Chapter 1

Reyna

One Year Later

Warning: This Scene Might Be Triggering

I knelt on the carpeted floor with my head bowed, tear after tear falling on the gray fabric. The sound of Kieran's zipper as he zipped his trousers up, then buckled his belt in place filled the room. My mouth still tasted of his rusty essence and I swallowed the urge to empty it on the carpet right there. He had forced me to swallow it like he always did, by pressing my nose until every last drop was down my throat and into my stomach. Just the thought had my stomach contents churning violently.

"Stand up," he ordered, his feet coming into view. I did as asked, my legs wobbling a little, throwing my eyes at the laundry basket and the laundry I had come to pick up. It was the 50th time he had trapped me in his room while I was cleaning, the 50th time he had forced me to kneel before him and forced me to pleasure him with my mouth and each time I fought with the urge to sink my teeth into his member.

Instead of Alpha Tristan, his father sentencing me to death, he and the luna had decided that death was easy. According to the luna, making me a slave and stripping me of my wolf would ensure I lived a life of torture, just like she would without her son.

"You know, I am getting tired of fucking your mouth," he stated nonchalantly, his insinuation, making me swallow hard. "I want..." He trailed off, trailing his hand on my stomach, down between my thighs. "This," he finished, cupping my sex.

My eyes snapped up to his, while I instinctively took a step back. "Ah!" A shriek left my mouth as the back of his hand came into contact with my cheek, whipping my face to the side. "What did I say about filth like you looking at me?" he thundered, then grabbed me by my jaw, so hard that his nails dug and broke my skin. He pulled me forward, keeping a tight grip on me.

"I asked you a question," he stressed, stepping on my foot deliberately until the sickening sound of my thumb breaking filled the air. I swallowed a cry, blinking back drops of tears.

"I'm s-orry," I whispered, keeping my eyes downcast, swallowing the pain as my face began to swell. I could taste blood from my burst lip, but all I had to do was survive until he released me without another slap.

"Like I was saying, soon I will be tasting you," he mused, trailing his hand from my jaw to my cleavage. I had to close my eyes and picture my Randolf, as Kieran's touch sent icy shivers all over my body. "Don't act as if you don't want to be fucked." I swallowed hard. "It's been one year since you killed my brother. Sad, he died without tasting you."

His hand found my left nipple and pinched it hard, making me press my teeth together. "Or you think I didn't know that you were waiting for the mating ceremony to give your rose to him?" Had he been spying on us? "Anyway," he said stepping back, the little distance making me breathe. "Your services for today are done, get out."

I picked up the laundry basket and scrambled for the door, my vision blurry from the tears. Every step sent pain shooting from my thumb up my leg, but I had no choice but to hurry to the laundry room to start the laundry, then head for the kitchen to get started on the dinner. By the time I got to the kitchen, I was already behind the schedule Martha, the head housekeeper, had made for me.

"If it isn't the mate killer," Martha sneered the moment I limped into the kitchen. "Crawling late like always," she added, drawing scoffs from a few staff in the kitchen.

"She cannot get anything right, she is just useless," another woman mocked, while the housekeeper sized me and down. Her eyes narrowed as she stepped closer.

"You just cannot resist getting yourself hit, can you?" She grabbed my chin roughly, forcing my face upwards, sending pain from my already swollen cheek spreading all over. I bit back a cry, my eyes already beginning to burn with the forming moisture. Without my wolf, healing was slow and pain was even worse.

Her lips curled. "Oh, goddess." She laughed. "He really hit you this time." More laughter spread across the kitchen as I stood there, letting them hurl words at me. I had learned quickly that swallowing my emotions was the only way I'd survive. My family had completely abandoned me, disowned me even, and so had my friends. Nobody wanted to associate with me, and I gave up trying to defend my innocence.

"Clean yourself up," Martha ordered. "Alpha Tristan wants every adult in the main hall in the next 10 minutes."

I blinked, pulling my eyebrows together. Pack gatherings rarely involved servants and especially me, except once every month when I received whips in front of everyone, a reminder of my punishment. But it couldn't have been the whipping because I had just received it two weeks before. With my heart pounding loudly not knowing what to expect, I left for the main hall.

The moment I stepped inside still limping and swallowing pain, a weird feeling crept over me. Alpha Tristan sat on the raised stage, his wife luna Rachel beside him and Kieran on the other side. Near them two men dressed in all black stood, their eyes directed at me. The hall was almost full, with people seated murmuring amongst themselves, some hauling insults at me.

"Come forward," Alpha Tristan called, his voice overly calm. Every step that I took to the stage felt heavier than the last one, my thoughts turning violently in my head.

"One year ago, I spared your life because my luna believed death was mercy," he spoke, silence filling the hall. "But tolerating the sight of my son's killer has become tiresome."

My pulse quickened, finally standing by the stairs of the stage. "Tomorrow is my son's anniversary," he hissed. Randolf's face flashed before my eyes, and I couldn't wait to be killed and meet him in the afterlife. There was nothing worth living for, not when everyone had abandoned me.

"To commemorate him, we brought the slave merchants." My gaze fell on the two unfamiliar men, and the room blurred around me. "You are no longer Blessed Crescent's responsibility."

A gasp crushed whatever breath I had left in me. "You will be sold, here and now." Cheers erupted.

"Pl-ease," I begged, shaking my head as the men stepped forward. "Just kill me," I cried, looking around for a way out.

One of the men went around me, inspecting, even running his filthy hands across my cheek. "Strip," he suddenly ordered. I narrowed my eyes, not sure I had heard him correctly.

"Do you need the guards to help you strip?" Kieran asked, amusement in his voice.

So I lifted my dress in shaking hands, tear after tear falling. That is what I had been reduced to, stripping naked in front of everyone. As the material fell on the floor, so did my last dignity that was left of me. Randolf's face once more flashed through my mind, his empty eyes, the rope and suddenly I realised a year of torture, humiliation starvation...was better than being sold as a slave.

"With this body," one of the merchants said. "We will take her," he finished. Then Kieran stood and approached us, his steps calculated. When he stood in front of me, he bent and whispered into my ear so that not even werewolf hearing could make those present make out what he said. "I am not done with you; wherever you end up, I will find you, and I will get my share."

I didn't fight as I was dragged away; it was of no use, even as my eyes fell on my sister and my parents, seated in the front row. I did hear Alpha Tristan's announcement, though. "Ladies and gentlemen, with the filth now gone, I am pleased to introduce your future alpha Kieran's chosen mate, Dyana Robinson."