Chapter Six

Rayne

Denise looks at the damage that was done on her dress first.

Then, she looks at my face.

There is no point trying to hide the black eye that the Second Beta gave me as punishment for...I don't know. I guess it's everything. He hated me when I was a slave but he hates me even more now.

I thought that being 'Luna' would protect me from him.

I was wrong.

I take the dress off and dress into my old clothes. Thankfully, he didn't hit any other part of my body. He did, however, tear at the dress with his claws. He ruined the straps. I'm not even sure if she can fix them.

"Did the Alpha do this to you?" she finally asks.

"No," I say, staring at my lap. "The Second Beta did it."

Denise frowns and lets the dress drop to the ground. "Rayne, you can't be serious! The Second Beta?"

I look away from her. "Don't tell me that you don't know he targets all of the worker girls. Because if you do, I won't believe you."

"I didn't plan on denying it," she says stiffly. "You know as well as I do that there is nothing I can do about it. I'm not above him. I can't stop him. But you're not a worker anymore. You're the Luna!"

"I wish you'd stop saying that," I tell her in a small voice. "It doesn't matter that I mated him, can't you see that? Everyone knows that this was a mistake. An accident. A...a twisted plan from my part. They know the Alpha doesn't care about me. He's the Second Beta. He probably learned this first-hand."

Denise sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. She turns away from me and I allow myself to sink into the bed. I feel tired. She asks, "Did he touch you?"

"No," I say, touching the tender part of my face lightly. "He didn't get the chance to. Someone walked past and he had to let me go."

She looks at me over her shoulder and asks, "Did he ever...?"

I shake my head. Her question takes me back to that night, the night that started my torment. Maybe if I had given him what he wanted, he would have left me alone.

Instead, I sliced his forehead open with a shard of glass.

"Thank the goddess for that," she says under her breath.

I lie on the bed and she stand at the end of the bed watching me. I'm trying really hard to not cry because I don't want her to see my tears. She places her hands on her hips and says, "I take it your conversation with Alpha Max didn't go as expected?"

I nod.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No," I say, "but he called me a whore. Because of the dress."

Denise grimaces.

"I shouldn't have worn it," I say while picking my fingernails. "Then again, I don't think it would have made much a difference. He thinks I did it on purpose. That I was in on it. I didn't even know those people."

"Don't despair," she says, caressing my leg. "Naturally, he's still upset. Anyone would be in his position."

"He'll be angry forever," I say. I point at my chest and say, "I feel it in here."

"You feel it?" she asks, tilting her head. "What do you mean, you feel it?"

"I feel his anger."

Her eyebrows shoot up. "His anger?"

I frown and sit up. I stare at her face for a beat and say, "You seem surprised. Why? Shouldn't I feel his anger?"

"I never heard of such a thing," she says, picking her dress up from the floor and moving toward the door. "That's all."

With that, she closes the door, leaving me alone in the room. I lie back down and stare at the ceiling. My eye is throbbing but not more than my heart. Nobody ever called me a whore, not even the Second Beta when I cut him and ran from, leaving him bleeding in the woods and ignoring his command for me to stop.

I've never felt this humiliated and hopeless before.

Before, I woke up each day knowing exactly how the day would end. I had my schedule and I knew what to clean and polish. I knew how Denise liked to keep things, especially in the kitchen. I slept at eight each night and was up by five in the morning every day. Yes, it was strenuous. I spent years wishing for it all to stop. Wanting more. Needing more. But now that this has happened, my life has become unpredictable. I don't know what will happen and it's killing me, not knowing.

And then there's the Second Beta, who's angrier than ever.

His anger was sparked by my refusal to answer his questions about how I managed to become Luna. He was there with me that day and he saw the woman call me up. But, like the Alpha, he thinks I already knew her and that we had planned the whole thing together. I explained the story to the Alpha but I wouldn't say it to the Second Beta. The reason why is because I didn't know if I had the authority to tell the story. I didn't know what Alpha Max had told his people. I didn't want to get into more trouble with him. He hated me enough as it is.

So, I kept my mouth closed and the Second Beta hit me hard. Maybe he thought he'd stun an answer from me. No such thing happened. Then, he started tearing at the dress and trying to lift the hem. I tried to fight him but if only got me slapped. He was stronger and bigger than me. I didn't stand a chance against him. There was no shard of glass just lying around in the dirt. There wasn't a thing for me to defend myself with. And so, he wouldn't gotten the best of me.

He would have gotten what he wanted.

Thankfully, miraculously, a servant walked past and saw the two of us. Well, what he saw was me struggling against him and the Second Beta fumbling with his belt.

"What are you looking at?" the Beta demanded.

I took the opportunity to run as fast as I could. He tried to grab me but I was quick and it seemed he didn't want to run with his fly undone. And so, I got away for the third time.

One thing I know for sure is that he will come for me again. This wasn't the end of it. What I don't know is if I will get lucky again the next time.

I fall asleep with that thought in mind and when I wake up, it's to Denise shaking me awake. I'm happy to see her but at the same time, I wish she would let me sleep a little longer.

"Time for dinner," she tells me.

I sit on the bed and tear at a piece of steak with my teeth. Denise watches me with an odd expression on her face. I don't concern myself too much with it. Lately, this is all she's been doing. Since I skipped a meal earlier, I was starving and didn't know it. After I finish the steak, I move on to the mashed potatoes.

"You eat oddly," she tells me.

I shrug. "I'm hungry. And the steak was delicious. I couldn't put it down."

She says nothing else as I shove forkful after forkful of mashed potatoes in my mouth. The food we were served as servants is different from this. This is quality cooking, made from the best ingredients. I wonder if the Alpha had the same dinner. I wonder but don't ask.

"Tell me," Denise begins while stroking her chin. "Do you often feel his anger?"

I look at her confused and answer around a mouthful of potatoes. "Yes."

"How often?"

I shrug. "All the time."

"Is there anything else that you feel apart from the anger?"

“No,” I say truthfully. “It’s just…he’s always angry. I don’t know.” I swallow the food in my mouth and ask, “What did you mean by it’s something you never heard of before?”

“It’s just odd,” she says with a straight face. “That’s all.”

“Why is it odd?”

“Are you done with that?” she asks. I nod slowly and she picks up the tray. She starts heading toward the door and I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of this or whether there’s something else on her mind. She stops when she reaches the door and turns around to say, “You’ll tell me if you feel anything else, won’t you?”

I nod and she starts to close the door. I don’t know why but I suddenly remember the woman who came in here earlier. I ask, “What does Alaska GrayLeaf look like?”

Denise looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Why do you ask?”

“There was a woman in here,” I say. “Earlier.”

She re-enters the room and places the tray down on the bed. She sits beside me and says, “Earlier when? Before I came with your dinner?”

“No, way earlier than that. Before you came with news from the Alpha.” She gives me a look and I say, “I wanted to tell you but that whole thing made me forget.”

“What did she look like?”

“She had long black hair,” I say, recalling how long her braid was. “And her eyes were dark and almost lined with black. Like she painted them. But I don’t think she did.” The more I explain, the more confused she seems. “And she had this red dress on with pretty bracelets all over her arms.”

“Did she say something to you?”

“Yes,” I say. “She said I was beautiful. Too beautiful.”

Denise stands up and paces the floor with a confused look on her face. “That makes absolutely no sense. Is that what she said to you? And then she left?”

“Yes.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes,” I say, growing more anxious. Why is she acting this way? She’s making me really nervous now. “But who is she? Was she Alaska?”

She shakes her head. “Alaska is a dirty blonde. And she has light-colored eyes. No, the woman who was in here wasn’t Alaska. It was someone else.”

Impatiently, I ask, “Who, then? Who was she?”

“Veronica,” she says, as if that answers everything. I’m not familiar with all the faces of the inhabitants of the House. I worked downstairs. I never came up here. That is something that Denise always fails to remember.

When I don’t look any less confused, she adds, “Rayne, she’s Alpha Max’s sister.”