ARRIVAL AND KISSES

ANOKAI’S POV.

Two weeks had suddenly passed in a blur, with little to no word heard from Ethan. The only thing I had heard from him was the note I had gotten from the guard as he dropped me in front of the van that was to take me to the Shadowcrest pack. A van that smelled of dogs and a week’s worth of sweat.

It was a simple note, “Don’t fail me, Anokai.” It said,

Now I was on my way to the Shadowcrest pack with some other girls from the Pack. Some were omegas, others from the Pack’s sluthouse, all of them with a mission and with their thoughts. Even in the dark hole of the van, most of them have been talking, speculating on different things they’ve heard from the brothers.

“I heard they’re monsters.” One had said.

“I heard the pack is like a fortress, beautiful and rich.”

“I heard most women who go in don’t make it out.”

Most of them were words I had heard from Ethan, so I said nothing, listening and storing all their words inside. After listening for a while, stopping when their stories got too personal, I fell asleep.

My eyes opened as the van stopped, and the chain rattled from outside before the door opened. The evening moonlight poured in. We’ve been traveling since morning, and now it is evening, yet no one has known.

“Come out, a single line, all of you,” the man who brought us said, and we all assembled out, filing into a line.

The other man beside him was dressed in a black guard uniform with a gold plate on his right chest bearing some words that were swirling around it. I clenched my jaw at my uselessness. Only if I knew how to read, then I would at least be able to know his name.

He stalked past each of us, assessing us like a hunter assessing his prey, his black eyes cold and ruthless. I gulped down, refusing to let my fear or my fast beating heart betray me as he passed by me. He halted, his eyes squinting.

“What is your name?”

“Anokai,” I replied with all the courage I could muster.

“Hmm.”

He reached out for my face, and my heart skipped a beat, tipping it back and forth with his forehead creasing. I held my breath as the lines got deeper, his eyes squinting further and further.

No…No…I can’t be caught now.

I released my breath as he let go of my jaw and returned forward, giving a single command, “Follow me.”

We were all bundled into another van, this time not as dark as the other one. My eyes scanned the thick bushes we passed through, devoid of any moonlight, and the branches as thick as the brothers.

What was I to expect?

What if the rumors were true? What if they tore me apart even before doing anything?

I pushed the thoughts out of my head, bringing Ethan’s image into my head as I imagined his throat slashed for real this time, blood gushing out of it.

I will survive this.

Then I would go back and kill him no matter what it takes.

The van stopped after ten minutes, and the door to the van opened, everyone filing out again, only to be met with the most heart-shattering image.

No.

The packhouse wasn’t a house.

It was death itself.

Guards stood at every side of it, donned in black just like the other man, with hardened expressions. They didn’t even blink as we walked past them and into the palace. If the outside had looked like death, the inside smelled like the devil himself.

The air inside was stale and cold, as if no one lived there. There was no guard, no maids, no omegas in sight. The only person in sight was walking towards us and, in stark contrast to the boring walls, wearing a red, tight-skinned dress that left nothing to cover and a red robe that wiped the ground she was working on.

Her face was pulled taut as she reached us, disgust and distaste written across it. “You’re late, Salman.”

The guard opened his mouth to talk when she put a hand up, and he shut it, bowing as he took his leave. She turned to the rest of us, her red lips pulled into a very ugly line.

It reminded me of Aurelia and the evil she was.

“You will all be presented to the alphas tonight. The minute you are served to them, know that you belong to them. Everything that you hold dear, your body, your soul become theirs to use and do as they like.” She started, stalking towards each of us.

“If they ask you to strip, you strip. If they ask you to suck them and please them, you do so. If they ask for your blood, to cut yourself and bleed to death.” She paused, as if wanting her word to sink in, “You die.”

Fear coursed through the air, every one of the girls inching towards each other for safety at her words, “If you have any plans of escaping or leaving this place, you should dead it tonight,” she said, stopping in front of me as she eyed me down.

“And if you’ve been sent here to do anything stupid, then forget it.”

I swallowed down nervously, my heart racing as I looked away from her, “Your life is theirs to use. Do not do anything stupid. Now follow me.”

We all followed her down the stairs, everyone’s mind racing and thinking if it was a good choice to come here. She led us to a vast bathroom, bigger than anything I had ever seen.

“I’ll be back in twenty minutes with your clothes. Do not delay.”

******************************************

In exactly twenty minutes, according to the lady in red, we were all being led to the party room. When she had told us she would be returning with clothes, she had forgotten to specify she would come with flimsy materials that barely covered my ass and itched me as I walked.

I was dressed in sexy red pants with a matching bra that revealed all my breasts, leaving the nipples covered. She paired it with a red robe that stopped mid-thigh and red stockings, making me look exactly like her. Some girls were given black, others pink, and purple.

The entire hallway was quiet as we all filed behind her back, following her through the staircase. We climbed three stairs before we finally reached a narrow hallway, this one filled with black-donned guards that told me we were near the alphas.

My heart skipped a beat at the thought of it.

I was close.

So close.

Fear gnawed at my sides. Every new step I took felt more like an execution.

What if I didn’t survive? What if the alphas took one look at me, as the lady in red did, and figured I was a spy? And then I’ll become their sport, hunted and torn apart?

The lady in red stopped in front of the door and spoke to the guard. She whipped her head back towards us, “The alphas are not here yet. You’ll all go in and wait for them now. Do not do anything stupid.”

She bowed and walked away, and the door opened as one of the guards led us inside.

I let out a gasp at the sight in front of me, unable to stop my eyes from reaching their full socket.

This was not a place for men.

No—it was for gods, made to revel in and have their play.

The room was expensively large, with a sofa running from one end to the other. A long table was in front, adorned with food, wine, and any fruits that I could think of.

But it wasn’t any of that that took my attention.

It was the bed at the back with the four gold poles holding it. It gleamed in the low light, making the entire room look like royalty.

At the sight of everything, my fear increased tenfold, pooling in my stomach.

These men weren’t alphas.

My thoughts were still spiraling in my head, leaking everywhere, when a door opened, and the sweetest, manliest smell wafted into my nose, filling my entire core. It smelled musky and heavy, bringing a flush to my skin.

And suddenly, they entered, and it felt like the world came to a stop.

Every eye was on them.

Every girl’s mouth opened wide, the fear that had once clung to our skin far away.

They felt like a force, pulling them towards us with no regard for our well-being.

I could not look away, not tear my eyes away from their brick muscle, from the way their jaws were so perfectly aligned and the cunning resemblance between the four of them.

They were beautiful, made on a special day by God himself.

If Ethan had thought he could be the king, he was wrong.

He would be lucky if he were an ant beside them.

And now I was in their pack with no way to escape.

My heart quickened, heat flooding every part of my veins. I didn’t even notice I was still gawking until one of them stopped in front of one of the girls, the other three sprawled on the sofa with nothing but their trousers on.

Every inch of fear, terror returned to my body at his words. My doom lies right in front of me,

“Kiss me.” He prowled, “kiss me until you’re tired of it. Kiss me and prove to me your body deserves my touch.”