Chapter 3

“Running from your master?” He tuts. “I thought you were finally beginning to learn.”

Tears slipped from my eyes as he stalked towards me, I knew that I had made a terrible mistake, that I would regret even breathing in his presence. Balthazar didn’t take kindly to defiance of any kind, he had killed my kind for less, and I would be no exception. I could see it in his ice blue eyes, the eager promise of pain. Why couldn’t I be like the others? Why did he treat me so differently? He never forced the others to mate until they were ready. It was something the other slaves always loved, that they had to right to choose when or if to have children.

So why was My case so unusual? Why couldn’t I play with the other children when I was younger, why couldn’t I run with the other slaves on a full moon?

He stopped inches away from me, his mouth set in a scowl, then; he snapped his fingers. I blinked rapidly when I saw nothing but darkness, I knew a panic attack was coming and I didn’t know how long I could control the shift, Nyx was screaming at me to let her take over so she could protect us. But if I allowed her to take over, the pain we would endure would be much worse.

A sudden light broke through the darkness and I blinked against its harshness, my eyes watering as I collapsed to my knees on what felt like a concrete floor. My ears were ringing as I realised what had happened, my master had teleported us, though to where I didn’t know. I just hoped that he would show me mercy. I didn’t mean to defy him, I just thought that I would have longer to decide whether I wanted children or not, I didn’t want to subject them to this life. I didn’t want them to go through what I have.

I was dragged to my feet by Balthazar, my breath raspy and my heart racing, my eyes had finally adjusted enough to see. Yet now I wish that they hadn’t. I was in the secret room that had no door, and no windows, only one strip of light above us, bright enough to illuminate the entire room with ease. This was a room of horrors, a place where most slaves didn’t never made it out, you needed a warlock to get you in and out, their was no other way. I was trapped until he decided otherwise.

I looked around in panic, the silver chains that were laced in wolfsbane hanging from the ceiling and far right of where Balthazar held me, the silver blades both large and small that hung from one wall to my left making my breath hitch. Oh goddess please save me!

I tried to struggle against the warlocks iron grasp on me, my terror coating my mind, I clawed and pulled at him, willing him to let me go. He couldn’t do this! I have done nothing wrong! Sobs ripped through my entire form as tears slipped from my eyes, I knew that if I spoke to him in the way that I did I would regret it, but this!? This is so wrong!

“No no no, master please!” I begged, my vision contorted by the tears that drenched my face.

Silver was deadly to my kind, we couldn’t heal whilst even a tiny piece was pressed against our bare skin, the wolfsbane would make us weaker than the silver, it disconnected us from our wolf and we couldn’t shift. It drained our strength until their was nothing left.

My master laughed, his ice blue eyes alive with amusement. “You knew what would happen if you disobeyed me, you are my slaveand I can do with you what I wish.”

I stopped fighting and collapsed to my knees, bowing my head to him as I spoke, my words broken by the sobs that rippled through me. “I beg your forgiveness master, please I will obey.” When he didn’t respond I continued. “I’ll do anything, please! Just not this.”

He laughed, knowing why this room affected me the way that it did, he had forced me to watch for days as my parents were tortured and then killed in this room. I couldn’t help them. Couldn’t ease their pain. I was just a child that was afraid of my master, I watched them die.

My breathing was now erratic and fast, my wolf is pressing against her barriers fighting to take control even though she knew it would make matters worse. Her instinct to protect us was making her blind. Even if she managed to stop them, we would be trapped in here until another warlock came.

“Did I hear you correctly?” He laughed, and I knew I had given him what he wanted. “You’ll do anything?”

I nodded frantically, my body twitching in fear. What was he going to make me do? I knew now that I would have to bare children, that I would have to take a mate I didn’t want in order to obey.

“You’ll spend a few days here, chained to the wall.” Balthazar smiled coyly, pointing to a set of chains in the corner.

My heart flipped in horror, he was leaving me here? The last time he did that I had watched as my parents died a slow and painful death, one I couldn’t do anything to prevent. I didn’t want that fate, I didn’t want to die like that. It was a terrible way to go, one I would never wish upon my greatest enemy. Yet, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to do it to me.

“Yes master.” I whispered, my shoulders lowering in defeat as I bowed to the being that owned me.

I would never know a life outside of this place, this was what destiny had given me, and I couldn’t stop it. I could do nothing to escape this life, I had already tried and failed multiple times. If I tried again it would be no different.

He forced me to stand using his strange magic and I floated towards the chains, no longer attempting to fight it. It would only make matters worse if I did, but if I behaved like a good slave, a good mutt. I might, maybe just be able to still run on the full moon. It was my only night of freedom, the day I looked forward to every month. The wind in my fur, the dirt beneath my paws. For those few hours before dawn I would feel freedom.

The chains burned as they locked into place, my pulse skittering and my breath sharp, you never got used to the searing agony that came with silver and wolfsbane. You could kid yourself and say you can handle it, but it feels as though every cell in your body is on fire. Like it’s burning you away inch by inch, and that feeling doesn’t fade so long as it is touching you. It’s torture. Pure anguished horror.

I winced, crying out in pain as tears slipped from my eyes. My body screaming for release, for the pain to stop. But my brain knew that it wouldn’t, and so did Nyx. We knew he could leave us here as long as he wished. It was his right. He owned us. No matter how much we resisted.

“I’ll leave you now, little wolf.” Balthazar smirked, his eyes gleaming with pride. “When I return I expect your full obedience.”

He was gone as soon as the words left his lips and it sickened me, he had so much power for one so cruel, he didn’t deserve the magic he had, didn’t deserve to live so comfortably while his slaves suffered.

I closed my eyes, attempting to ignore the pain as I looked towards the next few days in panic. Pain is all I know. It reminds me I’m alive.