Page 31 of The Dark Rising
“Little wolf?” Darius growls. I tense at his words that are filled with something likecare,with an undertone of possessiveness. It’s all a lie.
Moving a little further away, not looking at anyone, I lift my head to the night sky and will my body to loosen, to ignore the eyes on me and the quiet growl that doesn’t seem to stop. The breeze welcomes my naked flesh, bare to feel it all. Just me, the grass beneath my feet and the moon looking down upon me.
But even as coolness spreads over my body, even as my skin is revealed, inch by inch to the earth around me, I’m fully vulnerable once again, though this time it is much, much worse. Tears still spill from my closed eyes, I’m unable to stop them as they drip down my chin and onto the dirt.
I can’t stop them because I’m not alone, and everyone is seeing my body without its glamor for the very first time, apart from Josh. I can feel their gaze on me, all of them on something they shouldn’t be seeing.
A body that should always be hidden along with the story marked upon its skin.
My story. My horrors.
They see it all.
Twelve
Darius
Herbodyshimmersgently,an ethereal glow that coats her skin. It washes over her, raining down her body like water as it uncovers what’s hidden beneath it. What she kept hidden when I saw her naked for the first time. I freeze, my shocked eyes tracing over every inch of her, and all I can do is stare, not believing what I’m seeing, not able to focus on one spot.
I hear my brothers inhaling sharply, muttering curse words while her pack and Belldame look distraught, staring at her with horrified eyes, indicating they haven’t seen her like this either. Josh, herbrother, looks just as horrified but not surprised, and I snarl at him. I can’t help the protectiveness that rises within me as I feel her hurt. He forced her to do this and now he thinks he has the right to look like he’s devastated?
I growl, hearing Drax echo it within me as my heartbeat pounds in my ears as I look at Rhea’s skin.
Skin that is scarred beyond belief.
She’s covered in them. How the fuck is she covered in them?
She doesn’t open her eyes, letting everyone gaze upon her, upon what she’s hidden from the lands. I step closer unconsciously, unable to help myself.
It feels wrong as I trace the small, white lines over her collarbones with my eyes, as if I’m witnessing something I have no right to. My eyes rove nonetheless at the deep, raised scar that starts from the side of her ribcage, curving down to her hip on the left side. Then I look at her right side that’s littered in burn marks, deeper in some places and lighter in others, the skin a mottle of red. A crater-shaped scar is at the top of her thighs, more jagged, red lines run on the insides of her thighs, more white lines traveling down her legs. Even her feet have scars on them, trailing up to her ankles as if she stepped on something sharp. Her arms have more burn marks, dotted here and there, and a thick, jagged line runs the whole length of her right arm on the outside.
Line, after line, after line. Thin, white, red, thick, jagged.
What the fuck?
“Do you want to see the ones you added?” Rhea whispers, not even opening her eyes and I flinch, unable to stop the reaction to her words.
Me, the Alpha of the fucking Elites, flinches.
I swallow roughly, still looking at the scars on her body and I know I don’t want to see the ones I placed on her skin. I can’t. My own back itches at the thought.
She hasn’t opened her eyes, but she knows I’m there, now right in front of her as my body moves on instinct, blocking the others from seeing her. Needing to be closer to her, toseeher. To just be fucking close in any way I can. I can’t take my eyes off her.
“Who the fuck did this?” My words are all wolf, rage at the forefront of my mind. I can’t control it, can’t stop the feeling of wanting to tear everything down at the sight before me, and hurt the ones that did this to her. “Rhea,” I growl when she doesn’t answer. “Who. The fuck. Did this to you?”
These are not scars from fighting, from building cabins or cutting wood.
These are…torture.
She finally opens her eyes, dead, but full of hurt. Dull but full of betrayal, vulnerable but filled with pain and the instinct of wanting to shield her, nearly brings me to my knees. To hide her away and make it better, to stop the next tear that falls from her eyes. I told her the only time she would shed tears is because of me, and me alone, and I fucking meant it. I still do.
Some fire comes back in her eyes at my words. At my demand. “Why do you care who did this to me?”
“Little wolf, tell me.” My words are rough, gravel and barely contained as I fist my hands at my sides to stop myself from touching her. That makes her pause for a second. Her eyes fill with confusion before it fades away.
“Which ones?” she whispers mockingly. “Take your pick, I remember every single one of them. My first one?” She lifts a hand and moves it to a raised scar on the outside of her leg. “I kicked out when they tried to get me out of my cage, this was my first punishment. I was seven and a half. This one?” She moves her hand to the hole in her thigh as my body stills. “Another punishment for trying to run, I was nine. These ones?” She moves them over the burn marks. “To see how much pain I could endure, how long I could hold out before passing out. And then to see how quickly I would heal. I was fourteen. And these.” She moves her leg to the side to show me the lines running down the insides of her thighs, starting at the top and running down to below her knees. “I wouldn’t keep them open, so they sliced them open instead so I couldn’t close them, because the pain was too much to have them pressed together. I was seventeen.”
My vision tinges black. I’m shaking now with every word, my body vibrating, my blood pounding. The ground quakes beneath my feet, black mist appearing around me as the darkness rises within me. I sense the others taking a step back, not wanting to be close, but Rhea? She stands still, looking at me dead in the eye. Unafraid, unconcerned as her eyes shift to my power, watching as it floats around violently as she tilts her head at it.
