CHAPTER THREE

After a few days of being in the cell with no food or water, I lost track of what day or time it was. Some guards pick me up and drag me to the pack’s training center by dawn and tie me to one of the patios.

The humiliation at being hanged on a pole like an animal ready for the kill. The training field is empty as the guards abandon me to my empty thoughts.

My eyes drop from exhaustion and it doesn't take too long for the quiet to be disrupted. 

“I see you are having a good time.” The sound of that thick voice peels my eyes open with a low gasp.

“Aidan.” I crook out.

“Don't you dare say my name, I've had to bear it for years.” He growls violently, his pretty face constricting into a scowl. I swallow thickly ignoring the beating of my heart.

“Aidan, please help me, I beg of you.” I plead like the desperate filth I was.

“You killed my mother.” He growls angrily at me. 

“I didn't I swear, Clarissa made the tea, not me.” I say desperately tears filling my eyes.

He scoffs, I knew you were going to say that, so Elder Maya is a liar? You bitch, were you that jealous?” He says scoffing.

“Aidan you have to believ-” 

“Shut your trap you whore.” He yells landing a hard blow to my stomach that knocks the wind out of me and grabs my throat.

“I show you a little care and attention that you were so desperately seeking and you begin to grow nerves.” He continues to spit out bitterly. I refuse to believe this entire time was a lie so I hold on to the only person who has cared for me.

“You told me you loved me, you said there was a chance I could end up as your mate when I eventually shifted.” I crook out painfully.

“You psychotic slut, why would I ever be mated to someone like you, you naive, attention seeking whore, you really did believe all that, I could never love you for anything in the world, all you had to do was maintain that beauty of yours and come to my bed whenever I called but you couldn't even do that.” He said groping my breast in such a vile and aggressive manner, Aidan has always been gentle, he never touched me without my permission before.

“I will make sure you rot for what you did.” He glares at me one last time before leaving. His words destroyed me completely, I couldn't even pick the broken pieces, I was going to die anyway. 

I stay tied to the patio like a dog till almost supper time. The pack members begin to all gather outside the training grounds. It's then I notice the training grounds has been decorated and set up like some special festival event was going to take place and then I remember. 

The pack had been expecting the werewolf king's arrival for a month, he was said to be doing a rare patrol among all the packs, it was two weeks to his arrival that I got locked up. It's been two weeks already.

The pack members spit at me and some throw stones and food at me. I bow my head holding back my tears and groan of pain.

“Settle down everyone.” The pack beta yells standing on the podium set up.

“The King will be arriving any moment from now and the criminal will be dealt with after today's event, blood will not be split before the Alpha King's arrival.” My heart beats so wildly not at the mention of my death but at the mention of the Alpha King. 

They want to leave me on display like this in front of the King. I don't know much about the king except that the entire werewolf kingdom fears and loves him. I heard no one who has gotten on his wrong side has ever come out alive and well, not even his own father. He killed his own father immediately after he shifted and became King.

The entire crowd goes silent and an envoy of the largest werewolves I've ever seen make their way to the center of the training grounds. My eyes are half closed from the injuries of the packs stoning so I couldn't see clearly.

I bow my head exhausted from the suffocating aura emanating from the group. I stay like that for one half of the event and the most powerful menacing growl resounds through the training grounds. The murmuring and active crowd goes dead silent and my tired body tense even further.

A loud howling resonates through my head so loud that I cry out in fright. I would have collapsed onto the floor at the frighteningly unfamiliar feeling rushing through me if I wasn't tied.

The large crowd in front of me parts and the largest man I've ever seen charges through growling internally. He stops a few distance away from me. I do not raise my head any further but I can see his chest downwards, I would have seen his face if he wasn't so tall. From the clothing I could tell he was from the King's envoy and from the powerful aura emanating from him, I could tell he was high up in rank.

Every werewolf present could surely hear the loud, erratic beating of my heart and I could feel every emotion spilling out from their pores, the disgust, anger, hatred, mockery knocking the breath out of my weak body and confusion, shock and disbelief fills me. I have never felt their emotions before, I was a werewolf in name only, I couldn't even mind link or feel the pack bond u-until now.

“Untie her.” A powerful deep baritone voice commands, bringing me back to reality.

“Yes, Alpha King.” King? I squint my eyes confused. I feel eyes drilling holes into my head as another large man comes around to loosen the ropes. 

T-The king growls when I wince in pain and fear grips me, everyone can probably smell my fear off of me. I bite my lips to be quiet. The tight ropes had dug into my skin, it was more than painful to untie and peel it off my skin, I also do not have pain tolerance or super healing like other werewolves.

The King's hands are tightly clenched like he's trying to hold back on something, is my mere presence that infuriating. I hold back and choke on my tears, the slightest touch on my skin only brought pain.

“Get a room ready.” The Alpha King emotionlessly orders no one in particular.

“My King, she's a fugitive, she killed my Luna.” The pack Alpha suddenly stops speaking and I cannot see why.

Even the Alpha King's silence shuts him up.

I feel the King kneel in front of me and loud gasps and exclamations flow through the crowd, he smells divine, nothing like the regular werewolf scent, he feels special and intimate like the soil.

The King raises my chin and a pair of intense honey brown eyes gazes through my soul, in awe and starstruck, I forget in whose eyes I was staring into. The entire crowd gasps loudly again at my audacity. I drop my gaze in a rush having no control over my actions and the sharp and intense tingles that flow through my jaw and neck igniting yet another unfamiliar territory.

“Prepare a room for me.” Is all he repeats again before the enchanting and elegant man walks away from the gathering.

The man who untied me picks me up all of a sudden and I yelp in surprise, a large amount of pain following. 

“I'm sorry Qu- uh Miss.” The good looking man tells me softly, his eyes flashing with concealed rage and I'm confused for a moment. He growls menacingly at the crowd and a group of men in similar clothing flanked him as he passes through the crowd, following his King with me in his arms and my head tucked in his shoulder.