Chapter 1: Cold

The heel of his boot connects painfully to the side of my face as I lie shaking on the floor. My cry of pain is cut short by another blow to the stomach, and I try to pull my legs in front of my stomach. 

"No. You take it, like the good mutt you are," Alpha Chris says through gritted teeth. Despisingly, I release my legs and let his kicks land on my stomach with brutal force. I bite down on my bottom lip, holding in the cries that threaten to fall until my throat feels as though I am going to vomit. 

When the blows finally leave me cold and bloodied on the floor, I listen to the sound of his boots clicking across the stone floor. 

"Did you learn your lesson about taking food, Jane?" He asks through panting breaths. As I squint my eyes, I can see him readjusting his pearl snap shirt that harbors drops of my blood on the front. When I try to respond to his question, my throat burns from where his hands had squeezed, and I cough instead. 

Alpha Chris lets out an echoing laugh that causes a shiver to run down my spine, just before the dungeon door slams closed with him on the other side. I let out a long, ragged breath before trying to stand. I don't get very far before my legs give out, and I am left on the ground once more, unable to make it to the dirtied mattress in the corner. 

Technically, it is more of a basement. Our pack house isn't very large, but there are other homes spread out in the area where the wolves live. There is a barred window that shines a small amount of the dying light into my chamber, and the door is just a normal door without iron bars or big locks on it. Any other wolf would be able to break the door down and walk out. 

Not me, though. I am stuck on the locked side of the door. I have my wolf, but I can't feel her when the pack doctor comes in every day to inject wolfsbane into my veins. It burns worse than any form of beating or sexual assault I have suffered from Alpha Chris or the other pack members, but worse than the pain, it dilutes my senses, making me dizzy nearly every second of the day. 

They are not diluted enough to not notice the stench of cigarette smoke covered with cologne, waving towards me a few hours after Alpha Chris had left me on the ground in a bloody heap. My legs instantly find their strength at the scent, and I stumble as far from the door as possible, huddling myself into the corner as he walks back into the room. 

"Get the fuck up, Jane. We've got company and I can't have you down here while they're here." He says, wrapping his hand into my hair and pulling upwards until I am standing. 

"Where will I go, Alpha?" I ask when he shoves me towards the door. I nearly stumble back to the ground, but I catch myself just before doing so. The effects of the wolfsbane are still clearly in my system.  

"First, you're going to get hosed down outside because you reek," he says with another shove as he forces me up the stairs with his hand at my back. When we walk through the hallways, I keep my head down as we pass by others. Embarrassment courses through me when I glance down at my lack of clothing. My undergarments are dirtied with grime, and the only piece of coverage I have is a shirt that Alpha Chris gave me after tearing my others apart. Holes tatter the fabric, and it covers hardly anything. 

He was not lying when he said I was going to be hosed down. I stood outside in the snow, barefoot, with my hands cupped around my pale skin to force the shivers down. After a few minutes of the hose water hitting me, nearly every feeling in my body disappears, and I let him hose me down without cries or shivers.

When he was finished hosing me off, he took me to a room, handing me a dress and new undergarments. Whoever is coming over must be very important if he is letting me dress like a normal person. It has been years since I have had the privilege of wearing clothes without holes. 

"Don't fuck this up. You're going to be with the mades, got it?" He grabs my wrist with a brusing force that makes my brows crease. 

"Yes, alpha," I tell him, desperate to get his grip off me. He only responds by pulling me closer to him with my hand. His free hand instinctively goes around my throat as he brings his face inches from mine, taking a deep breath in.

"If you do good, I'll take advantage of your clean state," he says with a grin that makes my stomach twist in fear. He drops my hand with a flick, leaving his red imprint on my skin.

"If you don't, well, Beta Mike and I might have some steam to blow off," he adjusts the sleeve of his shirt, and I realize he has changed it from the previously blood-covered one. 

When I follow him down to the kitchen, the maids are all already holding trays in a line, ready to enter the dining area with them. I immediately fall in line with them, picking up a random tray at the end. Alpha Chris disappears from the kitchen, and we wait. We wait for several minutes in silence, until a butler pokes his head around the corner to signal our entry. 

I focus on my feet, ensuring that the wolfsbane doesn't take its toll as I try to take the dish to the end of the table, placing it in line with the others. I don't look up from the ground, but I can smell his cigarette smoke and something I can't place. Something new that makes my stomach warm with comfort. 

"Go away," Alpha Chris says to the line of maids, and we all turn to go around the other side of the table. Just as I think I am in the clear, a hand reaches from their seat, wrapping a large, warm hand around my wrist.