Chapter 9 The threat
Auren's pov
“How did a little rat like you manage to crawl her way into Dravik’s house? You don’t even look like you belong in any pack, let alone beside him.” Cassy sneered.
I stared at the floor because it is safer. I had learned to stay quiet when people like her spoke. Words only made it worse.
“Are you deaf?” she snap.
She stood from the bed, stepping closer to me, her heels clicking on the polished floor.
“Or too stupid to answer when spoken to?”
My fingers curl into my robe. “I’m not deaf.”
“Not deaf,” she repeated mockingly. “Then you’re just stupid. Or maybe desperate. Tell me, did you sneak into his bed? Or did he pity you? You smell strangely repulsive like dirt and fear……Goddess, I can’t even believe he touched you.”
She walks around me,“Look at you. Your hair looks like it hasn’t met a brush in years. Your hands—,” she grabbed one roughly and let it go as if I had burned her. “They’re calloused like a servant’s. What did you do? Scrub floors in your pack before you trapped Dravik into this farce?”
I bit my lip until I taste metal. My chest hurt, but I didn’t speak.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re going to cry,” she says, chuckling. “Weak, filthy, and spineless. You’re exactly what people say you’re.”
I swallow hard. I have heard those words before. From my uncle. From Seris. From everyone in that cursed pack. But hearing it here, in this place that was supposed to be my escape, burned even deeper.
“What poison did you give him?” she sneered. “What did you feed him to make him bring something like you into his home?”
“I didn’t give him anything. He decided—”
“Shut up,” she snapped, stepping closer.
“Now listen,” she went on, circling me like a predator. “I’ve known him since he was a boy. I know his taste in women. Nothing—nothing—could have made him choose you or be attracted to you.” Her eyes flashed with cruel amusement. “I have been pretty preoccupied before but now, I'm finally free and I’m here to take him back. Stay out of my way, or you’ll regret ever stepping into this house.”
She lean in, her lips brushing my ear. “I heard you have no wolf. Imagine the pain I could cause you.”
My eyes went wide at the threat as her head snap toward the door.
“Oh, Auren!” she said suddenly, pulling me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe. “I can’t wait for us to be good friends”
She pulls back and I look at her in awe. It is as if a switch flipped and she suddenly became my new best friend. Her tone is sugary and her smile too bright as she laughs at something.
What in the world is she doing now?
The door opens to her laughter and Alpha Dravik stood there, one brow raised.
“Oh, Dravik,” she cooed, stepping back but keeping her arm around my shoulder. “Your future Luna is so funny.”
He frowned. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought about my behavior earlier,” she said quickly, her eyes glistening like she might cry. “It was rude of me and I came to apologize.”
She grabbed my hand before I could step back. “Thank you for forgiving me, Auren. I can’t wait to show you around the pack.”
Then she walked towards the door, slid her hand down Dravik’s arm in a way that made my stomach tighten, her lips curving in a sly grin before she walked out.
What an actress…….
Dravik said nothing at first watching me and I notice the pile of clothes in his arms.
“It’s not much,” he said finally, walking in and dropping them on the bed. “We don’t have anyone here with a small waist like you. You’ll make do without underwear today, till I send someone to get you proper things tomorrow.”
He watched me, waiting……Great, I’m to change in front of him too. The man seems not to know what privacy is.
I grab a white jogger and a blue sweatshirt and turn away. I pulled the joggers up, under the robe and tugged the sweatshirt over my head before removing the robe completely. I could feel his eyes on me, but he said nothing. Men like him were used to women throwing themselves at him. I had no intention of being one of them…….Once was enough.
“Let’s go,” he said, already heading for the door.
He didn’t check if I followed. He never did. He just walked, expecting obedience like it was air.
“Dravik!”
A bright voice called out once we entered the pack’s hospital. Before I could blink, a young lady with bright red hair, wearing a doctor's coat ran to him, leaping into his arms.
He catches her, twirling her around with a huge smile on his face as she covers his face in kisses. I look at them, mesmerized.
The demon king…..smiling and twirling a woman around. I couldn’t look away from his face. This is the first time I'm seeing a huge smile on his face and it fits him perfectly, making his face less threatening and more handsome. I even noticed two cute dimples on his cheeks. He looks almost…..normal.
He brings her down, kissing her cheeks and my thoughts snap back. What is this, another love interest? I had had enough with Seris and Eron, now I have to experience this here too?
I don't even want this. Why did he insist on marrying me when he has so many beautiful ladies here practically jumping on him. To punish me? Disgrace me?
“You’re back”, the lady says as she ties her red hair in a bun showing her perfect cheekbones even more..
Another gorgeous female I am to feel unequal to…..lovely.
“This is Auren”, he introduces me.
My eyes goes to the floor, no way do I want to see the disgust in her eyes
“Oh, finally,” she says, her tone sounding curious, not cruel. “Nice to meet you, Auren. What’s the problem, Dravik? Apart from her…….strange scent.”
She didn’t even use his title……Strange. Are all women this familiar with him?
“She’ll tell you when she finds her tongue,” Alpha Dravik says, sitting on a chair and crossing his legs.
“I-I have a wound,” I murmured.
“And you’re not healing?” she asked.
“I don’t have a wolf,” I whispered.
“Her wolf has been bound since she was fifteen,” Alpha Dravik added. “So no healing abilities.”
Something crosses her expression. Not disgust, but something else…….Anger maybe, which I find strange because why will she be angry at the news of my wolf being bounded?
She motioned me to follow her into another room with machines in it and helped me lie down on a small bed. I look at her face when she lifts my sweatshirt. She looks like she could be twenty-two years old, much younger than I expected, unlike in my pack where the doctor is old and wrinkled, too afraid to allow anyone to take over.
“How long has this been here?” she asks.
“A few days ago,” I said quietly.
“This isn’t a few days ago,” she says sharply. “This infection has been building for at least a week.”
“Auren,” Alpha Dravik growls from his seat. “Tell her the truth.”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Auren.” His eyes gleamed silver, warning me.
I got goosebumps. I know that tone, I know what came after disobedience. My body flinched before I could stop it and I squeezed my eyes shut, almost whimpering.
“I swear I can’t remember,” I whisper. “The beatings happen almost every day. I lost count.”
Silence filled the room but I didn’t open my eyes. It wasn’t a big deal really. It would heal eventually. Why couldn’t he just leave it alone?
“Heal her,” he growls.
I hear him stand up, walking out from the room and I finally open my eyes. The lady sighed, shaking her head as she cleaned the wound with gentle hands.
“You don’t have to be afraid of my brother,” she said softly. “His roar is worse than his bite.”
I blinked, staring at her. “Your brother?”
She smiled faintly, meeting my eyes. “Yes. I’m Hope. Alpha Dravik’s sister.”
My mouth opens, staring at her in shock as her words sink in.