“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 face came to light, I found it familiar. I tried my best to remember him but I couldn’t.
“Nope, it doesn’t ring a bell,” I shook my head.
“I see that the miss remembers me well. I… What did you say?” he growled. If he was here, he must be a criminal. And yet, I wasn’t a criminal. “How can you not remember me?” he yelled. “You’re the one who threw me in this dungeon. You ruined my life.”
“Sorry, I threw a lot of people in the dungeons. You are not the first man who hates me because of it.”
He was tall and muscular, with broad shoulders. His hair was thick, a little messy and tousled in a way that looked effortless and sexy. My mouth opened at how handsome he was. I didn’t get a good look at a lot of men. I was aware of my position in the pack. The bottom of the bottom.
“I didn’t ruin you. So… Who are you?” I crossed my arms.
“Adolphus Bloodseek, the Alpha of Bloodmoon pack or what’s left of it.”
“Sorry, it doesn’t ring a bell. I know the Bloodmoon pack though; it’s that pack that attacked us and tried to take the Crescentmoon territories.”
He cracked. His laugh echoed like a monster’s sneer.
“Take the Crescentmoon territories? Are you dumb or playing me for a dumb?”
“Well, I mean I wouldn’t know anything about a lot of things. I simply strategized and concocted good plans for the war back then. I didn’t know they would work. I am surprised they left you alive. I doubt he’ll allow me the same privilege.”
“You deserve it for all that you did. Happy that you’ll rot in this place with that child of yours. What do you expect of a criminal?”
What I did… A criminal? I guess I am a criminal. My plans took the lives of a lot of people. Well, it wasn’t like I cared about them. Frederick was the only one who treated me well. Everyone else just bullied me, never accepting me.
“Why are you here? What did he want with you?”
I doubted Frederick would leave this man alive for nothing. It wasn’t his style.
“It’s not your business, princess,” I could see he was lying on his back, near the bars like I was. “What’s your story?” he inquired. “What was the trap that ruined you?”
“It’s not your business, Prince.”
“You know of mine since you took part in it. It’s only natural that I want to know yours.”
I ended up telling him everything. All my life. I cried around a lot of parts. For the first time in my life, someone listened without interrupting. It took hours but it felt nice.
Now, I feel guilty for ruining his life.
“So not only you’re dumb, you don’t have a brain at all. I can’t understand how you can excuse the hints he showed you. Leaving you behind while he partied is already enough to prove that there is something wrong with your bond. No matter if you’re a human or a werewolf, once you’re mated to one of us, you’ll feel it when he cheats on you. If you didn’t feel it then he never claimed you.”
I didn’t want to believe what he said. I showed him my mark and he laughed at it.
“It’s just a tattoo, princess. Sorry to destroy all the excuses you gave to stay with him but he never claimed you. If he did, you’d feel it, whether you’re human or not. The mark will make you feel hell. The mark glows under the moonlight, princess. Keep this in mind.”
A long time passed and I gave birth to my child. It was a little boy, but I couldn’t hum my son to him anymore. He was snatched away. It broke me when he did. I consoled myself that my son would be in good hands. And then, Frederick sent his men to me. They forced themselves on me, breaking me more. I couldn’t heal them.
After that, Frederick summoned me in front of him. His men dragged me and threw me at his feet.
“I am so happy to see you, Ebony,” the coldness of his voice slapped me. It was the first time I have seen him this pissed off. Frederick had a deep scowl. “Why didn’t you heal my warriors? What’s so different from what you were doing before?”
“Don’t you feel pain when someone touches me?”
“You are not my mate, Ebony. You’ve never been my mate. You’ve always been a means to an end, a tool for me to be an Alpha,” I narrowed my eyes, squinting through the tears. “The thing you have on your shoulder is only a tattoo. Anyone can paint those.”
I felt as if I was unconscious for a long time and I finally found a way to face the harsh reality. Why did I give excuses to everything he said? Everything he did? Adolphus was right.
Nialliv walked past me and sat on Frederick’s lap. She didn’t bother to hide her disgusted expression anymore.
“What about our child, Frederick?”
“It’s Alpha for you, peasant. It was a plan that started a long time ago, since you appeared…” I looked at Nialliv. “Ammm… I think before that. Right, Honey?” Frederick nodded, bringing her to his lap. His gaze was devoid of any softness, nothing from what he showed me before. “I am his mate, the only one, do you understand? You should feel gratitude because of my mercy. I let you touch him without ripping you apart.”
When Nialliv beckoned, a warrior brought her a blanket or something wrapped in a blanket. It was cold. She whispered something and the warrior threw the thing at me. I stared at it, my heart falling, tightening, I didn’t know what to feel anymore.
I crawled to the blanket and slowly untied it. Seeing the corpse of my child inside made me break. Everything shattered in me. The tears spilled further, my heart hurt, my head couldn’t make sense of what was happening. My hands and lips trembled.
“If it was a girl then perhaps I would have kept her like a dog on a leash. But you had to give birth to a boy… Useless till the end,” Nialliv sneered.
“Show me that you lost it. Your life's on the line. If you show me that you still have the ability, I will move you back to a room in the mansion and give you a better life. But you’ll continue healing my men. Choose: the dungeons or the mansion.”
My eyes widened at what Frederick said. No matter how much I wanted to act as if nothing bothered me anymore, I couldn’t do it.
The warrior approached me and I found myself crawling backwards till I lost what made me fight all this time. I had no one anymore, nothing to fight for.
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
The next day, Alice came to visit me. My aunt hugged me so hard that I was about to suffocate. Seeing her alive, in front of me, brought tears to my eyes. This is my reality now and I should protect it. I shouldn’t let her die again, because of a stupid accident.“You don’t know how worried I was,” my aunt cried. “I felt like I was about to lose one of my children. Stay away from the roads from now on.”“I can’t believe she pushed you on the road just like that,” Alice said. “I had to run as fast as I could to stop that car but I couldn’t. The world stopped for a moment. I thought I’d have to bury you the first day you came to Saulville.”I swallowed my pills. “I am fine. The pack doctor did a great job. By the way, you didn’t introduce your full name to me. You’re not just Alice. Aren’t you? You have a last name.”My tone was accusing her of keeping a basement secret.She laughed.“You’re right. I am Alice Avery,” she smirked mischievously. She still kept the last part of her name a
When my aunt parked the car, she was mesmerised. The Remington family house was big and built in a way to allow a lot of trees to grow. Saulville was also a town with a lot of vegetation. Werewolves liked being basic, using nature as it was.“I can’t believe Petra used to live here,” my aunt whispered. “Let’s get over with this! I am sure your aunt won’t close the door on your nose.”We moved to the house and I knocked on the door. Three knocks. My aunt wanted to add more but I explained that they were werewolves. They had great hearing senses, unlike us.As expected, a woman opened the door. Before my aunt could talk, she mentioned to us to follow her. I was surprised. The first time I came here; they closed the door on my nose. Aunt Freda was baffled; she couldn’t believe the woman didn’t ask us anything. I had to stop myself from explaining to her. I hated that she didn’t know about all the rules.Well, the Remington fought in the war and not many of them survived. Frederick sent t