I kicked and screamed, my voice was louder than it had ever been and filled the halls of the palace with an echo that would wake the dead but not one sound left my lips.
My palms burned from my nails digging into my skin and I jabbed the air aiming for his sculpted face. He watched me. I watched him. And my hands were completely still on the bed, my legs parted for him to step between and every ounce of fight that happened in my head was not acted out by my body no matter how hard I tried or how loudly I begged.
It wasn't I who controlled my body at that moment, it was him, and he knew it.
The mattress dipped under his weight as he walked up and set a knee down on the bed. He grabbed my ankles and spread my legs further apart before he stepped between them as though there was where he belonged. He caressed my thighs, and as he was edging further up he
One beat. Two beats. Three beats.I heard my heart beating in my ears, quieting all other sounds- not that there were many. Like a horse race I saw on TV once, the humans loved those, I remember them in the stalls before the doors opened, the signal broke out and the horses took off running like their lives depended on it.That eruption of speed and sound and the way that the people in the stands stood up and cheered on their favorites. It was a deafening sound, it made your heart pound against your chest and then when I saw the faces of the people who won, they were euphoric.My heart was the steps of a horse running on the track, Darian was the observer in the stands, having betted money and waiting to see his favorite horse run over the finish line.My fingers clutched and my legs started to tremble like Bambi on ice while I pulled with all my might to get
Darian slid his hand down Abby’s front and between her legs. He started moving it back and forth while her moans were muffled by the ball in her mouth.He pushed the button, I heard the tase and my eyes felt like were bulging out of my head when I couldn't look away. Abby’s head fell forward when her screams were choked and she pulled her hands down when her body folded over but she couldn't free her wrists. Darian pulled on a hanging rope that propelled the chains back up and Abby was forced into a standing position.He stepped around her, released the rope just enough for her arms to fall while he bent her over and then he locked the rope into place.Darian positioned himself behind her and grabbed something from the hook in the drawer behind him.Trixy stepped up beside me but she didn't just join me, she edged me back from the center of my own
I couldn't tell you how long I walked the halls before Elise found me. It was embarrassing enough that I couldn't find my way back to my room but when she told me that I was in the wrong wing of the palace I just gave up.She guided me back through the twists and turns of the halls and the stairs, it was like a jigsaw puzzle and I had no clue how I would get out of here.One of these days I needed to sit down and map everything out. I knew that down the right corridor and past two hallways, down two flights of stairs and past three colorless doors was the door that led out of the palace- the one that Gabe used to get me out.I hated to admit it but that was everything I knew and that was a piece of information that I’d keep safely tucked away until I needed it. “Has he told you anything about tonight's ball?” Elise asked while she dried my hair. I told her that it wasn't necessary, that I could fix it myself but she insisted, stating that it’d been her job since she was a little girl
I walked across the ballroom, not seeing anyone other than Emanuel and Iliana. Her chest pushed out when she drew a sharp breath watching me fight my way through the crowd. Her brown eyes turned round as they glimmered like a hundred diamonds and she reached out her arms.“Hazel, oh thank the gods,”We embraced in a hug that felt like it would never end. I wouldn't mind if it didn’t.“I was so worried about you,” she whispered. Iliana moved her head, her hands tightened around me and I felt her heart beating manically. Her hold wasn't entirely out of love and worry, there was something desperate in the way that she clambered onto me and didn't let go. Something frightening made her hold on, and I wasn't going to let her go. I wanted her to feel safe with me.“Do you know why I'm here?” Her voice was barely a whisper, I only heard certain words and had to puzzle the others in on my own. Trixy was with me, eagerly awaiting an expiation and when I pulled back I could feel my heart physi
The angelic music played in the speakers around the pack. The torches were lit along the streets and the moon shone brightly in the center of the sky. A shadow was cast over the edge as the blood moon began to form and once it was fully merged it would be time, and later on when the the blood moon begun to pull from its form the horn would blow- indicating that the Hunt had begun. “Are you nervous?” My little sister, Mathilda, asked me. “Hazel isn’t nervous, sweetheart, this is an honor. One that you too might experience in a few years if you’re lucky.” I shifted on the bed and suppressed the growing anger towards my mother. I looked into Mathildas hopeful eyes and cupped her tiny chin. “I hope you never do,” I said and cast a fierce glare at my mother when I turn my head.If a female didn't have her mate by the time she turned eighteen, she was to be a volunteer for the Hunt. It wasn't her choice but somehow, through the centuries that this tradition had been alive, young girls
“There now! Gather around. Accompanied families you make take your positions around the cliff but please do not interfere once Lady Hale begins her evaluation of the girls.” Our family members, the ones meant to protect us and love us, skiped in joy to stand behind the white marker painted in a circle on the ground.“Line up!” said captain Tala.We moved into formation, each girl from tallest to shortest stood in a half-moon inside the circle.I stood next to Iliana, our height measured the same but she was thin and tight where as I was curvy with a big chest and a round ass. I inherited my curves from my mother, she said it was a gift and would frequently explain to my sister and I ’how boring it would be if every female looked the same with their long legs and symmetric proportions’.Boring indeed to look like a walking model with the strength and stamina of a werewolf.I bit back a chuckle looked around the circle.“I’m so nervous,” Olive said and fixed her bust, she lifted her br
One by one they were ranked and rated and now Lady Hale stood in front of me. I look down at my feet, refusing to disobey even though it’s taking every one of restraint I have not to raise my head and meet her contending gaze. I hear the faint sound of a chuckle and even then I still don't look up.“They will most certainly have fun with you,” she said. The cold of the metal abasing my skin made me shiver as she slid the cane up my leg, lifting the dress as she went. The beak would occasionally made slits on my leg and my hip, drops of blood made a cooling path down my leg.“Spin.” she ordered and the change in her voice was instant. The gruff change and demanding tone had me sucking my teeth and focusing on the pain to stay obedient.I turned on the spot, the dress rode up further and she watched every angle of my body. I felt the hairs rise on my thighs as the wind blew in and brushed against my bare skin.“Very nice. Eight” she cooed. Capitan Tala came up behind me and my hands w
When I was ten my mother sat me down, looked into my innocently naive eyes and proudly said, ’Hazel, in a few years you will be apart of our worlds most grandest tradition and be chosen by an Alpha.’ My response was always ’no thanks, mama’. I was happy gliding through life in school, with my friends, chasing and hunting in the woods.My only dream was gaining my wolf and going on real hunts and maybe one day, if I were lucky, join the Shadow Guard and work for the council.That all chipped away slowly as I grew up and before I knew it I was eighteen with no mate being told it was time I partake in the Hunt. Not as a hunter, no, girls couldn't be hunters. Us girls were the prey, hunted like a deer in the woods until caught by an Alpha and becoming his claim. I shiver as I stand thinking about this tradition, the one I had been told was an honor and that I now was part of. There wasn't much time to ponder on the past when the Lycan King suddenly moved toward us. He had been watching