn, Alpha Wenn and Luna Qua stood waiting for me. They all had disgusted looks on their faces except for Kamilah, who had a vicious half-smirk plastered on her eyes for me and lustful eyes looking at Elil. Gross.
The second I stood in front of Alpha Wenn, he slapped me across the face sending me face-first into the ground.
"You b**ch! You made me lose face in front of Alpha Adriano!"
I look up at him and spit the dirt that went into my mouth from the impact to the ground onto his brightly polished shoes.
"Well," I say whilst looking up at his shocked face from my little act just now and wipe my lip with one of my tied hands to reveal a little bit of blood, "I can't say that you didn't deserve it from all the s**t you put me through."
And from the death glares I got from him and the shocked intake of breaths from the other female side of the family, I could say that I was counting my now 8 lives I still have goodbye.
As Alpha Wenn wanted to lunge at me and most probably kill me straight away, Luna Qua took him by the hand and shook her head. He calmed down a bit while she whispers something into his ear and an evil smirk creeps up onto his face.
"Well said dear," he says while turning his head into my direction once again.
"You better be grateful to your luna for sparing your life just a little while longer. You're not going to be offered at 5 o'clock this afternoon but in 5 days. You'll be locked up until then," he looks at Elil, "no food and no water. We'll see what you can do without the strength of your wolf to help you through this."
I could feel Elil's evil smirk forming and shortly after that, I'm yanked up from the ground and dragged back to the cells to be locked up once more.
Once at the cells, Elil throws me into my cell sending me once more stumbling to the ground. He was quick to come in and buckle the silver chains around my arms and feet. The burning continues once more as my skin makes contact with the silver.
Elil walks out and locks my cell sending me a devilishly evil grin.
"Have a nice 5 days, love."
"P**s off!"
"Hmm, we'll see how long that feistiness of yours' will last."
With that said, he walks out of the door and I'm befallen by darkness once more.
••••♠••••
I don't know how long it's been since I last saw the door to the cells open or how long it's been in general since I was thrown into my cell once more to await my torture once more. My body feels weak from the lack of food. Usually, it would take such a huge toll on me from not eating, but the silver chains have a great deal in the fact that my body is responding either twice as fast or twice as slow.
I sit there lifelessly on the ground with closed eyes because they are failing miserably to stay open. I don't know if my mind was playing tricks on me again from hearing keys turning to open my cell, but I decided to ignore it. I don't care anymore about anything or anyone. I'm practically already dead if you would see my state right now.
In the distance, I hear a short mumble of words but couldn't make out what the person was saying when I was suddenly yanked up from the ground and dragged out of the cells. The sudden change of light made me realize that I wasn't in my cell anymore, but outside.
I look up to my right to see Elil dragging me once more to the packhouse where he hands me over to some of the other female maids working there. The happily take to a room where a bathtub has already been run for me. They strip me and push me into the water and started washing me and my hair.
After the horrible washing session, they move me a wardrobe where a white dress has been hung for me to wear and they managed to slip it onto my fragile state. After that, they combed out my hair and just as they finished, Kamilah bursts into the room looking at me.
"My dear sister, you actually don't look horrid for once."
I didn't even have the strength to look at her. I just remained silent.
I heard a bored sigh coming from her before she interlocks her arm with mine and starts walking.
"Come along. Everyone is waiting for you."
As we exit the packhouse, Kamilah leads me into the forest with a small road that after a few metres turns into an open space where a pole has been set in the middle of the clearing. At the pole, Elil is waiting with a piece of rope in his hands that has been knotted into a loop for my hands.
Elil takes me from Kamilah, puts the rope around my hands and tightens it so it won't come loose. He then takes me to stand directly in front of the pole where Alpha Wenn starts to speak up.
"Dear pack members and members of the other packs. Today we gather here to witness the offering of a traitor amongst us. She disobeyed my orders, ran away and disgraced her pack and her Alpha and Luna, her father and mother who took her in with so much kindness to take care of her. And how does she repay our kindness? By treason. We gather here today to witness the death of a traitor amongst us."
I could hear a loud roar of bellows and applauds. I look up to see Alpha Wenn looking at Elil and giving him the signal. I drop my head. I'm in no need to fight or struggle to survive because I'm already dead. Dea is silent. They 'killed' her the night with the attack and the silver chains were keeping me from gaining access to talk to her. I have nobody to care about and nobody to care about me.
At that moment I thought about Adriano. Even though he has been destined to be my mate, he doesn't care about me. He is known to be vicious and I wasn't expecting anything from him, so why, just why, am I thinking about him now? Guess it's part of those memories that flash through your mind at your last moments.
As I was thinking, I could feel myself being lifted from the ground by the rope around my arms. I wasn't lifted very high from the ground because it was only meant to dislocate my shoulders.
After I could feel that I was no more being pulled upwards, I hung there, thinking about nothing. After a few seconds of silence, I heard Alpha Wenn say 'Start' and before I knew it, people started throwing things at me. Tomatoes, rocks, sticks, greens, you name it. I didn't care anymore. I was too weak to care and too far gone.
After what felt like hours, I heard my first shoulder dislocate and then shortly after the other one. I screamed in pain and then the people stopped throwing things as well. I looked down and saw Elil standing in front of me with a bucket and a silver knife which he then dips into the liquid in the bucket. He looks up at me and for a second I could see a glimpse of remorse in his face but it quickly fades after Alpha Wenn once again gave the orders.
After that, the first slice pierces my skin and I scream. Shortly after that the second, third, fourth and the rest followed. After the twentieth slice, I had no more strength to scream or fight against the wolfsbane entering my body. Tears were now streaming down my face and my vision began to fade. I felt myself losing cautiousness, but it wasn't before I heard a deathly roar screaming through the forest that shook the ground as it continued.
I gave one glace to where I heard the sound coming from and saw Alpha Wenn being sent into the ground and Elil being held up by his neck by a blurry figure before I was taken into the peaceful darkness.