Ava's POV
I opened my eyes slowly but shut them back as a whimper escaped my lips. Immense pain was all I felt spreading around my left arm region, but that wasn't why my heart was broken. I can't believe once again I escaped death and just woke up from my unconsciousness. My prayers to die weren't answered again.
My eyes ached as burning tears seared deep inside my eye sockets while my lips quivered as I sobbed in sadness.
"What type of life is this?" I mumbled to myself. My heart seemed to be on fire from the sharp pangs I was feeling. It was a horror to see my father attack me with a knife. He didn't just threaten me with it, but had also struck me with the knife.
Not only that, he ignored me even when I was bleeding and still went ahead to ask for his bracelet. I was dying from loss of blood, but the beast of a father didn't care even the smallest bit.
At the end, the bracelet was found in his room. I was blamed and injured for something I have no idea about.
"Oh, God, why me?"
My eyes fluttered and opened again. This time my vision was quite clear and I could see I was in the pack clinic from the medicine and herbal scent that hit my nostrils. I could see clearly now and just as I spun to the corner of my bed, I saw someone dressed in the pack warrior attire sitting on the chair a few feet away from me.
His gaze fell on me, and as our eyes locked, all I could see was pure care and pity glinting in those eyeballs, which I can't understand how and why.
Is there someone who cared for me in his pack?
"You are awake. How do you feel now?" He muttered those words slowly, like he was scared of something.
I scanned his face and recognized his voice. It was the same voice I heard before losing consciousness. This was the same man who found and brought the bracelet my father was looking for.
"You found the bracelet in my father's room, right?" I asked weakly, and he let out a deep sigh, lowering his head to the ground for some seconds before looking back at me.
I can now see his face clearly now and I must tell you he is so handsome and manly, but what I don't understand is the wetness of his eyes filled with care. The little scar on his left cheek gave him that appealing appearance of a warrior and his muscles and midnight black ponytail hair with a well shaved beards really fitted him.
"Yes, I found the bracelet. Your father injured you this bad for it when he didn't even check his room well. Why will he treat you like that? Why is the Alpha hatred for you increasing by the day?" His husky voice sounded in my ears and I felt the care and love in it.
My brows arched as I stared at the young man in front of me, wondering so hard why he seemed to care about me. No one does that. I can't remember if anyone had ever shown me the slightest form of love.
"Who are you? Why are you showing concern to me? Aren't you a member of this pack?" I asked with squinted eyes, sitting up from the bed with struggle since the wound was yet to heal, and the young man wasted no second to rush and help me sit up. He gave me a weak smile before taking a deep breath as his eyes locked with mine.
"I am the pack warrior leader. I have a very serious question for you. Who are you for real? Are you a mere wolf?" He asked slowly with a low tone, peering into my eyes like he was searching for something in there.
I furrowed my brows, looking back at him in confusion. This was the last question I expected to hear from him, and the worst was that his tone was telling, obviously, that he was suspecting me of being something else from a normal wolf like others
"What do you mean?" I finally got my voice to ask, but those suspicious looks didn't fade away.
"You are a demon spy, right? Like I said not long ago, I am the pack warrior leader, and my major responsibility is to protect this pack, but I can let you sneak out of this pack and back to your demon clan without being killed. That is only if you tell me the truth about who you are!" His voice sounded quite cold now.
He seemed to be having mixed feelings, fighting hard to sound threatening even when his voice was failing him. He also seemed to be afraid of something as he kept avoiding an eye contact with me.
" I am not a demon spy. Who the hell told you I am? My name is Ava, the only daughter of the Alpha. A princess with an Alpha bloodline who should be respected by everyone in this pack if only my birth hadn't killed her. If only my fate was as it should be." I cried out, burying my face in my palm as more pain rushed through me.
"You don't have an inner wolf, so we can't believe that you are a werewolf yet. But I felt so much pity for you after your father almost killed you for a crime you didn't commit. Your eyes and the death of your mother all pointed you out as a spy from the demon clan" he repeated again, forcing me to shudder in fright.
"How? Is that the new allegation? I was called a murderer, a liar, a curse, a disappointment... Now you are also calling me a demon spy? What is happening? What is all this? I thought you might care for me a little bit. But I think I am wrong!" I sighed with hot tears pouring down my eyes continuously.
"Aurora found a scroll that described you as a demon spy, and I eavesdropped when she was telling the Alpha. Soon, you will be tested with silver and wolfsbane, which is the most painful torture ever recorded in the wolf community. If your true identity is blown, you will be killed instantly," he explained, and my eyes widened in fear.
My jaw dropped as all he said sank into me, especially when he mentioned the silver and wolfsbane torture.
I wouldn't have been so terrified now if I hadn't watched other suspected wolves pass through it and die from the torment. This was one of my nightmares, which I pray I never experience. I didn't even once in my life ever thought of facing such intense pain that could crush the bones and every single cell in the body. Even if I was a normal wolf, I might die during the torture.