<h4>Chapter 500: 500-Sadly, Beaten And Unwanted</h4>


    <strong>Fauna:</strong>


    After speaking with Haiden and feeling heartbroken, I decided to return to my room.


    I was lost in my thoughts and did not check my surroundings as I moved quickly. There was only one thing on my mind: what was I going to do?


    I could not tell anyone about my mate bond with Haiden because he would refuse, and I would be called a liar.


    "You really want him to reject you?" my wolf asked when she noticed I was making excuses to stay silent.


    "I wonder if we should ask for a rejection so we can move on?" I shot back at her, pressing her with the question.


    "I don’t want rejection," She admitted in a low whisper.


    "Neither do I." I responded in the same sad tone.


    I thought about waiting for him forever, but there was my dad and his threats. He had made it clear that if we did not find a mate, he would be very angry with us.


    I reminded my wolf of that as I kept moving.


    When I reached the stairs, I felt as if someone was behind me.


    As soon as I started to turn around, I realized it was toote. A handnded on my back.


    They shoved me down with such force that no scream left my lips.


    My body tumbled down the stairs, striking step after step.


    Pain shot through me when I finally hit the ground, and I coughed up blood. I had hit the back of my neck and my head.


    Blood spread across the floor.


    I ced my hands down and tried to push myself up, but I slipped in my own blood and fell again.


    I knew I was not dying. If someone took me to the hospital and helped me transition, I would be fine.


    But who pushed me?


    The question lingered as I slowly turned my head and saw the person walking down the stairs toward me.


    My own father.


    His earlier words made my skin crawl. He was the one who had pushed me and then watched from the top of the stairs as I hit the ground.


    "Father," I whispered, lifting my hand toward him.


    He took it, and for a second I thought he was going to help me up. Instead, he bent my fingers back until they cracked.


    "Ah!" I screamed.


    He pressed his other hand over my mouth to silence me.


    "What kind of daughter betrays her father?" he muttered in my ear.


    As if he had no soul to remind him that the one in pain was his own child, he started dragging me out.


    I whimpered as he pulled me across the floor. He did not care how much I was hurting. He dragged me down the hall and shoved me into my bedroom. Once I was inside, he mmed the door shut.


    "So you heard me talking, and then you decided it was the right thing to tell that man who keeps rejecting you about your father’s secrets?" he grunted.


    He grabbed the hair at the back of my head. He must have seen how badly I was bleeding, but it did not stop him from shaking my head hard.


    "I was not," I replied, trying to lie to save myself.


    That only made him angrier. He pped me across the face without letting go of my hair.


    "You have disappointed me so much that I wish you were the one I sent north with him," he muttered. "You would have been dead by now."


    Tears rolled down my face.


    "You’re my father," I whispered, hoping it would remind him he was not supposed to treat me this way.


    "And you’re my daughter," he snapped.


    He began pping me again, quick blows across my face.


    "You were supposed to listen to me," he shouted. "To follow my orders. To do as I say, not run after a man who keeps rejecting you."


    He struck me harder, and my head turned with the force.


    The bedroom door flew open, and I heard someone gasp.


    "Let her go! What are you doing?" my mother cried.


    She rushed in and shoved him away from me. Her hands trembled as she looked at me.


    "What has he done to you?" she asked, tears filling her eyes.


    "Oh, step back," my father snapped. "This is because of you. Do you know what she did? She probably told that Haiden everything."


    He grabbed my mother by the arms so hard that she cried out in pain.


    "Please, have mercy," she begged. "She’s our daughter. She’s innocent. She doesn’t understand. We are supposed to guide her."


    The more she spoke, the angrier he became.


    "Then I am tired of guiding her," he said coldly. "It is time she gets punished."


    My eyes began to close, but each time they did, he kicked my knee or elbow, sending sharp pain through me and forcing me awake.


    "Stop it!" my mother screamed.


    She moved in front of me and took the hits meant for me.


    "She will stay in the basement until they leave," my father said. "Then I will deal with her properly. I will teach her a lesson she will never forget."


    He grabbed my mother by the wrist and dragged her out of the room.


    I lifted my hand weakly, but that was all I could manage before he left.


    A few of his warriors came in afterward. They held me down and injected me with something strong enough to blur my thoughts and numb my body.


    The worst part was knowing that the only people who would miss me were my mother and my sister.


    Haiden would leave tomorrow without ever knowing I was being punished for trying to help him.


    Hours passed before I woke up in the basement.


    I did not have the strength to call for anyone. I knew the basement was far from the main mansion and the upper floors where everyone stayed. Even if I tried to call for help, no one would hear me. And if they did, it would only make my father angrier.


    So Iy on the cold floor, waiting for him to decide I had suffered enough.


    After a while, I heard footstepsing down the basement stairs.


    Maybe Haiden and the others had already left, and now my father hade to punish me.


    I stood wide-eyed in surprise when I saw my sister.


    She walked in looking worried about me.


    At that moment, I had no idea what time it was.


    When the door opened and she stepped in, I noticed she was still in her nightwear, which meant it was probably early morning. Maybe Haiden and the others had not left, but why would that matter?


    I saw tears in Mariana’s eyes as she knelt beside me and gently touched my face.


    "Hurry up, there is no time. Say what you have to say and then leave," my mother called from the doorway, rubbing her hands anxiously.


    It seemed like they had snuck in to see me, and I knew that even if they wanted to save me, they could not. My father would kill me if someone tried to help me. That was the end of it.


    "I really want to help you," Mariana whispered, tearing up.


    "No, help them," I muttered, barely able to speak as I mentioned Haiden, and Ian.


    "That will be too risky. You saw what they did to you," my sister replied, and I lowered my face again. I could barely hold my head up.


    "But of course, I am going to do the right thing," she added, running her hand through my hair.


    "Father said if you did not find your mate, he would push you into the mate prayer thing, but I do not think that is the truth. He is looking for a mate for you, and if you do not find one, he is going to use that excuse to send you to," she paused.


    "North," I finished for her, and she closed her eyes as tears slipped out.


    "I cannot believe my own father is like this," I heard her say desperately.


    "Please, make sure Troy does not return to his pack. They will kill him. They said they will push you toward Troy, and if you two do not ept each other, then Father will get rid of him so that Messy can stay a crowned alpha."


    I could not form full sentences, but that was all I managed to say, and I watched my sister’s eyes widen in shock.


    "Okay,e on, let’s go. Someone ising," my mother urged my sister, who was staring at me like she had seen a ghost after hearing what I told her.


    After that, my sister had to leave.


    That was just the life we were forced to live because of our father.


    But I knew from the look she gave me that she would try her best to inform the others, to be careful, and to warn Troy not to return to his pack.