The Lycan king's words sound like falling sand to me.
I can't see past the pain in my fingers.
It's not just my fingers, but also my heart. I have been beaten, humiliated, cursed at and seen only in terms of what I can do for others and the pack.
I'm the lowly omega daughter of the Alpha, a disgrace to the pack and the one who will never be free no matter how much she tries.
The moment I hear the word freedom, my tears come out even hotter and I try not to break out into another sob.
I can't help but feel like he's lying to me.
There's no way I can ever be free.
"This offer isn't going to last forever Adelaide, I'm guessing you have....."
Panic flares through me and I almost scream the words.
"I'm in!"
They slip out of my mouth before I can even think of anything else and with my fear filled eyes, I look up to peer at the face of the man whose mercy I'm at.
He looks amused, and somehow that makes me feel this is the right decision.
He would have killed me if he wanted to kill me, but he hasn't. As much as he wants to conceal it, I know he needs me.
Not me specifically, but someone like me.
Weak, docile, someone who will do anything for a better future.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you just said you're in, right?"
I nod again and try my best to stand up. I don't see the slap but it lands on the side of my face. I stumble back to the floor and when I look up at him, he has a cold look in his eyes.
"You're in front of a king. You don't get up unless you've been asked to."
I swallow the tears I feel burning at the back of my eyes and I nod.
"My apologies Lord Lyros."
He lets out a sound, something like a grunt of approval and he turns on his heels.
I watch as he ascends the stairs to his throne, it looks nothing like the way I've imagined any throne to be. It's as cold as the man who sits on it and when he's finally seated, I can't help but be awed by how perfect he is.
Again that image of his hands on me, his body at my back, and his mouth on mine flashes past my eyes but this time it's only for a moment. I push it down myself and tear it out of my mind.
"You'll be directed to your room and you'll be starved for the next seven days. It's customary for every prisoner to go through that so don't feel I'm trying to be wicked to you."
I nod.
"I understand Lord Lyros."
He peers down at me again and he snaps his fingers.
Two guards come out from their hiding place in the walls and cart me away. Tears threaten to cloud my vision but I keep them in.
I can do this.
Freedom is not something I have ever been offered before, and almost like the Lycan king of the north knows me too well, that's exactly what he has offered me.
The one thing I have always wanted.
I would have been a fool not to accept.
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The hallways are dark and empty. The walls smell of hot males and there is not a speck of dust anywhere. The room looks well kept when I'm thrown into it and the guard only spares me a glance before he walks out.
My fingers hurt like hell.
Looking at them makes me feel more distraught so I don't. I might have to lose this hand at the end of the day, something that isn't useful hanging onto me isn't going to help me, and the goddess knows I need all the help I can get.
I stand up from my kneeling position and explore my new room for a bit. There's a bathroom and toilet, and the small space is tastefully furnished.
One soft bed, one arm chair, and one table in the middle.
The bathroom has a mirror so I walk to it and turn the lights on. What I see does not surprise me.
My hair is ruffled, my face is puffed up and swollen from all the crying and hitting. My eyes are red-rimmed and I can feel them waiting to close, just so I can forget about the harshness of our current reality.
I am not weak, I am tired.
I feel like I've been broken to the bone.
Lyros killed Jane and then killed my brother too. I should be happy he just broke a few of my bones.
~Are you still awake little wolf?~
I give a silent nod and I realize what he's doing this for.
He can get into my mind. He's telling me there's nothing I can hide from him.
I hear a low chuckle and that feeling of someone leaning over my shoulder is gone again. I don't know when that feeling started, but I know I can always tell when it ends.
I wash my broken hand, peer at the ring for a while and fall asleep.
Right there in the bathroom.
The first day finds me on that bathroom floor and I move only to change positions and go back to sleep.
The second day meets me with a dream, of happiness and pain, and pure misery. I see the Lycan king leaning over me and whispering the words "I can never love you."
"I would rather sleep with a dog than you."
By the fourth day my stomach is grumbling and I am sure i might have digested half my intestines.
The fifth day leaves me squirming in pain and agony. My heart feels like it's about to give out, but all through the passage of these days I make sure I keep what my goal is in sight.
Freedom stands in front of me like a ghost. The ghost of my best friend, killed for a crime she did not commit.
The ghost of a mate I hope to meet and the ghost of us with kids.
Freedom is worth seven days of hunger.
And sure enough on the seventh day, I hear my door creak open.
"It's a sad world for girls like you y'know." I watch as the guard peeks his head into my room with a smile on his face. He looks pleased with himself and I don't want to wonder why that is. "You're supposed to get some food to eat today aren't you?" My head aches. Like someone's hitting it with a mallet and my body is weak. Seven days without food, only dreams, and I didn't even eat in those dreams. I open my mouth to speak but my voice comes out raw. What I say does not make any sense. The guard chuckles and walks into the room, his eyes roam the expanse of my skin and he frowns and wrinkles up his nose. I took a bath the night of the first day, so I got rid of some of the grime on my skin, but I haven't taken another bath since then. Personal hygiene is the least of my problems. He leans down and crouches before me. He's the guard from last time, the one with the scar, and as I suspected before, whatever magic they had worked on themselves was what made me find them irresisti
I watch as Gorm moves. He hits the door again, and again, blinded by the rage he's feeling and driven by pure lust. You'd think this fool was sex-starved, and he might be but that's none of my business. What is though, is the girl he's probably going to rape once he gets in there. I saw what she did when the mutt from her pack tried to mount her unwillingly. She cracked her skull against his head so hard that she passed out. Maybe that's why I'm going to spare her the additional trauma of being manhandled by a dumb fuck. The door goes down with a crash and my ears twitch. Gorm's breath is coming out heavy and the smell of his anger is potent in inspiring disgust, mostly in me. "You should have let me fuck you willingly." Despite my best efforts, memories rush into my head and flash past my eyes like a slideshow. I feel my chest tighten up and when I move, it's with blind rage. Screams and the sound of choking waft into my ears but they sound far away. I don't know where I am
The male named Cain is........ something.I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I know he's not the mean self-conceited prick he's making me feel he is.To begin with, he's given me food. More food than I can carry, and it's all for me.I hear a sweet chuckle behind me and the most beautiful lady I have ever seen appears in my line of vision. She has brown hair like me, and brown eyes with the most wheaty complexion I have ever seen on anyone. She's beautifully tan and when she smiles at me I feel something like butterflies flutter in my belly.Her smile is so kind."Don't be embarrassed about anything okay? It's nice that you eat so well."I duck to hide the blush on my cheeks and when I turn my eyes back to her and I can see pity in hers."They put you through the whole seven days of starvation stuff didn't they?"I nod and she sighs."Happened to the best of us. I just hope you survive the rest."I nod and grab a drumstick from the platter on my lap. It's huge and succulent,
What is she doing? "I said no. I can't do these things, whatever it is you want me to do for you with my body, I can't." I can hear the prisoner girl's words being choked off by something in her throat. I suspect she wants to start crying again and a frown lines my face. What's the use of being disobedient and then crying? It's not like it's going to change anything. Lyros is already angry. I can feel the air in the air around us getting thicker and I know I should stand back. He could freeze her on the spot. He could make her claw at her face and continue doing so until she gouges her eyes out. He could make her feel pain, true pain, and real anguish. Killing her off would be a favor. Something too close to mercy and the Lycan king of the north is not anything if not merciless. I straighten my back and assume an unaffected pose. I don't care about what he does with his pet. He can kill her for all I care. "Come here, Adelaide." There is pin-drop silence after his words and
I can't sleep. I twist and turn in the bed, the air conditioner is working well and it's more luxury than I've ever had the chance to experience in all my years. In the pack, I slept in my parent's kitchen. My room was converted into a guest room, despite the many guest rooms we had in the house. Jane and Caleb, my now dead brother, used the room as a temporary sex house. I always cleaned it right after and it always broke my heart to see the pink walls and the wide windows. The smell of flowers wafting in from the garden below and the satin curtains, soft beneath my touch. I slept in the kitchen, on the bare floor, cleaning and taking care of my family. Now I have a room to myself, a fully furnished space with a fully functional air conditioner. I have a blanket of my own. Yet I'm finding it hard to sleep. Something in me quivers again and I feel tears about to slip out of my eyes. I blink them back and tell myself not to cry, there's no need to, but yet I feel there is a need.
Leah glares at me. "Did you not understand me when I said not to annoy the Lycan king or did you just choose to ignore me?" I hang my head low and open my mouth to speak. Nothing comes out so I close it back and open it again, but no words are coming out. I don't have anything to say. I don't even fully understand what happened. I turn my head and look at the body of the sleeping man on the bed. Cain's hands are bandaged and his face is not in good shape either. He's asleep now but when I came in here, tears were streaming down the side of his face and he was in obvious pain. I can't get that sight out of my mind no matter how much I want to. Leah is still directing a glare at me and I can tell she's angry. More than angry actually, I can tell she's annoyed. She's waiting for me to speak and tell her what happened, but I can't. What will I say? "At least say something, I don't have all day here y'know." Her words hold a bite to them and I feel the pit in my stomach deepen ev
The sun is shining and casting its soft rays on my back but I barely notice it."There's a limit to how much power a normal Lycan can use, right? Is hypnosis also included in the spectrum of gifts some Lycans have?"Leah groans and turns to face me with frustration in her eyes. I smile back at her, the eagerness to know more dripping off my every action and she just shakes her head before she turns back to the flowers she's caressing.It's well past dawn now. Sunlight is washing over every single inch of land as far as my eyes can see, and oddly, I like what my eyes are seeing.The Lycan King of the north has a grand home. It's wide, huge, and bustling with people. The clack of wooden sticks still drifts into my ears if I focus enough and damn the warriors are hot!They were all shirtless when we passed. They all looked at Leah with respect, and me with disdain, but that did not diminish just how appealing to the eyes they were.Leah and I are in the gardens now, the one Lyros lets he
There should be little that can surprise me now. In truth, nothing should actually but yet this makes me surprised. How is this possible? I look at myself in the mirror again and I shake my head in disbelief. I must be dreaming. The clock shows me the time is well past seven in the morning and I know if I want to catch Lyros then I'll need to act now. The contents of Leah's letter are still stuck in my head. It's playing over and over, like a record on repeat, and normally I would have ignored such a thing and gone about my daily duties, but this time...... I look at myself in the mirror again and I release a sigh. It's now or never. This is my duty, and I'm doing it for none other than myself. Hopefully, I won't die before he's done with me, but if I do at least I'll know I did it while fighting for my freedom. That sounds so wrong. The new guard that has been situated outside my room blinks when he sees me. He looks away, then he blinks once more, and he looks back at me agai