163RD POV.Chewing down a pea, Kade clears his throat as he hits a fork into the plate once again.“Will you just voice out whatever is swirling inside you instead of bottling it up? We can sense your mind, and there’s like a hurricane in there.” Kieran speaks up, slamming the table with his bare hands, before he rolls his eyes at Kade.Then, Kyle picks over, “true, I can sense the turmoil in your mind as well. And trust me, Kade, you’re not good at bottling things up.”Kade hisses, staring ahead into nothing, right before he grips his hair and stares at his brothers. “It’s about the girl. We are supposed to have found out how she’s able to affect us like that. She obviously changes everything, and we are playing into it. Mind you, we always make the rules, not follow them.”He spills, his eyes interchanging from Kyle to Kieran. “She doesn’t even have her powers, yet we are attracted to her body. How much longer will it be before we are soft? We are barbarians, and we have to begin s
17Kaya’s POV.Two weeks later.The sun burns my skin, forcing me to wake up and sit up. I am on a spherical-shaped mat, placed directly on the ground, just a few centimeters from the bed.Raising my face, I see that there’s no one there. I can only fathom a meaning: the triplets didn’t sleep in last night.It has been two weeks since they released me from that ill-fitting dungeon, where my skin still suffers bumps from the worms in there and the insects.Anyway, my life has moved from poor to agonizing. Every day that I wake up, I wish I did not. I wish it was death knocking into my ears to wake me up, not the sound of the triplets telling me what I must do for them that morning.“Why?” I cry into my hands. I change my view to face the rays of the light entering the room. “Why are you doing this to me?
18Kaya’s POV.“Alpha Alaric isn’t the type to relax for this long. He must be planning something in the dark; perhaps that’s why he’s not attacking us yet. He’s tried to fight you guys one-on-one before, so maybe he’s deploying a different effect.” One of the men speaks, one with silver hair and green eyes like a field.“Most likely.” Agrees, the other one with turquoise eyes and dark blonde hair that jets back his back. Woah. They all look handsome and dangerous.“And who’s this?” Asks the second man with turquoise eyes.“Oh, that’s nothing, commanders. Just a thing we’re keeping for the meantime.”I don’t know why, as I expected myself to have been used to their insults, but my heart shatters into pieces.They don’t even se
19Kaya’s POV.There’s no fighting this. There’s no happy ending at the climax of it. Anyone can see it. I’m not in a fairy tale story made by somebody with some fantastic imagination, writing at the end of it a comedy.This is my life, one that I’ve been in for weeks now, and there hasn’t been any ease shimmering over me.I am a witch who’s cursed because of her kind of breed and not only fated to be treated with torture by some three werewolves who are triplets but also find herself not being able to control how she feels when she’s close to them.She is simply ruined. That’s my life. That’s me. That’s Kaya, a little thing, a toy captured by the triplets, meant to live in pain for the rest of my life.My body almost gives up from the constant tugging, but I hurry to catch up, recalling how painful the whipping was a few minutes ago.“You’re even gentle on her.” One of the girls pouts because she hasn’t been allowed to drag me by the leash for some time now; the other one enjoys havi
20Kaya’s POV.My eyes snap open as a whelp escapes my lips, and I jerk up to a sitting position. I find myself in a room that I don’t think I recognize until I hear someone shuffle next to me, and my face darts there.Seeing Melissa, I tell myself to calm down, realizing that I’m in her room and not elsewhere. I’m not in front of Kyle anymore.While comatose, my brain keeps relieving the moment, putting me in an endless turmoil of pain. As if that isn’t satiating enough, I feel like I spent the last decades of my life on a rollercoaster of agony.My voice comes out as a croak when I call her. “Melissa.”“Kaya, are you okay?”My throat hurts from not having taken water since I woke up today, and judging from the absence of light behind the closed curtains, I know it’s night already.“I...” My voice caught up in my throat, wincing at a pain in my shoulders. I almost forgot that. “My shoulder...” It’s fixated with plaster, but I can still feel numb there, more like I can barely move it.
21Kaya’s POV.The next morning, I wake up to someone tapping me on my wounded shoulder, shooting pain within me, and I snap my eyes open.I distance myself from him when I see that it’s Kieran, staring back at me with curiosity lingering in his eyes.I wanted to talk but didn’t know what to say until he pinches his jaw, “for someone who’s sleeping with three predators, you sleep too deep that you could be easily attacked.”It seems he doesn’t expect a response from me, so he proceeds to change the conversation. “I brought you some sandwiches; does that sound familiar?”An evil smirk stains his lips as he asks, knowing fully well what he’s doing to me with that question.I stay still on the mat, waiting for how this will end. He drops the plate, huffing as I hear him mutter somet
22Kaya’s POV.With each passing second that we root deeper into the depths of the alley, my stomach is filled with blue butterflies.Melissa and I are grabbing each other’s hands; the aura of delight is obvious in our connection. When we are finally out of here, I’m sure I won’t be able to thank her enough.She really did give me a chance. She saved me from an eternity of pain. She didn’t have to, but she did, risking everything—risking her life.My jaw drops to the ground metaphorically at the sight before when we arrive at the end of the alley—it’s the woods.Oh, my... I cannot believe this. I’m actually inside the woods. I turn to my back to see the alley, now seeing that it’s a canal that leads into the woods. But I am amazed at how the gate is opened, not chained close.Our
23Kaya’s POV.Every fiber of my mind shatters into fragments at the realization before me. I still don’t want to believe, even when all odds are against Melissa.Regardless, she saved me. She took me away from these cruel monsters, although here they are, killing her slowly and effortlessly, and all my dreams are crushed.They’ve washed down the lane, and there’s nothing I can do but watch. My hands are still glued to my mouth, covering me as though if I should remove them, I’d really believe what is going on.Each second that passes reminds me of the reality of this scenery, even when, as much as possible, I am trying not to believe that this is real.Melissa, choking in her own voice, shows otherwise. This is not a dream. I haven’t escaped, and I cannot. I’m ruined. I can only imagine what’s about to happen t