Freeing Starr

Starr’s POV

My heart raced as we stared at each other. There was a faint smile tilting his lips. As I continued to look into his eyes, which reminded me so much of my own, I saw something that had my body shuddering in disgust.

His wolf.

Behind his eyes was the faint image of a rabid wolf. The wolf could barely stand, drool leaking from its muzzle as it tilted its head to the side. Instead of the luscious fur that usually accompanied these images, there were many red patches of skin littered across its body, as if the fur was torn out of its skin and refused to grow back.

The wolf was mangy, skinny, and looked to be starving. Its eyes were dull and staring at me with a blank expression. I could tell that even though it saw me, it didn’t really see me. It didn’t recognize me.

This was the first time I had seen anything like it.

Without realizing it, a tear slipped down my cheek. Was this what a wolf who had lost its mate looked like?

My voice was hoarse as I opened it to choke out, “You’re sick.”

My father tilted his head, “Are you crying because you miss me? Because if we’re being honest. I missed you very much, Starr.”

“I’m sorry,” I hung my head to get the image out of my mind and murmured. All the hostility that I thought I’d have for him flew straight out of the window. I could see he was slowly dying. It’s been years since he’s lost his mate. His mental health had already deteriorated to the point where the man he once was couldn’t be reached at all.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to think like this but I couldn’t help myself. The reason why he lost his mate in the first place was because of me. I felt like it was necessary for me to apologize at least once before I ended things. Nothing he did was right after my mother’s death, yet right now all I felt was pity.

A hand brushing against my cheek had me snapping my head up and I leaned away from his touch as my skin crawled.

“You’re sorry yet you’re so repulsed by me. Did I hurt you this badly? You know that I love you, right?”

My eyes narrowed in on him, “You don’t love me.”

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. This was my first time talking back to him in such a hard tone. I knew he was shocked.

He quickly recovered and his smile widened. “What makes you think that?”

I built up what little strength I had despite the pain radiating from my arms to stand up straight. My slouched posture against the wall was a pain for my back. The cold from the floor had me cringing as it seeped into my bare feet. Surprisingly, the effects of the wolfsbane was starting to fade and the numbness from my fingers were coming back. I had no idea how long it’s been but barely being able to stand was killing me.

I faced my father with not one ounce of fear in me. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. I might have been before I saw his mental state earlier, but not now.

I finally spoke up for myself, “You don’t love me. If you do then you don’t love me enough. Not as a daughter. You wouldn’t have hurt me.”

“Is that how you see it? I only hurt you because you wouldn’t listen to me.” He moved to touch my cheek again.

I twisted my head and snapped, “Don’t touch me.”

“This is new. Since when did you learn to tell me no?” His voice darkened as he grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.

I avoided looking into his eyes, not wanting to see that awful image again and muttered, “Since I finally realized that you’re not as scary as you make yourself out to be. I won’t shy away anymore.”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, as if me being like this now was not what he wanted to see. Given his personality, he probably preferred me in tears and submissive but those days were over for me. I would never allow that man to see me cry in fear ever again.

“Oh really?” He mused, his hold on my chin tightening until I winced. Yet, I didn’t make a single sound and just continued staring forward.

He released my chin and swung his hand to slap me. His knuckles connected to my jaw, causing my head to snap to the side. I bit my tongue, causing a bit of blood to trickle out the side of my mouth. I spat the blood out and raised an eyebrow at him, “Are you throwing a tantrum, father?”

His eyes narrowed as he growled, “You think your little Alpha can save you? Glacial City will win this war.”

I refuted, “Anyone who’d be willing to take in a bastard like you could never win against the kingdom. Don’t underestimate us.”

“Us? So you’re a part of the Kingdom now? Betrayed your father to go play whorehouse with your mate who can’t even deal with a small city on his own?”

I growled back, “You’re the traitor! Leon is twice the man you’ll ever be. I don’t even think you are a man. You’re a beas-”

Another slap.

Pain flared as I almost wrung my neck. I coughed and lifted my head to glare at him again. “This is all you’re good for. You were never a good father, a good Alpha and probably the worse mate!”

A kick to my stomach had me doubling over in pain as I felt one of my ribs break. With the wolfsbane still in my system, it made it even worse for me as I couldn’t even heal.

I groaned and slung my head back to hit the wall behind me.

“Don’t you dare insult my mate!” My father growled his anger as his dominance came pouring out of him in waves. It pushed against my body in an effort to make me submit but I refused, gritting my teeth and facing his power head on. “You’re the reason she died! You! You’re nothing but a replica of what you destroyed!”

A sharp cry escaped my lips as he grabbed my hair and pulled me forward so that our eyes met, “When I stare at you, I see nothing but an empty shell of your mother. Why couldn’t you be like her? Why didn’t you die instead? She was innocent! More innocent than you’ll ever be!”

I cried out, not being able to hold my tongue as my emotions came rolling out of me. I wanted to vent, and I wanted to hit him for spouting bullshit that wasn’t true. “I was innocent! I was innocent before you took that from me! A- All I wanted was love. I wanted someone to care for me! Everyone grew up with a mother but I didn’t have mine! I thought that I at least had my father... but you were never a father! I chased after you and all I got was your disgust and then soon that disgust turned to lust and you hurt me! You hurt me so bad! I was innocent! You took my innocence. I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!!” I screamed at him as I lunged forward. The chains tugged me back and caused me to slam into the wall behind me. I groaned as my insides shook with pain.

A chuckle escaped his lips as he seemed to suddenly calm down, staring at me glaring at him as I panted for breath through my pain. I could barely breath and my eyes were growing heavy yet I refused to look away from him.

“You’re wrong. I only ever took your back entrance. Now that you’re here... don’t you think I should go all the way this time? Maybe then you can say that I truly did hurt you.”

I growled as he approached me, that familiar lustful look in his eyes that once caused me to shiver in fear and disgust. My skin crawled as his hands came to caress my arms.

I ignored the pain and thrashed wildly at my chains, desperate to break free and defend myself. His hands traveled across my skin, causing goosebumps to rise as I growled in warning.

My eyes began glowing and even though I knew it was impossible, I tried shifting into my wolf. My power came pouring out of me in waves as I snarled,“I said don’t fucking touch me!”

To my surprise, my father’s hands disappeared from my body as he stepped back and stared at me in surprise.

Our eyes met again.

Ryan’s POV

This power...

My heart shook as I was forcefully pushed back by the sheer power that reeked out of Starr, despite the wolfsbane traveling through her body.

Did I just submit to my daughter?

As I looked into her eyes, I found myself getting lost in a particular memory.

Chaos. It was everywhere.

Buildings crumbled as fire erupted, panicked screaming filled the air as many wolves dashed back and forth in a hurry.

I remained in my human form, clutching the child in my arms desperately as I ran out of one of the engulfed homes. The child coughed and cried, thrashing in my arms as they stared in despair at their home.

“Mommy! She’s still in there!”

My arms tightened around the little boy as my heart softened at his words. I had no idea how I was supposed to tell him that his mother was already burnt to death.

I quickly got to the center of the pack, where a large crowd of people gathered and called out, “There’s another one! He needs treatment! Quickly!”

“Yes Alpha.” A warrior quickly came forward to take the child and took him to sit on one of the makeshift beds placed on the ground.

How did a fire as big as this one break out in the pack? How did it manage to damage so many homes so quickly?

I turned around and ran back to the burning buildings, hoping to rescue anyone else that I could. This had to have happened on the day that my parents had left the territory. I had no idea what to do.

A heart-wrenching scream pierced the air, startling me and causing me to turn in the direction of the sound. My heart began to beat faster as a sense of anxiety like no other washed over me. For some reason, that scream called to me. It told me to rescue this person before it was too late.

I quickly ran towards a burning house where a couple of guards were currently holding back a woman. She was desperately trying to run back into the already crumbling home.

As I got closer to the scene, a delectable scent invaded my nose, causing my entire body to stiffen as my eyes immediately started glowing.

This was...

With wide eyes, I ran towards the woman that was being restrained by the guards.

She growled and clawed at them, “Don’t touch me! My parents are in there!”

“DON’T TOUCH HER!” My voice came out guttural as I approached.

The guards winced at the order behind my voice and quickly dropped the woman, causing her to crumble to the ground.

When I got to her, I grabbed her arm and pulled her up to stand, my heart melting as I felt the warmth of her touch travel throughout my entire body.

The woman’s eyes were panicked as she ignored everyone around her and tried running back towards the house. I grabbed her arm to stop her.

She quickly turned around, a glare set on her face as she growled at me with animosity, “I said don’t fucking touch me!”

It was only then that she froze, finally registering what was occurring as our eyes finally met.

This woman was my mate.

“Paige?” My voice cracked as I called her name, staring at the face that resembled her so much that it drove me crazy.

Starr’s eyes narrowed in on me as she recognized her mother’s name. Her voice was strong and steady as she said, “I am not your mate and I will not allow you to hurt me anymore!”

I took another step back as a strange feeling washed over me. As I stared into her hostile gaze, I was reminded of my mate. My Paige.

My hand trembled at my side as I clenched them. My thoughts became scattered as I tried to piece together reality and delusion.

The image of Starr and Paige began to merge and it scared me. What was I doing?

I growled and shook my head in frustration. What the fuck was I thinking? Starr and Paige were not the same. Starr killed Paige. It’s all her fault that her mother died. She deserved to suffer. She deserved to be as miserable as I was.

“Open up,” I called out to the guard that was waiting on the other side of the cell door.

He opened the door and let me out. I quickly left the room and instructed him, “Inject her with more wolfsbane and take a picture of her injuries before she heals. We’ll send the pictures back to the Kingdom.”

The guard nodded and did as I instructed. I quickly left the prison and went back to my room, where a woman laid on the bed waiting for me.

I was beyond agitated.

I took off my shirt and ordered her, “On your knees.”

The woman trembled in fear as she did as she was told, and soon enough, screams echoed throughout the room... but they weren’t screams of pleasure.