CHAPTER 4: THE SCORNED BRIDE

Chapter 4

Selena's pov

For the first time in my life, I knew the pain of being burned.

It was indescribably the worst pain I have ever felt. I screamed and thrashed but the alpha held me tight by my hair, his fist, a hard grip. When he was finally done, he tossed me aside like a useless piece of rag.

I was crying and heaving but my breathing stopped entirely when I heard his next orders to a random sentinel standing around the room.

"Get me some wolfsbane."

His words sent a cold shiver through my skin and I was shaking and quaking when he walked back to me and squatted down before me.

I shrinked away from him, scared and hurt.

His hand darted out to grip my hair again, holding me in place, and his left hand caressed my right, unharmed cheek.

"I am aware of your pack's powers, Selena. How easily you all heal." One of the sentinels handed him a pouch. "I'll make sure to fix that too."

Poison Fang was the strongest pack in existence because of their overall speed, strength and lethal bites. The alpha and his offspring were also immune to wolfsbane, a plant that was literally the bane of every werewolf's existence. Instead of wolfsbane, they were prone to nightshade, a common houseplant that was has been banned in the pack for ages.

Alpha Tristan dipped his hand in the bag and took some wolfsbane powder and holding my hair in place, he poured it all over the side of my face he had burned.

I felt my skin eroding and peeling off my face. My eyes watered but I had lost all the fight left in me.

Even Tahila had gone quiet in my head, almost like she had died of a broken heart.

At least, when this is all over, he would toss me aside and I'll be free to go back home to my mother. I just had to endure all of this in the meantime.

When he was done, he rose to his feet and spat on me. "You will regret rejecting me, you fucking bitch!" He hissed. "I will teach you the hardest lesson you'll ever learn."

To his sentinels, he commanded. "Go and bring her mother and her sister here to me. I will have them punished for raising such an insolent child."

"No!" I screamed, rising to my feet. I threw myself on the ground before him and begged for my family's life but he only laughed and kicked me hard in my stomach.

I doubled over in pain, wheezing and coughing.

No no no.

He stalked up to me again and gripped my hair tight in his fists. "I know what I'll do now," he gleamed with wicked rage. "I will have my men rape your mother and sister right in front of you and I'll make sure you enjoy the sight. How's that, Selena?"

"Please," I begged and that earned me a blow to my right cheek and a breathless laughter from him.

The walls were spinning around me. My body felt hot and itchy. I could barely feel my face, the scorch of the fire had numbed my synapses but when I heard the sentinels return with a message, my world seized to rotate.

"Alpha... We just got word from the sentinels close to White Moon pack. Rogues attacked the pack and word got to them too late. It seems like... It seems like the entire pack has been murdered off."

My heart stopped.

"What?!" Tristan bellowed.

"By the time we got there, everyone in the pack–"

"Get this wench away from me," he commanded and I almost breathed a sigh of relief but his next words silenced me completely.

"Lock her up in a part of the mansion where I won't get to see her ugly face. I will investigate this myself."

One of the sentinels walked over and carried me roughly in his arms and I was too weak, too far spent to even protest.

I dared to hope that I would be allowed to leave. I foolishly thought that I would be have my freedom once the alpha was done with me.

I thought wrong.

The sentinel took me to the farthest end of the mansion and deposited me on the cold hard ground in a dark, empty room.

I stayed on the ground, too weakened to move, my body giving out on me from the intense pain I was feeling.

Mum. Diane... What have I done? And what were they saying about the pack?

If I had known things would have gone so south, I wouldn't have even contemplated rejecting the mating bond. Now, coupled with my pain, I had a broken heart and a depressed wolf.

I'm sorry, Tahila, I whispered and all I got in response was a devastated whimper.

The door suddenly inched open and I drew back in defense, fear creeping up my heart.

"My Luna," a teary voice cried, collapsing before me.

She was a pretty, willowy girl with short, chin length brown hair and a heart shaped face.

She looked eerily familiar and In the pale light and with my ruined eyesight, I struggled to place her face...

Suddenly, it hit to me. I realized why she looked so familiar. She was the girl the alpha had been forcing himself on when I first met him in the woods. I had comforted her and done my best to heal her at the time, but I never heard from her again.

She held me close and her body wracked with sobs. "I am so sorry about what happened to you."

The waterworks in my heart started pouring again and she held me close as I cried and cried.

"I never thanked you for helping me that time," she whispered. "I'm Ana and I want to be your handmaid. Allow me to serve you, Luna Selena."

I flinched at the title, because all it did was remind me of the tyrant.

"Just Selena is fine," I sniffled.

"I brought a healing salve for the wound," she said, carefully smearing the ointment all over her hand but when she brought it up to my face, she flinched and dropped her hand.

Wolfsbane.

She held her wrist in dismay and looked at me.

"He poured wolfsbane all over my wound to slow down the healing."

She pressed a horrified hand to her mouth. "That's awful."

My face hurt, my body hurt and my heart hurt. There wasn't a part of me that wasn't shaking... And my pack. I needed to find information about my pack. I could feel my cells and tissues working overtime to heal itself at its usual speedy rate but the wolfsbane ruined all the effort. The burn would leave a nasty scar and I'll never be beautiful again.

"Ana," I croaked, my throat parched. "I need your help with something."

"Anything, Selena."

"Please, help me find news about my pack."

"Of course, my lady. Anything else?"

"And I'd like a mirror, a bed... Maybe some water."

"I'll get that arranged right away," she said, jumping to her feet and exiting the room, excited at the opportunity to help me.

I wasn't sure how long had passed, but when she returned, she wasn't alone. She was with the sentinel from earlier that had been nice to me and tried to warn me.

"Roy!" I exclaimed. I tried to stand up but my organs protested painfully.

"My Luna," he said, leaning before me.

I winced and smiled painfully. "Just Selena is fine. What's the news about my pack? Were you able to find my mother and sister? Is everyone saved?"

His face tightened into a devastated frown. "No, my lady. I'm afraid that by the time we arrived, it was too late."

Cold fear seized my heart.

"B- but that can't be possible," I whispered in denial. "Nobody sounded the alarm. There are scouts and protective wards around our borders. Sentinels from poison fang that guard our pack. How is it possible that all these protocols were evaded and such mass destruction was carried out in so little time?"

He bowed his head. "I don't know, my lady. This looks like the work of a monster, or the devil himself. We believe the attackers were in possession of a dark witch that aided them. The sight was gory, even for an experienced warrior like myself."

No. No. No... It can't be.

Mum. Diane...

Once more, tears pooled down my cheeks. I gripped my heart and started breathing heavily and panting. There was not enough oxygen in the air. My vision blurred and the last thing I remember before falling unconscious was Roy and Ana calling out my name and catching me before I hit the ground.