Blessed by the Moon Goddess

Chapter Three

I woke up to the bright sunlight shining in my eyes, forcing me to squint as they adjusted. I glance down at my burning wrists and ankles to see them donning shackles of silver, the skin underneath blistered to all hell. I take note of my surroundings. I am naked in my human form, in what appears to be the pack dungeon in a basement. The small windows at the top of the stone wall to my right are glassless, with just a few iron bars preventing escape. The warmth of the sunlight is coming through one of said windows, telling me it is early morning. Luckily, I was still masking my scent, I didn't want the other wolves nearby to sense my lineage.

I hear a shuffling of multiple pairs of feet walking towards my cell. I look to my left to see a man standing on the other side of the iron bars that guard my cell. He was tall, about 6'2", with dark chestnut brown hair, his dark blue irises confirmed him to be the wolf that captured me last night. Another man appeared beside him, this one I did not recognize. He was smaller in stature, about 5'10", and had platinum hair French braided into two braids, his olive skin and piercing blue eyes adding to the allure of his chiseled jawline and cocky smirk. He must be the beta of the pack, here to question me.

The wolf from last night unlocked the cell door, and the beta walked into my cell, kneeling in front of me. I glared at him, a few wild curls hanging in front of my face. I bared my canines and growled lowly in an attempt to assert my dominance. He chucked at me, his eyes conveying amusement.

"Why were you so close to our border, mutt?"

"It wasn't intentional asshole, trust me."

He didn't like that answer and told me so by backhanding my cheek with enough force to turn my head to the side. I glared at him and growled once more.

"Let's try another way, tell me why I should spare your life." His smirk made me want to kick him between the knees so hard he never has pups.

I spit in his face, hitting him right in the cheekbone. He growled in anger and stood up, his eyes black as a moonless night sky. He wiped his finger across his cheek, then his shirt. With a smirk returning to his face, he turned to the door and walked back to the other man.

"Prepare her for a whipping." He turned back to me with a devilish smirk, "I shall make the little rogue bleed for her disrespect."

My eyes went wide as he turned back to the gate and left without a word. The brown-haired man looked down at me and guided me out of my cell. I was taken down the hallway, past many other cells, some empty, some people beaten and bruised others nothing but skin and bones. I was taken up a small set of stairs and down another long hallway. I was then forced up a long flight of stairs with a door at the top. The door opened up to reveal the outdoors. In front of me was a stage with a wooden beam laid horizontally above two other beams standing vertically as supports. In the center of the horizontal beam was a hook hanging down.

I was pushed until I stood under the hook, and my wrists were raised by the chain of the shackles, forcing me on my tip toes as the chain came to rest on the hook, my light bare skin warmed by the sun. I watched as people began to gather as if knowing what kind of show was about to be put on. I wince as the shackles around my wrists rub against the inflamed skin even more than before. The crowd of about 20 pack members looks behind me as I hear footsteps approach from that direction.

The smell of bay leaves and cedar told me it was that damned beta again.

"My fellow pack members, today you will witness the whipping of a rogue. This savage werewolf was captured just outside of our borders. When asked why she was here, I was met with disrespect." He chuckled darkly and his next few words made my blood run cold.

"I Beta Keelan sentence this rogue to 50 lashes of the whip!"

The crowd in front of me was full of gasps and murmurs. Even during my pack days, I had never heard of a wolf punished by more than 30 lashes. As my fear grew, I caught a heavenly scent of orange peel, vanilla, and eucalyptus. Oh no, not now. Now is not the time. I glance through the crowd in search of my mate, my scent and aura still hidden, preventing my mate from realizing his mate is even in the vicinity.

"That isn't all though, today we have Alpha Black here to observe." I watch as the crowd bows, and I notice his presence behind me. Please don't do this to me moon goddess, don't let it be him!

I yelp in pain as the whip hits my back for the first time. The beta whips me with no mercy, each lash cutting open the skin of my back. The first ten burned. By twenty I had tears falling freely, but by 30 my eyes were closed as I fought for consciousness. I heard a woman in the crowd exclaim, "He's going to kill her!" My body can no longer fight the silver, the whipping, and mask my scent and aura. By 40 my aura and scent slowly begin to emerge.

"44... 45... 46... 47..." The counting of the Beta is interrupted by a loud authoritative growl from the Alpha and once again the world turns black.

Hello everyone, thank you all for reading and bearing with me as I learn how to write a romance novel.