Chapter 4: the sins of the father

****

Karen screamed, throwing the bloody box in her hands away. The sight of her father's severed head played over and over in her mind's eyes, his pale lifeless skin, his bulging eyes threatening to explode out of his head, the expression of pure horror and anguish on his face. The box fell to the ground and her father's head rolled out, his lifeless eyes staring at her.

Karen's knees felt weak and she collapsed to the cold hard ground, her trembling bloodstained hands coming up to her mouth, small pained gasps escaping her lips. Tears clouded her vision as she stared at what was left of her father. Not once in his life did her ever show her that he loved her, not once had she ever imagined the last time she saw him to be like this.

"Are you scared?" Kai's voice reached her ears, mocking and cold. He came and stood in front of Karen, crouching down to her eye level. Karen raised her head and met his cold eyes, eyes that held no atom of emotion.

"You....you killed him..." She gasped, tears rolling down her face.

Kai scoffed. "This is a merciful death compared to what he did to my family, compared to what he did to my people."

"You call that merciful?" Karen whispered, emotions clogging her throat. She gripped her chest, feeling a pain inside her.

"Of course, you'll side with him, you're exactly like he is. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it." Kai said distastefully. "Your father was a heartless monster who had everything coming."

Karen couldn't stop the tears trailing down her face.

"He plundered through my pack and tortured my parents in front of me before he beheaded both of them. Do you know how it felt, seeing my parents killed right in front of me?"

"Stop ..." Karen said weakly, shaking her head. The image being painted in her head was one of unspeakable horror and gore that she didn't want to even imagine.

"Stop?" Kai spat. He grabbed her hair and pulled her up. His cold eyes glared into hers with such intensity that Karen wanted to run and hide. The malicious energy rolled off him in massive waves. "But I haven't even started with what he did, have I?"

"No....please...stop..."

"He brutally murdered children alongside their parents. He and his men raped our women and handed them over like they were slaves. He cast a dark cloud over the history of this pack....and you think I'll just allow him to retire and have a peaceful life?!"

"Why are you taking it out on me?!" Karen cried out. "You've killed him already, what more do you even want?!"

"I will make sure you suffer as much as I and my people have suffered," Kai said, venom lacing his tone. "I will make you taste pain such that you have never imagined before. By the time I'm done with you, you will wish for death but you will not find it."

"I'm not like my father," Karen said in a whisper. "I didn't know of all this....you've gotten your revenge, why keep me in this place?"

"Revenge?" Kai laughed. It was a cold and heartless sound. "I haven't even started with my revenge."

Karen felt a coldness descend upon her. She couldn't believe the things she was hearing about her father. Sure he was a cruel man and an abusive father. But she had never thought he was capable of the gruesome things Kai described.

But she was not her father. She was sure of it. If anything she has been on the receiving side of his anger and abuse for all her life.

Karen raised her head and looked at Kai. She shakily wiped her eyes and stopped crying.

"You have to understand that I'm not like my father," Karen said calmly. "I am my own person, I.....I..." She couldn't bring herself to talk of the horrors she had experienced at the hands of her father, she doubted it would mean anything to Kai. She pursed her lips and sighed.

"I am not my father." She said firmly.

"You're a disgusting liar." Kai spat and pushed her aside.

She fell roughly to the cold dungeon floors, her knees banging on the concrete. A cry of pain left her lips as she started to bleed. Kai stepped out of the dungeon and slammed the door shut. Karen looked at him with teary eyes, hoping that somehow he would have some sympathy for her.

He was her mate for crying out loud!

"You will suffer dearly for the sins of your father," Kai said coldly. He turned and walked away, leaving her in the cold cell alone with the severed head of her father.

Karen started sobbing, the small courage she had built up crashing. She overheard Kai's commanding voice giving orders to his men.

"Make sure you keep an eye on her!" Kai barked. "Is that clear?!"

"Yes, alpha." The men replied.

Karen felt a gust of cold wind hit her hard. She shivered, pulling her arms around herself. Dressed in only the shreds from her birthday gown, the cold in the dungeon was unforgiving. Karen moved to her father's severed head.

"Alpha..." She cried, using the title she was so used to calling him by. her throat clogged with emotions. This was the man she had feared more than anything, the man who had made her life a living hell. Now he was nothing but a head in her cell room.

"Hey boys, look what we have here." A voice snickered, approaching her as she heard the sounds movement, with each step she felt her breath hitched.

"Looks like a scared little princess." the voice mocked.

Karen winced, a shudder running down her spine. Being called princess in such a manner reminded her of something she didn't want to ever recall.

"The daughter of that monster." One of the guards spat. "Too bad she's a charming little thing huh?"

"Luke please, don't be disgusting. That girl is a monster herself." One of the guards said with disgust.

"Leave me alone," Karen said quietly but firmly.

"Oh," The guards laughed loudly. "She can actually talk!"

"Didn't see that one coming." they laughed again.

The door to the cell clicked open. Karen gasped and rushed to a corner, trying to make herself as small as possible. Three men walked into the dungeon. Karen's eyes darted between the three of them. They all looked terrifying. Tall and well built and staring at her like she was a pest.

"Hello, Princess." One of them said and stepped forward.

"Leave me alone!" Karen screamed out of fear. "Leave me....." Her words were cut off as he reached out and grabbed her by her neck, cutting off her air flow. He raised her up and slammed her into the wall. Pain exploded across her back, the back of her head hitting the wall. She groaned in pain, her eyes taking time to adjust.

"What was that? Princess?" He asked mockingly.

Karen struggled, hitting his hand with her small fists. Her head felt like it was filling up with water and her vision was blurring. She tried to speak but all that could come out were strangled sounds.

"Hey, you'll kill her!" One of the guards yelled.

"So?"

"Alpha should have the honor of doing that."

"Oh, that's right." He said with a sigh and dropped Karen. She fell to the floor, coughing and trying to get as much air into her lungs as she could. "He deserves to be the one to end her miserable life."

"She still has to pay for what her father did though." One of the guards said and made his way over to Karen. "Doesn't she?"

"Yeah yeah."

Karen barely had time to react before a kick connected with her ribs. She screamed out and grabbed her ribs. The sound of bones breaking rang out through the air.

"That's all you've got?" One of them scoffed and stormed up to her. He grabbed her by her neck and slapped her across the face. Karen felt her earring and her vision blur. The guard held her firmly in place and hit her again across the face before dropping her body to the ground.

"That's for my mother." The guard hissed in anger.

"Come on, your mother would be shaking her head at you." His fellow guard said. "I'll make a requiem for your mother, and mine too." He kicked Karen again, stomping on her arm at an angle so odd the sound of it breaking was heard.

Karen sobbed, pain hitting her body from all angles. She tried to crouch over and protect herself from the angry blows and kicks but nothing helped.

"That's for my brother, you damn bitch!"

"You're so lucky Alpha wants to end your life himself!"

"Aww, are you crying?"

Karen felt her consciousness slipping out of her. At the back of her mind, she couldn't believe that Kai would order his men to beat her up. Couldn't he just cut her head off like he did for her father? Her ears were ringing, and for a moment the world went silent and peaceful.

Karen welcomed the darkness, thinking to herself how it felt like a warm comforting hug. This was worst, why was her life like this? it just ended from fry pan to fire.