“Ebony,” he called my name, shaking me more. I didn’t want to wake up. There was only a nightmare outside. “Wake up. We need to talk.”
It should be fine as long as I close my eyes. No one would know that I knew what they did behind my back. I would escape and live with my child, away from all this.
I am tired. Exhausted. I don’t even find the energy to be angry.
“Frederick, I’m sorry. There is too much work to sleep. It seems I drifted off,” I smiled. “I want to finish all these quickly so I can be free on Nialliv’s birthday. I don’t want to miss it. She is my best friend.”
I stood up and went to my desk, skimming through the paperwork, as if looking for a specific document. As long as I didn’t allow him to talk, he’d let it go. I didn’t want to listen to what he had to say.
He is here to tell me about Nialliv.
“It’s not important now. We need to talk first. There is something important I want to tell you,” he moved behind me, massaging my shoulders like a dutiful man. I trembled despite myself. He peeked at the papers as I sat down. “Do you need help?”
“I don’t think so,” I sighed. This was the first time he suggested this. “I am almost done with the project. I think…” my voice trembled.
He let go of my shoulders, cupped my chin and raised my head. I felt the tears running down. Why was I crying now? I shouldn’t. I didn’t cry last night.
“Why are you crying? Did something happen?” his smile looked kind and heartwarming.
I never called him Fred. He hated me calling him that. He said it made him childish so I always called him by his full name. He wouldn’t reject me now, right? It would be bad timing, especially with the rogues growing active.
Moreover, I had nowhere to go. My aunt died last year. My family from my mother’s side didn’t accept me. They said if she saw my face, they’d kill me for being born a human.
“Can you tell me what day it is today?”
He shook his head, confused. “A normal day. This isn’t important. We have to talk. I will ta-“
“I saw you with her,” I slapped his hand away and moved a few steps in his opposite direction. “I saw you,” I nodded. A heavy sigh escaped my lips. “I don’t want to listen to what you want to say. I am pregnant, Fred. I just wanted to tell you about it yesterday. But you didn’t even bother remembering my own birthday.”
My heart was broken. I cried like I never did. It was as if I lost someone important to me, like the day my parents died. My father first then my mother, they both left me to the world when I was twelve.
“You’re my mate, Ebony. Damn you! I am doing it because I need a strong Luna. What’s wrong with securing our happy life? I am not the weak one. Do you think that sitting behind a desk is enough to be a Luna? No, it’s not.”
“Do you know what I did when I found her on top of you?” I cried. “I ran away, tiptoeing so you won’t learn about it. I didn’t want to ruin what we had, for the child. This is what I thought. You will claim another one as your mate, right? You will claim her. Since when? When did it all start?”
I refused to talk about the ability he said I had. I wanted to show him that I didn’t stay. I needed a little bit of time before leaving. I needed to build something, a guarantee. If I left, no one would take me. I would be lost. I’d never go down when I still had some fight left in me.
I was contradicting myself. Even my heart didn’t agree with my mind to leave. “You are telling me that I am the weak one, which means I am useless,” I cried more, inside and out. “Why did you claim me when you could have rejected me? I would have left with my dignity instead of enduring the whole bullying and terror.”
“Since you have no wolf, you cannot understand the pull we have. I couldn’t do it. I am stuck to you like gum. I tried to help you to get where you are now. I wanted my mate to be useful to the pack, not just as my mate, for bed. I wanted you to prove that you can do well but it failed. No one wants a Luna that stays inside an office. The pack wants a strong one, someone to lead, to run at the front. Luna doesn’t stay back at home when there is a fight. Don’t blame me for doing what’s right for the both of us.”
He left, slamming the door behind him. My body slowly crumbled on the chair, exhausted. I guess he didn’t say what he came for. I smiled, happy for the small win I earned. But he returned.
“I almost forgot about it because of your ranting,” he growled. “I will take Nialliv as my Luna. You’ll stay as you are, doing what you know best but you’ll lose your position. You’ll stay my woman of course.”
“I worked for everything here,” I yelled. “What did you even do? You took all my achievements as your own, painting me as the weak one. What can she even do? She knows nothing. Moreover, you never saw me as your woman. You don’t even touch me. Let me go. I want to leave.”
“I can’t let you go. You know why. Since you want me to touch you, I will touch you,” he cut the distance between us and grabbed my wrist roughly. He threw me over the desk. “If you’re so hungry for it, you should say so.”
He started tearing my clothes, a cruel expression on his face.
This isn’t Frederick I fell in love with.
He had his ways with me the last few days. He left me bruised and feeling so sick. His touch disgusted me, especially when he was doing it with his cruel expression. A punishment for me. Now, it was Nialliv’s birthday.I tried to leave a few times but I was caught. Frederick didn’t allow me to leave at all. We argued about it a few times and he turned into the complete opposite of the man I fell in love with.I shouldn’t have come to the party. Everyone attended. The Alphas from the same region and their Lunas, the Betas, the Gammas. The party was full of important people and I was the only one standing alone, near the buffet.I picked up cupcakes and forced myself to eat them. Frederick was with her. He was standing with his hands all over her, dancing. I had no choice but to fill my heart with horror and tears. The only thing I was waiting for, the end of the party when we could leave. If I had a wolf, I could have shifted and returned home.Humiliation filled me as everyone gossipe
“Stop crying. You’re hurting my ears.”Someone said at the opposite cell, right in front of me. Everything was dark. The moonlight didn’t reach these parts. I got up from the ground and got closer to the bars. It has been two days since I’d been thrown into this place.“I am not crying. If you don’t want to listen, close your ears or get used to it.”“What did you do?” his voice struggled to appear soft.I swallowed. “I was naïve, stupid and too trusting,” I wetted my lips. I didn’t have water for a day now. Thirst ripped me, hunger as well. “I don’t know what they will do to me. Will they kill me? Will he keep using me? What will happen to his child?”“You’re with child. Such an unfortunate one you are but you deserve it.”“No, I don’t deserve it,” I yelled.“Look at me and tell me you don’t. I will rip you apart woman. If you were next to me, I would have killed you. Because of you, I am stuck here.”The man got closer to the bars as well. There was one torch lighting us. As his fac
My hand was on my belly as I hummed the song I used to sing to my child when he was inside me. It was a lullaby my mother used to sing for me.“I couldn’t even hold my child properly,” I whispered. “I am sorry.”“Apologies don’t fix anything.”“Yeah! It’s my karma. I deserve it for everything I did. I swear…” I murmured. “I swear I didn’t know Frederick was the one who started the war between the five packs. To be honest, I never cared for anyone but him. Can you blame me?”He didn’t answer.“No one ever treated me well. I tried to not hurt anyone but back then, when I thought Frederick could be killed, I gave it my best,” I sighed. “I miss the sky. What do you think he’ll do to me now?”“He’ll execute you. He has no use of you. There were a few werewolves here but they were all executed once they weren’t useful.”“If only he killed me when she tossed the corpse of my child next to me. The worst is suffering with everything I knew all at once. Betrayal, being used like a pawn all this
I didn’t know why I stayed behind but I did. I looked at my dumb self. My body lay on the ground, dead, drowning in a pool of my own blood. The black wolf howled and everyone followed him, like a ceremony, as if I was a criminal. Maybe I am. “Is it true?” Frederick growled as soon as he closed the door behind him. After throwing me in the pit, burning me, everyone retreated to their houses. I heard them talking about me like a proper criminal. I protected all of them. My actions led them to have better lives. Now, I was the scorned soul who was everyone’s enemy. No one saw me as me. The thought made me sad. I followed Nialliv to her room, where I found her with Frederick. He was angry. “She was lying, Fred. I swear. I don’t enjoy having men all around me. I am faithful to you.” “And your daughter?” Nialliv lowered her head, thinking. It seemed she couldn’t deny her daughter. She placed her hands on Frederick’s chest and slowly raised her head, showing her pitiful face. One of
It takes a moment for any life to flip over and change.I should’ve known no one was trustworthy. Adolphus got his revenge by getting a deal from Nialliv. I died. He lived on.I held my fist to my heart, hitting repeatedly. It hurt. Waves of pain rushed all over me, making me feel alive and at the same time, I felt lost. The memories flashed before me from the moment my parents died, even what I saw after I died.“Show them what you can do, Ebony.”Two hands grabbed my shoulders, steadying me. My heart hurt more, my eyes refused to open and my body trembled. It took me a while to take in who was in front of me.Long black hair that never lost its fiery, natural colour, hanging in waves around some kind of shoulders. There was a face I didn’t recognize at first. The tears rushed to my eyes and didn’t waste time spilling over.“Ebony,” her voice looked worried. For the first time after a long time, I missed this voice and how it worried about me.“Ebony!” the voice said again. “Ebony, t
I sucked in several breaths and started my usual ranting in my head. From the receptionist to the one who was responsible for the whole fiasco: Frederick Jenkins. I needed to remind myself that this was all a purgatory to stay still. I should stay strong to cross over. Being stuck in a place like this would be horrible.Those facts helped me remain strong and not let him get to me.He was the devil, reincarnation of all evil, an arrogant bastard and a sick jerk.My gaze finally strayed to the devil himself. It looked like he was already here. Before, my aunt left and I had to look for a cheaper room all around town. I managed to find one at the end of the day. Luckily, it was a small town.There was a sitting place around a warm hearth.Frederick Jenkins, the devil. Luke Carter, another devil. Easton Hudson, the third devil and the last, maybe he was their minion.They were the big three. They stuck together like glue and their associative packs were also powerful in the council. Abou
My surroundings came back to focus. The soft light from the lamp because I didn’t want to wake my aunt. The comfortable bed that I forgot how nice it felt.And then, rain. It was raining like I remembered. These parts experience rain a lot. It was the most lovable weather for me. The smell in the air, it was intoxicating.I searched for how the purgatory worked on my phone. There was nothing in it. No matter how many times I twisted what happened in my head, I couldn’t understand it. There was one reason why he was there. He was already there.My aunt woke up around 7. She stared at me as if I was mad. It was until she did that, that I realised I was sitting in a pose, holding my pen as if I was smoking. I smoked before. Sometimes. When I had things to think about.She slapped my shoulder.“Get up! Get up! We have a busy day today and you’re acting like a delinquent already. Stop this madness! I didn’t raise you to be like this. You were a shy, beautiful girl. What made you act like t
I had two thoughts in my mind when I looked at Frederick approaching with his charming smile. First, I felt so good with this girl that I was sure we’d become great friends if we had the chance when I was alive. It felt wrong to me, especially when I knew this was the purgatory. I didn’t want to feel what I lost all those years because it would make me miserable, only because I never tried looking around. Second, if this was the purgatory and I was supposed to see the perfect choices I missed, why was I forced to deal with this bastard again? Shouldn’t he stay away from me? “I am Alice,” she told me. “This is my name. Keep it in mind. I will leave now. Good luck.” “Where are you going?” my voice came out desperate, which wasn’t intended. Did she just give up on me in front of my enemy? Maybe we weren’t meant to be friends. I want this purgatory to end now. “Frederick,” I whispered to myself and I was so happy that he didn’t get to hear me because I just messed up. He didn’t int