AMARIS
The whole pack had gathered in the courtyard like it was so kind of festival and I stood in the center wearing nothing but bruises and sha while my father circled with his belt already drawn.
"Please," I choked out through split lips, my hands trying to cover myself but there were too many parts exposed and not enough hands. "I am your daughter."
Alpha Larry Stor stopped circling and looked at like I had said sothing funny, his mouth twisting into sothing that might have been a smile on a different man. "You are a bastard," he corrected, his voice carrying across the silent crowd. "Your mother was a whore who spread her legs in my drunken mont and you are the mistake that crawled out."
The belt ca down across my back and I scread, the sound ripping out of my throat before I could swallow it. My brothers stood in the front row watching with expressions ranging from boredom to amusent and I hated them, hated all of them, hated myself for still thinking maybe this ti soone would step forward and say enough.
No one ever did.
"Count them," my father commanded, and I knew if I didn’t he would start over. He always started over.
"One," I whispered.
The belt fell again, leather biting into already broken skin.
"Louder."
"Two." My voice cracked.
By the ti we reached ten I was on my knees in the dirt and by fifteen I stopped feeling the individual strikes because everything was just one continuous burn. At twenty my father finally stopped and dropped the belt beside like he was done with a chore.
"Get her out of my sight," he muttered to soone I couldn’t see through the tears, and rough hands dragged away while the crowd dispersed like they had just watched sothing as ordinary as a training session.
I blinked and the mory scattered, replaced by Alpha Corvin standing in front of in the room with his arms crossed and his face giving away absolutely nothing.
The fear was still there though, coiled in my stomach like sothing alive and waiting, because powerful n with cold eyes had never ant anything good for .
"Please," I heard myself say, the word slipping out before I could stop it, and I hated how small my voice sounded, how much it reminded of that girl in the courtyard begging for rcy that never ca.
Corvin’s expression shifted slightly, sothing flickering behind his eyes that might have been surprise or might have been disgust. "Go on."
I opened my mouth but before I could get another word out he held up one hand and I stopped like I had been trained my whole life to stop when an Alpha made that gesture.
"Actually," he interrupted, his tone flat and businesslike. "Before you continue, you should know who is in control here, Amaris. That is one thing you should never forget."
My throat tightened and I wanted to scream at him that I already knew, that I had always known, that every man I had ever t had made sure I understood exactly where I stood in the hierarchy of things that mattered. Instead I just nodded because what else was there to do.
"Good," Corvin moved toward the door, his hand already on the handle. "You can leave."
Relief flooded through so fast I felt dizzy with it but then he paused and turned back like he had just rembered sothing inconvenient.
"Tomorrow we are having the engagent party," he announced, his eyes scanning my face like he was cataloging every flaw. "Your first public appearance as my future mate, so I suggest you work on your attitude."
The relief evaporated and dread took its place, heavy and familiar. A party ant people, ant being on display, ant smiling while strangers judged whether I was worthy of being Luna to a man who could barely stand to look at .
"Does that an," I swallowed hard, forcing the question out. "Does that an my father would be there?"
Corvin’s expression did sothing complicated and for the first ti since I had t him he looked almost uncomfortable, like he was about to deliver news he would rather not be responsible for.
"No," he responded simply.
I waited for him to elaborate but he just stood there watching and the silence stretched out between us until I couldn’t stand it anymore.
"Why not?" I pressed, my hands curling into fists at my sides. "Did he refuse to co?"
"Your father is dead."
The words landed like a physical blow and I actually took a step back, my spine hitting the wall behind . The room tilted sideways and I had to blink several tis to make it straighten out again.
"What?" The word ca out strangled.
"Your brother Darius will be attending in his place," Corvin continued like he was discussing the weather. "He is Alpha now."
I stared at him trying to make sense of what he was saying because the words were in the right order but they still were not connecting to anything that made sense. My father could not be dead, he was too an to die, too angry and violent and full of hate to just stop existing.
"What do you an my father is dead?" I demanded, my voice rising despite knowing better than to raise my voice to an Alpha.
Corvin’s jaw tightened and he looked away from for the first ti since entering the room, his gaze landing sowhere over my shoulder. "I was going to tell you after the engagent," he admitted, and there was sothing in his tone that might have been regret if he were the kind of man capable of feeling regret. "But your father died yesterday, heart attack from what I was told, and Darius took over the pack imdiately."
My knees gave out and I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the floor with my arms wrapped around myself.
Dead, my father was dead and I did not know what I was supposed to feel about that because relief and grief were tangled up together in my chest fighting for dominance.
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