When the world tortured you too much and you were done trying to survive, all you could do was; laugh it off.
“You took a side, father.” Zuri finally calmed down enough to talk coherently, while her father was standing there as if he was going to throttle her neck. His face was so dark, his pupils turned charcoal black and his gray hair made him look so old.
At fifty-five, he had long passed his prime, and now, Zuri had the strength and skill to challenge him. She could at least slap him, but there was something about him that stopped her from even trying, or even thinking about it.
She realized that when you were raised and trained to fear something, the fear would never fully dissipate. It would cling to you, persistent and familiar, regardless of the changing circumstances.
“Why did you take his side instead of your own daughter?” Zuri felt stupid when she asked this question, but then she already felt crazy, so turning stupid wouldn’t hurt her much. “You talk about not tarnishing our family’s name, but don’t you think what he has done would drag our family’s name through the mud?”
Zuri got off the bed and faced her father. She was a head shorter than him, but she squared her shoulders and straightened her back.
Her mother trained her to be a perfect luna and that was how she would act right now.
“Even if you don’t care about me, you should care about the pack’s image. What would people say if they hear the daughter of the Alpha of the Silver Creek pack has been cheated on by an omega?” Zuri lifted her chin. “If you couldn’t care less about my feelings, at the very least you should consider how people will perceive the news when they hear it.”
Zuri balled her fists, the mate bond had been severed, and the pain from it and her miscarriage was close to unbearable, but she endured it, because that was her only way to survive this.
“The other woman is an omega, can’t you see how bad it is?” Zuri counted on this fact. The look in her eyes when she kissed Xaden, as if she was mocking her, taunting her with her victory because she could get her mate. That sight would forever be engraved in the back of her mind.
However, Zuri wouldn’t allow her to walk all over her. She was an omega and she was the luna, she was way above her and she would show her that much.
“An alpha has an affair with an omega, the lowest rank shifter.” Zuri looked her father straight in his eyes. “That’s very cheap. The man you chose for me has cheap taste.” Zuri leaned over and lowered her voice. “Just like you.”
Zuri would be foolish if she were not aware of her father’s affair with every woman that he could stick his dick into, but she was not sure whether or not her mother knew all of this.
Her mother… she had always been the perfect luna. She ruled alongside her father and took her role seriously. The image of the pack was everything. She adopted the same beliefs as her mate.
“That must be the reason why you sided with him, because you’re both the same,” Zuri said. She knew her father well enough to know that what she said would get on his nerves. His hand was shaking. “You can slap me again, but both of us know it won’t change anything. Especially the truth.”
A slap landed on her face again, this time the harsh blow knocked her to the floor, since she was standing and her back hit the table.
The pain brought tears to her eyes, as she gritted her teeth not to make even a peep.
For a while, Alpha Roland just stood like that, he didn’t move, nor did he say anything, but his whole body was trembling now. Zuri knew how much he tried not to lose control over his emotions and she kept pushing him to his limit.
If only her face was not hurting so much, she would have laughed in his face again. But, the last blow was very harsh, she couldn’t even speak, it seemed her father had dislocated her jaw with that slap.
“Karina,” Alpha Roland called for his mate in a cold voice. “Give her medicine.”
Karina immediately fished out something out of her pocket, she always kept it with her. It was a bottle of white pills. She put two pills in Roland’s open palm and watched him shove them down Zuri’s throat.
Zuri coughed and curled her body inward, but her father forced the pills down her throat anyway.
Zuri hated this. No. She hated everything. She bit down on her father’s hand. As she swallowed the pills, she could also taste fresh blood in her mouth. Good. She wanted him to endure the same pain.
“How dare you bite me!” Alpha Roland backhanded her face once again and this time, it was Zuri, who bled, but still she laughed. “Crazy!” He then turned around to face Karina, who had this impassive expression. “How could you give birth to a crazy daughter?!”
“Probably I got it from you.” Zuri laughed between each bitter word. Still sitting on the floor, she lazily wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. “If you were willing to look closely, my brother is crazy as well. He only looks normal in your eyes because of the little thing hanging between his legs.”
This would be the first time Karina showed any emotions from the moment Roland started harassing her this time around. Her eyes widened, as she glared at Zuri in warning, as if telling her to stop provoking her already angry father, because the final result of it wouldn’t be something she liked.
Zuri was talking about her first brother, the firstborn of Roland. He was indeed insane to say the least. You could say he had a peculiar taste and he was the one that gave Roland a constant headache ever since he learned the importance of his status as a firstborn.
However, Zuri didn’t even look at her mother. There was no point in looking at her when she couldn’t even help her, nor could she give her some comfort.
She didn’t even pretend trying to assuage Alpha Roland’s anger.
“You really think you are the Luna of the pack, huh? Just because you are mated to Alpha Xaden, you think you hold an important status?” Alpha Roland walked toward Zuri, just like a predator that stalked toward its prey.
The alpha took out something from his pocket and that little thing glinted under the light. Zuri knew what that was even before she could see it. Her heart leapt to her throat.
But, she was too stubborn to let her fear be known.
“It seems, you have been away from home so long, you’ve forgotten your manners about how to talk to your parents.” Alpha Roland dropped to his knees and now his face was right in front of Zuri. He grabbed her arm and they stared into each other’s eyes. “You need to be taught a lesson.”
After saying that, he stabbed the needle into her upper arm, which made Zuri bite her tongue to prevent herself from crying out loud.
Alpha Roland pulled out the needle and then stabbed her again. He did that over and over again.
Why did he choose needles to torture Zuri? The answer was simple. A wound from a needle would heal very fast, since it would only leave a prick, but the pain of being stabbed by it over and over again could drive one insane.
More so, it wouldn’t often draw so much blood, so it would be less messy than when you used a knife.
Roland didn’t want to kill his daughter. He only wanted to teach her a lesson. She was still valuable to him.
“Zuri, you should know that I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve forced my hand.”
He hurt his daughter, but he blamed her for that.
Roland covered her mouth with his palm to muffle her cries. He didn’t want anyone to know about this. “You need to be a good girl. This is what you should do as the daughter of the Alpha. You need to think of your pack. I will talk to Xaden about this and make sure you will not see it again.”
That was what Roland said, but he had never mentioned making Xaden stop seeing the omega and despite the pain, Zuri noticed the missing reassurance that she wanted to hear.
“You need to understand the situation and proceed with caution. I have taught you that countless times. You are a girl, but you are the smartest among your siblings and I trust you.” Roland kept saying the right thing, but his needle reminded Zuri of the monster he was. “If only you were a boy, I would have gladly handed over the pack to you.” Roland clicked his tongue.
Zuri’s claws elongated, but she couldn’t bring herself to stab her father. To claw him. She had the opportunity, but her fear for him triumphed over her chance to retaliate.
Right at that moment, someone entered the room and Roland stopped stabbing his daughter. He glanced over his shoulder and glared at his mate for not giving any heads up.
Zuri couldn’t see who had come and made Roland stop, but she could smell his scent in the air and a second later, she heard his voice echo inside the room.
“What are you two doing here? What happened to her?” Xaden frowned at Karina and Roland. He saw Zuri was sitting on the floor, but her body was covered by Roland’s, thus he didn’t get a clear view of what was going on.
Swiftly, Roland retrieved the needle and hid it. He pressed Zuri’s head against his chest and kissed the top of her head.
“She was having a breakdown when she learned about the miscarriage. She is very sad right now.” Roland put his hand under Zuri’s legs and carried her to the bed. “Why don’t you leave her alone for a while, we will talk to her.”
Roland tucked her in. There was no trace of the needle pricks on her hand, but the pain remained. As a shifter, you could heal very fast and a needle wouldn’t do any damage to you even if you were pricked for a whole day.
Meanwhile, Xaden walked across the room and glanced at Zuri’s pale face, it was obvious that she had been crying.
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