Page 69 of Dark Wolf Soul
22
GREY
Istalk through the backyard, not stopping until I’m near the riverbank and hopefully far enough that the view from the kitchen windows is at least partially obstructed. Doesn’t matter, though. I already know the squad will feel every single bit of what’s to come, which is another reason to get as far from the house as possible. If my father learns we’re developing a pack bond again, he won’t be satisfied with letting me pay for their sins.
As long as my true family remains out of his reach, I don’t care what kind of punishment he gives me.
This is on me, not them.
Near the water’s edge, I begin to strip out of my clothes and toss them away. This bullshit isn’t worth wasting an outfit. My father, however, doesn’t share the same sense of practicality.
He marches toward me, already shifting into his wolf as he comes. His snarl rips from his throat even while he’s still human. I shift too, forcing the change as quickly as possible so I can be ready. Not that it’ll do me much good, but being ripped into as a wolf is preferable over having my human body shredded by canines and claws.
My father doesn’t wait, either.
The minute he reaches me, he growls low and threatening, looming over me until his alpha power cowers my wolf. I grit my teeth against the feeling, hating how out of control I feel when he asserts his dominance this way.
Once, I defied him and resisted it—but that’s what landed me in this fucked up mess in the first place. So, if he thinks I’m doing it again now, he’s wrong.
For a second, as memories wash over me, I wonder if this is the whole test. Him asserting his dominance if only to see whether I’ll fight him a second time. But the moment I lower my head out of deference, he sinks his teeth into my shoulder. Not a test then.
Fuck.
His canines rip straight through muscle, and agony follows.
I make a sound of pain, barely managing to bite back a howl as a chunk of fur and flesh is ripped away.
That’s one.
My father’s wolf backs away and spits out the mix of blood and fur then snarls at me and comes again. There is absolutely no trace of compassion or remorse in his hateful eyes, nor do I expect there to be. The man is a monster, through and through.
I can feel his enjoyment radiating from his wolf; the satisfaction he gets from taking me apart bite by bite while I’m helpless to fight back. It’s sick. And it’s exactly why he deserves to be removed from power. So he can never do this to anyone else.
He rips me apart, leaving four more deep gashes in my body. One on each shoulder and two on my left flank for a total of five. He doesn’t go for my throat, and I realize, as I sag to the grass, hissing and huffing in pain, that I half-expected him to just end me right here on the riverbank with all my friends watching.
Withherwatching.
With so much of his alpha power flowing at me, I also get glimpses of his thoughts, and I can feel his desire to do just that. But he backs away, his muzzle bloody from the damage he’s done to me.
I don’t fight back. I couldn’t if I wanted to. The weight of his alpha power still hangs over me like a guillotine ready to fall if I resist him. And he wants that too.
A reason to end me. To end the disappointment that I am to him. But then he wouldn’t be able to torture me like this anymore.
Finally, he steps back and stares down at me.
I don’t bother to look up at him.
If I do, I might just kill him. With his generals standing around, watching the spectacle of a one-sided fight, my odds of surviving a dumb move like that are not good.
Instead, I stay down and wait for him to leave so I can drag myself into the woods and try to heal. But the power around me prickles with an uneasy pressure, and he comes forward again. I tense, confused. Five, that’s what I offered to take. One for me and one for each of the general’s children—or the heirs they bother to recognize. Unless he’s finally decided to acknowledge Crow as a legitimate heir.
The pressure grows stronger until the weight of it presses down around me and shoves my nose into the dirt. The pressure becomes a buzzing in my ears that seeps into my skin and settles inside my bones. My body tightens and contorts even though I never asked it to. I squeeze my fists and grit my teeth against the pain, but there’s no stopping what my father’s wolf has ordered of mine.
Slowly, my wolf begins to recede, and I shift back to my human form—against my will, which only makes the process hurt so much fucking worse than it should.
When it’s done, I’m face-down, naked, and bleeding from several deep gashes across my body. My father’s wolf approaches, towering over me, and I hear his alpha voice in my head.
This one’s for the girl.
