TWO: WAS HE THAT DANGEROUS?

The ice water in the presence of the ambient air felt so cold, it forced a scream out of my lips. The ice water pricked my skin like pointy needles. My wet air stuck to my face, concealing the warm tears.

I balled my hand into a fist as my teeth clattered in cold. I could hear everyone laughing at me. At this point, I wished I was deaf.

“Fuck you all!” I snapped at them. Sam’s smile faded and his face hardened.

“Even after all this, you dare to speak like that? Looks like you need some serious treatment. Brian!” he whirled his head at his best friend Brian. 

“Hey, loser!” Brian shouted while he flashed the camera of his phone at me. 

My hands flew forward and shielded my face. I could not allow them to record me. 

“There’s no point in hiding. We have a lot of your recorded moments that will go viral if you don’t stay in your place.” Sam snarled.

They surrounded me from all sides and one of the boys poured another bucket of the same ice-cold water on me. 

“Ah!” I screamed, wrapping my arms around my body instinctively. The damage was done, and I could feel the water soak my undergarments. 

I wanted to run. But my legs remained rooted to the floor.

I wanted to yell at them and threaten to repay them ten times for what they had done to me. But, my lips remained pursed. 

My parents didn’t know that I had tried to take my life a few times and had nightmares. They didn’t care. 

My trembling fingers gripped the straps of my bag and without wasting another second, I ran away.

“Hey, look at the rat scramming away.” Their voices buzzed in my ears. 

I took a left turn at the end of the corridor and walked upstairs to the fourth floor. There was a washroom on my left. I slid right inside and the voices faded. 

When I looked at the sink mirror, I saw a pale girl with lifeless eyes staring back at me. The days when my eyes beamed with life in them were long gone. Now it was all pain and suffering. 

I cried my heart out while pulling my clothes off my body. I wondered what I had done to deserve such treatment.

I pulled out the extra pair of clothes I had in my bag. It was unusual, but my life had come to the point where I had to carry makeup and new clothes to hide my wounds.

Applying the foundation on my neck, I did a quick check on the mirror. At least, the bruises were less than the previous days. Sometimes, Samuel applied werewolf herbs on my wounds when no one was around.

He said that it was because he still loved me. But the reality was, they didn’t want to leave any evidence behind. Though they had nothing to worry about. If I opened my mouth…my family and friends would be in danger.

More tears rolled down my eyes as I pondered over my predicament. Was there no end to this?

I straightened the hem of my pink sweater and looked back at the mirror with a smile. The smile was yielding enough to hide what I went through.

“It would get better once I get out of this place,” I chanted. It was my daily affirmation. 

Only a few seconds were left before the biochemistry lecture ended, so I headed off to my class with a fake smile on my face. I would be able to attend the next classes peacefully.

I walked into the room and found Jannet looking around until her black eyes met mine. She immediately rushed to where I was,

“You are late again, Av. Are you seriously going to ignore my advice and let your laziness take over your attendance? You wouldn’t be able to sit for the semester exam if this continues.” She scolded me and I flashed her a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, but this time it was the shop. Dad got an urgent call to deliver some meds and I had to look after the shop,” I pressed my lips in a thin line, lying smoothly to her without blinking for once.

Time and daily practice made me a professional. 

Jannet Davidson was my best friend since middle school and I had to work hard to keep my secrets masked behind my calm looks. I hated lying to her, but it was for her own benefit. Jannet had lots of issues going on in her family and I didn’t want to burden her with my problems.

“Oh. For a minute, I thought you wouldn’t come today and Candice would annoy me the whole day.” Annoyance crossed her features and just then, someone pounced on me from behind.

“Who would annoy you?!” Candice said in her high-pitched voice and her arm snaked on the front of my neck, tugging me back a little towards her. I winced since her arm touched the concealed mark. 

Pouncing on us was a routine of hers. 

“Cad, stop it. You will choke her,” Jannet scolded, being the mother hen of the trio, while Candice and I were her little kids, totally opposite to each other. While Candice was the bright sunshine, I was the gloomy dark cloud floating in the middle of nowhere. 

“Huh??! I do not hold that tight, do I babes?” her hot breath fell on my ear and she smelled of strawberry bubble gum.

I held her wrist, “Maybe a little?”

She did not loosen her grip on me and continued, “Whatev! So, what are you guys wearing to the Mating ball?”

Jannet shrugged, “I don’t know. Jeans? Anything that keeps me away from the gaze of…” she jerked her head to her right, indicating the wolves present in the class. Since some of the wolves in the lecture room had good senses, we used code words and expressions when they were present around. 

“Oh, come on! What’s wrong with being hit on by a wolf? They are hot, smart, and hold the key to status and money. Imagine some muscular wolf inviting you for a dance at the ball and later saying ‘mate’ in his husky voice.”

This time, she released me from her clutch and stepped forward, a dreamy look clouding her hazel eyes, “Ah! Wouldn’t it be so romantic?”

Jannet looked around, “Let’s talk somewhere else. Prof Luther is probably sick again.”

We all decided to head to the washroom while I internally prayed for the mark on my neck to be not visible due to Candice’s arm. 

Jannet checked if anyone was in the washroom or not, and once she confirmed that we were the only souls there, she turned around and continued with the conversation.

“I do not agree with you, Cad. This stupid concept of mate does not work in the twenty-first century. And let me remind you, wolves are not very kind towards us humans.” She explained, crossing her arms over her chest.

People did not talk about it very often, but there was a clear distinction of class between the werewolves and humans. Humans were taken as the inferior ones. News channels and articles were littered with cases of human mates being abused by their wolf mates.

One girl even ended her life because of the constant physical and sexual abuse she had to take from an Alpha who claimed her as his mate. When I was with Sam, I brushed off these facts, believing that he was different.

I had been a fool and I was paying for my mistake. 

Mate or not, humans were always considered pets or sexual slaves in the eyes of the wolves and nobody could prove otherwise, because the chance of a human being mated to a wolf was rare. And all the rare cases led to the same conclusion.

“I know, I know. You are right, now calm down.” Candice held up her hands in defense. “Leave that for now. Did you hear the exciting news? This time, Alpha Dark is holding the ball.”

She beamed in excitement while I pondered over what she said.

Jannet spoke sardonically, “I wonder why the Alpha is showing up now when the Blood Moon Pack took over the control of Wilfair five years ago.”

Wilfair used to be an independent town with packs fighting to take over it. Nobody ever spoke about how it was an independent town when every country ruled by packs was part of the law now. But pushing it aside, Blood Moon Pack won the battle and now we were under the rule of Alpha Dark.

I shrugged in thought, “Maybe he is irresponsible?” I said and both of them gave me an odd look.

“Don’t say that in front of anyone. If anybody catches wind of what you said about the Alpha, your tongue will be ripped out under the act of disrespect.”

The bridge of my nose pinched at her words, “Isn’t that too much? I understand that he is sort of a king, but who goes to that extent?”

Jannet responded in a grave tone, “The Blood Moon Pack follows very strict rules and Alpha Dark is rumored to be the worst tyrant of all. Remember one thing, Av. If you meet him by any chance, do not speak anything disrespectful and try to stay away. He is not one to be messed with.”

Fear took hold of my chest like a manacle. Was he that dangerous?

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