Breeding Machine

Zelda’s POV

The world was a blur of speed and pain. I couldn’t tell how long I’d been dragged before an iron door groaned open and I was thrown to the ground like a sack of nothing. My hand shot to my belly on instinct, and I gasped, trying to force air back into my lungs.

I pushed myself up on shaking legs. “Hey! Let me out of here!” My fists hit the door, again and again, but nothing answered except silence.

They hadn’t even brought Mia. “You animals, let me go!”

I kept pounding until my arms gave out. When the door finally opened, it wasn’t to free me. A plate of food skidded across the floor toward me instead. I stared at it, pride telling me to shove it away, hunger telling me otherwise. Hunger won.

The next day crawled by. I stopped shouting. I just sat on the cold, filthy floor, hugging my knees, my mind circling Mia’s name over and over. Across the room, other prisoners huddled together, whispering behind their hands. I didn’t need to hear the words to know who they were talking about.

Then, without warning, the gate swung open. Rough hands hauled me to my feet and marched me past door after door before shoving me down onto hard stone again.

“Careful,” a voice said. Vance’s voice. Unmistakable.

I looked up straight into the same circle of old, cold faces from before. My stomach dropped.

I scrambled upright. “Where is…” The question died in my throat when a voice boomed through the room.

“Young lady. Today, we talk. You listen.”

“Ah, no.” I opened my mouth to argue, but I didn’t get far.

“Or your friend gets it.” The threat landed like a hand around my throat. I shut my mouth and sank back down, waiting.

“I trust by now you understand the situation you’ve found yourself in,” the elder continued.

“The man you shared a bed with is our Alpha.

And you, it seems, are the mate we’ve spent years searching for.”

“I’m his what?”

A woman rose from beside Vance, finally slipping her arm from his. I would later learn her name was Leah.

“Dad. Let me handle this.” She descended from the raised platform, unhurried, each step deliberate, until she stood directly in front of me.

“I’ll spell it out, so even your human brain can keep up.” She began to pace, slow, predatory.

“A mate is supposed to be a person’s one true love. The only one you’ll ever have in your whole existence.” She stopped, tilting her head.

“Except you’re human. Which means you don’t get to be anyone’s true love. You get to be his breeding machine.”

The words hit me like ice water. Everything in me recoiled, but that last sentence was the one that cracked something open. “Excuse me?”

The slap came before I saw it coming, sharp and hot, snapping my head sideways. I pressed my palm to my burning cheek and glared up at her. No one moved. No one spoke. Not even Vance, who suddenly found the floor very interesting.

“Don’t interrupt me, human.” Leah’s voice was calm, which somehow made it worse. “You should be thanking whatever god you believe in that you’re still breathing. And if you’d like to keep it that way, you’ll listen carefully. You are, unfortunately, the only chance this pack has of continuing its bloodline. So we’ll give you a nice apartment. A better life than whatever pathetic existence you had before. And in exchange, you’ll do what you were apparently built for. Keep having his children.”

My jaw dropped. I waited for someone, anyone, to laugh, to say this was some sick joke. No one did. They only stared, a wall of contempt.

“So I’m supposed to be a baby-making machine now?” My voice cracked on the last word.

Leah’s mouth curved. “Look at that, Dad. She understands.”

I opened my mouth again, but her finger landed against my lips before a sound escaped.

“Careful, human. Unless you want your friend to pay for it.”

That shut me up completely.

Everything after that blurred together. One moment I was on my knees while a room full of strangers looked down on me like I was something they’d scraped off a shoe. The next, I was being hauled away again, screaming for someone, anyone, to let me go. No one did. I was marched past crowds who watched me with the same disgust, like I was some stray that had wandered too far into their territory.

Then a door opened, and I was shoved inside.

A real room. Four walls, a bed, and a door that actually closed behind me.

I sat frozen for a long moment before it opened again and a bundle of clothes hit the floor, along with a small bag of toiletries.

I made myself stand and face the mirror across from me. The girl staring back barely looked like me. Leah’s handprint still bloomed red across one cheek. My hair was a tangled mess, my clothes barely holding together. My hand found my belly again, moving in slow, absent circles.

How did I get here? Into a world I didn’t even know existed twenty-four hours ago?

I refused to fall apart. Not here. Not in front of them.

I grabbed the toiletries and locked myself in the bathroom.

It looked achingly normal, tiled walls, a shower, a sink, nothing that hinted at the nightmare outside the door. I stood under the warm water longer than I needed to, letting it wash away more than just the dirt. My nerves finally started to settle. I was still toweling off when I heard the door creak open.

I snatched the robe hanging on the hook and wrapped it tight around myself before stepping out.

Leah was waiting, flanked by a handful of girls who wore the same smug, knowing expressions.

Her eyes trailed from my head down to my legs before slowly returning to my face. A look of pure disdain settled in them.

“Hard to believe you managed to land yourself in his bed with a body like that.”

My fingers tightened around the rope until my knuckles turned white.

“These girls will assist in taking care of you and the Alpha’s child. As the Luna, this is the least I could do.” She said with a smile that never reached her eyes.

Was she expecting me to thank her for that?

My gaze shifted to the girls. They stood there wearing identical smug expressions, looking at me like I was already beneath them.

I slowly shook my head.

Leah turned to leave, but just as she reached the door, she stopped. Without looking back, she spoke in a voice so cold it sent a chill crawling down my spine.

“Welcome to hell, human.”