Chapter 2

Luka

My heart was pounding so hard, it was like a lion in my ears. Even then, it couldn’t drown out the sounds from inside.

The lilting voice was unmistakable. Sofia, daughter of the beta of the pack, cooed and giggled to Declan’s apparent delight.

“My Alpha, I always considered you large in status. But I continue to be amazed by how much your physical…attributes…match your eminent size…”

A wave of unimaginable pain penetrated me, and despair pierced my heart. I slid down the wall next to Declan’s room, unable to stand under my own weight.

“I’ll have to work on your memory then,” Declan crooned back playfully.

Even from the other side of the door, I could hear kisses muffling Declan’s growl, and I thought I might be sick.

Nela was sobbing in pain, sending tremors through my body. I had never felt misery like this.

Experiencing your mate being with another lover has been compared to amputation. But when you hated your mate more than anyone in the world, it was so much worse than that.

And when your sadistic mate has betrayed you with a noble member of the pack who’s everything you’re not, who’s called you garbage and thrown food at you as far back as you can remember, it was like being ripped apart by wolves.

Literally.

I choked back tears as I stumbled back to the utility room. I wailed a sob as soon as I hit my thin blanket. It was already damp from tears as I curled up into fetal position.

Another wail joined in, and I realized it was Nela. With her active now, I felt twice as much of everything, including heartbreak.

“Goddamn you, Declan Shaw, you belong in hell!” I raged, my fists curled into a ball, pounding the floor. “Why, Goddess? Why! How could you do this to me? I was supposed to get away from my abuser, not find out he’s my mate!”

I screamed into the shirt I used as a pillow.

I forgot about the pain in my ribs and the burns on my hands. They couldn’t compare to the pain of this.

The door flew open and I knew even with my head buried in my shirt that it was Declan. The scent was overwhelming, irresistible, transcendent. And I hated him even more for it.

I tilted my head up to look at him, and I don’t know what was more revolting: the face of the man I hated or the fact that I couldn’t resist the pull of the mating bond.

He let out a sinister cackle and pointed. “Look at you, curled up like a mutt, actually lying down like a dog. Did you circle the blanket, too, before you lied down? You’re pathetic.”

I unfolded myself and sat up, knees clutched to my chest. I didn’t want him to see the embarrassment on my face. It was so confusing to want his approval so badly, while also wanting to punch him in the face.

Declan stalked over to me and placed his huge hand on my jaw like a vise. “Is it painful?”

With his hand on my chin, he knew I couldn’t answer.

“I have been waiting for this moment to make you miserable.”

I thought my jaw was going to be crushed, with how tight he held his hand there. My jaw was trembling, and he finally loosened his hand.

“Did you know?” I asked, just louder than a whisper. “Did you know that I was your mate?”

His lips formed a snarl, and he nodded, his hazel eyes narrowing. “Yes, I knew.”

His voice was filled with more contempt than I had ever heard, even though he’d never spoken kindly to me in my life.

I couldn’t speak. I didn’t even know what I would have said.

Declan gripped my chin again. “It’s because of you that I lost my chance to have the perfect Luna. She’s in my bed right now, and I should be there now, but you had to go and ruin my life, you bitch.”

He throttled my head for emphasis.

“You’re a dirty slave. You aren’t worthy of me. You don’t even deserve to share the same air I breathe. And I have to smell the disgusting smell of you everywhere. Even your pheromones stink, like the rest of you.”

He growled as he looked into my eyes. Declan’s eyes were practically yellow, burning with hatred. “I really want to kill you, you know.”

My eyes widened, and I started to find it difficult to breathe. Nela was stirring, defensive. Was he about to kill me?

“I won’t. If I was going to kill you, I would have already. You can thank my wolf for that. If my wolf weren’t so fucking attracted to you, you’d have been sent to God a long time ago. Or wherever it is trash like you go.”

I felt hollow inside. My voice came out tiny, as small as I felt. “Why not just reject me directly?”

He answered this with a powerful shove. My body slammed so hard into a storage cabinet for tools and electrical equipment that it collapsed, and it shattered a glass jar containing screws and nails. My entire arm was covered in blood. It started pooling in the floor around me, and I hoped I didn’t need stitches.

Nela howled in pain and fell into a slumber deeper than sleep, receding in a way that felt like she had completely disappeared. I felt completely alone for the first time since she had appeared. She was dormant and gone, and I didn’t know when I would get her back.

I was all alone with my tormentor, and I was scared.

When Declan spoke, the calm in his voice surprised me. But it couldn’t mask the chilling message. “Consider this a warning. Don’t even think about escaping my control, slave. The amount I choose to torture you depends on you, and do not test me.”

I hoped he was finished and would leave me in peace. But he had more.

“And don’t think about resisting me and my wolf. We’re hungry.” He leaned his face toward me and inhaled deeply through his nose. “You smell disgusting, because when I smell it, it confirms the reality that you’re my…I don’t even like saying the word. But the smell of your blood covers it up.”

I looked at my wounds and dreaded the idea of repeating this performance every night. And even though I was ravenously attracted to him against my will because of the mate scent, I shuddered at the idea of him coming into my bed. Well, utility room.

I nodded, terrified that he would injure me worse. I had never hated him so much, and it made me sick how much I wanted him, too.

“Clean yourself up, bitch,” Declan spat out. “And you’d better be prepared for tomorrow.”

I was afraid of attracting more punishment if I asked questions, but I was more afraid of facing an even worse punishment for not asking. “What’s tomorrow, Alpha Declan?”

“The new Alpha King is coming tomorrow to inspect the territory. So you’d better cook extra, and you’d better not embarrass me. And after you’ve cooked, you’re not to leave the utility room under any circumstances. Remember, just letting you live is a kindness.”

He glided across the room and left with a slam of the door that shook the room. Pulling out the glass shards out of my arms and broken ribs with my blistered hands, my heart felt empty. The rubbing alcohol burned like liquid fire, but in a way it was purifying.

I thought of how happy I’d been that morning, thinking of my new life filled with new possibilities. Hell, less than three hours ago, I thought I’d be telling stories of the hell I was living in to a future mate.

Now I found out the author of that hell was that mate. I felt a sense of mourning for the mate I had conjured up.

My world had fallen apart in the space of a few hours, and there was no end in sight to how much worse it could get.

I had no idea how much more miserable I could be. And I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

I wrapped my wounds, with only thought: I have to escape from here.