Chapter 5

Alice

If someone had ever asked me if things could get worse than before, I would have never answered yes until that very moment when my life had been reduced to ashes.

If anyone had ever met the myth of the human devil, Stefan was its embodiment; there was no way anyone could treat a mate in such a vile manner.

After Stefan locked me in a dungeon where the biting cold was the most significant companion after the darkness, I learned what could be the meaning of hell on earth. For Stefan, I was nothing more than a piece of meat that could satisfy his needs, which is why every day when he came close to touch me, he completely drained me.

I had no hopes or desire to fight.

Not after my she-wolf went out to defend me from the abuses and Stefan brought some moonstone chains to sever the connection I had with her. Selene had attacked Stefan and several guards, and we were about to break free, but they injected us with a tranquilizer that knocked us out on the spot.

The routine in which Stefan would hit me, then sexually abuse me, and leave me with a meager amount of food lasted for entire weeks. Sometimes Stefan would send me to bathe with some Omegas who looked at me with disgust and ended up mistreating me with words.

I didn't understand how Stefan always got his way, but it was obvious that being a hybrid turned out to be the worst of sins. I gradually lost my will to live as time went by, so much so that that afternoon people noticed my complete lack of enthusiasm.

"Look at her; she doesn't look well," said an Omega woman who had just bathed me; there was a hint of compassion in her eyes. "She is very thin; she looks emaciated, and the bruises she has are really ugly. What did she do to deserve this?"

"She is a disgusting hybrid. She doesn't deserve anyone's pity, so don't get close to her or believe what she says; she's a pariah and that's how she'll live for the rest of her days."

The Omegas walked away, and I closed my eyes in a clumsy attempt to sleep; however, the sound of very familiar footsteps prevented me from doing so. I instinctively shuddered and clenched my hands to suppress the disgust when my jailer entered the dungeon.

"If you were smart, you would do what I told you and I would treat you like a queen, but since you don't listen, I have to give you lessons to train you," Stefan said before taking my chin and squeezing it tightly. "When I talk to you, you have to look me in the eyes."

I did it with all the pain in the world.

I hadn't realized his deception, his lies, but in that moment I could glimpse the thirst for power that Stefan had in his gaze. It was a bloodthirsty monster.

"I won't be coming in these days, so you'll have time to reflect on your actions. That depends on my benevolence and the lives of your friends," Stefan said, and fear began to build up inside me again. "If you resist again, I will banish Bianca from the pack; I will issue a statement that she is a thief and she won't find any packs where she can live. If you do something worse, I will kill Teo; I will bring him here to see what I do to you, and then I will cut you apart piece by piece, and I will bury those pieces in remote places so that his soul will never find rest."

"Sir, the sorceress has arrived," said Ariel, Stefan's Beta.

"When I return in five days, you will change that mindset or I will fulfill my promise."

When Stefan left, I felt relief and then resentment.

"Please, Goddess, take me out of here; give me the strength to endure," I murmured softly before falling asleep.

In the middle of the night, I felt a deep pain that made me scream in total agony. I felt like something was breaking inside. I couldn't bear the pain, and elite men came to see what was happening to me. I couldn't hear what was happening; I just felt that the fire was completely burning me.

"What is happening?" asked a guard, and then footsteps were heard.

Just at that moment of passion, I felt a deep warmth in my neck and the images of Stefan marking Circe in a union ceremony under the light of the full moon came to me. He was calling her out in front of everyone in the village, in a ritual that preceded the ascension ceremony in which Stefan would officially become the Alpha of the pack, which meant that he was finishing severing the bond between us and our souls were drifting away from their destiny.

I began to cry uncontrollably at how terrible that would be for Selene, and then I felt a mark form right in the place where she marked Circe. At that moment, the guardians realized what was happening, which made everything much more depressing and humiliating.

"Your mate has broken the bond," said the Omega, who had bathed me in sadness. "I can't imagine what his she-wolf must be feeling right now with those chains on. It must be a living torture. It's horrifying!"

"We're not going to take off the chains, so it's best if you leave here before someone realizes you came," said one of the guards, and I lay on the floor without any strength.

The pain was unbearable, and the little vitality I had left hung by a very thin thread.

Staying connected to Stefan was a curse, but not feeling my she-wolf in a moment like that was like feeling death while still alive.

I didn't know what time it was, but it had to be morning and some Omega would come to bring me food, and indeed, I heard footsteps approaching, but they weren't few; there were more footsteps than I usually heard. That made me look towards the entrance of the dungeon, and I saw that some unknown men hurriedly entered the dungeon.

"Come on, we don't have much time before the next shift arrives," said one of the unknown men. "Don't take away the chains; they will help keep her subdued. Her she-wolf is lethal."

"I don't think we need that; just look at what’s left of this woman; it’s as if they’ve taken away all her life," said another man, and my head exploded from the sad truth.

Two men roughly grabbed me, and another put a gag in my mouth to keep me quiet; I closed my eyes in total resignation.

The men pulled me out of the dungeons, and the sunlight hit me square in the face, which made me try to look around in every direction, and that's when I realized that winter had finally passed. They put me in a van and with impressive ease, they took me out of the park.

I closed my eyes; it was the only thing that eased the nightmare feeling I had been experiencing since I was held captive in the dungeons. I didn't know at what moment, but the truck stopped and the men pulled me out of it, then they dragged me through the forest and one of them made me kneel near some rocks.

"I regret having to do this hybrid; it's not personal, but if you don't disappear, the Luna Circe will never be able to achieve what she wants alongside Alpha Stefan, and we are only following orders so our pack can thrive," said a man with sorrow.

At that moment, I understood that they wanted to kill me, so with a lump in my throat, I accepted my fate. I only prayed to the Goddess to receive me in her arms, to give me the peace I so desperately needed to find the serenity I had never had, and I prayed for Selene to be able to reincarnate and be happy.

The kicks came at me with force, then the punches and the stomps on my body. All the men started to hit me in a group, and the physical pain felt so trivial compared to the emotional pain that was completely killing me.

I couldn't close my eyes, and at one moment I couldn't breathe; I was drowning, and then I felt a stillness in my body that told me how little time was left before I died. It was so devastating that I could only plead for mercy from the Goddess.

"It's enough."

"The Luna Circe wants her dead; we need to bring her proof."

"This woman is already dead; she was before we took her out of there. She's not going to survive this, and that's enough for us to leave immediately before the guards patrolling this border catch our scent."

I didn't know who the man was, but he was absolutely right.

Minutes later, I heard the truck drive away, and then my body went into shock. I was not aware of the fractures in my legs or the twisted position in which my arms were. I didn't know that the swelling in my face was because my eyes were inflamed and bruised.

I just wanted my heart to stop once and for all.

The world felt horrible, and when the rays of the moon finally hit my face, I just wished I could die. I didn't realize that at that moment a man was approaching; I only felt him when he crouched down near me and with a deep voice growled:

"Who did this to you?"

When an exquisite aroma flooded my nostrils, it was the moment I fell unconscious.