Chapter 2：Public Maid

Ivy’’s POV

I’ve spent every day since my father’s death in excruciating pain. 

“Please!” I sob out desperately as a Thunderclaw warrior lashes a whip against my skin. 

I barely register the feeling at this point, I’ve become so used to it. They’ve whipped me relentlessly every day since my wedding went so dreadfully awry. My skin is made of little pieces of cracked flesh at this point. The sticky feeling of blood coating my body is inescapable. 

I feel like I’m coming undone.

And after what happened to my father, I don’t think I’d mind if they finish me off once and for all. 

The Thunderclaw warrior raises the whip again, smiling evilly. Just as it’s about to hit me, a cold voice cuts through the room.

“Stop,” Erick says smoothly, striding into my dungeon cell. 

I’m imprisoned in my own pack house’s dungeon. As if my humiliation could become even worse. 

The warrior lowers the whip. 

“Leave us,” Erick commands.

The warrior bows his head once, then leaves the dungeon.

It’s just the two of us now. 

I look up at Erick with fierce loathing. This is the man who killed my father, and I’m going to make him pay for it.

“What do you want?” I snap, looking him in the eyes.

“Goodness, Ivy,” Erick says with a chuckle. “You look pathetic.” 

“I can’t be anywhere near as pathetic as you,” I retort.

“Mm.” He shrugs, unbothered. Before I can say anything else, he grabs my chin roughly and jerks my head from side to side. 

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Erick says. From anyone else, the words would be sweet. But he’s looking at me like I’m just a plaything.

“Fuck you–” I start to bite out, but he clamps my mouth shut.

“I don’t know what it is,” Erick continues. “Your eyes. Your smile. Your face. I’m still drawn to you. I could spare you from all this pain, you know. All it would take is you becoming my mistress. Better than being beaten to death in a dungeon, no?”

Revulsion ripples along my skin. “I would rather die than let you fuck me,” I tell him in a measured voice, vitriol in ever word. “I will have my revenge for what you did to my father and to my pack. This I swear.”

Erick raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. He releases me and steps away. “We’ll see how long you last. GUARDS!”

That last shout catches me by surprise, and I jolt as a pair of warriors rush into the room, saluting their Alpha. 

“Make her drink this,” Erick orders, picking up a small vial from a table.

The liquid inside is purple and shimmery. My stomach curdles. 

Wolfsbane. 

One of the warriors takes the vial and opens the cork, filling the air with the acrid smell of death. The other grabs my head, trying to force my jaw open, but I hold it shut. He scoffs and pinches my nose shut. 

At first I don’t quite understand what he’s trying to do, but after fifteen seconds, I get it. My lungs scream desperately for air. My eyes start to water. I try to hold my breath for as long as I can, but eventually my mouth falls open, drawing in a huge, gasping breath. 

And that’s when the warrior pours the wolfsbane into my mouth.

I choke and cough and shudder as searing, inescapable, utterly excruciating pain floods my body. I spit over and over again, trying to get the wolfsbane off my tongue and lips, but it’s no use. I crumple uselessly against my chains. The world starts to blur and spin. In my pain-wracked daze, I can hear Erick laughing as he strides happily out of my cell.

Little by little, I can feel my connection with my wolf start to weaken. 

I roll back and forth on the ground, sweating and shaking in my misery. I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear another set of footsteps outside my cell–high heels, this time.

Veronica strides into my cell.

She looks so healthy I hate her for it. She crouches down in front of me, examining me for a long moment.

“I don’t get it,” Veronica says quietly.

“What?” I choke out.

“What he sees in you,” she replies, standing back up. “How he could still want to fuck you after everything. I heard him talking to you, you know. He doesn’t want you. Not really.” 

“I don’t…” I try to speak, but my lips are parched and bloody, and all I can feel is pain. “I don’t understand.”

Veronica looks down at me with disdain. I know she’s jealous of me–she’s looked down on me since we were children. Still, it’s terrifying to see her like this now. Pathetic as I may seem now, humiliated and ruined, it’s still not enough for her. 

“We’re getting married next week,” Veronica says casually, smiling cruelly. “Erick and I. You’re never going to be able to break us up. And do you know what we’re going to do to you?”

She lowers her voice to a whisper as she lets the words slip past her lips. 

“We’re going to make you a public maid.” 

A public maid. 

My blood runs cold. I know what that means.

‘Public maid’ is a polite way of saying it.

Veronica means to make me into the Pack Whore, and every werewolf in the pack can do whatever they want to me.