His Soul Marked Luna

"No!"

I jerked my head down, my sharp teeth sinking viciously into the back of Wesley's hand.

Blood instantly gushed out, and Wesley hissed in pain.

Now was my chance!

I shoved him aside and scrambled through the crowd, sprinting towards the dark forest.

"Emilia!" Wesley's furious roar exploded behind me. "You dare bite me?!"

I didn't dare to look back.

The sound of footsteps echoed behind me, but I ran faster. The hem of my dress was torn by thorns, and my legs were scratched by branches, but I didn't care.

I knew that if my identity was exposed, my mother would turn this place into a slaughterhouse.

To protect him, I could only flee.

Even if it made him angrier, more confused.

The darkness swallowed my figure.

The wooden cabin on the edge of the forest appeared before me, and I stumbled towards the door.

"Bang!"

I pushed the door open forcefully, gasping for breath.

"Mother, I..."

Before I could finish, a leather whip laced with pure silver lashed out from the darkness, coiling tightly around my neck.

"Ah—!"

A searing pain instantly tore through my throat. The moment the pure silver touched my skin, it made a hissing, corrosive sound, and the air filled with the stench of burning flesh.

Martha emerged from the shadows.

She was so thin she was a skeleton, her long, gray-white hair messily draped over her shoulders. A crazed fury burned in her sunken eyes.

"You whore! Trying to seduce a werewolf?!" she roared, dragging me towards the cellar with the whip. "I saw everything in the scrying mirror! That Alpha touched your face!"

I was dragged until I was covered in blood, my nails scratching deep marks into the wooden floor.

"Mother, no, I didn't..."

"Shut up!" She kicked me in the ribs. "You think I don't know what you're thinking? You want to escape? Find a werewolf to protect you?"

The cellar's iron door swung open.

A damp, foul stench hit my face, and the pure silver chains on the wall gleamed in the torchlight.

Martha slammed me onto the stone floor, splattering blood everywhere.

A ruthless glint flashed in my eyes, and I suddenly grabbed the whip, trying to wrestle it away.

A flicker of magic gathered in my veins, a faint whisper of power.

"You still dare to resist!" Martha kicked me square in the chest.

The pressure of the death curse intensified. The magic I had just gathered vanished in an instant.

I curled into a ball in pain, gasping for air.

"You will never escape my control," Martha sneered, taking a thick pure silver chain from the wall. "Tonight, I'm going to teach you the meaning of obedience."

The cold silver pierced my collarbone.

"Ahhh—!!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the cellar. The moment the silver made contact with my flesh, my skin instantly rotted away, a glimpse of white bone faintly visible.

Martha secured the other end of the chain to the wall, ensuring I couldn't escape.

Then, she raised the pure silver whip, now stained with my blood.

"Count them," her voice was a frigid whisper from the depths of hell. "How many is this? I want you to remember every moment of pain."

"Crack!"

The first lash landed on my back.

Flesh tore instantly, and blood splattered. I bit my lip, desperately trying not to scream.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

The whip fell again and again.

Each strike brought with it a thick smoke of burning flesh, and the cellar filled with a nauseating, scorched smell.

My body convulsed, my consciousness fading.

But I couldn't fall, couldn't beg for mercy.

Because if I showed any weakness, she would only become more vicious.

"Beg me!" Martha panted, sweat trickling down her twisted face. "Get on your knees and beg me for forgiveness!"

I lifted my head, glaring at her with all my strength.

"Never."

"Good," she said, her smile growing even more crazed. "I love it when you're stubborn like this. It makes breaking you all the more interesting."

The whip swung down again.

This time, she held nothing back.

The tip of the silver whip embedded itself deep into my flesh, then was violently torn out.

A large piece of skin was ripped away.

I couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a suppressed moan.

But just as the sound was about to turn into a wolf's howl, I bit down hard on the tip of my tongue.

Blood filled my mouth, and the sharp pain kept me lucid.

I can't expose myself.

Absolutely not.

I dug my fingers into the dirt floor, my nails breaking as I forced the howl back down my throat. I knew if Wesley dared to follow the sound, he would be torn to shreds by a lethal sorcery trap.