Chapter 24 - Father and Fire

* * * Eve’s POV * * *

The last thing that I remember is Alpha Charles beating me. He’d viciously and repeatedly kicked and punched me. I haven’t received a beating like that in years. I’d required Hospital treatment that last time. There’d been a fight, between who I can’t say. There were crashing and banging sounds and the angry snarls of wolves. Something had squashed me and then, my vision had started blurring and I’d felt ridiculously hot, and then I’d blacked out.

The blackness had welcomed me, it beckoned me closer and embraced me. It provides me with a way out of the pain I’ve been feeling. I accept its embrace and I float weightlessly in its darkness. A place I don’t feel pain. A place I am safe.

The black abyss is still present but fading. I’m on the edge, between the abyss of nothingness and reality, but I’m partially aware of my surroundings. I’m laid on something lumpy. Something lumpy with soft sheets. My body feels battered, tender and bruised. I try to open my eyes,