Chapter 286
286
Scarlett dragged her broken body toward the filthy trough. The stench of rot and animal waste clung to the air, thick enough to choke. Inside the trough was not food fit for wolves but scattered, half-molded chicken feed, damp and sour.
Without hesitation, the once-pampered daughter of the Ebonclaw Pack seized handfuls of the foul mash. She stuffed it into her mouth, chewing like a starving beast, smearing her gaunt face with grit and filth.
Riley stood still, her silver eyes sharp as blades, watching Scarlett degrade herself. A sneer curved her lips, the cruelty in her voice cutting deeper than any whip.
“Scarlett,” Riley said coldly, “did you ever imagine you’d crawl this low?”
At the sound of her voice, Scarlett froze mid-bite. Slowly, she turned, strands of matted hair clinging to her dirt-streaked face. Her hollow, lifeless eyes locked on Riley.
For a heartbeat, confusion flickered there-then the old hatred burst forth like fire. Recognition sharpened her gaze, and her body trembled with feral rage.
With a guttural snarl, she lunged, spit and crumbs spraying from her mouth, her broken limbs jerking with unnatural fury. She aimed straight for Riley’s throat, jaws wide as though she meant to rip it out.
The iron chain clamped around her ankles yanked her down before she could reach her prey. Scarlett’s skeletal frame slammed face-first into the muck, smearing her flesh with filth and animal droppings.
Yet the chain didn’t dampen her madness. She thrashed on the ground, clawing at the dirt, snapping her teeth like a rabid wolf.
“I’ll kill you! Kill you!” she shrieked, voice breaking into raw, animalistic screams.
Riley’s gaze was cold as moonlight. “Kill me? You?” She let her words drip with disdain, savoring each one. “You’re nothing but a chained cur.”
She stepped closer, her expression alight with grim satisfaction. “I came here today, Scarlett, not to save you. I came to see you rot. To look you in the eyes while you drown in the filth you earned.”
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Her voice hardened, sharp with memory and vengeance. “Do you remember? At Ebonclaw Pack, you whispered poison into every ear. That was my home, but you turned them all against me. My parents. My brother. They all despised me for you. For you, they would have let me rot in a cell.”.
Her laugh was jagged, bitter as iron. “Do you know why I endured the humiliation in the prison pits? Why I let them beat me, degrade me, and still lived? Because I waited for this day-to watch you suffer, to watch you crawl like the mongrel you are.”
Scarlett’s frenzy deepened. She thrashed harder, the chain biting into her skin, rattling with each desperate pull.
“My father is Alpha! My mother is the Pack’s Luna! My brother is a leader!” she screamed, her cracked voice trembling with delusion. “They’ll save me-they’ll kill anyone who hurt me!”
Riley barked out a cold laugh, sharp enough to cut flesh. “Alpha? Luna? Leader? Your father-Alpha Alaric—is a crippled husk, rotting in his own filth. Your mother, Luna Zara, blind and lost, howls in a madhouse. Your brother, Kael Vale, is rotting in chains. And you—look at yourself. A used vessel for Rogues. A toy for their rage. Lower than pigs.”
Scarlett shrieked louder, voice shattering the silence of the Rogue den. “No! No! I am the Ebonclaw princess! I was born to rule-you’re the curse, you’re the filth- you should die!”
Riley said nothing more. She simply stood, arms crossed, her eyes glinting with cruel satisfaction as Scarlett howled herself hoarse.
Let her scream. Let her rot. Soon the earth itself would swallow her.
Then-cold fingers clutched Riley’s ankle.
She startled, instinctively lashing out with a swift kick. Her boot connected with a sunken face-Alpha Alaric’s face.
Blood spilled from his nose, but he didn’t recoil. His gaze-once commanding, now sunken and desperate-clung to her. His lips trembled as he forced broken sounds from his throat:
“Home… take me… back…”
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His voice was wet, slurred, nearly lost to the stroke that twisted his body. But his eyes were lucid-burning with humiliation, torment, and pitiful hope.
Life among the Rogues had been nothing short of torment for him. Once, he had marched against these wild wolves, leading hunts into their territory. Now, as their captive, they took their revenge slowly. They beat him daily, withheld food and water, left him wallowing in his own waste.
And now, seeing Riley here, Alaric clung to her as though she were his last salvation.
But Riley only looked down, her face cold as frost, lips curling with venom.
“Alpha Alaric,” she whispered, voice low and sharp. “Why would you ever believe I’d take you home?”
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