The Iridescent Wolf

Chapter Four (Danica's POV)

I lay in a cocoon of darkness, with no light, no feeling, just a sense of weightlessness. Everything is calm. I wish I could stay like this forever, I think to myself. Then, just as the thought enters my head, the faintest whispers break the silence. I try to make out the words being said, but they're too far away to distinguish. Oddly enough, even though I can't hear the words being said, my body feels light and comforted. The whispers stop after a couple of minutes, and I'm left in the darkness alone. 

"Danica..." A calming female voice whispers right up against my ear, causing me to squeal in shock.

"W-Who are you!?" I shout, scanning the infinite darkness for any signs of life. 

"You don't need to fear much longer, my child," the voice whispers into the opposite ear. I whip around as quickly as possible, but I don't see anything. 

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

"Don't worry, Danica, everything will be ok."

My eyes shoot open just as the words reach my ears, and I stare up at a rose gold canopy. W-What the heck just happened? I ask myself as the woman's words echo throughout my head. I try to make sense of her message, but nothing comes to mind. I continue to stare up at the canopy in confusion until a single thought passes through my mind. The canopy in my room is purple...

I shoot up in bed, and my vision instantly blurs. I clutch my head in my hands as it throbs in pain and let out a whimper. Shit, shit, shit, I think to myself as the memories from earlier in the day resurface. Mother is going to kill me. Oh Goddess, and what if she tells father? Those thoughts run rampant in my mind, causing my head to pound even harder. Part of me wants to run from the room and never look back, but the more realistic part knows nothing is there for me. Then, suddenly, the door to the room swings open, and my body tenses with fright. 

"M-Mother," I stutter out, my mind going blank with fear. She doesn't say a word as she carefully shuts the door.

"Mother, please, I'm sorry!" I plead, but she still doesn't speak as she approaches the bed. I open my mouth once more to beg for forgiveness, but before a single "I'm sorry" slips out of my mouth, she slaps me across my face. I stare at my mother in shock as my face throbs to the beat of my thundering heart. 

"You pathetic little girl! How dare you embarrass me not only in front of my friends but in front of the royal court!" She shouts, slapping me across the other side of my face. White dots dance across my vision, and a white-hot ringing drowns out the sounds of my own whimpers. 

"I-I'm sorry, mother, p-please forgive me," I manage to croak out in between cries of pain. 

"Goddess, I am so sick of your pathetic apologies! Why can't you just be normal like your sister! Why did I have to have a child as worthless as you!" Every word burns deep in my soul. I knew my mother loathed me every minute past my 12th birthday, but I never knew how deep that ran. 

"We have raised you to the best of our ability, even though you have nothing to offer the family nor the pack, and this is how you repay me? We would have been so much better off sending you to the human world with the rest of the trash as soon as we realized you couldn't shift." Intense terror runs through my body at the mention of the human world, and I start sobbing uncontrollably. 

"Please don't send me away, mother! Please! I'll be better, I promise! Just don't send me away!" I sob, attempting to reach out to my mother. A look of complete and utter disgust crosses her face as she slaps my hands away. 

"Goddess, you really are a wretched child. Stop crying already; I'm not going to send you away," she sighs, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "We will be discussing further punishments when we return home. But, for right now until the day of the coronation, you WILL stay in this room. If I, your father, or your siblings catch you outside of this room, the consequences will be severe. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, mother." 

Once satisfied with my misery, she struts out of the room with a smug smile. As soon as I hear the door click shut, I let out a breath of relief. I fall back against the plush pillows and close my eyes. My head pulses, and I gently touch my hands to my face. I wince as soon as my hands contact my face, and I can still feel the heat from the slap. 

I feel the need to scream in frustration and run as far and fast as possible. I wanted to be anywhere but here, and I wanted to be anyone but myself. I'm so pathetic, I think as hot salty tears stream down my face. I continue to cry until the exhaustion takes over, and I eventually fall asleep. 

By the time I awaken, the room is dark, only dimly lit by the moon's light. I slowly sit up and let out a groan of discomfort. My whole body is sore, minus my face, which feels oddly numb. I take an opportunity to look around the room and cringe. Who put me here? The room itself had an air of refined dignity, something a lowly wolfless girl didn't deserve. I felt utterly out of place and uncomfortable. 

My stomach howls in anger before my negative thoughts can spiral any further. Right, I haven't eaten today... The thought makes me angry, knowing that all of my misery was caused by this simple fact. I push myself out of bed with a heavy sigh and head over to the large double doors. I place my hand on the handle, but I stop short of opening the door. 'If I, your father, or your siblings catch you outside of this room, the consequences will be severe.' My mother's voice echoes in my head, and I drop my hand from the handle. 

Right, I can't leave the room. My stomach rumbles again in anger, and I bite my thumb as a nervous habit. I had to eat something soon, or things would only worsen. I had no idea if anyone was going to bring food to the room, and I didn't want to starve. I glance at a sizeable white grandfather clock ticking away against the wall. It read 2:00am. The possibility of anyone being awake was low, so if I was going to leave this room, now would be the time. I look back around the room and then back at the doors. I take a deep breath before turning the knob and stepping out into the hallway's darkness. 

A/N: Hello! Sorry, this chapter took me so long to get out. I was attempting to work on another project, which didn't work out too well. Word's are hard, ya'll. Anyways since that project was a flop, I'm now all-in on this story, so the chapters will start coming out faster from this point forward!