Chapter 8: Sutton

I swallowed the lump in my throat. It would come out eventually.

“Yes,” I said. “He did.”

Alpha Lucas’s eyes darkened and the muscle of his jaw twitched. The energy in the room shifted becoming more focused, more intense.

“I was mated with the Beta of the Dawn Stalker Pack,” I explained, feeling a sudden desire to tell him everything. “He claimed me five years ago. After Alpha Anders started working with my father, it was part of a business deal.”

“Your father sold you to Beta Mason for business?” Alpha Lucas said with a low rumble.

“No… no, that’s not what I meant,” I rushed. “It was complicated. There was a loan involved, yes, but it wasn’t to buy me. We needed the money in advance to save my sister. She was sick.”

“That still doesn’t explain why Beta Mason would take you as his mate,” Alpha Lucas replied.

“Well, it was Alpha Anders’ idea,” I told him. “He… he wanted me close. Those were his terms. I… I don’t know why. I was just supposed to be working for him in the packhouse. I was supposed to be the maid. But once I moved there, he… he said that wasn’t enough. He would have taken me as his mate but… but no Alpha could be seen mated to a lowly human. So he gave me to…”

“Wait, what do you mean a human?” Alpha Lucas interrupted.

My brow furrowed in confusion. I didn’t know what he was asking.

“What… I… well, his pack wouldn’t accept a human as his mate,” I stated. “It would make him look weak.”

Alpha Lucas stood up abruptly, turning his back to me. Something I had said obviously upset him but I wasn’t sure what. I could tell he wasn’t pleased about learning that Mason had beat me. And he seemed appalled that it sounded like I had been sold to him. But something about me being a human changed something in him.

My stomach twisted into a knot and my chest burned. My face flushed with shame and embarrassment as I hung my head. But I was just as confused as before as well. It wasn’t like me being human was news to him. Maybe it was that I was a human mated to a lycan. I didn’t know much about the culture in other packs, but I guess they were all against mixed pairings. I know Mason had no problem reminding me how generous he was to put up with such a weak and pathetic mate.

“Did you mark him?”

“What?” I replied, swiping at the tear that started to escape.

“He marked you,” Alpha Lucas stated. “Did you mark him?”

I shook my head. “No,” I told him. “I… I can’t...”

His hands clenched into fists. His shoulders tensed. Looking at him, he was more formidable than I could have imagined. My heart began to race as I tried to look for a quick escape. I just knew he would turn on me any second now. I wouldn’t survive if he came at me at full force. Maybe I could barricade myself in the bathroom? I took advantage of his back toward me and slowly inched my way across the bed.

“When did he start beating you?” Alpha Lucas asked in an eerily calm voice.

Again, I swallowed the lump in my throat. Cursing myself for ending up in the same situation I escaped from but with a far more dangerous wolf. I should have tried to get out of pack lands. I should have just let them kill me.

“Sutton,” Alpha Lucas barked when I didn’t answer.

I jumped. “A few months after,” I said. “It… it wasn’t bad at first. He had to keep it hidden.”

I kept inching toward the bathroom. That was until his next question made me freeze.

“Did he force himself on you?”

I closed my eyes, forcing back the flood of memories his words evoked. I had worked too hard to keep those moments from destroying me. My only solace was that no one else knew. No one else would see what he had done to me whenever they looked at me.

Alpha Lucas turned. I looked to see if he was coming for me and our eyes locked.

He knew. I didn’t have to say anything to answer his question. He only had to look in my eyes. Bile rose in the back of my mouth. Shame and disgust swirled within my gut. And defiance. No matter what, I swore to myself long ago that I would never let those feelings consume me again.

I didn’t bother trying to wipe away the tears. I didn’t really care. They would fall whether I wanted them to or not. But I did lift my chin. Sitting up a little straighter. I may be a lowly human, but I wouldn’t let him think what Mason did to me made me any less. I had held on to the last shreds of who I was for too long to let this man take it away from me.

Alpha Lucas took a step toward me and I slid back, one foot going to the floor as I prepared to run. But he stopped. The muscle in his jaw twitched again. I lost track of how long we were in that standoff. Neither speaking. Neither moving. Until he suddenly turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I drew in a sharp, ragged breath. I covered my mouth to stifle the sob that surged from my chest. I collapsed on the bed and let the torrent break through.