CHAPTER 2: HORRIFIED

KATARINA

Horrified, I grabbed my fallen gown from the floor, clutching the fur to my chest, and bolted past Alexander toward the door.

But an arm appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around my waistline. I screamed as I was lifted off my feet and thrown back onto the bed. The impact knocked the breath out of my lungs, and the gown slipped through my fingers.

Panic crept up my throat as I scrambled blindly, reaching for anything to cover myself. My fingers closed around a pillow, but a voice bellowed just as I dragged it toward my chest.

"Stop!"

The word echoed behind Alexander, and I froze. Greyson stood behind his brother, his eyes cutting into me with a cold stare that made my blood run sluggish. "Wh-at is this?" My voice shook as it left my lips, but the question dissipated when he crossed the room in three long strides and grabbed my shoulders.

"This is how it's done," he stated firmly. And the sound of the door closing cut through his words. I glanced over his shoulder to see that Alexander had left, and my eyes returned to my husband's.

"No!" I shrieked in horror, disgust, and confusion. What did he take me for? Some cheap whore? “Nobody informed me about this. If someone had told me, I would not have agreed. I would never have married you!"

Greyson let me go, as if my skin had burned him, and my lips moved, about to tell him that I didn't want anything to do with this and that if marrying him meant having sex with his brother as well, we might as well forget this marriage, but my words never came.

A heavy darkness rippled across the room so fast that it sliced right through my lungs, stopping me in my tracks. It was Greyson's Alpha aura, and the whites vanished from his eyes, leaving only silver.

"Did you just tell me no?" He greeted through his teeth, and my lips moved again to tell him I wanted to go home, but the impact of his hand against my cheek sent me flying back onto the bed, my vision exploding into white.

The room spun as I gasped for air, my lungs refusing to function properly due to the shock. And before I could take another breath, his hands wrapped around my throat. I clawed at him instinctively, my nails scraping against his skin as panic gripped me. But his grip tightened, crushing and unrelenting.

“Have you forgotten what you are?" he exclaimed. “Nothing! Trash! How dare you talk back to me! How dare you think you have a choice!" Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision, tunneling inward, and I attempted to speak, but only a broken sound came out.

"I can't breathe," I choked, but he didn't listen, growling and pressing harder against my neck until I thought he was going to snap me in half. My wolf charged forward without warning, twisting my body beneath him before kicking him and causing him to stumble back.

"You, fucking bitch!" He growled, and a sudden, scorching rush ripped through my chest like fire. He hit me. I knew what I was, but I'd be damned before letting a man, Alpha or not, touch me.

Greyson's face twisted, his eyes wild, and I couldn't tell if he snarled or laughed before his voice thundered across the room, betraying his shocked expression.

“You believe that mutt can stop me?" Still in human form, he charged, and Summer and I jumped to meet him head on. The collision shook the air, and he reached for our throats again, but we twisted and slashed at his side with our claws.

Our fangs slashed at his shoulder, catching skin and tearing, but he didn't even flinch. He roared, punching the side of Summer's head so hard we reeled.

He kept coming fast and brutal, and Summer met him head on, fear in her instincts but fury driving her even harder.

But it was clear from the beginning we had no chance. Summer snapped at his throat, but Greyson grabbed her mid-lung, his hand closing around her scruff with terrifying ease.

The impact slammed us into the stone wall, knocking the breath out of my lungs, and Summer twisted and clawed until blood splattered across her tongue. But Greyson did not even grunt.

Instead, he drove his knee into her ribs, and Summer howled in pain before Greyson threw us across the room. Colliding with the wall, we collapsed on the floor with a devastating thud.

“No," I choked inside my head as Summer tried to get back up. "Submit, or he will kill us." If he shifted, his wolf would kill us, and I could tell it was only a matter of time.

Summer's resistance shattered, and a broken sound ripped through both of us as she flattened her ears and bared her neck in the oldest, most humiliating submission.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to my wolf as she gave me back control, knowing she would have fought to the end. But the words died in my throat as Greyson slammed into me, roughly spreading my cheeks and ramming his cock inside me, half-shifted. It wasn't where I expected my husband to take my virginity, and pain erupted inside me, but I couldn't even scream.

All that left me was a broken sound before I lay there, my face buried in the cold tiles, tears mixing with the blood beneath me as he stripped me of my last shred of dignity before the darkness closed in on me.

***

GREYSON

I stared at the heap of blood-stained skin, her limbs twisted awkwardly, and bile rose up my throat. I was still enraged, and every part of me wanted to wake her up and rip her heart out, but I restrained myself even as my wolf, Frost, pushed and taunted, opposing my will.

He was just as enraged, and he refused to stop growling in my head. How dare she fight us? How dare she speak back at us?

Ignoring the pain in my ribs, I clenched my jaw, reaching for the bottle of whiskey that had miraculously survived the chaos. I unscrewed the cap with one hand and drank right from it.

But the burn down my throat was barely noticeable, my mind still on fire. I got up and picked up the room line. "Nina! Get in here now!"

It wasn't long before a knock echoed against the door, and the old hag limped inside, her eyes widening at the sight before her. “Get her something to wear."

“Yes, Alpha."

She knew the drill, and everything was quickly laid out on the bed.

“Get out," I demanded once she was finished. “Wait by the door for further instructions."

“Yes, Alpha."

The door closed behind her, and I stood up, looking back at the pile of shit that remained on the floor: she had no right to be unconscious. She should have been on her knees begging for forgiveness, not passing out like a frail creature after daring to fuck with me. I marched up to her and checked her pulse, which was unfortunately still there.

With clenched fists, I stood up, grabbed the garment bag containing her dress, and shot my foot at her ribcage.

“Get up! Get up, you stupid bitch." I growled, and a cough ripped through her chest as I hurled the dress at her. “Get dressed before I fuck your lights out again! Fucking piece of shit!"