a risky play

Freya's POV

In the cold embrace of the room, I finally sat on the floor, looking her in the face. A skillset my father taught me.

Your enemies can't lie if you know how to detect their lies. Look into their eyes.

" What do you want from me?" I asked her.

She sighed, eyes looking at me with such small precision, like she was the predator, and I, the prey.

" You are the mate of my husband. Some would say you are his better half. That is such a big threat to my position you know? And I fought tooth and nail to get here now. It's so unfair that if word gets out about you being his mate, my premise may be compromised" she said.

I struggled to keep in my laughter.

Her? A wolf. Threatened by me a mere human and mortal? these creatures were known for their pride in their strength. this....was a discovery.

" Your kind hates me. They would dislike me more if they find out that I'm their beloved alpha's soulmate" I said.

She shrugged, her pale brown hair bouncing off her shoulders.

" I won't be taking any chances. The mate bond works in very disgusting ways I tell you. I won't be surprised if he decides to take you in as a concubine. And that would be compromising my position as Luna" she said.

Oh. So they were like this too. They were nothing special. Just like humans, they cared too much about positions even if it meant the death of other people.

" He rejected me" I said again simply but she just shrugged it off.

" The rejection is only half hearted. I'm pretty sure his wolf is still irking him up to meet you. In our realm, both the wolf and the human must agree on the rejection. He knows that as well as I do." She said.

A brief pause followed that statement as I turned it over in my mind, thinking about it.

" So what do you want me to do?" I asked her.

She sighed, nodding her head as though she anticipated my questions.

" I want to sell you off. Out of this pack, out of his reach. And of course I can only do that tomorrow " she said.

Now I was confused. So many terms were coming up and with the bleeding going on in my skull and the pain of the rats chipping off bits of my skin in the cell, I could not bring myself to concentrate.

" What is happening tomorrow?" I asked her warily.

" The alpha's ball. Alphas gather and play god. Show off their possessions and talk business. This is the perfect place to get you a buyer" she said.

" I don't want to be sold." I said to her.

" Technically you won't be sold. You will be given to my elder brother who is going to pretend as though he picked a liking to you and then buy you. Then he is going to let you go. Free.

But you must never come back to this pack." She said.

Somehow, I still did not believe her. A part of all this sounded too good to be true.

" Why don't you just kill me instead of putting yourself through that trauma?" I asked her.

My question seemed to annoy her because she pinched the bridge of her nose before finally turning back to look at me as though I was a mere child that had refused to see reason.

" Like I said, matters concerning you is quite delicate. If I kill you and word gets out that I killed the Luna of the alpha, I will become the bad guy.

But if you are given out as a gift to any of these alphas, no one would bat an eye lid because they would gaslight themselves into thinking giving you away was the only option.

It's a complex game of charades." She said.

I was trying to understand. Trying to reason the way she was but no matter how I tried, I just could not bring myself to agree to it.

" All you have to do is show up for the ball and not make a fuss when you are being sold to my brother. He will try his hardest to keep his wolf at bay when you are leaving, but if you make a fuss, he will lose grip of his wolf and claim you on the spot. I don't want that to happen and that is the only reason why I called you in here" she said.

She had everything figured out. Down to the details of my character. I had to hand it out to her.

Her eyes stared at me expectantly, her hands stroking the book.

" I will do it" I said, surprising even myself.

Her face lit up with glee as she shook her head.

" Wise decision. You will be returned back to your cell for the night. Tomorrow, Ray here will take you to have a bath and then change into a simple outfit. You will pretend to serve at the party and my brother will call you out in the presence of everyone." She said.

It seemed like a fool proof plan, the only irk being if I could trust her.

But I was not given the time to ask her more questions as the guards dragged me to my feet, taking me back to my cell that reeked worse than it did before.

I was in that same crouched position when the doors swung open again and someone stepped in.

With half of my body finally feeling like it could move, I peeked out of my cell and I saw him.

His hair was tousled as though he had spent hours running his hands through his hair, his eyes bloodshot, giving me the little knowledge that he has not had any sleep.

When his eyes collided with mine, I could almost hear his heart howl. The alpha. My mate.