RIVER BROWN
The darkness hovers around them like a plague brought upon by the fury of the Moon Goddess.The scowls on their faces are the same ones I have seen on bandits, rogues and everything monsters consist of. Their eyes, dark, chocolate and blue are so menacing that the more I stare into them the more my bones rattle with fear.It’s been one week in the cursed lands.One week confined to their apartment.One week of being alone with Greta who’s done nothing but been sweet to me.I don’t hate her.But I hate them.I hate Connor because he strangled me. He hurt me; I still have nightmares ever since he choked the life out of me.I hate Shane because deep down I know he doesn’t like me. That he was the first one to order his brothers to kill me.I also hate him because that night in that car, his hands held my waist like I was fragile glass that would snap without him. Like I was important, despite being rejected by Landon.And Neo? I hate his blue eyes; I hate that warm smile he gave me before he let Connor strangle me. I hate him because I half expected he would have shown up by now and said sorry and released me from this jail they call a home.The dark ink on the canvas, the precise way in which the brothers are painted, the way their eyes are tormenting me even from a mere painting has me holding back a sob.Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.Release me from this torment, Goddess.They are not my mates. They are not my mates. Not my mates…not-“You’re not happy”, Greta appears from the left side of the hallway holding a glass of freshly squeezed mango juice.She’s been doing that since I refused to drink juice from the carton in the fridge. In Brackenridge, we made everything from scratch.The betas provided us with fruits, vegetables and meat. Canned foods weren’t allowed in Brackenridge or juice in cartons either.Making things from scratch was the right way. The Moon Goddess gave us good harvest so that we could feed ourselves with foods from the earth not from machines or chemical added foods.I take the glass from her hands uttering a thank you before I gulp it down.“I don’t like it here”, I say.“You don’t like them either”, Greta’s chuckles fill the empty hallway and I nod along with her laughter because everything up to this point has been insane.“I understand where you are coming from but you’ve gotta give them a chance, honey”The juice almost chokes me. Give them a chance?“They abandoned me! M—mates don’t…don’t do that. I’m not entertaining this silly idea of them being my mates but if they were…they aren’t supposed to treat me like this. Like I’m…like I’m worthless”Like I’m something to be discarded so easily the way Landon did to me.Like I’m just another being not worthy of love, of respect, of anything!“You wouldn’t be here if you were worthless, River. Goddess, is that what you think? That you are worthless to them? They brought you here because it’s the safest place in New Hawk. If you look outside, there are five omegas charged to protect you. The brothers are—worried about you and maybe a little bit scared”“Scared of me? I’m scared of them! They are rogues. They are- “Killers.“Men. They are alphas who’ve never had a weak spot. They are also men who’ve been handed a gift and are scared to open it. You know what? This foolishness has gone on long enough.You are going to visit them. Don’t give me that face, I know you want to yell in their faces and ask them questions about everything and I’m giving you the opportunity, River. I want to see your smile. I want to see you happy”The only smile you’ll be seeing is if I somehow manage to kill one of them, I want to say but instead I lie.I look at this woman who has been nothing but patient and kind to me and utter a big fat lie.“Yeah, I’d really like to see them. They really might be…my mates”XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI have been dressed before. Dressed to please a man no less.The last time I wore a dress so pretty was to impress Landon. To make him see that even if I didn’t have a wolf, I was half-pretty.This dress however, the one Greta told me was called ‘La Perla’ mini-dress, makes me feel different.Makes me feel bolder.It’s dark like the hair cascading my shoulders, it hugs the hips I didn’t know I had till today and it matches the sharp dark heels adorning my feet.As soon as Greta ushers me into the car, for the most part of the journey, I wipe my sweaty hands against the seat of the car. My anxiety hums so sickly inside my body.The black tinted windows also remind me that I might be in the cursed lands but I’m not allowed to look or to step outside without someone else’s permission.The car comes to a halt. My heart roars with regret.The driver steps outside and a minute later, he’s by my side.“Miss, we are here”Sunlight accosts my eyes the minute I step outside, a huge colossal building stands tall like a giant foot monster from hell.Everything happens so fast. One minute I’m outside, the next minute I’m inside the building, inside a lift and right now inside an office?They told me to wait here. The only thing that is in the room is a big leather swinging chair, a glass-inch impeccable desk that occupies quarter of the room, there’s floor-length windows like the ones back in the apartment except these ones show a clear view of the sunrise.The office is neat but the colors are as boring as the vegetable sandwich I had last night.I place my purse on the glass table, my eyes shimmering at the orange shards of light that the sun outside throws.I use the back of the leather chair to lean against it as I inhale what feels like a part of Brackenridge.What feels like a part of—“Sir! Sir- “I don’t think. I don’t wait to hear who ‘Sir’ is. I fall to the ground like a dead weed and hide behind the desk.“She was just here” the woman says with a slight terror to her voice.“Finish up on the report, I need it by four. Get out and lock the door behind you”No. No. No.The sound of the door getting locked resonates in the room. I continue hiding under the large desk.Maybe he’ll leave. Maybe I’ll be safe.Maybe I’ll not have to come face to face with the guy who smiled when I hit him and whose hands still tickle the skin on my waist every time I sleep.He starts to walk around. Tick, tack. The sound like a warning that he’s getting closer. That he is the predator and I’m the prey cluelessly hiding.My knees hurt and trying to be silent has my throat all dry and raspy.I could stand up and run. Yeah, that’s a good idea. Pretend I haven’t smelled his mulled wine scent or recognized his voice.“If you think you are invisible then you are more naïve than I thought, princess”, the timbre of his voice makes me shiver, the insult behind his statement has me mad but I can’t move.I can’t face Shane Kincaid.SHANE KINCAID‘Take a good look in the mirror, son. Look at those eyes, bask in the darkness they hold, be the darkness and embrace what you are. A monster in the making. You killed your mother today, tomorrow it’ll be your mate. Better yet, your brothers’A monster.Being called a monster by my own father hurt when I was a ten-year-old pup. Nineteen years later and I wore the word ‘monster’ like a brand on my forehead.I embraced it and lived like a monster because being one made me feel like a god.A monster owned the whole world.A monster killed with no remorse.A monster was an Alpha without a heart.A monster couldn’t be changed, couldn’t love, couldn’t get hurt.And this monster certainly didn’t have a mate, wasn’t going to mark her and wasn’t absolutely going to fall for her.Ten seconds are gone and little Miss Invisible is still hiding behind my desk, thinking that if she pretends to be invisible, I’ll ignore her presence.The alcohol might be in my system but my wolf and I
RIVER BROWNIt hurts.It also felt good. Felt feverish.The elders didn’t say it was supposed to feel like this. Like falling down a cliff and then landing on a pillow.Guilt curls its cold fingers around my neck cutting my air supply. My heart is thrashing against my ribcage as two men escort me to the car outside.I get into the car without any resistance because what happened a few minutes ago has my mind preoccupied.Shane hates me. I hate him too but why did he do that?Why did I like it? Why do I want more even though it hurts so much down there?Why do I want more even though every minute I spent listening to his words felt like I was being choked again?It shouldn’t hurt but it hurts.It hurts the same way Connor strangled me and looked me in the eye while he did it.It hurts the same way I thought Neo would visit me but he didn’t.My breathing is rugged, my dress is slightly torn at my right thigh and my smell…I smell like Shane, that monster, that bastard—A violent screech
RIVER BROWNXandar Khan is a man of influence.The noise outside this room says so and the pictures of him petting a lion in his office definitely screams Alpha.More than that? I don’t like Xandar, not when I entered his creepy domain and certainly not while he sits in his skull-designed chair that looks like a throne eyeing me like I’m his next snack.Shane didn’t look at me like that. Shane looked at me with…why am I thinking about Shane?I left him. I left them. I’m seated in front of their enemy ready to end them just to get what I want.“You are way prettier than you are in your photos”“Umm…thanks”, I say dryly.What photos?Xandar blows another puff of smoke in the air, his gray eyes scanning me the way his rogue betas glared at me when I arrived.“I trust that my men treated you well before they brought you here?” he asks with a slight furrow of his brows.“They killed an innocent man”, I accuse, Xandar cackles.“Wrong. Any pack member of the Moon shadow pack is an enemy. My
CONNOR KINCAIDX, X, Xandar Khan.The number of times I have imagined ending his life are as uncountable as the number of preys I have eliminated in my entire life.The only reason Xandar Khan was breathing was because Shane didn’t want a bloodshed years ago.Killing Xandar equals bloodshed equals war in New Hawk and as much as we love war. War disrupts peace, war makes the other colonies doubt our power to keep things in check.Today, however, we all know one thing’s for sure.X is a dead man. At least he will be when all this is over.Shane can barely keep it together and I have a feeling it’s because of what he found out today. What he found out before us.Before X and his amateur betas kidnapped River.Before River latched on to Xandar’s promises of destroying us. Before she betrayed us.“I’ll end you and feed your carcass to my dogs myself”The silence is still, we all know what that means.A jealous Neo has just said yes to the agni-kai. He took the news of X having River in hi
RIVER BROWNSummer was beautiful. With waters as blue as the skies where the Goddess resided, with the air smelling like leaves and dried flowers and all things pure.With the sun giving everyone hope that day had conquered night. Summer was my favorite season around the sun.Winter was ugly. Winter was cold. Winter was frostbite and freezing to death.Today, I liked winter.Winter was like Neo Kincaid. Like his blue eyes, like his warm smile, like his lilting voice all rough but caressing like a warm blanket.Two betas pass by me but I hide behind the concrete shivering like a leaf in a hurricane.My mind replays Neo. How he shifted into his wolf, how snowy white his wolf was, powerful yet so beautiful I couldn’t take my eyes off him, tears pooled in my eyes when I saw him for the first time.Beauty couldn’t compare to Neo. His wolf was striking and in his blue eyes I could see him.I could see the man who offered to fight Xandar for me.I cheered when Neo’s wolf almost killed X’s wo
RIVER BROWN“Do you always drive like this?”He doesn’t say anything like he hasn’t said anything since he kissed my neck, ordered me to get in the car, sit on his lap while he drives us to wherever he is taking me.My hands circle his waist and my cheek rests on the cold surface that acts as skin on his chest.I’m sitting on his lap.He is driving us around. The whole atmosphere is tense.“What is it with you guys making women sit on your laps?”“When did you first learn to drive? Only Alphas drive cars in Brackenridge, women aren’t allowed to drive. I’d like to drive a car one day. A car without a roof, like the ones I saw in the newspapers back at home.Malia also wanted to- “I stop at Malia.I haven’t said her name or mentioned her let alone thought about her since I found her with Landon.She’s, my sister. My little sister. But the pain that comes with remembering how bad she hurt me when she slept with Landon doesn’t just go away in a week.“Sleep”, Connor orders taking a turn
SHANE KINCAIDBlood everywhere.Red painted like ink on my skin.My wolf is thrilled. I can hear him hum in delight.I stand proud and tall in the dawn watching my betas clean up the mess…my mess.“Everything’s taken care of, Alpha”I gaze at the kid. Jack if I can remember his name correctly. One of my new betas in the Moon shadow pack who looks up to the Kincaid brothers like they are heroes.What I did here today wasn’t heroism.“Go home, kid”“Of course, Alpha”Jack joins the pack and I watch as they leave in my company SUV vehicles.The air is cloying, choking even and in the midst of it all I should feel something other than the fire licking my skin and the anger mounting up inside me.I should feel remorse for ending so many lives today but I don’t.X had it coming.His betas had it coming.I pinch the cigarette between my lips throwing it somewhere on the ground. The feminine scent that hugs my back is almost as familiar as the nightmares my father left behind.I can hear her
RIVER BROWN“Want me to lick it better?”Connor asks as if he is asking me if he can have some English tea and not something as awkward as…“No!” my voice comes harsh. Connor doesn’t falter, doesn’t even acknowledge my no as something meant to keep him away from me.“Why not?” his voice tumbles down to a rumble. Like a bear waking up from hibernation in a cave.It’s absurd.“It’s wrong. Wrong for you…any of you to touch me”Wrong for me to crave any of you when we are not bonded at all.“Did Landon teach you that? That it’s wrong to be touched?”What? No.“It’s wrong to be touched by men who claim to be my mates when I don’t believe that in the first place”, I correct him.What I did with Shane was wrong. Forgive me, Goddess. Forgive me too for liking it.“I’m not going to fuck you, River not tonight at least. I want to assess the damage; Shane can be a brute sometimes”Maybe it’s the chocolate eyes.Maybe it’s because I want to sleep in his arms and regret everything tomorrow.Maybe