Page 6 of Taming the Alpha's Daughter

“No, rogues killed them and wiped half my pack,” the Alpha answers, stepping out of his house. He stomps down the steps, making his way over to us. He holds his hand out to me. I stare at it. I don’t like touching people. There are some things I don’t like to see and touch has always been a funny element to me. Sometimes I get nothing, other times, I see the person's darkest secrets.

Yet something urges me to take his hand. Casen goes to, knowing I am not one to shake hands, and I notice his shock when I grip his hand. Yet when I do, I see nothing which disappoints me because the urge has been so strong.

“Alpha Eziah right?” the Alpha questions.

“Yes, and you must be Satish?” I ask, and he nods. His eyes glaze for a few seconds, and his head whips to the side. His lips press in a line when I see a few of his men suddenly take off toward the trees behind the back house. I tilt my head to try to see around him when he steps in front of me.

“They spotted a rogue, how about I give you a tour, Alpha!” he offers while motioning with his hand to follow him. He walks in the opposite direction of the Packhouse, and my brows furrow. I can hear the distant running in the woods. Something is off.

“I hear you are looking for someone?” Satish asks, walking between two cabins. He leads me to a clearing filled with solar panels and vegetable patches. In the distance, I can see a huge fenced off area full of chickens, another area that has three large pigs.

“Yes, I’m looking for my mate,” I tell him, and he stops.

“Your mate?” he asks, and I nod, peering around. Casen’s eyes follow mine.

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you Alpha, there are no women here. Not since my father went mad and killed all of them,” Satish tells me.

ChapterSix

Temperance

Shadow managed to convince Satish to let me shower. I don’t know what is with her today. First the chicken leg, and now she has convinced him to let me shower. It feels surreal as he unlocks the cage, his grip on my arm makes me whimper as he drags me out kicking and screaming.

“Stop it!” Satish snarls at me before his hand connects with my face. My head whips to the side and momentum sends me sprawling on the dirt with a thud. The air is knocked from my lungs, and Shadow starts yelling at him. I glance at her as I get to my hands and knees, her eyes in the dark corner of the room glowing fiercely back at me.

Why is she being like this? Does she know what her prize is? Is she really getting out of here, and this is just to satiate her guilt of leaving me behind to rot here? I don’t understand her, one minute she is hot, the next she is cold as ice. Either way, I am still grateful for the piece of chicken.

“Shut it Shadow or I'll take her instead,” Satish snarls at her. His fingers grip my hair and he rips my head back, hauling me to my feet. My legs are unsteady as I try to figure out how to use them. I feel like a foreigner in my own body, limbs I haven't used in so long are hard to maneuver.

“What is wrong with you Temperance! Fucking walk properly!” Satish snarls, little does he know I haven't walked in my own body in years. This is a foreign feeling to me. His grip is still strong in my hair as he twists it around his fist and makes me cry out. Stumbling blindly, I clutch a hold of his shirt, unable to figure out how to move my limbs properly. He snarls, prying my fingers off when for the first time in years I see light. I squint, wondering if I am imagining it. Just a sliver but something I have barely witnessed since coming down here. The last time I had control was my 18th birthday.

My fear on that horrid day kept me present and Nova at the back until I passed out from their brutality. But even then it was dark outside and offered little light. My feet hit something, and I fall forward, my hands hitting the wooden steps. “Nova?” I plead, not knowing if I can manage the stairs by myself, I get a grunt from her.

“You can do it, there are thirteen steps, that light is coming from under the crack in the door,” she whispers to me. Satish, however, doesn’t give me a chance to try when he grabs me with a feral growl that makes goosebumps lace my skin. He jerks me up by my hair before his shoulder hits my ribs as he tosses me over it.

“You’re wasting my time!” he snaps at me, stomping up the steps. He tosses the door open, and I squint my eyes aching from the brightness and I cover my eyes with my hands.

The pain is horrendous, how does Nova handle it?

I keep rubbing them, trying to let my vision adjust, while Satish stomps through the house, a cold breeze wisps across my backside, and I shriek, my hands flailing out only to see that beneath my nails is caked with blood. Molten bruises lace every patch of skin, bones jutting out in my wrists. And I am very much naked. Startled at the sight of my hands, I hold them out in front of my face, staring at them. When did my hands get this big, were they always this big? Were my nails always this long? Shaking the surreal feeling off, I try to glance around when I hear a man's voice which makes me freeze.

“Bath is full, and ready Alpha.”

“Thank you Micky, go with Trent, he should be leaving soon,” Satish answers, and I turn my head to see where we are, when suddenly, I am tossed. A gasp leaves my lips and my hands clutch air. Anything to break my fall when I am suddenly plunged underwater.

My eyes open frantically, and I see my brother standing over me with a cruel smirk on his face. Sputtering, my head breaches the surface and I suck in air as my hands clutch the sides of the tub filled with ice cold water.

The moment I suck in a lungful, his hand is shoving me back under. I kick and scream, choking on the water; it burns my nose, eyes and throat as he viciously starts scrubbing away at me all while I am drowning.

The rough pumice stone scrapes over my face and I scream under the water, sending bubbles to the surface, while his hand is in my hair, holding me under at the base of the tub. My vision darkens, and I choke, my body spasming only for him to rip me out.

“Hold still!” he snarls, scrubbing with the stone before reaching for a scourge, he scrubs at my skin, the harsh abrasive material feels like it is scratching my skin off, bit by bit.

“Stop crying, you’re filthy!” he scolds, dunking me back under the water. I clutch the sides of the bath, trying to pull my face out of the water when he suddenly freezes. His eyes glaze over and he lets me go. I gasp for air when a growl slips past his lips.

His eyes refocus landing on me when he grabs my face harshly. “Who have you been talking to?” he snarls. I blink at him, having no idea what he means.

“No one,” I stutter out. How could I when I am locked in the basement? I ask Nova but she is also clueless. His hand connects with the side of my face and my head rebounds off the tiles with a loud crack. The next second his hands are wrapped around my throat.

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