“How dare you speak to me like that you ungrateful bitch? I am your husband! You are bound to me, and I am sick and tired of your excuses!” The slap is precise and hard, snapping my face to the side with its force. The tears in my eyes don't spill, because I know if they do he’ll just be even angrier than he is.
“Honey, just leave her already! You don’t need her anymore.” Jocelyn says from beside my husband. She has been his mistress since just after we got married 2 years ago, and he never treats her the way he does me. He never raises his voice to her or his hand. All his anger is aimed towards me, and I know why - because I am trash!
“No! She needs to learn her lesson. She is nothing to me or to anyone else! Her family married her off to me, knowing she would suffer the consequences of my wrath. She is ugly, unworthy and stupid!”
“I know, babe. But.”
“I said no, Jocelyn!” His angry eyes switch from me to her, and she takes a step back in sheer fright. I understand the sentiment, but I don’t have the privilege to do that. He would just hunt me down and beat me to death. I’m sure I will die by his hands one day. That is my destiny. Why it chose to be so cruel to me, I do not understand, but here I am.
“Baby, I’m sorry. I only meant she is your wife, and by that she has more power than me in this house and in your company. I am nothing. She said so herself.” Jocelyn lets the tears run down her cheeks, and Bane takes her into his arms. He consoles her before turning his black eyes on me once again. This time the slap is so hard I fall to the floor, and then he kicks me until I am almost unconscious. He leans down with a sneer.
“You will never be loved, never be good enough for anyone! I loathe you, Annabel, and I will kill you just to prove my point. You are mine, and no one will ever touch what is mine.” I only whimper from the pain. “You will never be free. Never! Do you hear me?” His face is so close I can feel the breath on my face. He grabs my hair, yanking me back, so I have to look at him. “You are my wife, and I will never let you go!”
I woke up in a sweat. The nightmare of the night where I truly thought I was going to die plays over and over in my head. I tumble out of bed, hissing at the pain in my ribs and my stomach. It’s been a month since that night, and Bane has almost not been home, unless he wanted to take off some steam by beating the crap out of me, or worse, rape me. He takes immense joy in taking me over and over again when I’m not even ready for him. He relishes in my cries of pain and agony, and since they have fated along with my will to live, he tries to hurt me even more to get them back, but at this moment I don’t care. I would rather be killed by him, than let him have my cries.
My name is Annabel Simmons, and I was sold off to Bane Hassle to be married because my father and his stupid wife owed him a ton of money. They were so far gone in debt, he offered them to let it all go if they gave one of their daughters to him. They knew what kind of sick bastard he is, and they chose me mainly because my stepmother hates my guts, and she would never have agreed to sell one of her own precious girls. You see, I look a lot like my mother, and this has always irked my stepmother, but then people in school and social life started to compliment me on my looks at wits in front of her and her devil's spawn, she lost it.
She started turning my father against me, and he was a willing victim. He wanted nothing to do with me after I had a final fallout with his wife, and cut me off in all ways. I started working to earn my own money, and when he saw I could handle myself, he was furious. He even got me fired from my job because of lies.
I roll my eyes at my reflection. The girl I once was is completely gone, and the life and spark my hazel eyes once had is dimmed to the point where you would think they were eyes of a dead person.
My father remarried when my mother died. I was 5 at the time, and at first I was so happy to have a new mother, but Estrella soon showed her true colors. When she got pregnant with my eldest step sister Estelle, she started to orchestrate accidents in our home, and every time she would blame them on me. My father didn’t believe her at first, but as time went on and I kept being at the scene of the crime, he got suspicious. It ended in a big blow out 3 years ago when I turned 20. Estrella had invited me home to celebrate my birthday, and I naively thought she was trying to make up for all the times she has hurt me, but it was a trap. She and my sisters were all there when I walked in, and Estelle screamed at me for showing up unannounced. As I tried to explain that her mother had invited me, Estrella laughed and said she would never invite trash into her home willingly. Estelle grabbed my arm to drag me out, but I yanked myself free from her grasp just as my father came in. They rounded on me faster than a hyena does on a carcass. Estelle started begging me not to hit her again, tears down her cheeks. Father was furious and said that was it! The drop to tip the cup.
“I am done defending your rude behavior, Bella! It is time you do something useful for this family, and you will therefore marry Bane Hassle tomorrow.”
“No, I won’t. They are lying and you are too blind to see it!” He slapped me so hard it left a mark for the next day. He had his guards grab me and force me upstairs where they locked me in a room until the next day. So, there I was standing in a short (too short) white dress and was forced to say “I do”, so my father could keep pretending he hadn’t gambled away our fortune. Well, his! Because my mother and grandmother left everything they had to me, not to be touched before my 22nd birthday. An odd number now I think about it, but of well. No one knew. Only my father who was outraged, but his hands were tied. He couldn’t touch it.
My 22nd birthday was yesterday, and today I had a lawyer call my cell phone, but I know Bane has it bugged, so I played dumb, hoping against hope I can meet with the lawyer in person tomorrow on my designated out time. Bane needs to keep pretenses up, so I have time everyday where I don't have men following me or my phone on me. It's half an hour, but it should be enough.
I know I am not going to get out of here alive without a serious fight on my part, but lately something has stirred inside of me. A rebellion against my hostile situation, and I find myself speculating if I could somehow get out? Could I get Bane to divorce me and kick me out? I wonder what I would have to do to make this happen?
After washing my face in cold water, I know I can’t sleep anymore. The clock at my bedside says it’s 5am, so I have time before anyone comes to get me for my outing. I’m not allowed to eat today - which I’m used to, because Bane doesn’t want a fat wife. I’m only allowed to eat three times a week, and only what he decided I can have that day. I sigh. I really hope this is going to work, because otherwise I would have to take my own life instead.
As the time goes by and the sun rises over the horizon I decide today is going to be where I get out of this hellhole. I’ll meet with the lawyer and have him help me get ahold of my funds. I’ll need a new identity, but first I’ll need to get away from here. Anywhere, as long as it’s far far away. If Bane ever finds me, he’ll for sure kill me for running away.
Annabel P.O.V.The restless energy swirls through my body as I pack a bag with the things I need to take with me. I have put on make-up to conceal the bruises, and turned off my phone. I always turn it off before leaving the house, but I also always have it with me to turn it on when my half hour is up. Pete knocks on my door when the clock says 10 am, and I open with the bag in hand. He looks at it suspiciously, and I give him a smile. “Some things for the red cross.” I have done this before, and Bane thinks it’s to keep up pretenses, but it’s actually to help me today. This day has been coming for a long time, although there were times, like that night, I was sure I would never see this day. Pete grunts an answer and walks down in front of me. Neither of the men ever speak to me. They know it’ll be fatal if they try. Yes, Bane is that insane. Downstairs I don’t waste any time. I walk directly out to the car, going into the backseat. I know where my lawyer is located, and luckily
Annabel/AllisonAfter what seems like a lifetime, I finally hear footsteps outside the conference room. Outside the sun has gone down, and I am sure I have been sitting here for hours. “Annabel, are you still here?” Mr. Felton’s hush voice echoes in the empty room. I peek out and it’s only him. “I’m here.” I say, crawling out from my hiding place. “What time is it?” “Almost midnight. I brought you food, and something to drink. You must be starving.” I looked at him for a second, before realizing what he said. The smell of the food invaded my senses. “I’m used to..” I shut my mouth and Mr. Felton raises an eyebrow. “Used to what exactly?” I shake my head. I am not going to say it out loud, because once said I can’t take it back. “Alright. Let’s get this show on the road.” He sits down at the conference table, food, drinks and paperwork in tow. “I made a call to the bank today, after your husband left - which wasn’t an easy feat by the way. Someone tattled, and I will make an inqu
Bane P.O.V.“Boss, there is still no sign of your wife.” Pete says. I throw my coffee mug at him, and he dodge as per reflex. He knows my temper better than anyone as my Beta, and he knows how much he fucked up letting that little slut to my mate slip away! I need her back. My wolf has not given me any time to rest the last three weeks because he is pining after her. At least he gave me peace, more or less, when Annabel was here with us, even though he would scold me for how I treated her. I kept reminding him who’s in charge by holding him in a tight mental cage. He’s only let out when I allow him to be out. ‘I can still speak to you, dumbass.’ The flea infested mutt says. I growl out loud, the lack of sleep really annoys me as much as my stupid wolf and stupid Beta. “And why is that, Pete? She can’t just disappear.” I answer, my black eyes staring him down. He cowers under my stare. “I’ve personally looked over every camera there is in and around the law firm, and there is nothin
Allison P.O.V.The morning is beautiful when I drive into the town of Marigold. I have driven all night to reach here, and I have prepared myself as well as I can for what the cottage looks like. I’ve bought cleaning stuff, a vacuum, bucket, gloves and other house stuff. I don’t even know if it has a washer and dryer, or anything else about this place. But right now it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I’ll be there in a few minutes and I’ll be home. A new home, a new start and new life. A life away from Bane and his abusive ways. I still have nightmares almost every night, but I am getting better at going back to sleep. Listening to quiet meditation music and soundscapes helps as well. The town is a decent size from what I can tell from the main road. I have to go straight through and do a right turn on the other end of town. Then I’m down a forest way, used frequently as there are fresh tiremarks, and then I’m there. The cottage is a little way into the forest, with a view
Allison P.O.V. Moving back into the entrance hall, I walk through the door opposite the living room. It’s the bedroom which has an en-suit bathroom, and a walk through closet, which can be closed from both the bathroom and the bedroom. The queen size bed is in the middle of the room, with bedside tables on either side of the bed and reading lamps in the tables. The bed even has clean bed sheets, blankets and pillows on it, so I don’t have to go out today and buy that. The big window overlooks where my car is parked, and the curtains are blackout curtains which will be very nice for the lighter time of year. I go back outside to the car, bringing in my stuff. It takes a couple of turns back and forth, and while bringing my things inside, I also get a look outside. The lake is beautiful, and the forest is full of sounds of life. I’ll need to go shopping later, but right now I’ll unpack and start washing my dirty things. The time has flown by, and soon I find myself staring at the
Blake P.O.V.So far this day has been boring out of my mind. We have had endless meetings with other packs concerning the growing numbers of rogue activity, but no one can come up with a solution to get rid of them for good. I have nothing against rogues per se, but I do when they attack and steal from packs. It’s been a growing problem since before I became Alpha 8 years ago, and seeing as I am Alpha of the largest and strongest pack in the region, the Council counts on me to be a leader in all of this. “Alpha Blake, are you with us still?” Head Councilman Eddar asks into the camera. We’re doing this on a zoom meeting, just because of the nightmare of assembling all the Alpha’s in my region, let alone the whole damn country. “Yes, sorry. I was contemplating how we may proceed to prevent these unprovoked attacks. Because I assume they are unprovoked?!” I answer, looking at the little pictures of my fellow Alpha’s. Especially some of those in the East region who have been complainin
Blake P.O.V.“Are they serious?” Tristan asks, staring at the blank screen. I just shrug, closing down the computer. “They held a lunch break, just for us to come back for this. Sometimes I don’t understand people.” Tristan nods while moving to a chair opposite my desk. “So, what pack matters were you handling?” “Fucking Lucy and her stupid fantasy about me accepting her as my chosen mate.” Tristan chokes on the air. “You’re not, right?” “Fuck no! I’m waiting on my mate, you know that.” He sighs dramatically, leaning back in the chair. “Good, because I am telling you man, I’m not going to be your Beta if you take Lucy as our Luna!” I laugh. “Alright, alright. So, what were you texting me about this new girl?” Tristan's eyes cloud over, and he tells me to wait on our Gamma Elliott. I decided to sign some papers for work while we’re waiting. A few minutes later there’s a knock on the door, and Elliott pokes his head in. “Am I disturbing the bromance?” He asks, and Tristan scowls
Allison P.O.V.My shopping trip went well and I brought home a lot of new things. Book, food, drinks and other necessities. I also bought earbuds for my phone, so I can listen to music whenever I want. Not that it matters a lot out here in the forest, but I like it when I’m out in public. It’s a good way to stay out of trouble. I park in front of my cottage, bringing in some of my bags. I have a lot to carry in, so I decide to put some music in my ear and enjoy myself while working. The music blasts into my ears, and I sing out loud although I can’t hear myself. I’m not much of a singer in public, but out here I don’t even think about it. I walk outside again when I’ve put on my girl power playlists, and Aretha Franklin - Respect makes me do some bad dance moves. I really enjoy my freedom, and being able to do whatever I want when I want it. As I walk outside again I’m going over the list of things I need to get done before tonight. It’s late in the afternoon, and I’ll have to work
Bane P.O.V.I finally had her where I wanted her. She was here and she couldn’t do a single thing to me. I was going to enjoy breaking her little by little, seeing the light that shined so brilliant in her eyes now dim with every blow and stab. I had planned meticulously for her capture. For my victory. And then someone from the outside had to fucking ruin everything. I was allowed to be there when they captured Annabel and that witch bitch, but I could not touch her, could not be near her. I wanted to taunt her; see her face when she realized I was winning, but no. They put them in a room with a guard, and told that fucktard of a guard to not let me in. I was livid. The only good thing to come out of this was Lucy. She came to us when we came for Annabel, and she joined our forces. At least she could be a distraction amidst my anger. And she was more than willing to play my little games. She told me everything she knows about her former pack, her former Alpha and made me promise to
Talia P.O.V. “Come on, babe, we need to bring her to your parents. We’re not getting answers out of her.” Ethan says with irritation lacing his voice. They have kept out of the trap they set for me, knowing they seal themselves in here with me, on my terms, if they did. The first thing I did when they let up on the electric shocks a little, was search the little snare they had laid out. It was way out of both their leagues, and I decided my mother or father must be the ones who set it up. They made sure only the person who is directly inside the pattern in the ground is trapped, and his or her active powers do not work on those outside. Searching and understanding the concept of the trap is a passive magic, so it worked quite fine. It also told me they had to render me unconscious or put dampening cuffs on me to move me. “NO! I finally have her where I have wanted her for decades. Centuries. Helpless. She is mine!” Ophelia screams at Ethan, who takes a step back from my sister's ou
Allie P.O.V.“Wakey wakey little bitch.” A whiny female voice says in my ear, while nails dig into my throat. I’m tied to a chair, and the female is nauseatingly close to me, her perfume almost making me gag. I recognize her voice immediately and Dawn growls in my head, but I chose to not let it show as I slowly ‘wake up’. Apparently it’s too slow for her, because she lets me go, only to douse me with cold water. I blink the water out of my eyes, lifting my head to see Lucy’s smug face smirking at me. “Well, well. How the tables have turned, huh.” She says victoriously, but I ignore the obvious jab. I instead search the room with my eyes and find a still unconscious Athale opposite me, also tied to a chair. Dammit. So they got her too. Something hits me like a ton of bricks. Tristan came. He came to help us. He must have been close to the blast, but not close enough to be affected by it. He found us in the forest. They killed him. Tristan died trying to protect Athale and me from bein
Tabatha P.O.V.“Can you get in touch with your Alpha, Damien?” I ask, trying to think fast. We need to move, and we need everyone to understand the severity of the situation. “Of course. You want him here?” I shake my head, we’ll need to be somewhere else, somewhere safer. A place where we can regroup. I sigh. There is nowhere safer than here at the moment. The battle has completely died down here because of the blast and the vast numbers of dead still on the ground. I close my eyes, feeling for Talia ‘s aura as well as Ophelia’s and Ethan’s; they are not in our vicinity. Someone is. Someone who I don’t recognize immediately. I frown, but right now I just need to focus on this task. I handle this person if they make a move. I make sure to put a passive tracking spell on him, so I know where he is at all times. I know it’s a he, but something is off and familiar at the same time. This is going to drive me crazy. “Yeah, I actually think it is as good as anywhere. If he can get some of
Tabatha P.O.V. I didn’t like the idea of splitting up with Talia, but she was right; we would cover more ground this way. I know our family is spread out through the battle as I can feel their dark auras pulsing in different directions, but the thought of her going into that training ground alone. The aftermath of the blast held so much dark power, it must be a trap. I shake it off mentally. Talia will know it’s a trap and prepare accordingly. She always was the smartest of the two of us. I’m more like a punch first, ask later kinda girl. It took a lot of fucking balls on our part to leave our family behind in the first place, and now we are going to protect our peace with everything we have! I swore to Talia that no matter what happens, I will fight on. The gloom tries to settle into my heart, but I push it away. We’re not going to die today. Not her, not me. “Warrior, DUCK!” I yell at one of our allies. He throws himself to the ground, and I blast the enemy with an energy ball, m
Talia P.O.V. That was a close call on Tristan. Luckily we reached him in time before his soul left his body, otherwise there would have been nothing we could do. Tabatha and I teleport to our next destination. We bound ourselves to the others before the battle started without them knowing, which is why we knew he had been severely hurt, and we felt it when his heart stopped like it was in ourselves. “That was a close call, Tal.” My sister says, looking around for enemies in our proximity. I nod gloomily, knowing we won’t be this lucky all night. We can’t be everywhere, and Tristan needed the both of us. He was just very fortunate that we were together and could reach him. “I know. We need to form a plan.” Tabatha gives me a grim grin. “So, you’re saying teleporting all around the area to defend our friends and family isn’t much of a plan?” She asks, blocking a rogue, sending him flying away from Alpha Pete’s wolf. He looks around, sees us and nods once before he is back in another
Blake P.O.V. The chaos of the battlefield is total. Dawn moved the group she was supposed to in the trap we laid for them. I stayed and engaged the main group and Bane, kept him distracted so Dawn could get away. Shadow moves seamlessly through the enemy and allies, killing all who dares try to defy him and helping all who are outnumbered by the rogues. Bane’s wolf keeps back, watching and delegating I guess. The blackness was supposed to render us confused and blinded, and the fact that we are not is giving the chaos another dimension. Bane’s wolf snarls as one of my warriors is in front of him, growling and challenging him to fight. I urge Shadow to go to the young wolf. Mindlinks are a total chaos as well, and I’m not sure the young man will heed me in time, although I am his Alpha he might be too engrossed in the battle and the bloodrush to recognize my command before it’s too late.Shadow sprints towards the scene with Bane’s wolf and our warrior. They are still just snarling a
Allison P.O.V. The wait for Bane and his band of misfits seems to take forever, but truly we only wait a couple moments longer before they penetrate the border and we get mindlinks from our warriors about their advancement. Blake squeezed my hand, looking into my eyes. For a moment everything else disappears and it’s only him and I out here. ‘I love you Allie! Stay alive and kick some ass.’ I grin, raising an eyebrow. ‘I love you too, Blake! You stay alive as well, or I will have to come hunting for your soul in Selene’s world, and I’m not sure she would be happy about that.’ His laughter in my mind is raw and hoarse. ‘Athena needs both her parents. Stay with us.’ I continue more softly, watching as the light in his eyes soften with my voice and my plea. ‘I would never leave you without a fight.’ He replies, bending down and capturing me in a whirlwind of a kiss. Someone claps, and we break apart. I look to the side to see Bane standing stark naked in front of his army, his eyes g
Allison P.O.V.“Are we sure we can trust Elias’s judgement and information?” I ask Blake as we hurriedly make sure all our warriors are in position along the border and well hidden. They know to stay hidden and quiet as Bane and his men advance. Talia, Tabatha, Diamina and Athale have been all along the border on wolf back to shield the warriors so the witches with Bane cannot track them. They all promise it’ll work, and we trust them. I just don’t hope Talia and Tabatha’s family had gotten new tricks and powers up their sleeves while they have been gone.“He is getting it directly from his mate, so yes, I trust it to be true.” Pete answers, although the question was for Blake. I turn my head to stare at him. “Bane kidnapped her to get his father to come to the Summit as a spy. They were supposed to use their mindlink connection to tell him what is going on here. They chose to help up. Elias said it was the decision to strip him of his title that made him convinced they had a chance t