~Daliah's POV~
Usually, I knew that all of these punishments I've been subjected to must've been done to deter me… to show me just how much I would suffer if I tried to flee, but somehow, deep in my subconscious, it only gave me more reasons to want to leave.
It only made me firmer in my resolve to escape this pack especially now that there were no more emotional attachments left for me to hold on to here.
Nobody should be hurt so much by my absence. Not Beta Orion… and definitely not my mate, Alpha Zarek.
Speaking of my mate, he stood a few feet away from my cell but made no move to come closer, his dark eyes trained on me. However, something about that made me even more annoyed than I already was. It made it seem like he had come here to gloat, to witness in my suffering, never to render any sort of help.
I snorted. "Leave."
Usually, I had no right to talk to him in that manner as he was after all my Master, a king… and I, an omega. But I was too far gone to care. Too lost in my misery to care about something as insignificant as rankings or what he could do to me.
His rich sweet smell clogged my senses and with a firm shake of my head, I forced it to remain at bay. Far from me… so far that it would be unable to affect me the way it usually would.
'But why should it affect me when I hate him?' I thought to myself but shook my head against the thought.
Not now. I didn't want to think about anything now... especially not him.
The Alpha was so silent and so still that I had even begun to think that he wasn't here to speak to me. That he was only here to watch me suffer, until he cleared his throat. "Why did you do it, Dahlia?"
The emotion in his voice made the air crackle with tension and even though only a few minutes ago, I had prided myself in believing that my heart had hardened, tears seeped into my eyes and trailed down my face. I wiped them away.
I was a weakling! A fucking weakling.
"Why did you try to steal from me? Why did you plot your escape?" He snarled, but still I said nothing. There was nothing to say when it was obvious that he wouldn't believe me.
"Why aren't you answering me?!" He yelled and then, as if possessed, I began to laugh.
I laughed so loud and for a long time despite the way it made my ribs hurt. I laughed at his words… at his audacity to sound so pained even when I was the one scorned. The one paraded. The one he'd hired someone to rape senseless.
I peeled my heavy eyelids open just then to see him leaning over, a fleet of contradicting emotions swimming across his green orbs. And I smiled.
"Because right now, I do not have to answer to you."
It was my anger speaking, not courage… and definitely not bravery. I still feared him like he was the boogeyman. I still worried about what lengths he could go to punish me; But right now, I just didn't care. I couldn't bring myself to care.
"Why did you try to leave? Why did you want to leave?" He asked.
Maybe this was the point where I was supposed to point out how I wanted to flee because of his mischievous fiancée. Maybe this was where I should've told him that I feared I was in danger and my only response to that was to run. But upon careful thought, I realized that he was no different from Ms Jennifer. If anything, he was a lot worse than her.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." I drawled, sniffing when blood seeped out from an open cut on my lips. "…And trust me, Alpha, I'll try to leave again… and again until I find the perfect opportunity."
A low growl emanated from his chest as soon as I said those words but I didn't back down. I couldn't; especially as I was certain that I had gotten underneath his skin. It felt as though I craved death… begged for it, and frankly, I'd be glad if he would give me just that.
"Dahlia… you're biting more than you can chew!" He said and I chuckled, whilst pointing at my battered face.
"I obviously cannot chew anything right now, my teeth are all broken." I said in amusement, "…so I do not know what you're talking about."
He didn't respond, didn't move, and so I added; "Please leave… and ask your subjects to come back and continue with what they've started with me already."
It wasn't until then that I saw it in his eyes for the first time.
Pity.
He pitied me and that realization made me extremely mad. Very aggravated. I looked away from him in hurt and anger, willing myself to dispel his stupidly handsome face from my memory.
"Why do you wish for death so badly?" He asked, his voice cold… like ice. "When I am not even close to being done with you?" He added, and after hearing his words, I frowned.
Something akin to hurt clawed at my chest as the sudden realisation dawned on me: He'd indeed done all of these to me. All of it. Even sent that man to rape me.
"Because death is by far better than having to share the same air as you."
I heard the sound of a sharp intake of breath and it wasn't until two heartbeats later that I discovered the sound hadn't come from me. It had come from him… and now he looked beyond enraged. Mad. Like a maniacal monster.
Just good!
"You'll pay for speaking to me this way, Dahlia!"
"Like I ain't paying for it already." I snarled back, and with a smile, I added; "However, your price is quite too high. You're making me pay with my blood. You're making me pay with my life."
Just then, my vision began to swim. My body, even though it remained in its position, felt like it was floating, and I realised with painful certainty that I was about to lose consciousness. Again. But deciding that it was better than looking into the eyes of this monster, I welcomed it.
I welcomed the peace and quiet that came with being disconnected from my body. I welcomed the feeling of being away from him…
In body and in mind.