Chapter 5

EMY'S POV

I had been a slave for far too long and maybe this offer should be a relief but I couldn't help being suspicious. It was all too good to be true. Were they in a tight situation that they had to throw the offer to a spy they presumed me to be? Even worse, a woman like myself.

I didn't deserve all these things yet I sat on the table with the three most feared Alpha's while one of them fed me and took his time doing it too.

I racked my brain for his name- maybe I had forgotten it somehow but the only names I could remember were Thorn and Hunter's. The one in front of me? Not quite.

He didn't have the cold features like Thorn nor did he have the ever smiling face like Hunter. His distinct feature was that he wasn't too cold nor too playful. He was very much in the middle. He smiled a little, he furrowed his brows a little, he barely kept any emotion on his face -

"What?" His brows jumped as he held my gaze. "Are you studying my face?" He sounded amused and I saw the ghostly smile on his face before his lips curled.

"She's so concentrated on you," I heard Hunter say. "I'm jealous," he teased.

"You're taking so much time doing it. We all have the same face so you'll probably have to glance at all of us," he chuckled. "But it's easy for you, isn't it?"

I didn't know how to reply. I was just a very observant person; being dumb wasn't allowed in the pit.

My visions got dark for a moment and I panicked, pushing the hand away from my face, I met with his smiley face.

"Your gaze is too intense, Emy," he admitted. "What are you thinking about?"

"Your name," I glanced at the cup of water and my throat immediately felt dry. I wanted to reach for it but I squeezed my dress instead, remembering the first time I ever acted without permission.

The heavy blow that followed on my left cheek had given me an insight to what I was going to face all my life.

"Dylan," he said and as if reading my mind, he handed me the glass of water. I hurriedly accepted it with both hands and I wasted no time in gulping it down. The water dripped from the corners of my mouth and rolled into my chest and dress.

When I was done, I placed it on the table and lifted my head to Hunter whose hand had stilled and he now stared at me with a blank expression.

He wasn't the only one.

Did I do something wrong? Should I not have finished that cup-

"I'll reach out to Ms. Jane by tomorrow," Thorn said and turned back to his food. "She should be able to make time to teach her some," he trailed off and I wondered what that was going to be.

"Sounds good enough for me," Hunter shrugged.

"Unless, of course, you have no problems feeding her," Thorn lifted his eyes to Dylan but he glanced at me first. His cold eyes made me flinch and I quickly looked away, fixing my eyes on Dylan who smirked softly.

"Leave that to me. I'll handle it," Dylan assured me. "It would be too sudden if she rushed over here. She only let us go three years ago to start her own life."

"I told her to leave earlier than that," Thorn pointed out with a harsh tone.

"There you go again, grumbling about our Nanny. You approached her the wrong way," Dylan corrected him as he stuffed my face carefully with food. "Chew slowly," he said with eyes and an equally soft tone.

"That wasn't my intention," Thorn defended.

"That's never your intention," Hunter grumbled playfully. "Accept it, you just make everything sound like you're pissed off. She dedicated her whole life to us, yunno."

It was obvious they weren't picking on each other but was this how they had a conversation? I was barely shaking over here especially when Thorn opened his mouth. Why did he have to sound so cold and have those cold eyes as well.

It was as if life had been unfair to him in every way that he lost the warmth and hope that came along with it.

"Don't make me walk out of dinner," Thorn threatened and the other two shrugged and fell silent on the table.

"Emy,"

I almost jumped out of my seat at Thorn's voice. Dylan pouted a while before he too turned his attention to his brother.

"Y-Yes-"

"Are there any questions you'd like to ask?" He cut me short. "Concerning our agreement. After the mating ceremony tomorrow, you're not allowed to speak of the contract again."

That sounded more like a 'speak now or shut up till one year is over'. I couldn't afford to miss this chance.

"Why make me Luna?" I asked while looking at the top of his head. He stopped eating and he straightened in his seat.

A small part of me was waiting to hear that I was their mate. Just a teeny time part of me-

"Do you wish to die instead?" Thorn asked and I hurriedly shook my head at his question. "There's your answer. Next question-"

"Wow! Look at you being very chatty and social," Hunter cut in. "You really should stop. What Emy is trying to ask is 'am I your mate?' She wouldn't know because she has no wolf."

I glanced at him and he winked, taking me by surprise, I would've choked if I had food in my mouth.

"Oh," Thorn paused. "No. We're just going to help each other," he took a napkin and started to wipe the corner of his mouth even when there were no stains there.

"But to everyone else," he held my gaze again, causing my heart to skip a nervous beat. "You are."

I ended up looking away because I couldn't bear to stare in those eyes any longer. He was this close to staring me into oblivion.

His answers were too short and they didn't even satisfy my curiosity, if anything, they made it a lot worse.

At least now I understood that I wasn't anything special. I was just lucky to have winded up here when they needed someone for the spot. Just like every situation in my life, I wasn't wanted, I just ended up at the wrong place at the right time.

But now I wondered if this was the wrong place. Taking beautiful baths that left me smelling like scented flowers and eating good meals that I could never have imagined was like a dream come true.

Maybe there was no need to overthink it.

*****

Once dinner was over, we took a walk down the hallway of the mansion. They showed me to every room and mentioned their functions and while I just nodded as they spoke, I knew I was going to have a hard time remembering them.

They finally led me to my room and surprisingly, they stopped by the door.

"The room over there by the left belongs to Hunter, the one at the far end belongs to me while Thorn has his room on the next floor," Dylan explained. "He likes his space and... Quiet," he narrowed his eyes at Hunter who simply grinned and I wondered if he made a lot of noise at night.

"This will be your room. You should rest. I'm sure you've had a very long day," Dylan moved closer and brought his hand to my right cheek. He caressed my cheek with a sweet smile before he leaned forward and placed a kiss on my forehead.

It took me by surprise and I just froze there while Thorn came around and did the same but on my left cheek. He still had such a stern look on his face but I wasn't even scared this time, there was a strange feeling welling up inside me that made my cheek start to hurt.

"You can stop by my room if you need anything since I'm closest to you, okay?" Hunter grinned before he cupped my face and kissed the other side of my cheek too, smiling proudly at my face.

Wait. They weren't going to come in? They were going to leave me all by myself especially after that load of food?

"Sleep tight, Emy," Dylan said and walked away.

"Good night," Thorn followed after.

"Get beauty sleep and remember, I'm right next to ya-"

"Go to your room, Hunter," Thorn growled at him and soon they all disappeared from my sight.

I looked back and forth in the big empty hallway and I took a big gulp before entering my room. I looked around first, getting familiar with the silence before I moved away from the door. I noticed a night dress on the bed and I quickly changed into it- stopping by the bathroom to wash the make-up off my face.

I could hardly even keep my eyes closed. There was a strange feeling that I tried to kick out of my head but it only worsened when I turned off the lights. I sat on the soft mattress with my back leaning on the headboard and I stared into the darkness.

Something stared back at me.

I could feel a strange presence all around me and I wondered if it was just the darkness but the more I stared, the more I could feel eyes on me, the thicker the darkness grew and the more suffocated I felt.

I laid on the bed, throwing the covers over my head and squeezing my eyes shut but the feeling never went away. In fact, I could already hear a ringing in my head-

I jumped out of bed when I felt the space closing in and I dashed towards the door before they could put their hands on me.

I pulled the door open and the light hit my eyes but a hand clamped over my mouth, shushing me from screaming in fright.

"Shhh," he said with his index finger over his mouth that soon spread into a smile.

His palm smelled of the harsh aroma of booze with a hint of coconut and chocolate.

"I knew you were going to step out sooner than later," his smile was a little extra and his cheeks were flushed. He was probably drunk but I couldn't look away, not when he stared at me like that.

"Now that you're here, do you wanna play with me, huh, Emy?"