Chapter One

Left to be Eaten Alive

Elowen's POV

“I told you already. I didn't steal anything. I'm being falsely accused!”I defended myself for the fifth time.

Imagine working your ass off just to make a living because your husband refuses to leave the couch, and you're suddenly accused and arrested for stealing.

“Yeah? And the money magically appeared in your bag, huh?”Martin, the manager of the mart I was working at, sarcastically retorted.

“Martin, I've been working with you for two years now. If I intended to steal, I would have done so a long time ago.”I desperately defended myself. 

Martin dramatically rolled his eyes.

“I'm done talking to this thief. Officer, just lock her up because I have no intention of forgiving her. She needs to be taught a lesson.”

“No!”I cried and tried reaching for him but he was already gone and the officer pushed me back on the chair. “Martin, please!”

My voice remained unheard and I was thrown in a holding cell where I would wait for my fate. 

“I am not a thief,”I muttered.

I whimpered and hugged my knees, looking around the empty and dirty cell block. God knows how many wrongfully accused people like me were locked up here.

“Please save me, Henry.”

My life as a wife of a lazy, and poor man like Henry wasn't easy, and he would sometimes abuse me, but he was the only family I had. It was not easy growing up in this world as an orphan, and I don't want to lose my family again.

If I didn't meet Henry while he was accompanying his Alpha, I would still be alone. 

I huddled up in the corner, praying to God that Martin would feel guilty for what he did and come back. 

But he didn't. 

Based on the shadow moving in the cell, I could tell that it will be evening soon. I've been in the cell for five hours.

“S-Sir, please. What time is it?”

I crawled closer to the cell door and the officer glanced at his watch. 

“Quarter to six," he answered.

“Henry will be looking for dinner soon. If he doesn't eat by six, he would be angry and beat me, sir. Sir, please. I'm begging you. I'm innocent.”

The officer scoffed. “We'll see about that.”

“I-I am a slave of the Black Mountain pack, sir! Alpha Grayson, he would vouch for me, please!”

“Who would save a slave like you?”the officer mocked me and left.

I collapsed on the ground with a devastated look on my face. 

That's right. Who'd save a human slave like me? Our only purpose in this world is to serve the werewolves and lycans. It has always been like that since I was born.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until a loud bang woke me up, and I was startled awake.

“You're free to go.”

I scrambled on my feet and I rushed outside when he opened the cell door. I didn't want to spend a minute there.

“Reah!”

I threw my arms around my friend when I saw her outside, and she gave me a look of sympathy.

“If I didn't see Martin putting the money in your bag himself, what would the world have done to you, you naive woman?”

I gasped and covered my mouth. “He did?! But why would he do that?”

Reah sighed and handed me my things. 

“Go home, El. I'm sure you'll find out soon enough.”

I was confused about what she meant at first, but when I got home, I finally realized what she was saying.

“We finally got rid of her. We won't see her again, right?”

“Martin told me she was arrested earlier. She won't be getting out of there anytime soon, darling. We can be together now.”

I felt my heart being ripped out of my chest and exploding into a million pieces when I heard what my husband said.

“What's the meaning of this?”I asked shakily and they both turned to me with wide eyes.

“Elowen?! But how?!”

The woman beside him did a dramatic turn and Henry's betrayal hurt a thousand more when I saw her face. 

It was Olga, his ex-girlfriend before he married me.

“How could you do this to me?”I choked on my own tears and my vision turned blurry. “How long has this been going on?”

“Ah, the cat's out of the bag, I guess. How long? Long enough for you not to notice anything.”Olga answered nonchalantly.

“Elowen, let's talk somewhere else.”

Henry grabbed my arm and what he said wasn't a request but a warning. 

“Why would you still talk to her? Just ask her for a divorce, Henry.”

“Divorce?”I repeated, pain spreading all over my body.

Henry ran his fingers through his hair and it looked like he wasn't even guilty or sorry for being caught. Rather he looked annoyed.

“Look, Elowen. I can't keep living like a loser. I'm tired of being a doormat. Olga's family managed to climb the ladder and I want to be part of it.”

“And you'll get rid of me?”

“For my ambition? Yes.”

My eyes shifted from him to Olga and I suddenly felt a surge of anger inside me because of their betrayal.

“You would have achieved that if you didn't spend the rest of our three-year marriage staying on the couch. Divorce? Over my dead body.”

I turned around, intending to leave and file for a complaint over their affair, and I could hear them arguing behind me.

“Will you just let her leave and ruin everything for us, Henry? Do you want to stay a slave forever?!”Olga screeched behind me.

“Shut up, Olga!”

“Just kill her, Henry!”

My eyes widened and my heart beat rapidly in my chest. I walked faster but I didn't make it far when I felt something hit my head and I collapsed on the floor.

My whole world spun and I could feel something hot trailing down my face.

“You should have stayed in the prison, El.”I heard Henry saying before everything went black.