Episode 2

The car came to a halt, and I felt my body roll into another person beside me. For what I’d assumed was hours, an eternity in the feeling, I had been stuck in a car’s boot. Screaming at the top of my lungs, begging for my freedom. My step father’s image was plastered on my head, anger and heartbreak rested within me. What would my mom think? How would he explain this? How was he going to play off that he had sold me.

“The sooner you stopped screaming, the better.’’ The voice, which I'd learned belonged to a woman stuck in the boot with me, spoke effortlessly. 

“I don't understand how a person can do this? You don’t just buy people. That’s wrong.’’ I argued, feeling rather suffocated. The car’s weight shifted, indicating that someone had alighted. I held my hands up in fits, trying to hit the roof of the boot, but I only ended up hurting my knuckles. There was nothing I could do. Both my hands were tied at the wrists with rope, and the only thing free were my feet, yet, cramped in a small space, I could hardly move or see anything. 

Tears trickled down my cheeks. My mother’s voice rang in my head, acting as a haunting melody to the catastrophic situation my step father had gotten me in. 

Suddenly, several voices echo from outside the car, right before the boot is lifted open and a sharp light invades my eyes. I grunt as I try to look up, blocking the light with my restrained hands. 

“Alright, get out!’’ The command came from a rough, hoarse voice of the large muscular man shining a torch at us. 

I felt rough hands grip my ankles, pulling me out of the car fiercely. My feet hit the ground before my body did, causing me to fall painfully on the cold concrete floor. 

I gasped, cursing at the pain on my bruised knee. I look up, only to see another figure of a man standing at my side, staring down at me with an evil smile. 

“These new ones?’’ he let out with a coughed laugh.

“Yeah, the king bought them today.’’ the man with a torch answered as he stared down at me.

“Get up.’’ He let out, flashing a crooked smile at me. 

There was a girl standing infront of him, the one who had been stuck in the car with me. 

“This is not right! I want to go home.’’ I cried out, only to be met with hearty laughter and a rough grip on my hair, yanking me forward. I steadied my feet as I winced in pain, hating the way he touched me. 

I was pushed towards the other girl standing beside me, right before we were ushered in a different direction.  

“Please let us go. I promise I'm not going to tell anyone. you won't even hear from me again.” I tried to plead with them but my words only fell on deaf ears. All they did was laugh as they pushed us around. 

The compound seemed bigger than I had expected, not to start anything to begin with. This was a nightmare for everyone. No one wishes to be captured and sold by their stepfather, or to be bought by a horrible man who believed that women were commodities.

“The sooner you accept that you cannot get away from here, the better it will be for you.’’ The girl walking beside me spoke in a low tone as she bowed her head and continued working. She surprisingly came through this entire thing, and unlike me who wanted to scream out and yell at the top of my lungs.

“I don't want to be here. this is not right.’’ 

“Where do you come from? What makes you think that this world right here is right? There is no right or wrong here; only what men with our want to do.’’ 

 I felt a hand on my lower back, causing me to flinch and move forward. The men behind us laughed, cheering at each other, as they pointed at the both of us. I hated the attention. I hated their crude behavior and how they treated us.

“My mother is going to be looking for me. You need to let me go right now.’’ 

“Quit it!’’ the big man exclained, his temper seeming to get the better of him. I looked around, trying to take in my surroundings, and trying to see what I could do for myself and how I could get myself out of this situation. We were in what I would presume was a mansion, or a palace of some sort, because the compound itself could be habitat for fifty or more big houses. There were lights shining on the entire compound so brightly, displaying more like a prison in the night. I wondered where we were, or if we were in the state anymore to begin with. We had been stuck in that car for a really long time. And now that it was already dark I couldn't help but feel that we've been traveling for hours. 

How did my life end up like this?

We were brought to a large building in the middle of the compound, surrounded by a separate fence. They opened the gates with a combination pressed into the locks, making it beep and turn a green light. Inside was nothing but peak silence, only the sounds of gruff footsteps echoed on the cold floor as the men followed behind us. 

We were ushered into a different room, taking a straight corner from the hallway before we were suddenly thrown into the darkness. We fell on what I would presume was a carpeted floor, as we turned back to the men. I couldn't stop myself from crying. A dreadful feeling sat at the bottom of my stomach as I struggled to get up despite the dizziness that I felt. How could people be this heartless? Why would they do this? 

“Welcome to your new home, ladies.’’ The man said, as he flashed the torch light at my eyes again, almost blinding me. In my head, I could hear more heartbeats. It was as if we were not alone in the room. 

“No. Please, don’t do this!’’ I begged as I ran towards him, only to be pushed back down effortlessly. 

“You better get used to it and learn how to behave. Here, you have been stripped of your status and are nothing but slaves. Breeding machines for the soon-to-be Alpha and King Jordan Luther. Get acquainted with each other and learn your duties. The sooner you accept this, the easier it will be for you all.”

The door was slammed shut right after, leaving us in utter darkness, with an echo of those damning words that felt like a death sentence.

Suddenly, there was shuffling of feet and warm grabby hands wrapped around my body, dragging me against the floor. I tried to scream but my hand was placed on my mouth and it was silent. A sharp light invaded my eyes as I looked up, noticing that the lights just went on. 

“Is she okay?’’ A soft voice echoed as the hands holding me down slowly departed from my body. I pulled myself up, posting my body with my arms before the sudden realization that someone had and tied with. I look around in shock, feeling my eyes and my mouth falling again. We were not the only ones here. In front of me were three different girls, all dressed in white sleeping gowns and red hair.

“Are you okay?’’ One of the girls asked me as she stepped forward. I turned around, looking at the other girl who was killed on the floor before realizing that she must have been the person who I came with. And to the others, she was the only one who wasn't wearing a white gown just like me. 

“Are you okay?’’ She repeated again, her voice fraining with concern, “Are you hurt?’’ 

“No. No.’’ The girl at my side spoke, as she stepped forward. “We’re fine.’’ 

“But she's bleeding.’’ one of them pointed at my leg. 

I watched as they moved quickly, I clutched my knees, feeling the stinging pain, as I tried to wipe the blood off with my sweater. “ I fell. But it’s all healed now.’’ I spoke with a smile, showing them the healed spot. They let out a sigh of relief. One of the girls smiled as she reached out to me, touching me gently as she brought me to a big bed in the middle of the room. 

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of banging against the doors outside, and a whistle being blown. 

“Come on! Come on!’’ 

I watched the girls in the room all get excited, straightening hairdressers in the mood to stand in front of the door. The girl that I came with stared at me with confusion as we stared back at them.

'What's going on?’’ I asked. 

“Oh, it’s time for our weekly run.” One answered with enthusiasm, “The master allows us one day a week to run free in our natural forms to our heart’s desire. Isn’t he so kind!’’ 

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The doors were suddenly open, right before the sharp sound of bones snapping and screams of horror and pain echoed in the bedroom. I watched as the four redheads, seeming to move in similar motion, transformed into wolves. 

I had never seen it before. My mother has never told me much about it or how it would happen. It was a topic she greatly avoided. 

I have always imagined it to be something magical. The moment a werewolf would allow their wolf self to take control instead of suppressing it. My mother had kept me on a bunch of medications ever since I was a kid to suppress that part of me. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I stopped taking them behind her back.

“Well, what are you guys waiting for?’’ the man standing across the door said as he pointed at the both of us.

Without wasting time the girl beside me began to transform. she took off her sweater and then her shirt and she fell to her knees. I watched with horror as her fingers and toes were replaced with paws. Fur grew from her pores and her facial features were replaced with that of a full grown wolf. Unlike the other girls, she didn't even let out a sound as she transformed. Her pants fell from her body like shedding skin. All eyes were turned to me and I couldn't help but look at them with confusion and fear.

 How was I going to tell them that even though I was a wolf, I couldn't transform?