The rest of the walk was quiet with me lost in my thoughts wondering what more he could possibly do to me. What could be worse than hitting or raping me? Obviously, he had some ideas in his head. I look up at Colton. He seems calm, almost happy. He is looking straight ahead of him. He is such a beautiful man on the outside. 

Such a shame. His wolf is amazing too. Ailith breaks her silence. 

Makes you wonder what made him this way. 

Do you really care to find out? She asks.

I shut her out before asking myself the same question. Do I care? Do I want to know anything about this man? I mean, I can feel the sparks when he touches me and the feeling is exhilarating, for lack of a better word. His smell is intoxicating, I love it.

But that doesn't mean I love him. He is a horrible man. Mean, abusive and controlling. He had zero redeeming qualities, that's for sure. 

No, I don't care to learn about him. He may be my destined mate, but that doesn't mean I have to accept him. I will never accept him. That is something I can promise myself and my wolf. 

"We're here," Colton states, breaking the silence. I look up and see a courtyard with a pole in the middle. 

"What is here?" I ask. 

He chuckles, his facial expression turning dark. "Your punishment."

"No," I say softly, squirming in his arms. 

"No," I repeat louder as I continue to struggle against him, however, his grip tightens on me. I begin to hit his chest with my hands. 

"No!" I scream before I smack his face. He drops me on the ground and grabs my hand, dragging me the rest of the way to the pole. 

"Colton, no. Please, don't do this." I beg. I wouldn't normally beg, but I thought maybe it would be worth a shot. Clearly, it didn't work. He brings me to the pole, attaching my wrists to two cuffs. I am on my knees, facing the silver pole. My wrists burning against the silver of the cuffs. My leg isn't fully healed yet, so the pressure of being on my knees causes me even more pain. 

Colton is in front of me, looking down at me with an evil smile on his face. His eyes fog over, signalling that he is mind-linking someone. 

"What are you going to do to me?" I ask. I hate to admit it, but I am terrified. 

"You will see, just have to wait for your audience." 

I freeze. "Audience?"

Colton smiles, flashing his white teeth. He looks behind me and nods at something or someone before answering my question. "Look around, darling."

Looking around me, I see people coming to the courtyard. This can't be good. I suddenly remember my nakedness. "Colton, please. I am naked. Please, give me something to cover myself. Please!" More people come. I can feel their eyes on my body. Blushing, I close my eyes and try to make them all go away. 

A few minutes pass before Colton speaks. 

"Silence." A wave of quiet washes over the crowd. "I have gathered you all here today to introduce you to someone special. This here is Skylar Griffin. She is my mate and your Luna. However, we aren't here to formally introduce her to you. Not today, at least." Members of the crowd snicker quietly and whispers can be heard before Colton speaks again. 

"No, you are all here to witness Skylar's punishment for disobeying me. You see, since I found my lovely mate here, she has been rude and dismissive. She even tried to reject me. However, worse of all, Skylar here ran away last night. Thirty of my men and myself had to hunt her down and return her. We are here today to witness her punishment for running."

I look up at Colton again, sending him the most hateful glare I can muster. 

He continues. "So today, Skylar's punishment is simple. I had to send thirty of my men and myself out to retrieve her, so each and every one of us will whip her once." 

I gasp. "That's thirty-one lashes!"

"Yes, and I will be delivering the first one." He walks towards one of the members who is watching our show. He is holding a silver briefcase that Colton opens. He pulls out a black leather whip with a silver point at the end. He slowly walks towards me, bending down to my ear. 

"Hopefully you learn your lesson, kitten." He whispers in my ear before roughly nipping my earlobe. He stands up and I hear him walk behind me. My breaths quicken and my hands grow clammy. My heart is jumping out of my chest. I hold back my tears as I wait.

Suddenly, a crack sound rips through the air, followed by a burning sensation down my back. I hold back a scream, not wanting to show everyone my weakness. "Wesley, you are next." 

A large, black man comes out of the crowd and stands behind me. Again, a crack is all I hear before the same burning sensation hits my ass. "Daryl." 

A pale redheaded man pushes through the crowd with a smile on his face and quickly does the same as the man before him. This continues on with Colton calling a name, followed by a whip hitting me. I held my screams until the eleventh lash. Tears poured down my face. I could feel the blood dripping down my back. 

By the seventeenth, stars danced in my eyes. The darkness fighting its way through. I could feel my wolf howling in pain. I was right with her. Every time that whip came down, I would cry out. 

By the twenty-fourth, my back was numb. My tears were dried. I couldn't feel anything. I was fighting past the darkness that was knocking at my door. I refused to pass out in front of all these people. I refused to give Colton that satisfaction. 

"Theo, you will deliver the final whip." I open my eyes just in time to see Theo come out of the crowd. He looks at me with what looked to be sorrow in his eyes, but I was too out of it to know for sure. He slowly walks behind me to deliver the final blow. 

The crack comes down and I feel it hit me on my upper back. It's over. I survived. 

"That's it. Let this serve as a reminder to everyone to never defy me. You listen and treat me with respect, I will protect you. Have a good night everyone."

A unanimous 'Yes Alpha' is heard through the crowd before everyone turns around and leaves the scene. I watch them all leave, glaring at them as they go. I hate them all for sitting there and watching. I am still there kneeling as  I watch the last person leave. 

"I hope you learned something here, Skylar," Colton says. "Theo, clean her up and then bring her to my room after you are done." He walks off. All I can do is watch him go. 

I feel Theo touch my arm and I lift my eyes to his. "I need to take you down from here and bring you to my office, but I will need your help. You have to make sure you don't fall to your back. Lean against the pole or fall forward. I mean it, my job will be hard enough as is, don't make it worse." Theo orders softly.

"Okay," I whisper, my voice raspy from my screaming. I feel Theo put the key into the cuffs. slowly he freed me. I fall against the pole, wincing. My ribs are still bruised from the fall earlier. 

"Good, now I want you to hug my neck. I am going to lift your legs up and wrap them around my waist. It's the only way I can hold you without touching your back. Ready?" I nod my head slowly and lean towards him, quickly doing as he says. He lifts me up and carefully wraps my legs around him. I can feel his hands on the back of my legs near my ass. He started walking towards the pack house. I assume that is where his office is located. 

"Is it bad?" I ask.

He looks at me and this time I know I see pity in his eyes. "It isn't good." Is all he says before he opens the door to the pack house. He walks up the stairs and passes various doors, stopping at the last door. He opens the door and goes to the hospital bed. 

"I need you to lay on your stomach." 

I slowly unwrap my legs from his waist and lean towards the bed, falling onto it. My legs are too shaky to hold me up. I crawl onto my stomach like he asks. 

"Skylar, I am going to give you some pain medication, but I don't think it will touch this at all. I just want to try. I need you to try your hardest not to scream, I don't want the Alpha to hear you." Theo whispers. I nod before taking the pills in his hand. "Okay, I am going to start. Try to sit still." I feel him pour a liquid on my back and it burns. I wince, biting my tongue to stop the scream that wants to escape. Theo starts patting my back with gauze, in an attempt to clean the cuts from the whip. I see him shaking his head every now and then, but he never says a word to me. 

Finally, I feel him carefully rub a cool cream into my back. "I will have to come back 3 times a day until it is healed to rub this into your back. It should heal within the next 5 days, but I want to try to minimize the scars as much as possible. You need to stay off of it as much as possible. Try and wear backless clothes if possible. No bras or tight clothing. I need to take you back." He says the last part softly. 

"No please, Theo. Can't I stay here?" I grab his hand, pleading with my eyes. 

"I am sorry, Skylar, but no. He asked for you back. We have to go." He looks into my eyes and I can feel his pity as he looks at me. "Come on, best not to make him wait." 

I whimper but carefully push myself up onto my knees. He grabs my arm and helps me stand up. Theo takes my right arm and drapes it over his neck. I slide off the bed onto my shaky legs, leaning all of my weight onto him. "Don't be afraid to lean on me, I won't let you fall."

I nod my head and we start the walk to Colton's room. "Has he always been this way?" I ask quietly, not to sure if I want the answer.

Theo breathes in sharply. "Yes." It's a simple answer, but it sends shivers down my spine. 

The rest of the walk is quiet. Theo knocks on Colton's door. We wait a few seconds before the door creaks open showing a naked Colton in all his glory.

"Is she good?" Colton asks before taking my other arm and roughly pulling me to him. 

"As good as she can be considering. I am actually surprised she is still awake - if we are being honest." Theo states, before turning on his heel and heading in the direction of his office again. I watch him go for a few moments before Colton closes the door and pulls me to the bed. 

"Sleep." He demands before he lays me on my stomach. He walks around the bed to his side and sits down beside me. Before I can feel him lay down, I drift off to sleep.