LUCY’S POV
The stench of fear mixed with the sharp tang of silver and wolfbane, permeated the dungeon. Darkness wrapped itself around the cold stone walls, and Alenjro’s muffled gasps for air echoed within. The silence in between each scream was thick, and heavy with the weight of what was unsaid. I could hear him attempting to hold back his agony, but it was useless. His control shattered each time I pressed the searing iron that was already wrapped in wolfbane vines, against his skin.
“Ahhhh!” Alenjro’s scream filled the room again, slicing through the air, raw and broken. A satisfying chill crawled up my spine as I watched his body convulse against the restraints, his skin blistering from the poison.
When his scream died down to a low moan, he lifted his head, eyes glazed with defiance but flecked with terror.
“Do you think this will erase what you are?” he spat, a mocking tone laced with an undertone of pain. “Do you think it’ll change the fact that your ‘precious’ son was fathered by wolves even lower than me?”
The words hit me like a slap. I knew Alenjro’s cruel intent was to weaken me, to plunge me back into the darkness he once controlled. For a moment, I felt my control slipping-but then I remembered why I was here.
I took a steadying breath, locking my gaze on his.
“It won’t erase anything. But I intend to break you, piece by piece, just as you broke me. I will make sure you wish I’d end it quickly, but I won’t. You’ll suffer for every scar, every tear, every humiliation you’ve forced me to endure. You will know pain as I did.”
He laughed-a hollow, strained sound.
“You were weak, Lucy. You bowed to me, to your mate, and now you blame me for it? You made your poor Alpha wolf bow to a Delta wolf and you want to blame me for it?”
My anger flared, white-hot, searing through the cold control I’d wrapped myself in.
“I was never weak,” I hissed, leaning in so he could see every ounce of hatred in my eyes. “I was trapped. You used the bond against me, knowing my wolf would suffer. I was strong, Alenjro, stronger than you’ll ever be. You’re just a lowly Delta wolf and that is all you will ever be”
I raised the iron once more and pressed it to his skin until his screams echoed around the stone walls again with a symphony of agony. Watching his suffering, I felt a pulse, faint and timid, stirring within me-Casa.
My wolf, who had gone silent since the moment he broke me. The day he forced me into submission, lowering my Alpha wolf spirit to the level of a dog at his feet.
Every scream brought her closer. Every moment of his torment reignited the flicker of life in her.
When his screams fell silent once more, he looked up at me, blood smeared across his face. His voice was little more than a rasp, but he forced it out.
“Do you honestly think… that revenge will heal you?”
I tightened my grip on the iron, the heat radiating through my palm.
“It’s not for you to understand. But I know one thing,” I said, pressing closer, meeting his hate-filled gaze. “The only way I’ll be free of you is to watch you suffer until I’m whole again. Until Casa is whole.”
“Casa?” he sneered, though the pain on his face contradicted his bravado. “That mutt left you because she knew you were weak. She let me-”
I slapped him, the sound cracking across the dungeon, punctuating his insult. The satisfaction was brief, but it fueled the fire within me.
“Casa is stronger than you can imagine. She’s the part of me you tried to kill, but she’s still here, fighting back.”
Alenjro’s mouth twisted into a derisive smile, blood staining his teeth.
“You couldn’t even look at your own son,” he taunted, and I froze. “Every time you look at that child, you see what I did to you. You see the filth I dragged you through, the reminder of how weak you are. It’s a forever scar you have to carry for the rest of your life”
His words struck deeply, stirring emotions I’d buried. I had struggled to look at Andre, my own child. The guilt, the shame… he was innocent, but he was also a constant reminder of my suffering. I took a step back, gripping the silver chains harder to steady myself.
“You don’t get to talk about him,” I said my voice shaking with the effort to remain calm. “You don’t get to make this about him. I’ve been through hell, and I’m still standing here. The only one broken here is you.”
“Broken?” He laughed, though it was strangled by the pain wracking his body. “You still have no idea, do you?”
“What are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes.
“You think I’m the monster, but I wasn’t the one who touched you, was I?” he whispered, a cruel glint in his eyes. “You didn’t know your pup’s father and it isn’t just one man.”
His words hit me like a tidal wave, and my vision blurred with rage. Pieces of memories, dark and twisted, began surfacing, memories I’d tried so hard to block. The trafficking, the moments I could remember clearly. A sickening remembrance dawned.
“You watched,” I whispered, horror lacing my voice. “You let them-”
“Of course I did,” he replied, his voice cold and detached, as if he were talking about someone else’s misery. “You were mine to do with as I pleased. And the others… they were just doing what they were paid to do. Just doing their jobs.”
The bile rose in my throat, and I fought it back. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to end him here, to rip him apart. But no, that would be too merciful.
“Paid” My voice trembled with fury. “You sold me, You paid wolves to molest your own mate. How could you?”
“At least you didn’t die” He coughed, blood dribbling from his lips. “You’re here now. Revenge is sweet, isn’t it?”
I took a step back, pressing a hand to my mouth, the memories surging back. Casa’s silence. Her retreat. Now I understood why she’d gone numb, why she’d been silent for so long. I hadn’t just been betrayed by my mate-I’d allowed all the disrespect from the very beginning, used as a commodity, and watched by the very wolf who was supposed to protect me.
I raised the iron again, pressing it into his skin without mercy, fueled by the sickening revelations. He howled, but this time I barely heard it. All I could see was his betrayal, his depravity. When he quieted again, his head lolled to one side, breathing hard, the arrogance gone.
“I will never forgive you,” I said, voice cold. “You took everything from me-my freedom, my wolf, my dignity. But you didn’t destroy me.”
A flicker of life returned in Casa, a faint stirring of her spirit that felt like a glimmer of hope. She was with me. Weak, but present.
Alenjro glared at me, but his defiance was waning, his strength sapped.
“You think you can rebuild yourself with a little revenge?” he spat weakly. “It’ll never be enough. You’ll never be whole again.”
“I don’t need to be whole to bring you down,” I replied. “And by the time I’m finished, you’ll have nothing left.”
I left the dungeon, locking the heavy iron door behind me. As I walked up the cold, winding stone steps, the weight of his betrayal settled on my shoulders. But so did a newfound resolve. He had broken me once, but I was here, fighting back. For Casa, for Andre, for the life I had ahead of me.
The moment I emerged into the open air, I took a deep breath, steadying myself against the fresh ache. For the first time, I felt the tiniest spark of freedom flicker within me. The past couldn’t be undone, but I was finally moving forward. And for that, I would fight. For myself, for my pup, and for the wolf I’d once buried, who was beginning to resurface.
I would make sure Alenjro paid for every piece of suffering he’d inflicted-and maybe, one day, Casa would be able to forgive me, too.