Chương 7: THE FEAR THAT LINGERED

Zuri hated this. No. She hated everything. She bit down on her father's hand. As she swallowed the pills, she could also taste fresh blood in her mouth. Good. She wanted him to endure the same pain.

"How dare you bite me!" Alpha Roland backhanded her face once again and this time, it was Zuri, who bled, but still she laughed. "Crazy!" He then turned around to face Karina, who had this impassive expression. "How could you give birth to a crazy daughter?!"

"Probably I got it from you." Zuri laughed between each bitter word. Still sitting on the floor, she lazily wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. "If you were willing to look closely, my brother is crazy as well. He only looks normal in your eyes because of the little thing hanging between his legs."

This would be the first time Karina showed any emotions from the moment Roland started harassing her this time around. Her eyes widened, as she glared at Zuri in warning, as if telling her to stop provoking her already angry father, because the final result of it wouldn't be something she liked.

Zuri was talking about her first brother, the firstborn of Roland. He was indeed insane to say the least. You could say he had a peculiar taste and he was the one that gave Roland a constant headache ever since he learned the importance of his status as a firstborn.

However, Zuri didn't even look at her mother. There was no point in looking at her when she couldn't even help her, nor could she give her some comfort.

She didn't even pretend trying to assuage Alpha Roland's anger.

"You really think you are the Luna of the pack, huh? Just because you are mated to Alpha Xaden, you think you hold an important status?" Alpha Roland walked toward Zuri, just like a predator that stalked toward its prey.

The alpha took out something from his pocket and that little thing glinted under the light. Zuri knew what that was even before she could see it. Her heart leapt to her throat.

But, she was too stubborn to let her fear be known.

"It seems, you have been away from home so long, you've forgotten your manners about how to talk to your parents." Alpha Roland dropped to his knees and now his face was right in front of Zuri. He grabbed her arm and they stared into each other's eyes. "You need to be taught a lesson."

After saying that, he stabbed the needle into her upper arm, which made Zuri bite her tongue to prevent herself from crying out loud.

Alpha Roland pulled out the needle and then stabbed her again. He did that over and over again.

Why did he choose needles to torture Zuri? The answer was simple. A wound from a needle would heal very fast, since it would only leave a prick, but the pain of being stabbed by it over and over again could drive one insane.

More so, it wouldn't often draw so much blood, so it would be less messy than when you used a knife.

Roland didn't want to kill his daughter. He only wanted to teach her a lesson. She was still valuable to him.

"Zuri, you should know that I didn't want to do this, but you've forced my hand."

He hurt his daughter, but he blamed her for that.

Roland covered her mouth with his palm to muffle her cries. He didn't want anyone to know about this. "You need to be a good girl. This is what you should do as the daughter of the Alpha. You need to think of your pack. I will talk to Xaden about this and make sure you will not see it again."

That was what Roland said, but he had never mentioned making Xaden stop seeing the omega and despite the pain, Zuri noticed the missing reassurance that she wanted to hear.

"You need to understand the situation and proceed with caution. I have taught you that countless times. You are a girl, but you are the smartest among your siblings and I trust you." Roland kept saying the right thing, but his needle reminded Zuri of the monster he was. "If only you were a boy, I would have gladly handed over the pack to you." Roland clicked his tongue.

Zuri's claws elongated, but she couldn't bring herself to stab her father. To claw him. She had the opportunity, but her fear for him triumphed over her chance to retaliate.

Right at that moment, someone entered the room and Roland stopped stabbing his daughter. He glanced over his shoulder and glared at his mate for not giving any heads up.

Zuri couldn't see who had come and made Roland stop, but she could smell his scent in the air and a second later, she heard his voice echo inside the room.

"What are you two doing here? What happened to her?" Xaden frowned at Karina and Roland. He saw Zuri was sitting on the floor, but her body was covered by Roland's, thus he didn't get a clear view of what was going on.

Swiftly, Roland retrieved the needle and hid it. He pressed Zuri's head against his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"She was having a breakdown when she learned about the miscarriage. She is very sad right now." Roland put his hand under Zuri's legs and carried her to the bed. "Why don't you leave her alone for a while, we will talk to her."

Roland tucked her in. There was no trace of the needle pricks on her hand, but the pain remained. As a shifter, you could heal very fast and a needle wouldn't do any damage to you even if you were pricked for a whole day.

Meanwhile, Xaden walked across the room and glanced at Zuri's pale face, it was obvious that she had been crying.

"No. I need to talk to her. I want you two to leave," Xaden said firmly. "Leave this room now."