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HAILEY STEWARTS

"Who's that slave?" One guard asked his companion as he gawked at me with keen interest.

"Huh?" His partner asked absentmindedly.

"The slave with red hair. Who is she?" He asked again gesturing toward me as I scrubbed a stubborn stain off the floor.

The guard gave me one look then slapped his companion over the head. "Women with big ass would be the end of you, Kravinski."

They both laughed shoving each other for a while. I barely noticed them since I was too busy fighting with the stains on the floor. Cleaning the dungeons was the most terrible assignment I had ever done in my life. Whatever it was that had gotten stuck on the floor might just be pieces of a human brain.

"Watch this."

The second guard poked his friend and then winked at him as he moved toward me slowly. I was too focused on the stain to notice the guard until he groped me from behind. His hands crept up on my thighs moving low. I jerked up fast knocking him flat on his ass.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you there." I apologized in an honestly sympathetic tone.

He stared at me wide-eyed and surprised that he had been knocked down by a woman. His pal made things worse by laughing and snorting at him.

"Mr. I'm sorry-" I tried explaining myself but the rage on his face made it evident that he wasn’t going to listen to my explanations.

He got up and marched angrily to me. I saw the punch before it hit my gut. I could have dodged it easily but I knew that would only agitate him more and most likely put me in a bigger mess than the one I had just unknowingly got myself in.

His partner yelled at him to cut it off but he ignored it just like I knew he would.

“Kravinski! That’s enough.”

But Kravinski didn't stop there. He gave me two more punches to my rib and then hit me hard across my face, a move which sent me flying across the room till I slammed into a far wall. 

Fresh blood trickled down my nose and I could feel he had busted one of my ribs when he hit me. The pain that washed through my entire body was unbearable but I bit my lower lips and let it run its course.

Just let it go, Hailey... It will heal fast. You know I got you kiddo, my wolf spoke to me through my mind which was our only channel of communication. I could tell she was feeling my pain maybe even more than I was. I knew taking both of them out in a split second would be like squatting a fly for me but I had to be rational if I was to survive in this world.

The guard walked up to where I lay in a crumpled heap on the floor and he spat on me making sure he gathered the thickest and most vile smelly spittle before discarding it with impressive accuracy on my hair. 

After that, he gave me two more kicks across my good rib before moving away to meet his buddy who watched the whole show in amusement.

“Serves the b***h right!” He bawled flexing his wrist.

My hands turned to fists. At that moment I felt like rushing him and ripping his damned throat out just before I snap his friend's neck kicking his head off. Don't! My wolf implored calming me down. The fists flattened to become palms once again.

His buddy chuckled. They had had their little entertainment and enjoyed it even if it meant harming a helpless woman. That was the way of the world.

“Get your scrawny ass up before I come to kick you some more!” He yelled at me. “You ain’t done cleaning yet.”

“What if you’ve killed her?” his buddy asked.

“Stop clowning, Tim. I didn’t hit her that hard, did I?”

For a moment I contemplated laying there maybe I’d just play dead for a while just to f**k with them. But I knew it was just going to get me in trouble so I struggled up to my feet and wobbled to where I had been cleaning. I grabbed the brush and resumed the scrubbing. The pains in my side made me wince but I continued regardless. There was no way I was going to give the c**k sucker the pleasure of watching me reel over in pain.

“I got to admit, she’s got a body on her.”

I ignored their obscene comments pretending to be too invested in my work to hear them. They were staring at my ass while talking about all the things they would love to do to it. 

I completed my job and left the dungeon so they could lock it. I made sure to hurry back to the equipment room and dropped the instruments I had just used, then I rushed back on the path to my room. I needed to take care of my bruised body while it was healing and wipe away the dried blood from my face. My current look will most likely break a mirror into several fragments

I was just about to round the corner leading to the corridor that would take me to my room when someone accidentally bumped into me. 

The pain in my side ached from the impact of running into another person. I cursed unable to draw in oxygen without feeling a sharp pain. 

"Arrrrrgh!" I winced, cursing as I leaned on the wall. "Watch it." 

I looked up to see who had been clumsy enough to almost knock me out and gasped when I saw it was Jaden. The last person on earth I wanted to bump into me. He was the last person on earth I wanted to come across honestly. Yet there he was, watching me with a devilishly handsome smirk on his perfect face. 

Jaden Perry -the son of the Alpha- who happens to be my mate.