Phoebe's POV
"What do you think you're doing?!"
The brutal slap crashed across my face. I collapsed onto the frigid dungeon floor, curling into myself. No sound escaped my lips—I simply lay there and absorbed the beating, the way I always had.
"You bring nothing but trouble to this pack!"
Beta Cameron lifted his boot, preparing to drive it into me when he realized I hadn't moved. Scowling, he crouched down and swept the tangled hair from my face.
I was breathing, alive technically, but my eyes held nothing. I gazed into the empty distance, the pain no longer registering. The sight deepened the scowl etched across the beta's features.
"Are you listening to me?!" Cameron roared, but I didn't even twitch. "Phoebe!"
Footsteps echoed in the dungeon as someone approached the beta. "My father wants to see you in his office," Kevin announced, his gaze flicking to where I lay motionless on the stone floor.
Cameron exhaled heavily before rising and abandoning the dank dungeon—and me—while Kevin remained behind.
Once we were alone, Kevin dropped into a crouch. His fingers seized my chin, forcing me to meet his stare. "I promised I'd destroy your life. How dare you try to escape your punishment?"
My lifeless eyes focused when I saw Kevin, my cracked lips parting as I rasped, "I don't know where my sister is. I've already told you."
"Liar!" Kevin's hand cracked across my face with such force I thought he'd broken my neck.
Viola was Kevin's girlfriend. She was also my stepsister. Five years separated us, and she was three years older than Reginald.
Kevin and Viola should have been mated a year ago, but the day before their ceremony, Viola discovered her destined mate and fled with him, shattering Kevin's heart. He'd transformed that anguish into rage, and he needed someone to blame.
I made the perfect target—the pack's outcast, and the first person to discover Viola's disappearance.
In Kevin's warped mind, I must have aided Viola's escape. The abuse had started that day.
No one dared challenge the alpha's son, and Reginald eagerly joined Kevin's campaign to break me, having tormented me since beta Cameron mated his mother.
"Where is she?" Kevin's fist twisted in my shirt, tearing the fabric. He pressed his face close to mine. "You were planning to escape and meet her, weren't you?"
"I don't care about her. I was trying to escape your torture. This place is hell." I tasted copper on my tongue. I couldn't heal—I hadn't received my wolf yet.
Shifter healing kicked in with the wolf, though some got it earlier.
I wasn't among the lucky ones.
So I endured every blow from Cameron, Kevin, and Reginald without relief.
"Oh, Phoebe. You have no idea what hell looks like." Kevin's laugh held no warmth. "These past few days were just a warm-up.
Until you tell me Viola's location, I'll make your existence far worse than this. That's not a threat—it's a guarantee."
Kevin shoved me away, wiping his hands on his pants like he'd touched something contaminated.
He stared down at me with cold eyes before striding to the door and slamming it shut.
The exhaustion was overwhelming. When darkness crept in, I embraced it. It offered respite from the agony and injustice, a brief escape until I'd have to face it all again.
But my rest was short-lived. Ice-cold water crashed over my body, jolting me awake. I cried out and gasped, feeling like I was drowning.
I shot upright, swiping water from my face as violent shivers wracked my frame. Without windows in this cell, I had no way to gauge the time or how long I'd been unconscious.
Everything remained dim, lit only by a single weak bulb that barely penetrated the gloom.
"Sweet dreams?" Reginald chuckled. He tossed aside the bucket he'd used and crouched before me, grinning widely at the pain reflected in my eyes.
"What do you want?!" I tried to shout, but my voice came out as a rasp.
"Get up. Father wants to see you." Reginald rose, laughing mockingly as I struggled to stand. He offered no assistance—not that I expected any.
Without question, my father wanted to discuss last night's events, and as usual, he wouldn't listen to my side before placing all blame squarely on my shoulders.
So it shocked me when Cameron didn't explode the moment I entered his study. He dismissed Reginald, who clearly wanted to stay and witness our conversation.
"Leave, Reginald." Authority rang in his voice, successfully driving his stepson away. "Sit down, Phoebe." He frowned at my soaked appearance, noting how I trembled slightly. "Why are you wet?"
I didn't respond. He wouldn't care what had happened even if I told him what Reginald had done. I'd stopped expecting my father to defend me long ago.
I was right when he jumped straight to his main point without waiting for my answer.
"Because of your tantrum last night, our pack now has problems with the Crimson Fang pack. As punishment, you'll be demoted to servant status.
You're being cut from this family."
At those words, I laughed like a madwoman, making Cameron's brow furrow deeper.