Breaking from Fate, Finding My Second Chance

“Do it again,” Lilith snapped, her boot tapping against the polished marble.

I winced, dragging the cloth back over the vanity. “It’s clean,” I tried to say—but my throat, ravaged and uncooperative, betrayed me. The rasp that escaped was pitiful.

Lilith rolled her eyes. “Gods, that sound again. Like a dying rodent.” She leaned in, brushing her pale blonde hair over her shoulder as she examined her reflection. “You missed a spot,” she added with a sneer, pointing to a nearly invisible speck beside her perfume tray.

I crouched lower, scrubbing the tiny mark with trembling fingers. The cold marble bit into my knees, but I barely noticed it anymore. My knuckles, raw and swollen from hours of cleaning, moved mechanically.

Lilith’s chambers were already spotless. They always were. But it never mattered. Clean wasn’t the point. Control was.

“Faster,” she barked.

I blinked sweat from my lashes and obeyed.

Outside the frosted windows, the first fingers of dawn broke across the treetops. I used to find comfort in mornings. That was before I’d been stripped of my voice, my wolf, and the life I should have had.

A knock at the door. Then it slammed open without waiting.

I flinched, the brush slipping from my hand with a loud clatter.

Lilith spun around just as a female attendant poked her head inside. “Your mother's on her way, Luna.”

Lilith’s eyes snapped to the vanity—then to the smudge still barely visible.

She turned on me.

“You worthless defect,” she hissed. “You knew she was coming!”

I shook my head, mouthing I didn’t know—but it was useless. My silence made her angrier.

Lilith crossed the room in two strides and shoved me hard. I landed on my side with a grunt, the breath knocked from my lungs.

“No wonder the Goddess cursed you. No voice, no shift, no use at all.”

She stormed to the wall. I heard the scrape before I saw what she grabbed—not the crop this time.

The whip.

My blood chilled.

I scrambled backward, palms slipping on wet stone. I tried to rise, tried to run, but my legs were too slow and she was already above me.

Crack.

Pain split my shoulder. I bit down on my tongue to stifle the scream, tasting blood.

Crack. Crack. CRACK!

I curled inward as the lash found my back again and again, each strike more vicious than the last. Lilith’s breathing turned ragged, almost gleeful.

“Can’t scream, huh?” she panted. “No fun if you can’t even cry.”

She paused only long enough to seize my hair and yank me upright. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but she ignored them. Dragging me to the washbasin, she dumped the filthy cleaning water over my head. It soaked my dress, burning into the fresh wounds like acid.

Lilith stood back, admiring her handiwork. “Now you match the filth you leave behind.”

The door creaked open again.

“Lilith?” a smooth voice called out. “Everything ready?”

I froze.

Alpha Elias.

…

His boots clicked