Page 14 of Broken Fate
“Nobody!” I cried, shedding tears now not just of pain but of sadness.
“WHO SENT YOU!”Andracis bellowed.
When I didn’t respond, he cracked the whip.
More tears fell, and I lay hunched over my knees, arms angled behind me, my wrists anchored to the floor, as were my ankles.
The whip descended again.
And again.
Blood flew around the room, splattering the desk and chair across from me. It soaked my shirt and my pants, pooling under me.
Andracis roared again and again, demanding I give him information.
I cried. My wounds hurt, but the tears I shed were not for them. I was already retreating into a place in my mind where I could feel nothing. Numbness filled me. A numbness to the pain being caused to my physical body, but also by the destruction of something I hadn’t even realized I still possessed.
My innocence and belief in the world around me died at Andracis’ hands. A world where I’d thought that the Alphas, as immortal leaders, were there toguideour people. To usher us into a brighter, better future.
Had I been ready for that future? No, not at all. But I still believed, deep down inside, that it was a better one. That Andracis and the other Alphas cared about us. That they were good people, helping to shepherd their flock.
But now I saw a different side to them. A new side.
Therealside.
Andracis stormed up to me, hauling back on my hair, forcing me to sit up straight.
“You’ll tell us in time,” he snarled. “I’ll see you after you’ve recovered for our next session. I hope you look forward to it. I know I am.”
Chapter Eight
“She’s awake.”
The voice was the first thing I heard. It was dispassionately observant but devoid of the hatred everyone else seemed to have for me lately.
Any thoughts after that were lost as my body howled in agony.
“Someone shut her up!” a different voice snarled at the distant edges of my mind.
The ragged pain in my throat and the sudden urge to breathe said that perhaps the howls I heard weren’t just in my mind.
They weren’t. I was shrieking at the top of my lungs as my back's ripped and torn flesh brought me fully awake with a sudden inhalation and metaphorical slap across the face. I writhed and cried out, the pain building to untenable levels.
Mercifully, I blacked out.
When I came to next, the pain had subsided. It was still there, but it wasn’t the mind-destroying sort of agony I felt earlier. The hot spikes driving into my mind were gone, and I could breathe evenly without seeing stars simply from inflating my lungs.
“Welcome back.”
Blinking my eyes open, I found myself staring up at a woman with cold blue eyes and a face that looked like it was carved from the hardest metal. Her skin was pulled tight over sharp edges, giving her a severe look emphasized by the tightness of her ponytail.
I opened my mouth to say something but could only croak, my lips and tongue so dry they nearly cracked from the effort.
“Here,” the woman said with a gentleness that belied her features as she dripped water across my lips and into my mouth. “Slow.”
Drop by drop, she eased my parched mouth until I could move it without feeling like my skin would crumble into dust.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice still hoarse.
