The guard was already on the twentieth lash when Damien decided he couldn't stand and watch anymore. He turned to leave.
Some other Alphas did so too, believing that it was unwise standing back to watch an omega being punished.
Only Lucian was left.
"Didn't you eat breakfast this morning? Does Damien not feed his soldiers well? Why can't you whip her properly? Why isn't she screaming? You're already on he fiftieth lash and she hasn't cried out yet?"
"Whip her harder! I want her to scream to the heavens! I want her to cry! Whip her harder or I will have your Alpha punish you alongside her!" His words filed the air as he went from one soldier to the other berating them because he felt they were not whipping her painfully enough.
She wasn't even crying. She didn't move her leg nor even shake from the spot she had been standing since they began.
Blood was oozing from her legs but he was still not satisfied because she was not crying. Why wasn't she? He couldn't understand why. Other women would cry and plead for forgiveness before the lashes even started, why was she being so adamant and defiant.
"Flog her harder like he has instructed! Do you want to be punished for disobeying an alpha as well?" Nandi's voice would echo after his.
But deep down, she kept on staring at him and how he paced up and down.
It baffled her. Danika was the one getting whipped and she wasn't even flinching, but he whom she was getting flogged because of and at his behest was the one restless and relentless.
What did Danika do to him for him to carry such a personal vendetta against her. The more she thought about it, she shuddered.
The Alpha heir Lucian loved punishing women, yes, but on his bed, it was known.
He demanded different styles daily. Different to the extent that it was impossible for some women to keep fulfilling his wishes as they couldn't. Why was Danika's own case different as he was punishing her physically? It was unheard of, about him.
Within the crowd, there were two men who stood amongst the people and watched on what was happening.
"What did she do?" The one with the smaller body build asked. They had been present since the punishment began. The voices of the people rushing towards the frontage of the Alpha's throne room had dragged them out from what they came for.
His moustache was very big and black, almost covering his lips except for the pink shades of it.
"I heard that she disrespected an Alpha" the man beside him responded.
The second stared at Lucian who was ranting at the podium beside her.
"I am guessing he is the one"
" Yes Alpha, but the stories do not match"
He batted an eyelid as his brows furrowed, awaiting what he meant by the stories not matching.
"Some say that she disrespected the Alpha heir by spitting on his face but the soldiers who stand guard at the entrance of the throne room from what I discovered, are saying that she did so after he asked her to become one of the whores of his palace"
He could not understand why. She was just a lowly omega. What future Alpha would want an omega as one of the whores of their harem when they could just sleep with them on one night stand conquests.
Moreover, with the way Lucian ranted irrationally at the podium about the lashes not being made painful enough, he had no choice than to believe what he had just been told about her refusing to be one of his harem whores.
"Why would he do that? He can easily find more women even prettier than she is. Why would he be interested in a lowly omega to have himself disrespected by her?" He asked, overcome by his curiosity which was laced in his voice.
The man beside him stared at him for a while before he turned his gaze back to Danika who was at the podium.
"Perhaps you do not recognize her, but she is the same woman from days ago. The one who held a sword to your throat"
His hands balled into a fist as he heard him say that. Till now he hadn't forgotten the humiliation. A lady holding a sword to his throat. Even men had dared not, yet, a lady did.
"Then she deserves it" he muttered under his breath.
" If she is Danika, the daughter of the deposed Alpha, then she deserves this and even more" he added, nose flaring from the fury that had just resurfaced.
He turned and began to walk away from the crowd, no longer interested in the lady whose defiance had caught his attention after getting to know whom she was.
His second could only but follow him closely behind without saying anything. They were done here and needed morning more. Their attention had just drifted as they were about to leave and they had come to watch like others, now they had nothing else to do other than to leave.
Their clothes were the same color alongside the other pack members who didn't even seem to notice people leaving.
Everyone's attention was fixated on Danika who didn't wince from pain or cry despite the lashes she was receiving.
***
"Stay here and await my return. I do not want anyone to follow me! If you do, I'll have you punished mercilessly!" Nandi shouted at the two maidens following her.
The paused and watched her walk into a hallway and before they knew it, the door closed behind her. Theysbtod outside waiting for her like she had demanded.
"She's always going to this place all the time and forbids anyone from entering" one of the ladies complained.
"Can you stop talking please? What if she hears you gossiping about her? Do you want to be in her bad records like Danika?" She cautioned.
"Are you afraid of being in her bad records? Has she ever allowed anyone clean this hallway or the rooms in it? Learn to call a spade a spade! I believe she's hiding something inside there and I will be more than thrilled to find out what it is and have her punished!"
The second immediately covered her lips with the palm of her hand, watching closely beside them to see if anyone had overheard what she said.
"Keep quiet! Don't put yourself into trouble because of your curiosity! Be calm!"
The second struggled till her palm was away from her lips. She merely hissed at her.
While inside the hallway, Nandi took a lighted stick and began walking downwards towards a cave that seemed to be inbuilt the hall.
"What brings you here?" A cold voice shot at her. There was a breeze that followed as the voice spoke and the light Nandi held went off.
"I bring you good news" Nandi said fearfully while holding on to a fold on the entrance to support herself from falling.
Without wasting time, she narrated what happened to Danika and the lashes she was currently receiving for disrespecting an Alpha heir.
Immediately she was done, the voice let out a loud fulfilled laugh.
"Good job" it muttered.
" I even had men flog her instead of the ladies. She is a female worker and under the pack laws was supposed to be trashed by the ladies, but I made sure I got the men to do it instead" she further narrated as if looking for an award.
"I want you to make her stay here hellish. I want her to know that she does not belong anywhere!" The cold voice came again, softer this time from hearing reports that had gladdened it's heart.
Nandi bowed as she turned to take her leave.
"Oh Danikaaaa. This is just the beginning of your misery. I will make you feel the pains you caused me all these years" the voice muttered more to itself as Nandi left.
A hollow laugh filled the air once more.