Chapter 5

Diana's POV

I refused to lift my head off my knees at the hint of incoming footsteps because I had a feeling it was once again Jeremy and didn't wish to set my eyes on his face.

"Oh, you've made yourself quite cozy here, I see."

It was a very familiar voice, a voice I could recognize right from my sleep, a voice that had been behind almost all the sufferings I had gone through throughout my whole life and I lifted my head and blinked my eyes open, feeling taken aback to notice not just my mother, but my father and step-sister, Lucy standing at the other side of the cell.

I huffed out a small breath and wiped my hands on my dress as I pushed myself to my feet and made my way forward until I was standing close to the gate. I gripped the gate with both hands and stupidly felt a small hope start to bloom in the lowest part of my stomach. Even though they had been disgusted in me yesterday, a part of me was hoping they'd come for me– and it seems like they've indeed come for me.

"Mother…" I started to say but she raised one of her fingers the way she normally does and I swallowed all that I had been about to say instantly.

"Don't, Diana. Just don't." She murmured, as her eyes raked over my whole body and I felt the little hope that had been blooming in my heart get squashed instantly.

"You look horrible, Diana. How are you surviving living in a freaking cell?" Lucy inquired incredulously from the other side and I swallowed emptily and remained silent. I wanted to tell her that living with her, in the same house was like living in a cell but I remained quiet because I wasn't even in any place to start getting sassy.

"Don't get her all worked up, Lucy. We came here for something else." Father finally spoke up and I pressed myself closer to the gate of the cell.

"Are you getting me out of here?" I asked in a really small voice. I was feeling really weak at this moment, I was currently still surviving on the small food I had managed to eat yesterday morning. Jeremy couldn't even bother to order the guards to give me some food and water, my life was really in shambles at the moment.

"Oh, dear. We can't afford to." Mother spoke up this time and I snapped my gaze back to her face instantly.

"You know, I'm starting to regret adopting you when I did…" Father started to speak in a low voice filled with disappointment and I swallowed emptily and flinched a little as the words sank into my heart, feeling my eyes start to automatically water.

"At this point, you're already a disgrace to us, if you get out of the cell, you're only going to bring forth nothing but more disgrace and shame to our beloved family…" Father trailed off and mother took up from where he stopped. I was still trying to control my tears, hell bent on not letting them fall.

"...which we can't afford to let happen, we can't let you bring more shame to our family. It's bad enough that you got declared as a stealer before a really large crowd, bringing a lot of shame and embarrassment to us yesterday. If you come back home with us, we're all going to become outcasts along with you, and like I said, we can't afford for that to happen."

At this point, I was full-on sobbing, with my weakened body shaking from the force of it. My head was pounding and my face was aching due to how much I had cried in two days, but the tears just wouldn't stop as each word that left their mouth felt like a knife was stabbing at my heart.

"Which is why it is settled for you to head over to the Blue Moon pack, to get mated to the younger brother of the Alpha of Alphas," Lucy spoke up this time after a minute when I was yet to fully grasp all that my parents had just said to me.

"What? Why do I have to get mated to him? He's not even my mate, I don't even know him!" I cried out through heartbreaking sobs, instantly connecting the dots to figure out that Jeremy had probably gone over to them to tell them to come to do this, and they'd agreed readily because they couldn't wait to get me out of their hair.

"You should see it as an honor to be getting mated to the younger brother of an Alpha as great as Alpha Ryan." Lucy pointed out instantly. I tried to protest but she beat me to it.

"You'd become the sister-in-law of someone as important and huge as Alpha Ryan, do you know how worthy it was going to make you in everyone's eyes? You're going to end up regaining your dignity and you're even going to manage to bring honor to your family."

I didn't know if I was supposed to point out to her that I didn't care about bringing honor to my supposed family since they were ashamed of me to the extent of wanting to send me into a pack where the Alpha of Alphas was a ruthless beast, and his brother was someone that was most definitely not my mate, and the thought of mating with someone that wasn't my mate sent a dreadful feeling down my spine.

"I don't know, Lucy. I don't want to be mated to someone that isn't my mate and I don't want to go to the Blue Moon pack, I'd get devoured there in—" I began to speak with tears pouring down my face, voice managing to break countless times but mother cut into what I was saying.

"Silence, child."

I choked back a sob and sniff loudly, as I tried to wipe off some of the tears on my cheeks.

"I know I'd give anything to be in your spot, I mean, to be identified and known as the sister-in-law of the Alpha of Alphas, that sounds really huge, Diana. Think about it. Merely talking about it alone is making me kind of jealous." Lucy ended all that she was saying with a small sigh of longing and I narrowed my eyes at her in the next moment.

"If you want to be in my predicament so bad, maybe you should go over to the Blue Moon pack and get mated to the younger brother of the Alpha of Alphas then," I said to her in a low tears-filled voice and the horrified gasp that audibly flew out of mother's mouth made me tear my gaze off Lucy's shocked facial expression.

"Why, you ungrateful little bitch—" Mother started to utter angrily and I took a step backward instinctively, even though it was obvious that she'd be unable to do a thing to me due to the barrier between us. Father cut into her anger exclamation before she could complete her sentence.

"Alright, alright… that's enough, everyone. I think we should get going now." He continued to speak and I watched as he placed a hand on Mother's shoulder and pulled her away from the other side of the cell, but she wouldn't avert her gaze from mine for long moments, and I refused to back down this time, returning her gaze with my watery, blurry ones.

"Let's get going, Lucy honey." He said as he grasped Lucy's forearm and started to steer her towards the side of the cell that would lead them out of my sight.

"What about Diana?" Lucy asked Father and I watched as he threw me an unreadable glance before starting to speak.

"She's going to get taken care of." Was his only response as he steered my mother and half-sister out of my sight, without exchanging any other words with me.

I wanted to scream in disbelief because I was still yet to fully grasp ahold of all that had taken place, everything had happened so freaking fast and it was all still making my head spin, but I could do nothing but sob.

Like Jeremy had stated, I was a pathetic, shameful thing.

Because I was starting to feel extremely weak from lack of food and water, I went to the back of the cell and slid down until I was curled into myself. It seems like this was what my life has now turned into.

The sound of footsteps approaching a few minutes later, made me tense up instantly because I didn't know what was going to happen next. I refused to lift my head even when it sounded so much like the door of the cell was being opened with a key. I couldn't help it, I was feeling extremely nervous and my heart was beating fast from fear. When I started to hear footsteps approaching me, it was obvious that the person that had gotten the door of my cell open had made their way into the cell instantly.

I felt a cold hand grip my forearm and I lifted my head instantly to stare into Jeremy's dark eyes, and he had on a calm facial expression. I'd have swooned for that look and started to feel at ease on a normal day, but now that I knew just how evil he was and how vile his tongue could be– I tried to pull away from his grip and scream at the same time, but his grip on my arm tightened firmly in the next moment, making me manage to let out nothing but a small yelp as I winced in pain.

"Let go of me, you monster," I said to him and tried to shove at his chest with my other hand but he only rolled his eyes, and started to tug out something from his pocket with his other hand. My eyes widened as soon as I noticed what it was, making me burst into frightened tears instantly, as I ceased pushing at his chest.

"Why do you have that with you, Jeremy? Isn't that wolfsbane? Why are you bringing it out right now? Do you plan on injecting me with it?" I was completely blabbing with sobs wracking through my weakened body, feeling dread so intense and thick started to crawl and inch over every part of my body, inside and outside.

"It's not going to hurt, shh." Was Jeremy's reply as he uncapped the needle with his teeth and spat out the plastic, and the sight of the long, terrifying-looking needle made me a little bit dizzy.

"Please, Jeremy, please… don't do this, please," I whispered desperately, voice choppy and cracking with the force of my tears as I desperately tried to inch into the wall behind me.

Why was my life like this? I asked myself like I've been doing countless times since everything started turning upside down yesterday.

"I didn't want to do this at first, but you leave me no choice, Diana," Jeremy said as he stared into my tears-filled eyes. He grasped my wrist and pressed down on a vein with his thumb until one of my veins protrude sharply against my skin.

I tried to place my other hand over the spot he was obviously trying to inject, but to my shock, he deftly delivered a firm blow to the shoulder socket of my other arm, which made the whole hand go completely weak instantly, sending it straight into a numb sleep.

And with tears sliding down my cheeks, head forcefully pounding from the force of my sobs, uncountable pleas falling past my lips, and body trembling from fright and dread– I watched helplessly as he finally injected the needle into my vein, sending a shocked wave of pain over my entire body instantly, as he emptied the content of the injection into my system.

The last thing I remembered was that I was still desperately pleading with him not to do it, as I stared into his calm, handsome face through tear-filled eyes as I slowly got pulled under, into darkness.