Whipping Girl

Chapter 1: Caught

The battering of chains clanking lightly against a window kept my chest pounding even as I willed it not to. It did not help that the bastardly sound was currently the only noise here. My sight was graced with just a few things in this cage. Not enough. Desperate, I look around the barely lit room. Scanning for anything to focus on beside the girl next to me, my kin and blood in name alone. 

My goddamned sister.  

Her pitch black hair curled out with an erratic and distracting vigor.  My teeth grit rough against each other as I failed in my attempts and again laid my eyes on her agile frame. I didn't hate her, but surely love was not even remote to how I felt of her nor the rest of our family. Yet once again here I was, preparing to take the fall. 

She laid against a magic sealed wall. It continuously burned her healing flesh while she twiddled her blood covered fingers playfully. Acting as if we'd just been caught for detention instead of execution. 

All because of some frenzied attempt on her part to avoid responsibility 'for just a little longer'. My teeth grit tighter. More thoughts plowed through my conscious. Thoughts of how now our only option requires her to at least accept the bare minimum of a werewolf. 

Her the bare minimum, while I embrace the much higher cost. 

If she wasn't the one that was needed to bring our family out of financial ruin then this could have gone far different. She must have felt my glare, because her fingers grew still and she stiffened up. 

Words fell from her lips as she growled with a low voice, "One of us has to die... I have to tell you, I can't let it be me. I won't let it. I'll do whatever I have to, to live, and you know it." 

Of course I did. Unlike most werewolves, Suji valued herself above all else. Almost in the same way as humans on Terra, Earth as it's called here. It was comical to me in a sense. She could so carelessly kill another, an Alpha's son, in a moment of spurred emotions just as a human of earth would, and then react like one too. 

It was as if fate was playing a cruel joke to pair her up with a General of such poise. Such restraint. Her weak behavior would definitely be a detriment to them both. While his very existence would forever keep her chained down to the hardened world of the Werewolf Realm Royalty. On our home planet of Devaleon. 

Thinking of it almost calmed me as a smidge of pity hit me, contemplating that maybe Suji was actually getting the worse end of the deal. She'll be stuck in a prison not much different than this one we stayed in, of her own making. Though it was her choice to never grow, I can't keep coddling her as I've begrudgingly done. 

Especially now that I'll soon be dead. 

The darkened pillared room surrounding us enveloped an even more solemn glow. It felt like how the cold midnight does as it creepily stares back from any empty place. That lonely anxious feeling. Nerve-wracking,  though I became calm. Stronger than I was just moments ago. 

I relaxed my hand before dropping it to the ground. My palm to its cold surface as my fingers slowly swished around. Playing with some dust on the impenetrable floor. Finally I respond. 

"Why be so honest with me about it? You could have gotten away with it if you just kept it to yourself." 

At my question, Suji shot me a glare which matched my own. 

"Yeona you know I've always been honest, just as you've always been the black sheep. Just tell me you won't make this hard on us bo-"

I raise my clean hand up, indicating she shut up. She does so instantly. Probably already knowing she'd gotten her way. 

"I was planning on sacrificing myself anyways. So don't fret," my tongue clicks against my teeth as I speak the more logical thoughts on my mind, "-just leave and never come back okay? Run back to Devaleon and hide in the west city. No one from Terra will travel there. Especially not earthborn werewolves, and the King-- he will protect the General if needed so go with your mate and save the rest of our family. Can you do this?" 

Grumbling she says her answer. Her cerulean eyes washed over and dazed. 

"It was all I was planning."

I question back, double checking. 

"Even if you hate him?"

She laughed. 

"Even if you die."

"Okay." I state blandly. Already mentally ready for what I would need to do. My hopes and dreams of working in politics fizzling away just like my life will be soon enough.  

We stayed silent then. Waiting in the prison for the Alpha.