Chapter 5. Fright

Everyone was shocked by Henrique's behavior, but he simply laughed, grabbed a huge piece of cake with his bare hand, and walked off eating it. Luana lifted her face from the cake and wiped it with her hands, seeing how filthy she was. She couldn't even see her own cake anymore, and she started to cry.

She wasn't afraid of Henrique -- not of the beatings he gave her, the hair-pulling, or the hits she took while learning to fight. But having her face, hair, and dress smeared with frosting that wouldn't come off, in front of all the guests who were now laughing at her -- that was a humiliation she couldn't bear.

She climbed down from the chair she'd been standing on and ran, but she slipped on a glob of frosting and fell flat on her face. Even more furious now, not just her eyes but her entire body turned blue. Natalia noticed immediately, scooped her daughter up, and rushed her to the nearest bathroom.

"There, there, sweetheart. Calm down. Everything's okay -- I'll help you."

Natalia grabbed a washcloth and turned on the hot water, wetting the cloth and carefully removing the frosting that caked the little girl's face and hands.

"Why, Mommy? Why does he do this to me? What did I ever do to him?"

"Nothing, darling. You didn't do anything. He's a fool. He must be jealous of the attention the Luna gives you."

"But I don't even ask for it, Mom. She gives it on her own."

"I know, sweetheart. I know."

Natalia managed to clean her face and hands, but there was still frosting in her hair and on her dress, so she left the girl there and went to the bedroom to get a change of clothes.

Not satisfied, Henrique knew where mother and daughter were and had been waiting for them to separate. When he saw Natalia leave, he seized his chance and slipped into the bathroom. He looked at the girl and saw frosting still clumped in her hair.

"Ugh, what a mess. That hair needs washing!"

He grabbed the bottle of liquid soap, squeezed a heap into his hand, and smeared it through her hair, making an even bigger mess. Then he splashed water on with his hands and worked up a lather, spreading foam everywhere. The soap got into the girl's eyes, and she started screaming that it burned. He burst out laughing.

"Stop, Rique! Help me -- my eyes are burning!"

"There's no shower in here. Come on, get closer."

Desperate to get the soap out of her eyes, she moved toward him, and he grabbed the bidet sprayer and blasted her in the face, making everything worse.

"Stop, Rique, stop!" she screamed, crying and hopping in place.

He kept spraying water at her, soaking her completely. The soap came out of her hair, but it spread all over her clothes instead. Then Natalia walked back into the bathroom and saw the grotesque scene. Since neither of them had noticed her, she quickly slipped back out and called the Luna to see what her son was doing.

When the Luna entered the bathroom and saw the chaos Henrique had created, saw Luana crying because of the soap in her eyes, her rage was ferocious. She grabbed her son by the ear, lifted him up, dragged him to the back door, and delivered a kick to his backside that sent him flying.

"Deal with this brat you raised! I don't want him inside this house today -- and I don't want you in here either."

After that, the Luna asked the servants to send everyone home. The party was over. She helped Natalia take care of Luana, and once they'd cleaned the girl up and dressed her, they put her to bed. The day that should have been the happiest of her life had become a sad memory.

The next day, Elias and Natalia made a decision: they would no longer live in the Alpha's house. They just needed to speak with the Alpha couple and then move back to their old home. They would return to the modest life they'd had before, because they couldn't keep leaving Luana at the mercy of Henrique, who was growing stronger and more relentless.

"You see, Tulio? This is what your violent upbringing did to our son. Now I've lost the most precious thing I've had in years. They're leaving and taking Luana with them, and who knows what kind of life she'll have or when I'll get to see her again. You're not stepping foot in my bedroom for a month. And if my anger doesn't pass by then, you'll be out of my bed for a year."

"But it's not my fault! Ever since Luana arrived, he's been acting like this around her. That's not on me."

While the Alpha tried to talk his Luna out of banning him from her bed, Henrique was listening and watching from the shadows. He came to the conclusion that this time he'd crossed the line. He could no longer use the girl as his shield, and he'd need to channel his violence elsewhere -- otherwise, his father would start thinking he was weak.

In the days that followed, Elias and Natalia moved back to their small house and did their best to fix it up. Elias continued working in the guard, and Natalia began working with the other females in the pack's garden. Luana enjoyed going with her mother to tend the plants, but she also attended school part-time.

On one of those walks to school, she ran into Henrique, and he told her to keep coming to the arena to practice fighting and learn new moves.

"Why would I go there to train with you, after the humiliation you put me through on my birthday?"

"Because I'm telling you to. Have you forgotten I'm the future Alpha? Be there tomorrow, first thing at dawn. No excuses."

He said it and turned his back, walking toward the forest. She headed to school, knowing the ordeal would begin all over again the next day.

The truth was that Henrique was curious about the blue glow that had radiated from her. He intended to push her to the limit, to provoke her until she blazed with that light again -- so he could figure out what it was.

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