CHAPTER THREE: DON'T TOUCH MY MATE

It wasn’t the crippling pain that pounded through my body that woke me up eventually in the middle of the night, however, it was the sound of the door being unlocked that had my attention. My eyes snapped to it and narrowed cautiously as I watched Grayson walk into the room, shirtless. 

I let out an internal groan at the sight of him, like I didn’t have enough problems already. For as long as Dad had gotten mated to Ivy, Grayson always flirted with me. It was weird - uncomfortable to say the least. I knew he liked me, more than I found healthy or enjoyed. However, he wasn’t different from the rest of them. He has never raised a finger to stop his mother whenever she was having her pleasure from inflicting pain on me. Most times, he laughed. Other times, he’d join in on the verbal abuse. But one thing that had always been consistent was the fact that he always comes back to visit me after the rain of abuse. I’ve never understood why.

“Hey, doll face.” He walked into the room, his eyes gleaming in mischief and that same chilling smirk from earlier returned to his face. “I heard you found your mate.”

I leaned back onto the wall of the empty room and shrugged halfheartedly, not entirely in the mood to talk or even think about my supposed mate. Alpha Alexander Ashford. Something satirical inside of me laughed to scorn. I was convinced he’d have bolted by now. Afterall, everyone does the second they find out you’re not the full-package. I was wolf-less. I bet that was definitely going to be a turn off in the book of what-an-Alpha-wants-in-a-Luna. 

Grayson was beside me now and having him that close irked my skin, like a thousand needles plunging deeper and deeper and deeper. “Alpha Alexander, huh? I see you got the big bad wolf of Silver Dawn pack.”

I gave him no reply and instead, turned to face the other wall. 

However, he seemed relentless to get a reply out of me cause he switched places to face me once again. “You know, I’ve always wished you would be my mate.”

That stunned me. It was precisely all it took to have my eyes snapping into his brown ones that reminded me so much of his devil of a mother.

“What? Why are you in here, Grayson?” I questioned, not meaning for it to come out as sharp as it had. 

He took my hands into his larger ones and played softly with them, looking deeply into my eyes. “I like you, Venus. A lot. You’re so beautiful, especially when you’re bruised up like this. You have this really nice ass too - which is harder to find in a girl than you’d think.”

“What!” I tried to snatch my hand away from his, but the creep wouldn’t let go! “Is this a joke? Let me go, Grayson. I’m sure there’s a more interested she-wolf out there.”

“Who gives a damn about those she-wolves? I want you and I have for a long time now. Do you know how many times I’ve watched you shower? Or the number of times I’ve fantasized of making you my cum slut?” 

What the hell?

My face screwed up in disgust and I successfully pulled my hand away from his grip. In his eyes were a radiating hunger that scared me. I shot up from my sitting position and against the cries from the muscles, I made a bee line for the door. However, Grayson was faster and banged the door shut, locking it up immediately. My heart picked up it’s pace then.

“What… What do you want? I don’t want to have anything to do with you.” I moved backward carefully, eyes on the prowling predator before me. 

“Venus, I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to get this out of my system. I need to bring my fantasies to life.”

“No! I don’t want that. I-I don’t want anything to do with you. Please, Grayson, don’t do this…” My voice broke then as I watched him unbuckle the buttons and zip of his pant. My heart pounded more furiously now. 

“You don’t have a choice. Don’t scream and I swear, you’ll enjoy it.” Grayson grabbed me forcefully by the arm and I couldn’t help the piercing scream I gave out before he enclosed my mouth with his large palm. I kicked and fought and struggled to get out of his grip but the more I tried to, the more it seemed to fuel his sadistic desire.

“Grayson, stop! Stop, I beg you!” Ignoring my muffled pleas, he pushed me against the wall and shoved my dress up for better entrance. He dared to grope sexually at my breast and I sobbed even more, violently pushing him. But it yielded nothing. I couldn’t stand a chance against his strength. He was afterall one of the youngest warrior wolves in our pack.

I cried out, tired of having to live like this. I was exhausted. Perhaps it would have been better if mother never gave birth to me, that way I wouldn’t have to be subjected to this. However, just when Grayson was about to have his way, the door to the room flung thunderously open, even though it had been locked. 

Clad in a perfectly fitted suit and tie, Alpha Alexander sauntered into the room, his icy blue eyes holding a brewing storm directed sharply at Grayson and myself. He clenched his jaw, giving off a single tick and then, instantaneously, Grayson was being ripped off my body and slammed to the wall. I slumped to the ground, every breath and fibre of strength escaping me as I watched this man, this silently deadly man called Alexander Ashford, unleash agony on Grayson by punching him furiously time after time. I watched the blood coat his knuckles and I watched till I saw Grayson drop limp at his feet. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and intricately wiped off the last traces of blood from his palm and fingers. 

He delivered an impactful kick to Jason’s stomach for the last time, before squatting to his level on the ground and after yanking up Jason by the strands of hair on his head, he said sternly, “Don’t you ever touch my mate, if not I’d be forced to cut off every single last one of your fingers and feed them to you.”

Those where the last words that echoed through my ears as my eyes shut and a wave of thick darkness welcomed me. However, my mind couldn’t stop conjuring images of Alpha Alexander relentlessly knocking Grayson out till he bled. For some reason, it comforted me. But as always, for me, the lines between comfort and fear was a very thin one.