Chapter 5

Catherine's POV:

Thirty eight minutes later.

I just finished cooking the eggs, bacon, toasts, some croissants, cheese sandwiches, and breakfast burritos for the whole pack. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to stuff a croissant in my hungry dry mouth or drink water as I was really really getting behind the clock. I quickly set up the tables and placed all the food that I cooked for breakfast. After several minutes, a bunch of hungry werewolves started sitting down on the pack table and instantly devoured everything at hindsight. The Alpha, Easton, and the Luna were there too, eating their own share of the bounty.

While I stood in a corner nearby and silently watched as the food I just created vanished for a short period of time, having none for myself caused a severe pain in my stomach. Some werewolves who were passing by subsequently bumped me on my shoulders, threw water on my dirty apron, and kicked my foot intentionally. Nonetheless, I care little for the brutes, but the pain I was feeling at the moment was insufferable.

Seeing that they were all eating happily while minding their own business, I stealthily left the dining room and made my way to the nearest bathroom.

As soon as I got there, I closed the door and stumbled forward. I leaned on the wall to balance myself and attempted to puke. Clutching my stomach, I knelt down, hugged my knees, and tried to remember some positive memories in a bid to make the pain go away.

I felt my body weaken with lack of food and water for the past two weeks. For some reason, the Alpha decided not to give me any, claiming it as a form of punishment just by being alive and breathing in the packhouse. His level of insanity was way over the top.

I sighed and leaned against the wall.

Tears threatened to flow down my face, but I forbid them to escape my eyes. I tried to focus on anything other than food and stared at the mirror facing the door of the bathroom.

All of a sudden, the door opened. Shock filled my body as I felt adrenaline course through my veins. A hand slipped through the door and I was expecting Jessica to come rushing in and pouncing at me the first chance she gets. Instead of a huffing, seething Jessica, it was Easton who showed up with a tray overflowing with food that was sitting on top of it. I stood up immediately and was about to leave when Easton blocked the doorway, my only exit.

"Hey, stop. I just thought you might be hungry." Easton smiled genuinely and was handing to me the tray. I looked at it and was curious of what they possibly taste like. I didn't know what he was up to, but I swear I could hear those bunch of egg sandwiches chant, 'Come eat us! Come eat us!'.

Easton took a step towards me. As much as I want to avoid him, my body was completely weak and I can barely even move my arms to reach it.

I remained silent and completely still on my spot. Everything seems to look all blurry, my vision beginning to fade. My head was spinning, and I can't even keep my body straight. As I struggled, I felt myself losing control over my own body. My weight dragging me down in slow motion.

My body soon landed on a hard surface. However, I didn't feel the impact collide with my head. I slowly opened my eyes, and I saw him. He must have caught me and saved me from the fall. Now, he was holding me with one hand and the tray of food on the other. His handsome face was merely inches away from me. I stared at him. His eyes had the prettiest shade of amber with a tint of green that made them stand out. I lowered my stare to his lips and saw what looked like the lips of an angel.

Just then, I heard him chuckle, noticing how I was so enticed by his handsome features that I really had the time to check him out in this state.

My cheeks suddenly felt hot, and I blushed. I pulled away from him and he released me as I made my best to gain control over my body.

"Thank you." I managed to speak.

Easton smiled. A huge shock lingered in my mind. Why is he acting so kind? More importantly, I recall that scene back there down the high staircase. Once again, the words he uttered about me being his mate echoed with clarion soronity through my aching head. I stared at him in silence. This greek god of a werewolf claimed to be a mate yet I hoped he would eventually take back what he said.

His amber eyes coruscated as he gazed upon me as if I was some prize or reward he couldn't wait to get his hands on. I take a small step back, wanting to create some distance between our bodies as I noticed his eyes were all over my body. Something just doesn't feel right. There was a weird aura emanating from him but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was like... I can feel something sinister, an evil and demonic creature hiding behind that god-like face of his.

My hands trembling, I shiver when the wind made its way inside the room through the open window behind me. It was cold, too sudden, and rushed as it blew through my unkempt hair.

"Come with me. I know a safe place where you can eat in peace."

He gestured for me to follow. I remained motionless which I feared would make him snap again in impatience. Through the years that I have spent my life as a lowly slave in my father's pack, I have always known Easton to be the arrogant, hostile, and atrabilious type of a male wolf. I gulped. What is he really up to? Half an hour ago he's been grinding himself against me showing his bad manners and lack of respect, his desire to exert his dominance to a slave and basically his eagerness to treat me like shit, like he did in the past few years. I remember the Easton who always teased me, tormented, and mocked me for losing my memories and being just a lowly slave back when I was 10 until I was 14. Those were the worst years I would never want to go back to. Oddly, in his 18th birthday, I expected him to go rougher and act as an arrant bully towards me on his special day. To my great surprise, however, he just...ignored me. He will ignore me but I observed his eyes were always...watching. Always filled with lust and desire and I was glad he hadn't gave in to that in those years. He had done that for three years until he suddenly pushed me up against the wall earlier this morning. Now that I was almost 18, I admit that my body had developed more quickly than I wanted and I can say my longer, thicker auburn hair, large breasts and rounder, fuller buttocks were the main upgrades. I wonder if that had been the reason enough for him to turn his attention to me. After all, recently there had been plenty of men who had checked me out secretly but didn't act on it knowing how Alpha Norman would put them through hell if they ever tried hooking up with me. Alpha Norman's threats to those men were perhaps the only good thing that he had ever done for me, even if he circumvallated such threats with insults and mockeries that made me the main target.

I was abruptly pulled out of my thoughts when Easton grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers as he was 'gently' dragging me out the door. I hissed at the sharp pain rooting from my stomach and that shot through me as he pulled me with a sudden but gentle force, as if he was holding his annoyance as well as anger back enough to not punch me on the face for not doing as I was told.

I couldn't really tell whether he was genuine or was putting up an act. After what Easton just did back in the kitchen, I wasn't really sure whether I could trust him or not. I held my breath as the pain around my belly started to rise within me once again. His hand tightened in mine. I look at our skin contact with slight disgust and resentment. I suppose there is only one way to find out. Besides, I wouldn't want to place myself in danger by defying him. There is only so much pain I could handle. Soon he would reject me either way and I have to prepare myself for it before he tells me to fuck off.