Chapter 0006

I lost track of time locked in the dungeons like a filthy criminal. At first, I tried to count the days but the place was dark. I could not tell when night came or when the sun rose high in the skies. Every day was filled with darkness and pain. My body still hurt from being pushed off the balcony. I may have broken something inside but there was no way to tell because there was no doctor to examine me.

Often, the pain in my body tripled and tears spilt down my cheeks before I had time to hold them back and every time this happened, I knew my mate was getting intimate with another woman. This was the reason he didn’t reject me. He wanted me to be in pain every day as he desecrated our sacred bond.

I thought I lived an awful life until I met my mate. Noah showed me that I’d been living a happy life before he returned to the pack. Sometimes, he visited the dungeons but he never came to my cell. I didn’t see him but I felt him, much to my annoyance. Although he was metres away, my body was attuned to him in a way that could not be explained. I hated it. It made me hate him the more and I wanted it all to end.

My eyes were closed and my stomach in knots when my body froze. Hunger made me delirious sometimes but this time, it was so much worse. They hadn’t brought food for me in a long time. The mouldy bread and dirty water I got at intervals couldn’t be called a meal but it saved me from starvation. I hadn’t received a portion in what must have been days.

While I groaned in agony, I scented the last person I wanted to see in this life. Although I hated him, my body reacted to him. I thought he had come for his normal round of inspection but I felt him get closer and closer to my cell, and then I saw him.

“Miss me?” He gave a boyish grin, tilting his head to the side as the enforcer opened the door.

He was dressed in a black tuxedo, his hair slicked back and an expensive watch on his wrist.

“Do you like my watch?” He held out his hand to my face and my body reacted to his scent. It was animalistic to feel this way about someone who put me through all these but the goddess had wired me with these emotions.

I liked his scent.

“Are you too hurt to play with me?” He stroked my dirty hair. “Even though I brought food?” It was then I noticed the platter he held in one hand. I’d been so consumed by two opposite emotions warring inside me at the sight of him that I missed the tantalizing scent of food.

“Here.” He shoved a pitcher of water at me. “Drink.” The water splashed on my face as he started to pour and like a dog, I opened my mouth and lapped at the clean water pouring.

A chuckle came from above me but I closed my eyes. It didn’t matter if he laughed at me – all I cared about was satisfying the thirst that felt as deep as my soul. He could laugh all he wanted but I would lap at the water he poured on my face like a starved dog because I was nothing more than a starved dog at that point.

“Where is your dignity?” He snickered, setting the pitcher of water aside. More water had poured on me than entered my mouth, leaving me thirstier than I was before he gave me water. “It’s too early for you to break, Carrot. I’m not done playing with you yet.”

To this bastard, I was nothing more than a plaything, a toy for his amusement, a thing he could toss around as he wanted without care of it breaking. Sometimes, he acted soft and concerned for me and in the days since I’d been locked up in the dim dungeons, I wondered if he didn’t feel even a shred of emotion for me. I hated him with every fibre of my being but the barely formed mate bond made me feel weird things for him. For example, his scent made my stomach clench and it wasn’t due to disgust. It made me think it was possible that he felt even a shred of emotion for me that’s why he acted nice sometimes.

What I didn’t consider then was that Noah Howard was a psychopath that had chosen me as his victim.

“Are you hungry?” He opened the plate he brought and my mouth watered.

“Yes,” I muttered as I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth. “I’m starving.” There was no point denying my hunger. He could see it in my ravenous eyes and the bones in my body.

“Will you beg me to feed you?” His eyes sparkled in anticipation. Something inside me gnashed but I silenced it.

I’d vowed to myself that before I died, I would make sure to spit on Noah Howard‘s grave. If I had to beg the bastard to stay alive till I got my revenge against all those that hurt me in this pack, then so be it.

You have to wait for me. Wait to die by my hands, Noah. No one else can kill you.

“Please,” I muttered in a raspy and cracked voice. “Please, feed me. I’m hungry and s – starving.” I coughed, something tickling my throat.

“Beg more sincerely,” he said in glee. “Beg on your knees.” I fell to my knees and his lips quirked up. “That’s more like it, Carrot.” His eyes darkened and a weird heat flickered across his face. “This is where you belong.” He pressed my head down, shoving me lower. “You belong at my feet, not beside me.”

“Y – Yes, Alpha.” His cold demeanour had me stuttering through the harsh treatment. My body crumpled like a piece of paper when he shoved me again. I fell on my stomach, my hands handcuffed behind me. “Please, Alpha. Please don’t let me starve to death.”

“You beg so prettily.” His eyes gleamed as he squatted beside me. “Alright, since you begged and I am a benevolent leader, I will feed you.” He straightened. “Stand up, then.”

How would I stand? My hands were cuffed behind me and I was on my stomach on the filth ground and my tired body could barely move.

“It’s going to be quite difficult,” he snickered. “But you can manage it, can’t you?” Laughter tinged his words and I nodded.

It may be difficult but it could not be as difficult as the life I lived. It took a couple of tries but I rolled on my back, kicked my feet and pushed myself to a sitting position. My body was weak, my legs trembling as I kicked up to a sitting position but I pushed myself.

“Good. You’re a good girl.” Noah stroked and patted my hair slowly as if we were lovers. I retched at even the thought.

When I sat up, he fed me, his eyes gentle and his movements kind. Maybe this was what he wanted – a woman who he could treat as a dog and she would bark when he wanted. Unfortunately, I could never be that woman.

“I’m going to become the alpha in a few hours,” he muttered as I chewed. “You won’t be able to witness the ceremony.” He sounded distraught but I was only half-listening. “Your mating is also in seven days. Your mate is sponsoring my ceremony so I thought you should eat from the food we would feast on today thanks to you.”

He fed me – he overfed me but I could not complain. My stomach hurt but I would be meek even if it was the last time.

“I have to go now.” He stood, abandoning the food he came with. “We will see on your wedding day.” With that, he exited the dungeons and the enforcer locked up behind him.

Laughter burst from my throat when he left.

‘Wait for me, Noah.’ I thought. ‘Wait for me to get my revenge on you. Don’t die before then.’

“Carrot.” My eyes opened in the dark cell to see Amanda’s blazing red hair. She had an apron tied around her and her eyes darted around the place. “It’s the handing-over ceremony today so there are fewer enforcers around.” A man appeared beside her and opened my cell door. “This is your only chance to escape.” Her words took time to register in my mind.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked as the man uncuffed me. “He’d kill you if he finds out.” Noah had been sent to the academy to be reformed but he came back worse.

“It’s just – You’re a good girl.” It was a stupid reason to set me free but I didn’t question it as I stood. “Forget about this pack –“

“Mother, we have to tell her,” the enforcer taking off my handcuffs spoke. “It’s a –“

“No, Andrew. Not a word,” Amanda became stern. “If what you saw is the truth then we should not interfere too much,” she said to her son then she turned to me. “Just go. We are doomed anyway.” She hurried me.

It was impossible for me to forget about a pack I planned to destroy but I nodded and hurried out as fast as my shaky legs could carry me.

Amanda and her son bade me farewell as I broke into a run that night. My heart pounded, my legs trembled and tears spilt down my cheeks as I ran. It’d be faster if I had a wolf to shift into but I didn’t. I didn’t have a wolf so I ran on my two thin human legs.

My lips and chin trembled and my chest hurt. Of course, my body hurt. I’d been pushed out of a building a month ago and I didn’t have a wolf to heal me neither had I received proper treatment.

Images of Noah catching up with me and throwing me back into the cold and smelly cell made me run faster even as my legs trembled and my knees buckled more than once.

I ran like my clothes were on fire, weaving through numerous unfamiliar forests. We were a small pack with a small land and I could only hope I’d exited Red Lake after running for so long. I kept running until I exited the woods and then a blinding light shone on my face and my legs froze going into lockdown mode.

“Get out of the way!” I heard a powerful voice shout before my legs gave out and my world went black.