Natalia POV
I hate my life, I hate the people in my life. The constant taunting, the constant beatings, the bruises that I can no longer keep concealed. Why me? What have I ever done to deserve this? I keep to myself. I will always help anyone in need, so why am I treated so badly? Why am I the one everyone beats on? Why do I let them do it? Is it because I am weak like they say? These thoughts are constantly replayed day in and day out.
I am huddled in the corner of the basement that I am forced to live in. My father, the Alpha of our pack, disowned me the moment I was born. I killed my mother during childbirth and since then I have been palmed off to whoever he would force to look after me, but since I am about to turn 18, no one wants me anymore. I was handed back to my father and thrown into the basement. The basement is the cells.
I am forced to live down here and endure the daily beatings. I cannot heal, I can't shift, I am banned and bound. My father had a witch come to our lands, and he paid a shit load for her to perform the ritual to bind me. I can hear my wolf Nyaxia, she is here with me through it all, but just like me, she cannot heal me.
She is stuck, shackled and confined to the space of my mind. I hurt she hurts I cry she cries for me. So, as I sit here huddled in a ball in my basement cell, I wait. I wait for my father to come down and beat me, punish me for being such a disgrace to the Black Widow Pack. As I am forced to live down here, I am also forced to see where my punishments are always dished out. The section across from my ratty mattress and broken bucket where I keep my clothes is the interrogation section. Stocked full of torture equipment. His personal favourite is the wolfsbane whip.
It takes me days to heal since I have to heal the human way. I have to walk around with everyone smelling my bleeding wounds and then have to deal with the pack bullies. My brother, who is next in line for Alpha, loves to beat on me just as much as our father. My step-sister joins in on the fun with her bitch friends.
Once I am locked down here after I have done all my daily chores, I sit and wait. My father likes to taunt me by making me wait, he likes to keep me guessing when he will come down to deliver my punishment. With no windows down here and no clock to check the time, I sit and wait. Every footstep I can hear, every noise has me on edge and staring up at the stairs that lead down to the basement cells.
****
I must have dozed off briefly because when I opened my eyes I saw a pair of dirty boots in front of me. I instantly tense up and push myself into a sitting position, but I am not fast enough to avoid the bone-shattering kick to my ribs. I learned long ago to not make a sound, I learned to keep my screams contained.
I have to take the beatings in silence. Something feels different about tonight though, something feels off. He doesn't normally start off like this, he doesn't normally kick or use his fists. That's when I smell it, the stench of alcohol and the burning scent of wolfsbane. He leans down and grabs me by my hair, my eyes sting with unshed tears, and he drags me over to the filthy bench. I suck in a lungful of air only to be met with a soaked rag.
It burns as soon as it's placed around my mouth. The stench of burnt flesh and blood hit me. I feel my eyes start to roll back, I'm on the verge of blacking out from the pain. As my vision starts to waver, I am hit with a freezing cold bucket of water thrown onto me. He picks me up and throws me onto the cold wet bench. My face smashes on the bench. I whimper from the impact and start to gag on my own blood. This only causes my father to laugh. His breath hits my face as he leans down and partially shifts his fingers into claws, he brings it closer to my face and digs it into my skin just below my eye.
The tears are running down my face, mixing in with the dirt and old blood that's marked this table. Once he is finished running his claw down my face, he moves to my top and slices it down the centre, exposing my back, my back that is littered with scars that won't fade, littered with bruises and brands that will forever mark my flesh. Nyaxia is trying to talk to me, trying to distract me from what is about to come. That is when the pain gets bad. I faintly hear him shuffle around the room, the scuff of his boots is loud enough to alert me of where he is in the room due to him being drunk.
I hear the click of metal and I know he has chosen the whip. I try and suck in any air I can through my nose but it's becoming difficult with the onslaught of wolfsbane burning my nostrils. I hear the groan of the leather being pulled in his hand and then I hear the metal ends thud to the floor. I closed my eyes and tried to listen to Nyaxia.
"Breathe, Natalia. You have to breathe."
"How? You know how much this kills us".
I can't do this, I can't keep enduring this. Fuck why won't they just kill me already? Why are they stringing me along? I am so caught up in my own thoughts I don't hear the swish of the leather gliding through the air until the sharp burn hits my back. This time I let out a scream, there is no holding it together tonight. My father lets out a manic cackle, "This is for taking her from me, this is for leaving me without my mate". WHACK, WHACK, WHACK. I can't get any air into my lungs, I choke on my blood from the burns ravishing my mouth. My throat feels horse from screaming and all I can hear is my father laughing with joy at how much pain he is inflicting on me.
My vision is turning black. I can no longer keep my eyes open, I just want to sleep, I just want it to end. My father drags me off the bench by my arms and I hit the floor face first, and I hear the sickening crutch of my nose.
"Look at you, Natalia. You are pathetic".
He all but spits at me. He steps closer to me, and I instinctively try and move away from him. He grabs my face and rips the soaked rag from my mouth. I let out a scream as I watch a piece of my flesh get pulled from my face. He shoves my face away with a disgusted sneer, I watch with half-lidded eyes as he turns around and walks back up the stairs.