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It was late at night. I lay on the bed with Thane beside me, but he hadn’t said a single word to me. I had expected to be punished; maybe he was only devising some suitable punishments to administer, that would explain why he had been so silent. I didn’t think he was sleeping.“Thane...”“Go back to sleep, Riley,” he says, but the last thing I could do now was sleep.“Would you punish me for what I did earlier?” That was a stupid question. Of course I would be punished; maybe I would bear some scars like Freya. No, I wouldn’t allow that. But then what will I do to stop it?, fight him?, run?, scream?I could do nothing.“Is this what is keeping you awake?” He asks, and though I wasn’t looking at him, from his tone, I knew there must be a smirk on his face.“There are many other questions.”“Like?” he asked.“Your mother talked about you being punished for doing the forbidden.”“You shouldn’t be worried about that.”“You are the Alpha...”“And he is the Alpha King. There are these ancie
I didn’t think sleeping would be possible, not with the news Thane had shared that the Elders were already in the pack and he would be punished by the early hours of dawn. He had told me not to worry about him; he didn’t seem unsettled in any way. To him, it was just another night, but I, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. Also, why would Freya warn me about falling in love with Thane? He was her son; isn’t she supposed to protect him?.I knew better than to fall in love with Thane, that was for sure, but I could not deny that he was a very alluring man, and Axel...I felt like my life had become nothing but a mirage that could only exist in a girl’s fantasies. I wouldn’t say I was free with Thane now; knots still formed in my stomach when he was close. Axel was safe, but I had seen a new part of him; he wasn’t as innocent as I thought he was; he had some darkness too, and maybe it was worst in his case, because I never knew what to expect from him.“Riley”, Thane called and that star
I woke up only to discover that I was alone. It was few hours to dawn.Where was Thane?, I sat up from the bed.“You need more sleep." Axel – who I hadn’t realized was in the room, said to me. How did they always go in and out without me noticing?, was I really that deep a sleeper?“Where is Thane?” I asked.“Gone”“Gone, where?”“You don’t need to worry; he’ll be back in a while, and I’ll be here with you,” Axel said.I put on a coat over my nightgown and headed for the door.“Where are you going?” Axel asked“I know he is about to be punished; I need to be there.”“He doesn’t want you there,” Axel answered.“I don’t fucking care what he wants,” I said. The movement was fast. Axel had been over there a while ago, and now he was standing right before the door, startling me. With his intense gaze on me, I swallowed. I always had to remind myself that Axel was just as dangerous and scary as Thane. “I’m sorry. Could you just take me there, please?” I begged, force couldn’t exactly do it.
...‘Just some regular whipping’, Thane had said, but he had lied. The metallic steel-coloured whip was very much unusual. I couldn’t help but wonder how someone could create an object like this with the sole purpose of using it on people. The whip was a dark, shining metal, and the tip had been split into five. The elders passed the whip to the guards, the same ones that had too many piercings. They dipped the metal whip into the contents of a basin.“What is that?” I askedAxel was silent for a while, and that alone was enough to tell me that whatever it was, I wouldn’t want to know. “Wolf’s bane in its liquid form. Leave it up to the elders to devise things like this,” Axel said, and I could sense the anger in his voice.Thane was right; I wouldn’t be able to bear watching this. How could I stay and watch such cruelty?I knew what wolf’s bane was; it was one of those many things I’ve heard about a lot of times but never actually seen; it was rare for a good reason; this was a werew
“Don’t touch me,” I warned, but of course they rather obeyed Thane’s command.The guard dragged me away, and the little distraction was easily forgotten. The executioner continued, and I lost count.Thane seemed mad at me. I had made not only him but also Axel suffer, all because I couldn’t walk past the damn room. I got what I deserved.I felt slightly awkward due to Thane’s impolite words – he hadn’t spoken to me like I was his Luna, more like I was some annoying, clingy and bothersome person who didn’t know when to react and when to refrain. Still, I couldn’t help the surge of guilt I felt.Maybe Thane was right; punishing me will make things easier to bear. Lost in thought, I realized the soldiers had stopped before a room.I pulled away from them to walk in, only to get shoved into the room by one of the soldiers. I landed on my butt. I was mad at everything. I rushed for the exit again even if I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape them, only to have the door slammed in my face, a
Axel let my mother in.If only he knew that she was the last person I needed. “I would give you both some space,” Axel said.“Are you here to give me some more lectures, mom? There’s nothing you say that would change the decision I had already made, so maybe you could make this easy for the both of us and leave,” I said to her even before she could say a thing. Maybe Axel hadn’t picked up on the info the last time; my mother had been a total... I couldn’t call her a bitch, but she had acted very much so, making me feel like I was a naive and ignorant child who couldn’t see that she was headed in the wrong direction. Yet she knew that all I did - I did for her and for us.“Will you at least hear me out?” My mother asked“Depends on what you have to say, mother, if it’s along the lines of ‘he is too dangerous for you’ or your very favourite, ‘a life of slavery back in the Windborne pack is better than a life here’, then I’m sorry—but not so sorry, I wouldn’t be interested in...” “I am
I did need my mother’s visit more than I thought I did and after that, I was finally calm enough to fall into a restful sleep.I didn’t know how long I slept, but something awoke me; I felt like I wasn’t alone in the room. I snapped my eyes open to see Thane watching me, like practically sitting on a stool close to the bed and watching me like a complete creep. Thane was the last person I expected to see.My heart slammed fast against my rib cage, threatening to escape the walls.“You scared the living day light out of me, Thane,” I said. He didn’t say anything, still staring at me with those dark amber eyes. Could I still be dreaming?. I pinched myself to make sure. I did feel that. This was no dream.“I like watching you sleep,” he said, as if just realizing it. “I like so many things about you. I like when you are shy and embarrassed, but what I love most is watching you in tears. You cried for me, and it was a fucking turn-on.”“That’s very creepy Thane, even for you.” He was turn
I and Thane lay side by side on the bed in a comfortable silence.“I’m feeling very generous now. Ask me a question; you might get an answer,” he says, and I peck up. I had so many questions to ask, and he was finally giving me an opportunity. I might as well take it while it lasts.“Why did you pick me?, you would have had others easily... What is your intention, and what are you going to gain from this?”“So this was the first thing that came to your mind?. Ask any other question, but that,” he says. That wasn’t fair. But I quickly moved on, I didn’t expect an answer either.“Your parents had been present at the time you were being...” I paused; I didn’t want to say the word punished again, so I moved on, hoping Thane got the clue: “Freya did nothing. I feel like there is something you haven’t told me, something between your parents, particularly your mother and you.”Thane watched me silently. “That’s another question I can’t answer.”“Were you planning to ever answer a question?”