I hear Alpha Graham's footsteps walk back down the hallway as he leaves the dungeon. Ryan tightens his grip on my neck, extending his wolf claws, making me yelp.
As soon as the door slams, Ryan releases my neck and kneels in front of me. His face is contorted with anger. His eyes flicker black as his wolf, Dagger, comes to the surface.
He grabs my shoulders, shaking me roughly, "What the Hell did you do to make him so mad?"
Why isn't he beating me like he told Alpha Graham he would? I stiffen my whole body, avoiding eye contact with him. I'm shaking so badly, I can't even speak now. The thought of two people beating me regularly for the rest of my life... it just can't be real. Can it?
How can the Goddess allow this to happen? I want to die. That's not an exaggeration. That's not me being dramatic. Please, Goddess, don't let this happen. Just let me die.
I shake so badly that I fall to my knees. I start to sob hysterically and my brain shuts down from being able to think rationally.
Ryan grabs my chin and forces me to look at him in his cold gray eyes. He looks at me in horror for a moment, "Wh-what happened to your eyes?”
He moves his hands up from my chin to just below my eyes. It feels like his hands are trembling against my face.
"A-are you a hybrid or something?"
All I can manage is to shake my head no between sobs. As I shake my head, I feel him starting to press his thumbs against my lower eyelids, obstructing my vision.
Oh no no no, he's going to poke my eyes out.
Holy crap! He saw the violet color. He is going to blind me. I place my hands on top of his trying to pull him away. I hear myself screaming, "NONONONOOOOO! STOP!! Don't take my eyes ouuutttt! PLEEAASSEEEE!!!”
For just a moment, time freezes. I don't mean like it feels like time is standing still because I'm in the middle of a traumatic situation. No, time is actually frozen. Well, frozen for everything except for me I should say. I can feel it in the air.
It only lasts for a moment. I pull Ryan's hands away from my face easily. The look of anger combined with confusion is stuck on his face. Next to him, a fly is suspended in mid-air. The second hand on the clock has stopped on the wall behind him. Drips of water aren't finished falling, leaving umbrella-shaped splashes in the puddles on the floor.
What the…Hell? Did the Moon Goddess hear me? Did she have mercy on me? Did she let me die?
I look back at Ryan with wide eyes. My hands are glowing purple. As quickly as it stopped, time starts again. Ryan starts screaming and pushes himself away from me. The tops of his hands where my hands were touching him are red and swollen.
I look down at my hands. They are normal again, not glowing purple. Seriously though, what the Hell just happened?
I shut my eyes tight, waiting for Ryan to retaliate.
“If you tell anyone, I will kill you." He says in my ear. Then he punches me in the stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs.
I hear his footsteps running down the hall, then out the door. I don't know how long I sit like this but when I finally open my eyes I breathe a sigh of relief.
I lean against my bed for a while longer, sobbing, shaking, and trying to catch my breath. He didn't hurt me? Surely he was coming back. I sniff the air, but his scent is gone. I listen carefully, but there are no sounds in other parts of the dungeon. I'm alone.
“Goddess, thank you for saving me. Thank you," I say out loud, just in case the miracle I just experienced was because of her.
I feel exhausted, but starting to feel calmer. Okay Kas, focus. I need to make dinner for the pack or Alpha Graham will find me and murder me. I don't think it's an exaggeration, either. Even if I try to run away, either he or Ryan would find me before I could get off the territory. I think he really would kill me at this point. Speaking of which, it was only a matter of time before Ryan comes back to beat the crap out of me like his father told him to.
I take a few deep breaths and make myself go down the hall to wash up at the sink. I splash cold water on my face and look in the grungy mirror. Both of my eyes are pure violet now. The silver streaks are starting to take over my hair. It isn't like an old person's hair. It is silvery white that almost shimmers, even in the low light of the dungeon. So weird, there's no way I'm going to be able to get used to this new look.
I go back to my room and get dressed in leggings and a t-shirt. I put on the baseball cap Diane gave me, pulling the brim low to hide my eyes. Throughout dinner, I receive murderous glares from Alpha Graham. I make sure to keep my eyes to the floor so he won't see the color. Ryan glares at me every chance he gets. After dinner, it takes longer than usual to stock pantries because whoever did it while I was in the hospital had no idea what they were doing.
It's well after midnight when I flop down on my bed and close my eyes. June 20th, I think to myself. It's the last day of school. Well, for other people anyway, not me. You don't need an education to cook and stock pantries, Alpha Graham's words ring in my ears. Just another day for me, I suppose. I wallow in self-pity for a bit before I roll over and try to fall asleep. I'm almost asleep when I hear a woman's voice.
"Hello!"
I quickly scramble to my feet, looking everywhere for who it could be. I'm the only one in the room. I peek into the hallway and look around but no one is there either.
"Hello?" I whisper loudly down the hallway.
"Ugh, Kas. This is no way for a warrior to behave. Get your shit together." The voice chides. I realize the voice is coming from inside my head.
"A-are you my wolf?" I ask hesitantly, worried that I've gone insane.
"I am. My name is Elexis. You can call me Lex."
"Oh, Elexis. You woke up a day too late. Our Alpha just turned us into a slave less than twelve hours ago. We have no way to escape now." I feel tears welling up.
I explain everything to her. How the Alpha killed my father, how the Luna made me live in the dungeon, the beatings, all of it. I sob through the whole thing.
"I'm here now, Kas. Don't worry. We are a child of the Moon Goddess. We're a warrior. Which means we are strong. We will get through this.”
“Lex, earlier, when my hands turned purple and burned Ryan. Was that you?”
“Sort of. That was you, but my waking up helped activate your power. I can explain more later. Get some sleep for now.”
The next month and a half are the worst of my life. Any motivation I ever had is gone now. Instead of just breakfast and dinner, now I make lunch too, and I'm still on pantry duty. Every moment of my day is filled with work from the time I wake up until the time I crash in my bed. Thank Goddess for Lex. She keeps me going. Lex convinces me to enjoy the time that she and I get to spend together, which is when I'm cooking meals. I find I actually enjoy cooking while Lex is with me. No one comes to bother me, so we get to have great conversations without interruptions. In the end, I have created something people will enjoy. I even found a couple of recipe books in the back of one of the kitchen cupboards and taught myself some new techniques and dishes to make. Everything else in my life is complete shit. Alpha Graham allows pack members to hit me and verbally abuse me and they take full advantage at every opportunity. He comes to my room multiple times a week to beat me and berate me
***Trigger Warning - This chapter has sensitive content related to Sexual Assault.*** Sam scoots back on his backside away from me, wide-eyed, then clambers up and runs away as fast as he can. Suddenly, I'm thrust back into my normal state of mind and I fall back to the ground, exhausted. My hands are no longer glowing, but they feel like they are on fire and full of static electricity. "Lex! What was that?" I scold her, but mostly because it scared me. "I couldn't help it. He was threatening us." "Okay, but what was with the glowy purple, burny hands thing?! That's not normal!" "Kas, we've been through this. We are a child of the Moon Goddess. We are special. The 'glowy purple, burny hands thing' is a gift from our mother. There is more, too. You will see after we shift for the first time. Until then, I'm not strong enough to show you. Besides, it isn't like I hurt him; his wolf will heal him before he is back in his office." "I-I don-, wait, you mean the Moon Goddess is my a
I finish pantry duty, making sure everything is set in the guest rooms. I had Sam order bouquets for each of the suites as an extra touch. In the guest Alpha's suite, I also add a bottle of champagne. If this is the last thing I ever get to do, I want it to be something that makes someone else happy. It is almost one-thirty in the morning before I plop into bed, exhausted. It has been a shit day. If Luna Caroline has anything to do with it, it will probably be my last. Lex is exhausted too. She stops sulking long enough to tell me she needs me to shift, but I can't. I have no time or energy. I keep promising her I will, but I feel like I've broken that promise. I float off to sleep to the sounds of her whimpering in my head while I cry into the pillow. To my surprise, my alarm wakes me in the morning. Lex makes me promise to hang on for one more day. We go through the motions of the life I hate. While I'm getting ready, I look in the mirror to find my hair is completely silvery white
I make a four-course meal of Caesar salad, bacon-wrapped shrimp appetizers, beef wellington with braised Brussels sprouts for the main dish, and a key lime pie for dessert. I also make bruschetta, crostinis, tomato fritters, mini calzones, assorted veggie trays with dip, and chocolate truffles to serve for the party. I finished the desserts and veggie trays between breakfast and lunch so there was less for me to worry about now. I realize Lex's advice of finding happiness in cooking has helped me enjoy making this dinner. Maybe because I'm serving people other than my pack or maybe it's because I'm making special food, not just the regular stuff I make for the pack? Either way, I don't mind my work today. I feel a sense of pride in it. There are servers for dinner service since it's a formal event. I stay in the kitchen and make sure everything is plated and going out the door in perfect condition. I'm in the zone, as they say. I peek out from the kitchen after each course is served
I wake up feeling woozy, laying on my stomach in my bed. What the Hell? Was last night some sort of weird dream? I think the Alpha from Blood River attacked me. No. That doesn't seem right. As hard as I try, I can’t remember the details. I hear unfamiliar voices in the hallway, but I also hear the doctor and nurse Diane. There is a large man, wearing all black, standing in the doorway with his back facing me. I realize I'm not wearing a shirt. I'm only covered by a sheet and my back is covered in bandages. "Lex, are you there?" I ask, suddenly feeling scared. "I'm here, Kas." Her voice is soft and far away. "Are you okay, Lex? I'm so sorry." I can feel her weakness and pain. Tears sting my eyes. "You have nothing to apologize for, Kas. I'll be alright. You were strong. You held out as long as you could. I tried to slow down time to give you more time to get help, but it made me weaker." "Wait, that was you?" "Well, yeah, but it didn't work the way it was supposed to. I can expla
Bronx's POV As soon as my guard, Tyree, told me an omega was trying to get in my suite, I left the party and rushed upstairs. My wolf, Saint, urged me to hurry. “Something’s wrong. We need to get to her now,” he growls. I don’t have any pack secrets in the suite, but that doesn't mean I want a stranger going in without my permission. As we turn the corner, we see a scrawny little girl at the end of the hall struggling to push open the heavy door of my suite. The scent of fresh rain and lilacs wafts in the air, somehow making me feel less angry. The girl looks up at us from under her baseball cap when Tyree yells at her. I can’t see her face from the shadow of the hat, but I don’t need to. I’m immediately drawn to her. My heart almost skips a beat. “Mate,” Saint cries out, taking over control of my body. He strides over and roughly pushes her against the door. I feel my fangs extending as I deeply breathe in her scent. “Saint, don’t you DARE mark her.” I warn, pulling on his co
Bronx's POV After about fifteen minutes of failed attempts to try to convince Kas to come out from under the bed, I call Lenora and a nurse to help coax her out. I go to my room to shower and change while they do that. Lenora meets me out in the hallway before I can go back into Kas’s suite. “Is she alright?” I ask, searching Lenora’s eyes for the truth. “Yeah, but that whole thing exhausted her. She is back in bed sleeping.” She admits, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Bronx, I know I told you to be here and be with Kas, but maybe you should go get some sleep yourself." She looks at me sympathetically. "I can't believe you were so distracted that she was able to break your nose. You have to take care of yourself if you're going to take care of her." I sigh in frustration and rub my hands over my face. “I’m fine, Lenora.” "No. You’re not fine. An eighty pound she-wolf just broke Bronx Mason’s nose. Does that sound fine to you?” Her tone is forceful. “I'll stay here for a few
Kas's POV I wake up to see it's nighttime. I'm pretty sure the bed I'm in is the softest bed in the world. The scent of coffee and dark chocolate fills my senses and for the first time in forever, I feel completely relaxed. Happy little sparks shoot around my body. I realize I'm cradled in a large man's arms, like a kid with a teddy bear. He's so tall that I feel like a little kid next to him. My face is against his t-shirt, breathing in his intoxicating scent. I'm too short to look up to see his face from my position, but I already know it's Alpha Bronx Mason. I start to feel panic try to rise in my chest, but Lex gently pushes it back down. "Enjoy this moment, Kas." She whispers when she feels me starting to struggle. "He is your mate. He isn't going to hurt you." “We don't even know him, Lex. He could be dangerous.” “Oh, shush it. He's not dangerous while he's sleeping. He doesn't have a knife or anything. Just relax. Please, give this a chance.” I take a deep breath letting h