The whip came down again, and this time, the world seemed to spin. I collapsed completely, my body trembling as I lay in the dirt. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Kaidon's voice, cold and unfeeling, "Enough."
Ronan stopped. He knelt beside me, gently pulling me up to my feet. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice barely audible.
But sorry couldn’t fix this. Sorry couldn’t change the fact that my own mate had ordered this punishment. That he valued Elara and a simple pearl more than he ever valued me.
"Take her inside," Kaidon ordered, his voice cutting through the haze of pain. "She can rest. I don’t want her dying on my watch."
The crowd began to disperse as Ronan carefully led me back toward the pack house. My vision was still blurred with tears, and my body screamed with pain from the lashes. But none of it compared to the ache in my heart.
As we neared the house, I heard Kaidon’s voice again. “Ronan, make sure the pearl gets to Elara. She cried herself to sleep last night.”
My blood ran cold. Even now, all that mattered to him was Elara. Not the fact that I had just been flogged, not the fact that I was his mate.