Chapter thirty-one
Impossible
*RAFFY*
Hegrabsmebymy collar, slapping me hard. I can feel blood oozing from my nose.
“You’re bringing shame upon our family,” he yells.
I try to struggle free from his grip, but I’m no match against him. Maybe if I had my wolf already… but not even then I’d have a chance against him. He is so strong.
He grabs me by my collar again, dragging me along. Mom is running towards us. “Stop it,” she begs. “Please.”
He pushes her away. “My son needs to make sure to keep the family’s legacy up,” he yells, pushing me into his study. I drop to the floor, trying to scramble to my feet. Before I can get up, he slaps me again, sending me flying once more.
“I just accompanied her home, Dad,” I explain, panicked. “Her bike broke, and it’s a two-hour walk from school to the pack.”
“She is a lowly omega,” he hisses, making sure to push my mother out of the room and closing the door in front of her face. “Now shut up, get up, and take off your shirt.”
I hurry to oblige. There is only one thing worse than having him fuming like now… and that’s making him wait. I grip the edge of his desk while my father’s belt comes down against my back. I whimper, but I’m holding in any screams. He hates when I’m being weak.
He hates when I’m weak.
I wake up with a gasp, staring into the darkness of the room. Before I can even recover my senses, my memory and mind pull me into the darkness again—their grasp on me is tight tonight, like my mind doesn’t want me to escape.
I’m a bit older, and I don’t know what happened, what I did, but Dad and our alpha have me brought to the dungeons and tied me up by my wrists, the shackles being further tied to the ceiling.
“You have to obey,” my father yells while he whips my back, the end of the whip slicing through the skin of my back and drawing blood.
I don’t even know what I did. I don’t know. Who did I talk to this time? Who was I too polite to, too nice?
I try not to scream in pain as my father whips me mercilessly.
Don’t be weak, don’t be weak.
“You have to make your family proud,” he admonishes.
I have to make them proud.
“You can’t let us down.”
I can’t disappoint them.
I can’t bring shame upon them.
I can’t be weak.
I wake up panting. My thoughts swirl around me, making it hard for me to even think straight. His face is still in front of me, angry, his eyes cold while he beats me mercilessly.
At least he is dead.
I don’t know how I know. I just know.
He is not around anymore, fortunately.
I feel instant guilt washing over me for being relieved that my father has passed away. I shouldn’t be thankful for such a bad thing. Fuck.
“Raffy? Is everything alright?”