Punishment Begins Tonight

Lilith's POV 

One moment, I'm standing on the platform, the next, I'm being dragged out of the room. 

Vane doesn't lead me towards the red carpet at the main entrance or the hotel. Instead, he hauls me through the back service doors reserved for the workers, right past empty stacks of crates. 

His hand is tightened around my arm, nails digging into the soft skin of my elbow so hard it bruises.

The air out here is disgusting, the stench of wet concrete and trash thick behind the building. It is a contrast from the perfume and flowers inside the room. 

“Ah! Let go! Vane! You're fucking hurting me!” I yell, my voice cracking. I glance at the kitchen staff, the ones I've always been nice to whenever I visit this hotel, tipping them more than they make in a month, but they won't even spare me a gaze. 

Their eyes are fixed on the floor; some scrubs the prep table as though their lives depend on it, their faces pale. They are terrified of him.

Just then, my foot suddenly hits a piece of broken concrete, my thirteen hundred dollar custom stiletto heels snapping in half, the heel skidding off into the dark. 

“My shoe!” I yell, glancing back. “Stop, Vane. That's…that's custom made!” I'm stumbling, my bare foot hitting the freezing ground.

He doesn't even stop for a brief second, just keeps pulling my arm while he walks, forcing me to limp and hop pathetically to stop myself from falling face first on the concrete. 

The cracks on the ground hurt, piercing into my skin and for the first time in my life, I feel like….nothing. Worth less than trash on the clearing. 

“Don't worry princess. There would be no need for shoes where we're going” Vane sneers, his voice calm and mocking. He doesn't sound angry; rather, like he couldn't care less about me. 

“At the very least, you'll be quite lucky if we let you keep the dress” 

Before I can process his words, I am suddenly shoved into the back of a black Maybach. 

The car is so quiet that it becomes suffocating. I'm sandwiched between Roman and Malakai, the air so thick and heavy, filled with all three of their scent at once, making the hairs on my skin rise.

Malakai doesn't spare me a glance, just buries his head in his tablet like I don't exist. And honestly….his silence is worse than Vane’s grip. 

But Roman is definitely looking at me. I can feel his predatory gaze tracing every corner of my neck, especially where the heavy diamond choker sits. 

At that moment, everything comes crashing down all at once: the fact that I was just handed over like some sort of animal by my parents, Jax’s weird attitude….they all finally break me. 

My chest begins to heave, and before I can stop myself, I start crying. It's not the quiet, pretty princess kind of cry, it's messy. My nose is running and I'm whimpering so hard, it's almost difficult to breathe properly. 

At this moment, everything feels so overwhelming. I just want to wake up in my own bed tomorrow and realize all these were just a terrible nightmare. 

“Please…please” I cry, my voice cracking. “Just…just send me back home. Whatever you guys want, I'll give it to you. Please….” 

Roman stretches his hands towards me. My heart skips a beat as I flinch, but he doesn't stop. He catches a tear that's about to fall down my cheeks with his thumb, stares at it for a brief second, then slowly smears it across my bottom lip. 

“Princess, don't waste your tears anymore” he whispers with a wink, his voice a low vibrating hum that I can literally feel in my stomach. “You'll need it later, when you're screaming my name” 

I frown, pulling away from him but my shoulder hits Malakai, grazing his jaw. I recoil, waiting for him to snap at me but he still doesn't look up from his screen. 

“Roman” Malakai finally speaks up, his voice flat. “Don't play with our food yet, until we've reached the house. Rules are rules” 

Food? The word rings in my ears, making my stomach churn with dread and disgust. 

The drive feels like it's been more than a day already. But finally, we pull up to the mountains to a huge house in the middle of nowhere. It looks more like a massive fortress than an actual home. 

The Monolith: a place only described in werewolf history books. But here I am, about to walk into it. 

With each step we take into the building, I can feel my heart hitting against my ribs, the air so heavy like a deadly storm is about to brew. But just as they surround me, I nearly double over. 

My breath hitches, not because of dread but because I feel this weird pull towards the Triad, rather than being scared of them. 

Malakai stops. I look at his shadow on the ground and it looks…weird. Too big and scary. He turns to look at me, his amber eyes dark and almost terrifying.

“You might be wondering why you aren't biting harder” he speaks up calmly as he reaches to touch the choker.

“It's all in your DNA, Lilith. It's written to be ours. And your ‘parents’ never raised you like a daughter, instead, they careful grew a cure for our curse” 

I shake my head, taking a step back but I bump into Roman. “I…I'm not a drug” I say, my voice shaking as I hurriedly shift away from Roman. 

“You're not,” Vane says, stepping behind me as he wraps his arms around my waist. I can feel the heat radiating off his chest through my silk dress. “You're the sacrifice, princess. And tonight? The long awaited ritual begins” 

Then drag me upstairs to the farthest room that looks more like a high end hotel. But once the door clicks shut behind me, I realize it has no handles. Which means one thing: no way to escape even if I tried to. 

“Strip” Malakai orders. 

He plops down in a leather chair, his legs crossed as he grabs a drink on the table. 

I shake my head, clutching my dress so tightly my knuckles turn white. “No, please,” I whisper. 

Roman walks up behind me, his hands on my shoulders. His skin is hot, making mine feel weird in a way that scares me. "She said no, Malakai. I think she wants us to take it off for her."

Before I can even think about screaming, Vane is right there. I hear the harsh sound of the zipper going down my dress. 

"I'll start with the zipper," Vane says, his voice low and hungry. "Roman, you do the hair. Malakai... you watch."

The silk falls, pooling at my feet. I’m standing there in my lacy underwear and that heavy, stupid choker. 

I’m shaking and embarrassed, and they’re all just staring at me. But I’ve never felt more seen in my life.

Malakai stands up. He’s so tall he blocks the light, leaving me in the dark. He doesn't touch me. He just uses a finger to pull the choker up, making me stand on my toes. I have to look at him….at the hunger in his eyes.

"Beautiful," he says, his thumb touching the metal on my throat. "But I think we'll start the punishment phase tonight. Roman... get the silk ties." 

He lets go, and the sound of the door locking is the last thing I hear before the lights go down.