Chapter 1 BORN IN CHAINS
Ginne
“Next time you think of disobeying me, remember what this feels like!.”
A strip of leather cracks across my back. I bite my tongue to stop myself from screaming, but a sound still escapes — half-cry, half-gasp.
“You hear me little bitch!” Master Gray barks.
He raises the whip and the second strike lands. Tears threaten to streak down my face, but I’m not allowed to cry.
In Bleeding Rose Country, humans are treated as nothing but slaves. We eat when we are told to, sleep when we are told to, and speak only when commanded. I learned that young, far too young, when my mother gambled away every cent she ever had.
Her debts were too high, and I—her only child was paying the price for it. Now, at twenty, I’ve stopped imagining freedom.
Freedom in Bleeding Rose Country was something meant only for nobles and purebloods, for alphas and their children. Not for a girl like me who dances at a bar to entertain men with more power than conscience.
“All I asked,” Master Gray’s voice drifts me off my thoughts, his tone dripping venom, “was that you dance in the private room, and you dared tell me no? Do I feed you so you can disobey me?”
He kicks my ribs, and white pain flares.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, “P…please forgive me, Master. Please.”
He leans closer and grabs my jaw so roughly I swear the bones shift. “Forgiveness, huh?” His breath smells like rotten wine. “You’re lucky I didn’t have the guards beat you, Now get up!”
I push myself upright, trembling from the mix of fear and pain that shoots through me.
“You’re dancing in Room Seven, tonight,” he growls. “A high-ranked Lycan is attending tonight, so you'd better not keep him waiting.”
My stomach twists so hard I almost vomit. Room Seven was the worst of the worst—where ruthless and cold-hearted Lycans go when they want to fuck any woman they desire.
“No,” the words tumble out of my mouth before I can stop myself, “Please. Send someone else.”
A blow to my guts lands so fast it steals the air from my lungs, “You’re my property,” Master Gray leans close, “So you have no right to disobey me. If I want you fed to wolves, I will do so with a smile.”
He signals one of the guards outside with his hand. The guard steps forward, and his hands close around my arms like iron bands.
“Move!” He orders.
“But—”
A fist slams into my stomach before I can finish my words, “Move. Now,” he repeats.
And I do.
The hallway was a mess. Loud laughter ricocheted off the walls, a drunken symphony competing with the clinking of glasses as the scent of stale beer and something musky clung to the back of my throat.
From behind closed doors, the loud moans and gasps added another layer of unsettling noise.
“Stop dragging your feet, girl!” he barks again as he pushes me harder. We finally reach the door and he unlocks it and shoves me inside.
The room is warm, draped in velvet curtains and soft carpets. It feels luxurious compared to the slave barracks where we sleep like animals stacked in crates.
A platform sits at the center, raised a few steps above the floor, and without wasting any time I step onto it, my legs shaking as the guard shuts the door behind me.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath as I begin to dance. Not graceful, or trained. Just the movement of my feet gliding and my hips sway.
It’s the only thing I’ve ever been praised for at the club by every man who has watched me perform. They like the way shame burns on my cheeks while they sit there and lust after me like some sex doll.
The rhythm takes me, and for a moment I forget the pain in my ribs, the memories of my mother’s desperate eyes as she gambled our future away.
CREAK!
The door shoves open and a few men begin to make their way inside, heavy with authority. I keep dancing and do not look up, the last thing I wanted to see was any of these monsters’ faces.
But then—
A presence instantly fills the room as he enters, I feel his gaze. Fixated on me without looking away for even a second like he’s seeing something inside me.
I make the mistake of looking at him but quickly look away as I continued dancing. He sits at the end of the room, looking merciless with his broad shoulders and black tailored suit stretching across his body like a second skin.
Holy shit!
It…it’s Varkos Draven.
Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack—the most feared and powerful Lycan in Bleeding Rose Country.
They say he once ripped a man apart only for talking back at him, much worse was the fact that he has never once taken a mate because no woman alive can survive his darkness.
Still…I can’t stop myself from looking away, not when he’s watching me with those piercing green eyes that has knocked me weak to the knees.
Stop staring at him, GINNIE!
“That’s her?”
One of the men behind him whispers.
“Damn! She’s fucking sexy. I can’t wait to have her in bed—“
Alpha Varkos raises one hand and the music comes to a halt, silencing falling over the entire room.
“I want her.”His voice slices through the silence across the room.
Master Gray rushes in immediately from whichever hole he just crawled out of, “You want… her, Alpha?”
“I don’t repeat myself.” He growls, circling me once as his gaze trails over me in a lustful and possessive manner. Then he leans closer, enough for me to feel heat radiate off him.
“I want the girl alone with me in the VIP chambers,” he orders, “Now.
“Yes, Alpha,” Master Gray says, gripping my wrist as he dragged me off the platform. Everyone in the room bows to him, fear evident across their faces as Varkos turns and begins to walk away.
“No. Please…please, I can’t,” I whisper, trying to get Master Gray to listen to my plea. ”I don’t want to go with him.”
He smacks the back of my head. “If Varkos says he wants you, then he’ll surely have you to do as he pleases.”
Before I can open my mouth to protest he hauls me down hallways until my feet ache, up stairs, through corridors where I’m eventually shoved into a dark room.