My brown eyes occasionally fluttered shut as I felt my soul seep away from my body, and I could hear my heartbeat decrease by the second as the stench of vapourized wolfsbane constantly invaded my nostrils.
The smell of rusted iron with dried blood and the faint, yet acknowledgeable smell of some dead carcasses had little effect compared to the overpowering odor of the wolfsbane. Yet, the pain at the back of my throat and my chest reminded me why I should prefer these sickening odors to poison.
Inhaling shakily as the rusted chains that held my wrists far apart, binding me to two deteriorated poles, brushed against my bruises, I swallowed my pained moans, too afraid to make any sound.
Any sound resulted in more punishments, as instructed by Alpha Damian, Alpha of the Moonstone Pack, and my supposedly husband. I was in no shape to receive any more injury.
I'd been locked in this damned cell for three days. Seventy-two hours without water, food, or even a breath of good air that wasn't filled with poison or this suffocating foulness. The darkness of the cell was oppressive too. It took two days of almost breaking down mentally to get used to it.
The only light came from the tiny space from beneath the cell's metallic door that casted weak, fractured beams that barely reached halfway through the room, which wasn't even turned on at all times.
The hallway light was only turned on when a guard was coming to my cell to check if I was still alive, or torture me some more.
I trembled slightly from the numbness of my aching body as my muscles screamed for relief, even if there was none to be found.
Between my aching muscles from staying in the same position I'd been chained in for days, and the harsh contact from the rotted chains with the bruises on my wrists and my ankles, which were also chained apart, it was maddening to choose which pain to focus on.
I exhaled weakly as I tried to stop myself from losing consciousness. Staying awake was the only way to stay alive. My body had already reached its lowest. I couldn't even sense my wolf, Lymah. The only thing holding me from falling apart were the chains that held me to the poles.
Just when I thought my suffering couldn't deepen, the hallway light turned on and I could hear footsteps approaching my cell. My heart raced when I heard the clicking of the keys and the metallic scrape of the lock turning.
The door creaked open.
Two guards walked in and turned off the humidifier that contained the vapourized wolfsbane before walking out of my cell.
Noticing their actions, my heart pounded even more at what was coming next. This was just deja vu repeating itself over and over again in a space of 72 hours.
I barely had the strength to lift my head, but I forced my eyes open as I saw the familiar silhouette step into the dim light. From his aura I could tell it wasn't a guard.
He walked toward me. Slowly. Taking his time to savor the pleasure he got from hearing my heart pound with each step he took till he got to where I was chained.
"Hello my dear," Alpha Damian purred, "How are we doing today?"
He lifted my chin so I could stare into his cold green eyes gleaming with pleasure that made my blood run cold.
I glared at him even if I felt the pit of my stomach quiver.
"Still glaring?"
His eyes immediately turned dark and in the next second, I cried out in pain as I felt his sharp claw dig into my chin.
My blood rolled down his fingers and as he pulled out his two claws that dug into my skin, I cried out even more in pain and my head fell steeply.
"Ah..." He muttered and one of the guards rushed into the room. He must have mind linked with the guard but regardless, he wiped my blood on the hem of the guard's coat before dismissing the guard.
"You make me do things I don't intend on doing to you, Penelope... You're too eager to get away from me," I listened to his footsteps as he circled around me, "But your enthusiasm my dear wouldn't save you. It'll only prolong your suffering," he clicked his tongue.
I closed my eyes tightly as I felt his fingers trail my battered back to my right shoulder before landing on my collar bone.
"It annoys me how you thought you could escape from me without paying for your father's crimes," His fingers left my collar bone and curled around my neck, gripping my throat with a vice-like strength.
Lifting my head to meet his gaze once more, "Why did you try to escape, my dear, I thought we had an understanding?" He asked, rubbing my pale cheeks with the knuckles of his free hand.
I gasped for air as he strangled me. "Y you killed him already and took his pack. What more do you want from me?" I managed to ask as I felt air vanish from my lungs.
My eyes stung as I felt my vision blurred when his grip tightened. Just as I was about to lose consciousness, he released his grip on me and took a step away from me while I coughed and wheezed.
"Why?! Why, you ask Penelope?!" His voice thundered in the room, "To make you loathe the day you acknowledged that murderer as your father. To make you go through the same pain your father made me go through nine years ago and to finally watch you take your last breath with tears streaming down your eyes."
"Then do it already and get it over with!" I screamed with the last strength I could muster.
Suddenly, an overbearing pressure weighed on me. I couldn't move. Breathing too was difficult. Damian's aura must have seeped through.
"You. Do. Not. Speak. To. Your. Alpha. In. That. Manner, you c**t."
Pain, my only companion for days shot through my whole body, even down to my bones. I wanted to scream, to cry, but with my dehydration, this wasn't even an option. All I could do was endure through a gritted teeth.
He surpressed his aura after a while and I collapsed against the chains.
"You will beg for your death, Penelope..." I heard his last words as darkness consumed me.