A Pitiful Life

~Brielle's POV~

"You dare ask?!" Alpha Cassian roared, his voice thunderous with disdain.

"Daring to harm any Alpha blood is punishable by death."

My heart slammed violently against my ribcage.

Punishable by death?

I had feared it—expected it, even—but still, the words clawed at my chest. I didn't want to die. Especially not for something I didn't do.

But I didn't argue.

Didn't plead.

What was the point?

It would only make me look more pathetic. And I refused to give them that satisfaction.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, keeping my expression blank as I locked eyes with him.

"But," Alpha Cassian continued with a mocking tone, "as lucky as you are, my daughter has requested the right to decide your punishment."

Lucky?

How the fuck was that lucky?

If anything, it was worse. Way worse.

I knew Lyra. She didn't want justice—she wanted cruelty. Torture. Humiliation before death.

And now she had the permission to serve it to me on a silver platter.

I said nothing. My silence, however, didn't stop him.

"But knowing how lenient Lyra can be," he sneered, sarcasm dripping from every word, "I'll ensure you at least get a taste of what you deserve. Take her away. Twenty lashes. No mercy."

My heart dropped.

But I didn't beg.

They were heartless. I had learned that a long time ago.

Still, the tears I had fought so hard to hold back began to fall—quiet, angry, hopeless—as the guards grabbed me roughly and began dragging me toward the dungeon.

I didn't resist. What was the point?

The hallway blurred through the haze of my tears. The metallic scent of blood from the lower chambers was strong—familiar. Too familiar.

When we reached the dungeon, they stripped my back bare and chained my arms up above me. Cold air kissed my skin as I stood, trembling, waiting. The crack of the whip echoed behind me.

Then the first lash came.

A scream tore through my throat before I could stop it. My knees buckled, but the chains held me upright.

Each hit split open skin. Each burn reminded me that this was real.

And yet—my mind went numb. My heart hollowed out. All I felt was pain.

Physical. Emotional.

It didn't matter which hurt more.

They kept going, the whip biting into my flesh again and again.

And the last thing I heard before darkness wrapped its arms around me was my mother's voice—

Even though I had told her not to intervene.

She was...

Screaming.

Begging.

"Please stop! Please, she's innocent—she's just a girl!"

I tried crying out her name but darkness swallowed me whole.

~~~~

"Splash her again."

That voice.

That cruel, smug, high-pitched voice I had come to loathe.

Cold water slammed against my body, jerking me back to consciousness. My eyes shot open, and I gasped, breath catching painfully in my throat. Every inch of me screamed in agony.

The ice-cold water slithered down my torn back, making the fresh wounds sting like hellfire. I shivered violently.

My head throbbed as I looked up—

And there she was.

Lyra.

Standing in front of me with that twisted, victorious smirk on her face.

Like she'd just won a game she'd been playing for years.

"You're finally awake," she said with a tilt of her head, the hatred in her eyes glowing like wildfire.

I didn't answer.

Even breathing hurt.

Talking would have been torture.

Everything ached. My lips were cracked. My back was on fire. And yet—I would not give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

Her smile faded slightly when I stayed silent. Then her hand whipped forward and struck my face.

Hard.

Slap—

My head snapped to the side.

Her hand struck again, even harder.

"Answer me when I speak to you, bitch!" she snapped.

I slowly lifted my head. My lips were chapped. My vision blurred.

But my voice came out steady. Stern. Cold.

"You did this, didn't you?"

She tilted her head in mock innocence.

"You poisoned yourself. You framed me. You want me dead."

I paused, then added, "I'm not even asking. I know you did.

I just want to know why."

She blinked.

"Why? Why?" she repeated, her voice turning mocking. Then her expression morphed into something uglier—more twisted.

I didn't wait for her to continue and asked what had been in my mind eversince "What have I ever done to you, Lyra? I didn't even know you until your father took my father's place as Alpha."

Lyra stepped closer, her voice low and venomous.

"That's the point, Brielle," she spat. "You didn't know me. You thought you were above me. Always looking so perfect—so adored. And now? Look at you."

Her grin widened.

"Look at the once beloved daughter of the Bloodfang Pack—chained, beaten, pathetic. I love it. I live for it. I hate you."

I stared at her, heart thudding. Was she insane?

All this time... I thought maybe I had unknowingly wronged her.

But this?

This was envy. Pure and rotten.

"So… you hate me because I used to live a better life than you?"

Lyra nodded like a child who just unwrapped their favorite toy.

"Yes. Isn't it funny? You were once the princess of this pack. But now? No one wants to be you. Your father? Dead. Your title? Gone. And soon, your life too. Just like that pathetic Alpha of yours."

I flinched.

Her words pierced through me like daggers.

"And after you," she sneered, voice cold, "your precious mother is next. Valarie will die right beside you."

My breath caught. And then….

I snapped.

Something inside me broke. Or maybe it was always broken. Maybe it just finally woke up.

The room darkened.

A low rumble filled the dungeon like thunder crawling out of my soul.

The guards beside me stepped back instinctively. My body burned. My blood screamed. My breathing turned ragged. My hands—bloody and shaking—moved on their own.

Then before I knew it.

Black tendrils of energy exploded from my spine—writhing, alive, snarling like beasts.

Lyra's smug face twisted in horror as the shadows lunged forward.

One of them wrapped around her throat.

She screamed.

Her feet lifted off the ground. She clawed at the air, choking, gasping, the smug look now erased by terror.

"What the fuck is this—!?"

The guards shouted. Chaos exploded. But I wasn't listening.

I wasn't even thinking.

All I saw was her face.

Twisted. Terrified.

Just like I had been.

I stood, shakily, darkness flickering around me like a second skin, eyes locked on hers as she slowly lost consciousness and fell to the ground with a thud!

As I regained my self the last thing I could hear were the guards shouting in fear and terror.

"Call the Alpha"

"Inform the Alpha"

Before I passed out.