3. WHERE THE STORY BEGINS

The screams had me hallucinating. They had me grip my head in an attempt to keep them out but they pushed through. I did not want to look but I kept going to the window and all I saw was red.

The foreign wolves had moved from my section of the view. Just a few minutes and they were done outside.

I could hear them ransack the castle. I could hear them drag all that were hidden.

Mothers begged and the children cried. I could hear the men roar in their last attempt to keep their heads and balls. My feet carried me around the room by my command. I paced to the point where I thought my feet were bleeding then I stopped all at once. My chain was making noise as I dragged it back and forth.

I hunched down, my eyes wrecking all through the room for a place to hide yet once again I found none. There were no weapons, no place to find solitude. I was in the open with the door being the only thing that would keep me from them.

I rocked back and forth right under the window seat. My hair rocked with me as it floated down on my sides. It hid me away but it would not save me from what was to come.

“I am going to die,” I whispered over and over. It was supposed to assure me. Just one hit and I would be dead. I would not live through this world’s pain anymore or face the men’s wrath.

My stomach turned and my head snapped up from my knees as silence consumed the castle.

My eyes went wide because somehow the silence was worse than the screams that had echoed for hours. I had no clue what was happening. I had no clue where the men were. And what they were doing. Were they gone? Had they killed everyone and left?

I tried as hard as I could to concentrate but my ears could not get anything from a few feet away.

Get up and check. A voice whispered in my head but the fear kept me bolted down. My skin had erupted into a coat of bumps from the cold that was having its way with me. My feet were pale and frozen against the wooden floor. It got to the point where I was even afraid to breathe because I felt as if the foreign men were just outside my door, waiting for me to make a single sound so they could pounce.

I forced the tears away.

Ashy eyes stared at the door until it began moving from how intense I glared. Even my thoughts turned silent with the air prickling to a point where I felt even it would give me away.

Footsteps.

I slapped my hand over my mouth to stop the cry.

“Wait. I hear a heartbeat.” A voice came out loud.

As if my heart had been waiting its whole life for this, it began frantically beating to the point where my throat was congested and I had to let out the air.

“Excited, aren’t we?”

That laugh, that evil laugh. I shook so hard even my hair shook, the tears running over my fingers.

My door handle jiggled down over and over then it stopped.

“Open the door!” It was more of a roar. The handle moved with such force I thought it would give out. I fell on my ass, crawling back to hit the wall. My eyes went in every direction but nothing would help.

This was it. It was the end.

“Open the door now! The longer we wait, the bloodier we will be.” And I did not doubt them at all. I rose up as unstable as I was. There was no way out but death.

Somehow, a part of me was glad it was going to end this way.

A yelp poured as something hard slammed on the door.

I shook my hands in the air, trying to rid myself of the fear.

The door fought back as they slammed into it over and over. It was thick and had been made to keep me in but I never thought it would ever keep the demons out.

I took one last look around the room.

Twenty-six years. Twenty-six years in this world and it was time to bow down. Once upon a time, I had big dreams but being locked for sixteen years in this room while unthinkable things happened could break anyone’s spirit. Mine was shuttered and I was ready to take whatever was thrown at me and bow out.

“OPEN THIS DOOR.” I knew they were going insane out there. At that point, I feared for their safety as they continued hammering themselves on the door. It did not even crack, not even once. I did not want to kindle any hope because a part of me, a deep part of me wanted this.

Fists began hammering into the door hard before the groans echoed then nothing. The silence is always worse. I bit my lower lip to let off the anxiety. My nails dug into my palm with the footsteps long gone. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned me crazy until I heard them again.

I held my breath. Waiting.

A soft knock came through and my heart stopped because I thought they had Roselyn and would threaten me with her. Even the thought of them having Roselyn or Tyme sent my heart jumping off the cliff.

“Open the door.” The tone was calm but nothing about the voice was. It sounded deadly. It was more like a dangerous warning. I raised my hands, wanting to tell them, tell them that I couldn’t but my tongue was suddenly heavy.

The knock came again and I was already shaking my head.

“Open the door.”

My whole body turned to ice. My arms wrapped around my frame.

I held my breath and when the door shook so hard I couldn’t help but feel faint. I gripped the window seat, my book not far.

This newcomer was heavier and more brutal. He kept slamming. He roared like a beast and my fear hit the roof. He was an animal and once he broke through he would rip me apart.

The door cracked and I knew it was just a matter of time.

I moved to tuck my hair behind my ears. I looked around for anything I could do in my final moments but nothing came to mind because I had nothing.

My knees hit the floor first and my arms rose up to my sides.

“Moon goddess. Ancestors. Mother. Universe. Please, I ask, accept my soul. It is stained. It is dark but I plead. Accept my soul.” The tears poured and they were of such deep pain. They were of intense grief. I let them run but none came after.

Glass eyes stared as the door splattered apart with each impact. It was all hazy. Pain shot through my cheek as a splinter cut through my skin. I could see the anger even through my vague vision. The man kept pushing with his foot, destroying the door in such a monstrous way. My head lowered, bowed in submission.

All that shall be, will.

The door hit hard on the floor. My body jerked and shook tremendously from the impact. I watched their bloody feet close the distance.

I heard the whistles from the other men.

 My chest wanted to rip out of my body as much as I told myself I was ready.

Large, dirty, and bloody feet stopped right before me. I kept telling myself to hold it together and it was all that clouded my thoughts as I pinned those feet down. I couldn’t tear my eyes away, them suddenly my pivot point.

“What do we have here?”

“That smell. I have smelt it before.” Another said in excitement.

“The beta.” One chirped in.

“Yes. He wrecked of her scent. Is she his mate? We can finally deliver the news of how we tore him apart.”

“No, not marked.”

“His whore then.”

They tore the room apart and all I cared about were the feet, unmoving before me. They had many cuts, mud deep in the nails. They bled. How could they not when they shuttered a whole door apart?

“She is chained?”

“Not a surprise these fucks like their women chained. I bet she likes it rough.”

Yet underneath all that dirt, I began to see how beautiful the feet were. My heart took the pace down the more I stared and unveiled new things about the feet. The fear slowly sank away and I did not mind those feet being the last thing I saw.

The feet began moving and I nearly cried out. Their change had my heart throw a fit. Suddenly, more of the legs were before me then knees until the man’s warmth seeped into my own skin. He was so warm and so red with blood, blood of my people.

Black shorts and a black t-shirt hugged his body.

I closed my eyes, knowing it was time.

A whimper pulled out as a large and strong hand wrapped around my entire neck. His hand was so large it closed around my whole neck. My eyes shot open in panic. His hand then eased, his thumb pushing up my chin.

Those eyes.

Those silver-blue eyes.

I knew I would meet death once but I never knew he would be trapped in a man’s body.

He did not have to tell me. I knew our short story would be wrapped in pain but not just mine. He drowned in it. It poured from his pores and he would burn me in it.