Chapter 7

<<Mora>>

“So what am I looking at here?” I growl from between clenched teeth; I can’t open my mouth fully thanks to the grip Alpha James has on my chin. No one has said anything for a long time; we’re just storming past massive paintings of people long since dead and windows high enough for me to see the barbed wire fences and the ropes hanging from the tall trees. I don’t need to smell them to know the ropes are soaked in wolfsbane; the grass is dry but the rope is dripping steadily. 

‘Fight them; you're stronger than them.’ My wolf hisses as Alpha James lets out a heavy sigh and takes a left at the end of a wide corridor. I shove her back because now is not the time to fight; I have no idea how to put down an Alpha, let alone take on several enforcers at the same time. I need to wait until the time is right and I’ve learned just enough to actually survive. 

“I mean, a whipping, starvation or just the classic isolation until I’m on the edge of losing my mind?” I try to sound unbothered by what's coming for me but inside I can feel my stomach hardening with anxiety and my spine is sweaty so badly I’m surprised the enforcers at my back can’t see it dripping off me. Alpha James remains silent but the grip on my chin tightens to the point that I feel my jawbone tense under the pressure; if he keeps going, my jaw will snap and even shifting will be nearly impossible. 

“You can’t do this, Alpha James; she did nothing wrong, the basement is a punishment intended for serious crimes done to another student.” Hyde growls from behind me. I can’t turn back to look at him but I do silently wonder why the enforcer who drugged me to get me out of my father's Pack is now defending me. He sounds almost worried and something about the cold tattooed enforcer makes me think worry is not an emotion he’s accustomed to. 

“Do you wish to join her, Hyde?” Alpha James hisses his name like an insult; my teeth almost snap from how hard I’m grinding them. I don’t get a chance to say anything in the enforcer's defence, though, because a tiny door is opened and I’m suddenly faced with my worst nightmare. 

The basement. I would know that rotting smell of damp anywhere. It doesn’t matter how fancy a house is or how well maintained; every basement has a strange, skin-clinging scent of rot that seems to be soaked into the foundation. The stairs themselves are made out of stone instead of wood but the small space is dark so I can’t see the bottom. I don’t need to see the ground to know there is no way in hell I want to go down there. My father used the basement as a form of punishment so I tried to pretend I wasn’t scared but I always failed, the second he realised how terrified I was, he started making me go down there for longer periods of time. I’ve been beaten, starved, sliced open and left to bleed out but it was always the space that terrified me, not the damage done to my body and mind. 

"This is the best you've got?” I try to sound bored when inside; I’m screaming with the desire to run as far and fast as I can from the damp, dark space. “Is this where my knees buckle and I beg the big Alpha male not to throw me into the darkness?” I know my taunts are doing nothing but piss off Alpha James but I refuse to show him the same fear I showed my father. I’ve spent my whole life bending to an Alpha that did nothing but hurt me. I refuse to spend my time at the War Academy in pain and pretending I’m some weak Omega. 

"Let's see how smart you think you are in a week.” Alpha James hisses as he pushes his face against mine; he sniffs up the side of my face while I do my best not to cringe back from his touch. The idea of being left in the dark for a solid week fills me with a terror I never knew I could feel but I force my heart rate to slow and my eyes to stay blank. 

“Easy.” I smirk at Alpha James; his eyes flash a bright yellow a split second before he jerks his hand and lets go just as I stumble over the first step. I’m falling with my arms out wide in an attempt to slow my movements but there are stone walls that offer nothing for me to grab onto. No holes, no handrails, not even a loose stone for me to grab onto for a weapon. 

“Welcome to Irkwood War Academy, Morana. I have a feeling we’re going to break you before the week is out.” Alpha James calls down at me; the door closes with a sharp snap before I hit the bottom of the stairs. I don’t open my eyes or let a single sound leave my lips; I just lie there on the cold, hard ground with my hands clenched by my sides as I finally let the fear consume me. Alpha James wants to break me but I’ve lived my life broken in a backwards Pack and a deranged Alpha. Now I’m going to rebuild myself and escape before anyone can force me to do anything else.