The Moonlit Path

Chapter 23: There Will Be Nothing Left At All

Even as he tied me to the table I didn't stop thinking about Mathias and what he was trying to tell me.

"Shit!" Petron grumbled from the table with the instruments on it.

"What?" Mardock walked over to him.

"I took the knife to be sharpened. Think you can handle watching her for a minute?"

"Yeah I think I can handle the she-wolf that is restrained and weakened," Mardock snipped back at him. Petron didn't miss the snideness in his voice but simply barred his teeth at him and left the room slamming the door behind him.

Mardock turned toward me. I could tell he was thinking something but there was something holding him back from saying it. Instead he took on a tough guy look, something that he did poorly and approached me.

"Are you going to submit?"

"No."

"That's unwise you know."

"I know."

"Liana no one wants to be doing this to you."

"Except Phil."

"He's not the one that has to get his hands dirty."

"Well maybe he should."

"Again, that's unwise."

"I know he's too much of a coward to come down here and do his own dirty work. He's not fit to be an Alpha and I refuse to break for someone so fragile and dainty himself."

Mardock rubbed his hand down his face. Although he was classically handsome, I didn't see anything to write home about. His hazel eyes were nice but cold. He was muscular and well built but nothing compared to Titus. And what was more, I had only really interacted with him when things were in bad spirits. He chewed on his lower lip as he looked at me.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Nothing."

"We have some time, might as well be honest with each other while I am still alive," I tried my hand at a joke but he didn't smile, lighten up, or even bring his eyes back to mine.

"You are very beautiful."

That surprised me. I hadn't spent a great deal of time with Mardock and I had really only known him as Phil's third in command. But it occurred to me then, even though we hadn't interacted, he was always around when I was. He was probably going to be my guard when I became Luna of this pack.

"Thanks?" It came out as a question.

"Titus is going to kill us all for what we've done."

"Yes."

"I wonder if there's anything here worth dying for..." he trailed off as his hand made contact with my leg just below my knee. He slowly moved his eyes up my body to make eye contact with me. Fear and panic shot through me like I had never felt them before. He wouldn't.

"Phil will kill you himself," I warned.

"He doesn't have to know. No one does."

"Don't even think about it," a voice came from the door of the room. Mardock moved his hand from my leg to his side as quickly as he could and took a step back from me. Phil entered the room with Petron. "Liana."

"Philious."

"It appears you are starting to give my guards more trouble than you are worth."

"I'm not really giving them any trouble now am I boys?"

The two looked to Phil but made no movements.

"I don't want to have to kill you-"

"And you won't. We both know that if I die, there is nothing left for you on this earth."

"There is nothing but power."

"Goddess bless you for thinking you can handle it," I laughed. Phil raised his hand and struck me across the face leaving a metallic taste in my mouth. "Feel better?" He struck again. I turned my head and spat out some blood as stars started dancing in my vision.

"We are running out of time for these games."

"I'm not playing."

Phil reached back his hand and Petron placed the knife in it. "You are playing though and you are too weak to win in the end. It would be better to surrender and collect what little pride and dignity you have left." He lifted the shirt to expose my still bruised sides and started to make the small inch-long cuts as Petron had done the day before. I refused to cry or scream.

Phil leaned down to be level with my ear and whispered, "When I'm done with you, there will be nothing left worth looking at." The knife slid across my side again. Again, I didn't react even though there was a terrible pain screaming through my body.

"When I'm done with you," I whispered back, "there will be nothing left at all." Phil lifted his hand again and the world went black around me.