Semua Bab He Hated Me First: Bab 11 - Bab 16

Someone was shaking my shoulder."Miss Lyra. Miss Lyra, please wake up."The voice pulled me from sleep like a fish being yanked from deep water. I blinked against the morning light streaming through the windows, disoriented, my body still heavy with exhaustion.A young woman stood beside my bed, her hands clasped nervously in front of her. She couldn't have been more than sixteen, with wide hazel eyes and honey-colored hair pulled back in a practical braid."I'm sorry to wake you, Miss, but Alpha Larry said you need to be ready for breakfast by eight, and it's already seven-thirty."I sat up slowly, the silk nightgown sliding against the expensive sheets. "Who are you?""Oh!" She dipped into a quick curtsy. "I'm Emma. Emma Collins. I've been assigned as your personal maid.""My what?""Your maid, Miss. To help you dress and... and whatever else you need." Her cheeks flushed pink. "I know it's strange, but the Alpha insisted. He said a Luna needs proper attendance."I stared at her, t

"Stand still."Elder Catherine’s fingers were cold against my spine as she yanked the zipper upward. I wasn't sure if she was part of Larry's staff or his pack, did it even matter anymore? "I said stand still, girl.""I am standing still," I snapped, then immediately regretted it. Her eyes flashed yellow in the mirror's reflection. Another one. They were all around me. Watching. Waiting for me to break.The dress was gold. Not white Larry had been very clear about that. "White is for virgins and liars," he'd said this morning, standing in my doorway like he had every right to be there. "You're neither, are you, Lyra?"I hadn't answered. What was there to say?"There." Elder Catherine stepped back, surveying her work with the critical eye of someone inspecting livestock. "You'll do."I stared at my reflection. The dress was beautiful, I could admit that much. Gold silk that clung to every curve, intricate beading across the bodice that probably cost more than I'd make in a year. My ha

The bedchamber was a gilded cage, and I refused to be its songbird. Thick velvet drapes the color of spilled wine swallowed the last traces of daylight, leaving only flickering candlelight to carve shadows across the walls. The air smelled of beeswax and something darker, sweat, leather, the metallic tang of tension that made my wolf stir restlessly beneath my skin.I stood at the center of it all, naked, my skin pale as marble against the decadence around me. I didn't tremble. Didn't cover myself. My arms hung loose at my sides, my spine straight as a blade, my eyes fixed on the man who owned this room, and, by law, owned me.But he'll never own my wolf, I thought, feeling her pulse just beneath the surface, a constant reminder of what I truly was. What he could never know.Larry leaned against the footboard of the massive four-poster bed, his broad frame dwarfing the carved mahogany. The firelight caught the sharp angles of his face, the stubble darkening his jaw, the way his knuckl