3

Leah

Jeers followed me as I was dragged away from the hall and towards my doom, my reality. I was numb, the words swimming laps through my mind with each passing second as I tried to dissociate from my reality, but tell me, how does one forget being called property? How does one survive it?

How does someone survive being used as one?

Nothing would ever be the same again. This thought settled, and I was brought back harshly to reality, and a gut-wrenching scream left my lips as I thrashed against the hold of the rogues that dragged me to my new fate.

“Let me go!” I screamed, but they were too strong. They opened the chambers I recognized so well, the chambers prepared for Seth and i, but now belonged to Ares. I was pushed harshly into the chambers, and the door behind me locked sharply, sealing my fate.

I turned around wildly to see four maids, and I backed away into the door. “Come any closer and I will rip you all apart!” I threatened despite my cuffs.

The maids shared a look, and one of them stepped forward.

“Leah…” she whispered, and my heart stuttered when I recognized her. Elinor. She served my mother years ago, her gentleness being the reason Father had her take care of me till I was old enough to take care of myself. “Elinor?” My voice cracked. “Why are you…”

“Shh…” She held my hand, her soft eyes meeting mine. “You must listen to me. You can’t fight him. Not yet.”

“But Elinor…”  My throat closed with the words. “I can’t let him…”

Her grip tightened. “You must pretend. Obey. Let him think he’s broken you, so he underestimates you. That is how you survive.”

I met her gaze with tears filling them. She was right, I had to make Ares think he broke me so I could strike.

That meant doing everything he wanted. 

“I’ll help you when I can. After tonight, I'll tell you what to do. But if you resist him openly, he will destroy you… and your father.” Her eyes searched mine with desperation. “Swallow your pride, little wolf. Endure. It’s the only way you’ll ever strike back.”

I nodded softly and broke down. “He took everyone from me.”

She wrapped her hands around me, patting my back. “And you would take everything back. But for now,” She pulled her eyes, pity filling them.

“Let’s prepare you for tonight. There are a few things you need to know for your first time.”

I stared at my hands as I sat on the bed, recalling how Seth’s blood stained them, and now how clean they were, just like the rest of me.

Elinor did scrub me clean, and now I was seated, in nothing but a nightdress, my hair left to flow down my back, and a single flower in my hair, waiting for my doom.

I was seated at the corner of the bed, my eyes burning from all the tears I had poured, every blink a reminder of the loss. Time crawled as the silence echoed in my ears, crushing me under its weight as I could do nothing but wait for my fate.

I could feel the pull of sleep despite the storm in my chest. With my heart pounding, I jerked back up after lowering my head, determined not to give in. My father in chains, Ares' smirk, and Seth's blood were among the shadows that always emerged behind my eyes when I closed them.

Minutes dragged on for hours. Or maybe it was only a few seconds. I lost my bearings. My body betrayed me by luring me into brief periods of unconsciousness, which were followed by a jolt of fear. Every shock caused my heart to beat harder.

Then...

A noise.

The sound of heavy boots against the floor echoes through the corridor like a countdown. My blood turned to ice.

The atmosphere changed. Before I could stop it, his powerful and rich scent swirled into my lungs from beneath the door. My wolf charged forward, whining and desperate to take what was hers.

I choked on it. No. It was poison. Heinous. Him.

Ares.

I clenched the sheets into white-knuckled fists as my stomach twisted and bile rose. With claws raking inside me, my wolf pressed closer, yearning to meet him. With an unbearable surge of heat, my body betrayed me.

The lock scraped. My whole body tensed, split in two.

He was here.

The door swung open, and the world shifted.

The instant his scent reached me, my wolf stirred; it was dark, rich, and intoxicating, everything I should have desired. Desperate to respond to the bond, she pressed against my chest and let out a low whine.

I gagged. No. Because of his wickedness, the sweetness in the air was poison. My body betrayed me for something that was hidden beneath the rot, and every breath made me hate myself.

"Leah," he muttered as he entered. His tone was harsh and low, velvet. My wolf shuddered as the air shifted around him, heavy with power. She desired to bow. She desired to expose her throat.

I forced my nails into my palms until the cuffs bit my skin. You won't.

His grey eyes shone with gold rims as his gaze dropped to the barely decent nightdress and the flower in my hair, but his nostrils flared as he took in my scent. I shuddered under his stare, from anger, from hatred.

From lust. I had never felt such a pull. I wish it wasn’t with a monster. 

His eyes darkened as he took a step towards me, but pushed back into the bed frame, my heart pounding my heart as I thought of the best way to distract him and run as fast as I could. 

But there was no escape. From this monster. From this bond.

He took another step, eyes staying pinned on me as the air thickened with his dominance until he was all I could breathe in.

He growled, "Mine," a low, final word that sounded like a verdict.

Before I could turn it off, the bond writhed through me and responded. Unwanted and unexpected heat shot up my spine, and I balled my fists until the cuffs sliced through my flesh.

You won't break. You won't.

But my goodness, it was painful to fight him, to fight her, to fight the fire that blazed through my veins simply because he was in the same room as me.

Towering, he halted just a breath away, and his scent overpowered me until my head turned. He raised his hand, his fingers lingering, almost touching my cheek. Desperate for contact and her mate, my wolf pressed against my chest.

Bile rose in my throat as I jerked my head away. "Don’t touch me."

He chuckled darkly. “So beautiful for something produced by that monster.”

He pulled away, his gaze not breaking as he leaned against the vanity.

I let out a short breath, my eyes not leaving his as I watched his every move.

He watched mine. 

My gaze dropped to the door, and in a split second, I bolted for it, but before I could reach anywhere, his rough hands grabbed me, and I was pulled straight into his hard chest.

“That was incredibly dumb, Leah.” his breath heated my neck as he whispered into my ear, and I shuddered from his hardness on my back, the contact of him on my body filling me with a foreign heat I couldn't stop.

I twisted in his grip, snarling, but his hold only tightened until I felt the bones in my arms protest.

“Let me go!” I screamed, thrashing against him.

His lips brushed my ear, his tone low and dark. “Every time you resist me, every time you defy me, your father pays for it in blood.”

The fight inside me died. My chest heaved, fear and anger mixing up. He smirked when he felt me freeze, as if he had pressed his fingers straight into my soul and made it silent.

“You…” I hissed, choking on the word, “you are nothing but a coward. A tyrant. A bastard. A monster who can’t…”

He twisted me around and slammed me against the bedpost, his eyes burning into mine with savage hunger. “Enough. Right now, you’re going to obey.”

Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to look away, refused to give him even that. “I’ll never obey you.”

The cruel smirk of his mouth deepened. “Oh, you will. Because if you don’t…” he leaned closer, his lips ghosting mine, “…your father’s screams will be the last sound you ever hear.”

My gaze dropped to his lips, and I swallowed, meeting his eyes. 

“Fuck you. You’re vile.” My voice cracked, but I forced it louder. “You’re a disgrace to our kind.”

.“And yet, your wolf claws at you for me.” His gaze cut me open, seeing too much. “Don’t deny it, Leah. I can hear her. I can smell her. She wants me,” he bent to whisper once more. “I can smell your arousal, Leah.”

Shame filled me with those words. My body betrayed me.

He pulled away from me once again, leaving me empty and lost as he returned to the vanity.

“I wouldn't touch you tonight,” he declared, and I let out a sigh, but refused to relax entirely.

Maybe he wasn't as savage as I thought. But the glint in his eyes says otherwise.

“No, I will only touch you when you beg, and you will. But tonight, you would do something else.”

His gaze fell on my dress again, and it darkened when they found mine again.

“You’re going to lie on that bed, Leah. And you’re going to touch yourself while I watch.”

“What?” I whispered as I stared at him in shock.

“You heard me. You are going to touch yourself until you come, on your matrimonial bed, while your fiancé’s corpse is still fresh. Because now, you belong to me."