Nikolai's POV Every time I remembered that I had Jonas' daughter held captive in my basement, I had a rush of two emotions; satisfaction that I had completed the first step of my plan, and anger. Anger that she was still there, anger that she was alive. She had no right living. No right to still be alive and healthy down there when she should be in pain instead. She should be writhing in pain every second. Furious, I raked my fingers through my hair, heading down to the basement to see what condition she was in. "Alpha," I heard someone greet me. I half turned to see a woman I didn't recognize. I frowned. She bowed immediately. "Make it quick," I snapped. In reply, she loosened her hold on the loose shirt wrapped around her chest. "Last night...w-was amazing," She stammered. "I had no idea you had your eyes on me all this while. Now I've figured it out I was hoping this..." She motioned to herself then me. "...would lead to something truly beauti—" "Can you shut up?!" I cut her off. Why did these women have to be so dumb? "If you think last night meant anything more than a good hard fuck to calm my nerves down, then you are clearly delusional. Out of my sight before I do it myself," I growled. Disappointment clear on her face, I watched her wobble away. I was seriously running out of patience for these women. A few moments later, I was at the dungeon. From behind the door, I couldn't hear anything. It was quiet. Too quiet. The basement was dark so it was s little difficult to see. But I could make out the small form of the woman laying on the floor. She lay in a position that gave the illusion that she was asleep. But in no time she had sensed my presence. I watched her scramble up and shrink back into the wall in fear, her wild hair sticking up in all directions. My eyes roaming the floor, I saw the tray of food I had ordered brought down here for her still sitting there, cold. The food in the tray from the previous day was beginning to rot as well. I clenched my fists. "Why aren't you eating?" I spat. I had decided that I would let her starve the whole time she was down here. After all she wasn't here to be pampered. But Drew had convinced me otherwise. "How is she supposed to stay alive if she's not getting anything to eat?" He had asked, giving me a puzzled look. "I didn't bring her here to keep her alive," I spat, wondering why he would even say that. "Alpha, I know that. But how would you feel if she died of malnutrition rather than your own hands?" He had asked. I had through it through and decided he was right. Since then I had given the order for a small portion of food to be given to her every two days. But here she was, all the three trays untouched. I would have forced Drew down here to see what an ungrateful bitch we were dealing with here, but he had travelled off for one of his business meetings. "Please, I don't want anything from you. Just let me go, I beg you," I heard her plead from were she was huddled on the floor. "The food isn't good enough for you?!" She didn't reply. In anger, kicked the untouched trays of food in the air. "You ungrateful bitch. You think you're some sort of princess?" I'm yelled, watching her flinch with every word I spoke. "The food is too measly for you is it? We'll see. This is the very last mean you are going to have." I had heard her complain about the food the last time, saying it was stale. I had thought that a few days without food would humble her. But clearly, she was still on her high horse. Daddy's girl who got everything handed down to her. I was going to make her suffer. Mind liking one of the guards I had placed in charge of her, I ordered them to stop any food delivery to her. "What do you want from me? I didn't do anything wrong to anyone...please just let me go," She whimpered, tears falling down her cheeks. She hadn't even seen anything yet. It was time to see if the rumors of how powerful a she-wolf she was were true. By the time she stayed a few days without food, her wolf would start to weaken. I wanted to watch her suffer. Suffer till she begins to die, slowly, painfully. Walking closer to her, I picked her up by the collar of the dress she was wearing. Her attempts to escape my grip were futile and so she gave up, head bowed as she shivered from head to toe. I held her fast by her neck. "The only reason you're not dead yet is because I want to take my precious time. From tomorrow you will start working upstairs as one of the servants. And if you think of doing anything stupid while you're up there, I'll tear you to shreds without a second thought." As I spoke, I tightened my grip on her neck, squeezing until her face reddened and she began to tap my arm weakly. I watched in satisfaction, tossing the thought of strangling her to death right now in my head. When she was a few seconds away from slipping into unconsciousness, I let her go. I watched as she landed with a loud thud, clutching her neck and coughing uncontrollably. Her eyes watered as she looked up at me, still shaking. Good. This was just the beginning of her pain. I would bring her down so low to a point she had never been before. All that status, class and entitlement that came with growing up in a rich home would be reduced to nothing by the time I was through with her. I would show that she was nothing. And I wouldn't stop until she started to believe it too. Mind linking the guards to come back to their positions, I exited the room to the sound of her sobbing.
Liyah's POVMy entire body racked with sobs as I huddled against the wall still shaken from my encounter with my captor. I had had a pretty bad fall when he dropped me, and now I was unable to move my right leg. A tear dropped from my eyes as I tried to twist my foot to the left to see how bad it was. I realized that my ankle had taken the brunt of it.I still didn't get a good look at my kidnapper's face. The dungeon was just too dark. I had hoped to see his face, to enable me find out if I knew him from anywhere. If he was someone I knew then I would try to recollect why he would kidnap me. But I knew I had no enemies, well unless my pack counts. But apart from them, I hadn't had any encounter with anyone else that would make them want to punish me like this. The only thing I had made out so far was that he was obviously the Alpha of the pack. I could tell from the way they addressed him. But that wasn't good news either. It was rare to find a kindhearted Alp
Liyah's POVI felt like I had only just shut my eyes to sleep when I felt someone shake me awake. I opened my eyes weakly to see one of the guards looming above me."Get up," He ordered, pulling me up at the same time. As I stood to my feet I sucked in a sharp breath. My ankle was swollen and it looked even worse than yesterday. The guard didn't look like he cared as he pushed me forward, toward the door. I wobbled to the floor, wondering why the much friendlier guard wasn't here instead.As though he could read my thoughts, he walked in, taking in the sight before him and glaring at his colleague before gently holding onto my arm and helping me up. I murmured my thanks, grateful that at least one person didn't want me dead.I took shaky breaths in anticipation as they led me out of the dungeon. Getting out the dungeon wasn't an achievement, but I was thankful that I at least got to leave. As we got through the last wooden door, I instinct
Jonas' POVI stared appreciatively at the large portrait of myself that had been presented to me by a group of alphas on the moon festival. I would have liked it bigger than it was, but I kept it because it was a sign of respect from those packs. A smirk fleeted onto my lips. It's not like they had had a choice anyway. I would have any pack which didn't present a gift to myself or my daughter eliminated. The consequences of attempting to cross me were too dire.Glancing at the portrait one last time, I settled down into my chair. All my years of hard work had definitely paid off. I was basically untouchable. To crown it all, another achievement had come in the form of my daughter. I was sure there wasn't any father who was prouder of his child. Every time I watched her train, or emerge as the winner in combat, especially with male werewolves, I blessed the Moon Goddess for giving her to me. She was vicious, ruthless and powerful; everything I had ever wanted in
Nikolai's POVMy frown deepened as I observed her from my bedroom window. I didn't understand any of it. She had been working consistently, no food or water, but she never hesitated, never complained even once. It angered and surprised me at the same time. Why was she so calm about everything? It made me wondered if she had a escape plan. I had tried to torture the truth out of her, but every single time she just ended up a sobbing mess, begging at my feet. That didn't seem like someone who had a plan.As I watched her turn the cloth she was using to scrub the walls of the old balcony, i had never felt so confused in my entire life. She worked without ceasing, not stopping for once to catch her breath until her work was complete. I hated the fact that it she seemed to complete each task effortlessly. I wondered if she was only doing it to spite me. And it angered me thinking she wasn't going through any sort of pain. I needed to find other methods of making her
Nikolai's POVI swerved my car into the opening beneath the cluster of trees, parking as quietly as I could. When I was done, I carefully made my way out of the car and moved toward my destination. I had to be quick this time as I had almost gotten caught the last time. The risks associated with my escapades were very high, but I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.My brows furrowed in confusion when I came to face a wide field of nothing but empty space. Had they changed their minds? I was a hundred percent sure that they were supposed to be here. Unconvinced, I roamed round the field trying my best to be as quiet as possible. When I located a small cave-like opening in a nearby wall, I quickly transformed, ready to defend myself against any possible attack. I moved through the passage way quickly. There was no time. When I finally caught sight of a large piece of canvas covering what looked like a vehicle, I rushed to it, quickly pulling it off.
Annalise's POVMy eyes darted toward the gates for the hundredth time today as I tried to keep myself busy with organising the training ground. It was still quite early in the morning. It wasn't the first time he was doing this but that didn't change how furious I felt. I had awakened this morning to see that Nikolai was nowhere to be found, and I knew he didn't have any business meetings because he would have told me. When I didn't find his car as well I knew he had done it again.He would just leave all of a sudden unannounced. Sometimes I wondered if I would keep bothering to try if we weren't blood related. Everything had changed when his mate had died. He had gone from loving and engaging to cold and passive, and I understood why. I wanted to be there for him, we all did. But he pushed everyone away. Sometimes I couldn't recognise the cold-hearted person he had become.But the day Elle had died, I had sworn never to give up on Nikolai, no matter
Liyah's POVThe binds on my wrists pierced deeper into my skin as I struggled to sit up, pushing my back harder against the wall. I readied myself for what was in store for me, scared for myself but still not regretting helping that little boy.In the place of my captor, I saw a beautiful woman walk in. Trying to look through my blurred vision, I recognized her as the woman from the day before, Elyan trailing behind her."Get up," She ordered as she got to where I stood. I obeyed. The last thing I wanted was another round of punishment.My ears burned as she looked me over. For some reason I felt so small and comfortable standing next to her intimidating form. A few moments later she motioned Elyan to release the binds, and I gasped from the combination on pain and relief when they fell off."You have orders from our superior to heal one of the members who is wounded. It should be done quickly and by the hour."My bro
Nikolai's POVI quickly lay back down when a sharp pain tore through my head as I tried to stand up. I was aware that my abdomen stung and that I was sweating. I could remember being stabbed with silver. With difficulty I tried to remember the events of the past few hours. I remembered going on that mission to save those people, meeting a strange man, and getting battered by the Monhowl pack.My heart thumped as I thought of the freed werewolves. The strange man had claimed to know where my safehouse was and then I had had no choice but to trust him. I needed to check and make sure they were really safe there, and not just enslaved to a different master.Turning with difficulty, I faced the other presence in the room. Margaret, the Healer of the pack, sat up straight with a panic stricken expression I could not understand."Alpha, thank the goddess you're awake," She said, bowing.I observed her carefully. She looked relieved to