136- The Awakening of the Wolf
POV Lunara Grimwald:
I rolled onto my side and vomited everything in my stomach.
The eggs and bacon no longer seemed appetizing at all.
I opened my eyes with difficulty, pain radiating through every part of me. A groan escaped my throat as I pushed myself upright and stared at the chains wrapped around my wrists.
I was sitting on the floor of one of the barns they used to torture wolves who stepped out of line. The stench of urine and vomit churned my stomach even more.
The light slipping through the cracks in the window was faint, just like the rest of the place. Aside from a sink, a small mirror, and a basin for necessities, there was nothing else.
I looked at my hands, the silver chain burning into my skin. I wanted to cry, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing my suffering.
I swallowed the tears and the pain and tried to stand. My legs gave out, completely weak. I clenched my teeth and tried again, failing. Then I tried a third time and finally managed to get on my feet.
I might be many things, as he loved to say, but weak was not one of them.
I would die—yes—but with dignity and honor.
Dragging myself to the sink, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. The marks on my face were now just faint dark smudges, healed during my forced sleep. I was still swollen and sore from the beating, but no severe damage had been done.
“Look who woke up,” a voice sounded from the door.
Slowly—too slowly—I turned toward it, spotting one of Alessio’s males. He watched me with a grin.
“What are the chains for?” I asked, my voice hoarse. He raised a blond eyebrow.
“Did the beating Alessio gave you make you lose your memory?”
I narrowed my eyes and ran my tongue over my dry lips.
“If I remember correctly… I talked about how ridiculously small his dick is,” I murmured.
His eyes widened, and he shook his head.
“Your memory’s fine, but apparently not enough to remember he’ll kill you if you keep talking about him like that, insulting the dignity of our alpha.”
“Oh, what a pity…” I mocked, stepping around the puddle of vomit and sitting on the floor. “He’s your alpha. I’m an Eldoria.”
I rested my back against the wall, stretched my legs, placed my hands on them, and let out a heavy sigh.
I felt dizzy; the place reeked of too many things and too many people.
If only I could breathe some fresh air.
“Fucking the pack’s leader doesn’t make you part of it.”
I leaned my head against the wall and closed my eyes, breathing through my mouth to avoid the smells embedded in the room.
“No, but mating with one does.”
“Alessio will remove that mark, and then you’ll be nothing.”
I let out a humorless laugh.
“I’m already satisfied and very happy.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
My smile widened. I opened my eyes and fixed them on him.
“Because now every member of the pack knows what Alessio’s defect is. I doubt he’ll ever be humiliated that way again.”
I rubbed my hands together, trying to ease the burning sting of the silver digging into my skin.
“I’ll enjoy watching your death, wolf, with great pleasure,” he snarled, offended on behalf of his alpha.
I huffed and rolled my eyes.
“You still haven’t answered my question—why the chains?”
He didn’t seem eager to answer, but he still did:
“We all know your escape skills. Alessio didn’t want to risk it.”
I pressed my lips together.
“Wow, should I feel important? You alpha males are afraid that I—a simple omega—might escape right under your noses? That’s better than I expected!” I mocked.
Irritating them was my only entertainment, and I’d carry these memories into the afterlife, laughing at them even in death.
“Shut your bitch mouth,” he hissed. “I don’t know if you’re a sadist who enjoys getting beaten, but if not, stay quiet. Alessio gave me permission to do whatever I want with you if you disrespect me.”
“Uh-huh…” I murmured.
“You know, you’re so stupid,” he sighed. “Alessio really was interested in taking you back. He would’ve made you the queen of the packs, but you’re such an idiot bitch with a tongue bigger than your mouth.”
I laughed out loud at the internal joke that popped into my mind.
“What are you laughing at?” he demanded.
“You don’t want to know.”
I burst into laughter again, trying to hold it in. My body shook with the effort, sending jolts of pain through me. I ignored it, letting the internal humor take over. It was all I had left—so why not feel it while I still could?
“Say it already, for fuck’s sake!” he grunted, impatient, stepping closer.
I blinked and stared at him through thick lashes.
“My tongue is bigger than his dick?”
A thunderous growl tore from him. He lunged toward me but stopped himself, running a hand through his hair and turning away as if he were struggling to control himself.
I ignored him, falling silent.
I inhaled, flaring my nostrils, trying to identify the rancid smell lingering in the air. It smelled like… dried blood, some very old wound. Someone had been here, someone who had been brutally attacked.
“Who did you kill in here last time?” I asked, sniffing again.
“What?” he sputtered, blinking in confusion.
I couldn’t tell exactly how long ago it had happened or which species the blood belonged to, but I knew someone had been here.
“There’s dried blood here… if you didn’t kill someone, you beat them badly enough to leave the scent behind.”
He turned toward me, staring as if horns had sprouted from my head.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Other than your bitch scent and that disgusting vomit, there’s nothing here.”
A crease formed on my forehead.
“Is your nose failing you? There’s clearly a smell here. Blood—old, but still present. I can still sense it.”
He stared at me, then shook his head.
“You’ve gone insane. Did the beating Alessio gave you mess up your brain?”
“My head is perfectly fine.”
“I don’t think so! You’re smelling things that don’t exist. What the hell is your problem?”
I exhaled through my nose.
“My problem is you—insufficient males.”
He stepped closer, the air shifting around him as tension thickened. I had managed to get under his skin. And as much as I knew how this would end—with me taking another beating—I couldn’t stop my tongue.
Accepting death came with a strange lightness.
Nothing mattered anymore—not even what they did to me.
“Insufficient?” he repeated.