2: Lose Those Curves!

The master of the Kaine household in Eastmoon always hid his soulless eyes, I imagined, underneath that black hat. He didn't show himself to me again, but I could hear his insulting words and feel his presence near. 

I stood wearing a blindfold while he accessed me naked. It wasn't just the slaver and his men that had to see me in nothing but my birthday suit. I bit the inside of my cheek, drawing blood for the minutes this inspection took.

"She's too fat," the master said.

It was the first time someone had ever  described me as fat. I had curves in the right places, but I wasn't what anyone would call that.

I heard his voice again. "Jane, don't you agree with me? I think we must work on her before she bears the Kaine pups."

"Sir, the descriptions you gave Lord Isaac, the slaver, demanded that she be anything but slender." A shaky feminine voice dared counter what this brute was saying.

I supposed that was Jane speaking. She sounded like she didn't like that she had to do this, but it was her job to answer to Master Kaine.

"Are you a fool, too? It's one thing to not be slender, and it's another thing to be fat!"

"Forgive me, sir. I understand. We will put her on a strict diet—"

"Diet?" He yelled, shocking even me from where I stood standing at the centre of the room. "I want her levelled to my taste. A diet won't cut it, Jane!"

"What would you have us do?"

"Show her hell."

Three words were what it took to make me wish I had never been born. I wished for death under the care of this cruel master because this wasn't supposed to be my life. 

If anything, I should be sitting on the Luna's throne, but I had dreamt too far without knowing my place. 

This Jane was only timid before Master Kaine. In the real sense, she was a witch, who made it her goal to make my life miserable. 

While folding my arms, I looked at the rods on the floor and said, "What are those for?"

"They are meant to level you." Her eyes flitted to them and returned to mine, seriously dark. "Now, carry them!"

I stood there for a long moment, trying to understand what she demanded of me. Those rods were thrice my weight. I didn't have the strength of a wolf, and even if I did, carrying that would still prove difficult.

"That's impossible. I can't—"

I wailed in pain the second a whip landed on my back, crashing my body to the floor. The pain was almost unbearable. I saw hell before they could even show me.

"Stop! Please." I begged, crawling away from the hand holding the weapon of torture. 

"We will only stop if you lift a rod and carry it." Jane advised without true concern for me. 

I was beginning to understand I had landed in a sick place, filled with people who weren't normal in the head. After struggling to my feet, I could hold up one because of my tiny palms. 

I bared my teeth, hissing as I strived to not let it fall. Jane had begun the timer. I didn't know how long I had to hold this for, but I knew that I couldn't drop it. 

Sweat trickled down the side of my head and down my cleavage. This was impossible, but my back still stung from the pain of being whipped. 

I screamed after a while. The rod had dropped, and I couldn't dodge swiftly to avoid the whip. It connected with my back again. It was dark when I returned to my room in the building. 

A prison cell without a bed and pillow. I was left to lie on the floor with my aching back and wounded hands. When dinner came, I almost shed a tear. 

Jane slid a plate of half bread over to me. It was as hard as a rock, and my teeth ached as I rushed for the first bite. It was also difficult to hold my first meal of the day in my palms.

Jane said, "Finish that quickly. Your bath is ready." 

I stood on my feet and walked to the railings, keeping my hands at my side as I cried. "Let me out of here! I don't want to be anyone's breeder." 

"If there wasn't metal between us, I would have slapped you back into reality."

"Witch!"

"I was asked to show you hell. So, the next time you appear before him, you'd better lose those curves." 

I finished the bread in silence, thinking about what I had to do. No one here knew I didn't have wolf genes inside me. They thought I was one of them. But then, I couldn't show them what I truly was.

The bath was ready. Jane led me to the wide space with a shower head above and a toilet seat at the extreme. There was also a bath, but I wasn't worthy of it. Not yet. 

The bathroom smelled. My stomach churned, but she stomped her foot on mine as a wake-up call. 

I walked in, taking a stand over the shower, but I couldn't even hold the wash soap. I was useless. Jane scowled at me for needing her help. 

"You are the worst thorn in my flesh, Cara!" She began scrubbing me, dragging her claws through my flesh at intervals. 

I wanted her to stop. I screamed for her to stop, but she wouldn't. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks. I struggled and struggled, and it was only when a third voice came that she stopped. 

"Jane!"

The wash soap fell. Her hands left my body. My shoulders shook from the sobs rising in my throat. I was too embarrassed to let them see my face. 

"He wanted this. It wasn't my—"

"Get out of here, Jane." The voice growled lowly, and I felt it to my toes.

I didn't know who he was, but he seemed to have some authority. Otherwise, Jane wouldn't have answered to him.

"You must be Cara Smyth, the breeder," he said without offering an introduction. 

I didn't know what kept me facing the wall, but I was too tense to look over my shoulder. I felt his eyes on my back, tracing my wounds. 

Was he as cruel as Master Kaine? My heart beat erratically at the thought of who this man was. 

"Yes, I am her." My small voice quivered when I didn't want it to.

Suddenly, I felt his presence next to me. The warmth of his body quelled the cold storm that was mine. I sighed in relief for the first time in this place. 

I wanted to look over my shoulder, but he stopped me. "Don't. I was never here, Cara."

He said that and still touched me. I jumped before I realised what he was doing. He was healing my wounds with the moonstone. The moonstone was a mark of werewolf supremacy. Not every wolf could hold it, nor every pack harbour it.

But it was working. My healing that should have taken weeks was happening easily. He stepped closer, reaching forward for my palms. 

"Why do you let him treat you this way?"

I sucked in a rush of air. He was so near that only an inch separated my back from his chest. His touch was too gentle to be true. 

"Because I have no choice. I was sold."

"Your life is your own. Only you can dictate what happens to it."

When he was done, he left. I opened my eyes, realising I was all alone. Who was he? I picked the wash soap and began washing myself. 

Jane wasn't waiting outside the bathroom for me. I held the towel tighter, looking left and right for any signs of people on this hallway. 

I was the only one here, and the instinct to escape slammed me in the face like a ton of bricks. My life is my own. At the instant, I started running.

Footsteps approached at the end of the hallway. I had to push open the door at my side and hide. My back hit the door while my eyes landed on Jane, suffocating an elderly man with a pillow.

I caught my gasp with the hand over my mouth. She didn't relent. The man's hand fell limp at his side. He was dying. I had just witnessed a murder. 

"What are you doing?"

She dropped the pillow, not sparing a glance at the dying man. "I should be asking you that question." 

"You killed him." My eyes fixed frantically on the man.

"I did?"

When I looked away, Jane was right in front of me. She slapped me as she had promised, and I almost lost my balance. 

Before I knew it, the story changed. She grabbed my hand and made me stab the dead man in the heart with a silver knife. Blood covered my hands as my arse and the knife met the floor.

Immediately, Jane screamed. "Help! The breeder killed Master Kaine!"