Crown of Blood

6 | rockabye

so, rockabye baby, rockabye

i'm gonna rock you

rockabye baby, don't you cry

somebody's got you

As soon as the door closed behind me, I was hit with the exhaustion from the night. My limbs were tired, my back ached, my stomach growled and my heart hurt.

"Well?" he yelled in despair. "Where in the goddess' name were you?"

I moved forward, but I stumbled as I did.

"Uncle ... Eddie," I whispered in a strained voice. My knees buckled as I fell to the ground.

Uncle Eddie gasped, dropping the spoon and rushing towards me. "Reya, are you alright?"

Pain was spreading across every inch of my body. It was like my body was hell and I was living in it. My wolf had retreated to the deepest corner of my mind in attempt to rest and heal us. I was so tired.

"I- It hurts," I breathed out, clutching my stomach.

"What are you tal-" his voice cutoff as he sharply inhaled. "No, no, no," he muttered.

My jacket had ridden up in the back and I knew my cuts were on full display.

After the first few times I got whipped, I stopped telling Eddie. He had wanted to punish Alpha James in every way possible, but I knew that it would just give our identities away. So he settled for casting spells on the Alpha.

The first time I got whipped, Uncle Eddie made Alpha James smell like farts and sound like a kitten everytime he tried howling in wolf form for two months. His ego had taken a big hit during that time.

Bloody diarrhea was the next punishment, after Alpha James put me down there for the first time.

But after a while, I couldn't bear telling Uncle Eddie anymore. I knew it hurt him to see me hurt. And the more often it happened, the more he was ready to drop everything and release his wrath on everyone.

The first two years after turning 16 had been torture. But something inside me snapped after some time. I was tired of being weak. Being preyed on.

So I began sneaking out to watch the training sessions my pack had stopped me from attending. At night, I would practice everything I had learned during the day. Eventually, Uncle Eddie caught on and started training me himself. While he didn't have much experience in wolf combat, I had learned a lot from fighting his wicked spells during our sessions.

But I didn't let anyone from the pack know.

While I grew stronger physically and mentally, I grew weaker in their minds.

I'd like to attribute that to my amazing acting skills.

At the same time, Uncle Eddie began thinking my punishments had stopped, when in reality, I just got better at hiding it.

Until now.

The pain was too much to bear this time and I couldn't hold back.

It wasn't just the whipping. My beast was crumbling because of our mate. The one chance I had at finding someone was gone. While I had never paid much thought to a mate, I knew my wolf had yearned for one long and hard. She had been strong throughout everything that had happened to us, giving me courage and strength when I couldn't find any myself. I didn't know how she remained so strong.