3- Torture and Boots

THALIA.

“No!” I woke up from my tortured sleep and without thought, I sprang to my feet.

“Oh, the princess has finally decided to join us,” a bitter voice greeted me.

I looked up. Contrary to what I thought, I was no longer surrounded by those tough-looking men who made fun of me without holding back. Surrounding me were women, all dressed in a hideous blue gown.

While I tried to comprehend what was going on, I stole glimpses of the room. It had a cold feeling to it and the stony walls made me wonder if I was in some sort of prison- honestly, that would explain the weird uniform the women were wearing.

“Is this bitch ignoring us?” Another woman spoke and with her anger written all over her face, she walked to me. “I get that you are pretty and all,” she eyed me furiously, “but you are no longer in your precious Night Stream pack. You are now in the Rebel Pack.” She put a finger to my forehead and pushed me with that. I almost staggered if not for some force holding me. “If you act out of place, we will take your life and share your meat with our wolves.”

Wait a minute… Did she just say Rebel Pack? I am now in The Rebel Pack?

Another person snickered. With folded arms, this bob-haired woman peered at me and said, “I heard her wolf is weak as shit.”

The one in front of me pushed my forehead again, this time, it was more painful because her finger pressed deep into my skin. “If that’s the case, she is basically wolfless.”

It’s a joke, right? There’s no way those men actually sold me off, and to The Rebel Pack at that. Every pack in the wolf kingdom of Omeshal knows that The Rebel Pack is always a no-go area for any werewolf that loves his or her life.

“Magda, should we haze her before she is assigned?” Someone asked the woman trying to destabilize me.

“I would love to. But Chief said not to do anything to her. She is a special item, we can’t toy with her.”

“That sucks.”

“What is going on here?” A stern voice walked into the room and scattered the gathering that was ready to do terrible things to me. The woman who walked in had an overwhelming aura that told me that she was the Chief they were talking about. When her eyes landed on me, they widened and she hollered, “What the fuck do you people think you are doing?!”

“Nothing, Chief,” they all chorused and without much delay, they all formed a circle and pressed their backs against the wall so that it was just me and the Chief in the middle.

After a silent warning to the women, the tall woman asked, “Your name is Thalia?”

I peeled my dry lips apart and managed to moisten my throat. “It… is.”

She snickered. “Who do you think you are?”

“Wh-what?”

“I get that those men were paid a high amount of money for you, but how the fuck are you grabbing power already.” She gripped my chin. “Is it because of your beauty? Should I get rid of it?”

The subtle sinisterness in those soft-spoken sentences roused some strength in me. I momentarily stopped being weak and I glared at the woman.

I was about to speak when one of the women in the circle broke the brief silence in the room.

“Is there a problem, Chief?”

“Well,” the tall woman looked to the side, “this thing in front of me was assigned to serve the Alpha King.”

“What?!” Followed by that shriek was a lot of disagreeing murmurs. Before I knew what was happening, all the women were staring daggers into my soul.

The woman before me then smirked and said, “It’s not reasonable that you’d be assigned to work with our great Alpha King when you have barely settled in this pack. I find it really unfair.”

“Of course it is unfair!” One of the women said. “You have spent a lot of years serving in the palace, yet you were never summoned to serve the Alpha King.”

“Are you insulting me, Yunis?”

“Oh no, Chief. I would never.” The Yunis woman slapped her mouth. “I should watch my words.”

“You should.” During that short conversation, the Chief kept her eyes on me, as though trying to tell me that I truly didn’t belong there.

Well, I agree with that. I honestly don’t want to be in a pack that uses threats to communicate. Their razz pack has no potential to protect me, so I would very much like to leave.

But will I be able to? Would I even find my way back home easily?

Oh my… Home. I wonder if Vistral is searching for me. If he is, then I hope that I can return home soon and take care of my family’s honor. After, I will find a way to properly deal with Octavius Storm and Paterica.

Speaking of Paterica…

Oh my…

A small smile grew on my lips.

Paterica Stark, my very good friend. I wonder what she’s doing now. Sucking his dick maybe?

Ha ha ha.

I wish I could have laughed out loud, perhaps that would have been a good way to get rid of the knotting frustration in my chest.

But it seemed a little bit of my inner dialogue was displayed on my face. Because, while I tried to keep my soul from crashing again, the Chief suddenly yanked my hair.

“Look at this bitch.” Our eyes met and I saw that she was glaring with all her might. “Are you mocking me? Should I wipe that stupid smile off your face?”

“Do it, Chief!” One of the women hailed and soon, every other person was chanting the same thing.

Have you ever heard of this phenomenon where on a battlefield, the courageous chants of an army can be enough to destabilize their enemy?

Well, that’s what's happening right now.

The subtle smile on my lips dropped and the more their chants filled my ears, the more I feared for my life.

On the other hand, the Chief pulled at my hair some more and with a glint of wickedness expanding in her eyes, she whispered, “You hear them, don’t you?” With force, she yanked me off her hand and I fell against the hard floor. I had barely winced when her right foot booted my stomach.

A voiceless gasp left me and my lips quivered while pain grew in that area and expanded to other parts of my body.

“Before you leave to serve the Alpha King,” the Chief continued, “I will teach you a few lessons. You can’t just walk into this place with your ridiculous beauty and take my chance to serve our King. I won’t allow it.”

I could not try to stand up and tackle her for her wickedness. So, she took advantage of that. Her right foot approached me again. This time, she went for my hand resting on the ground.

“Ahhh!!! Please!!!!” I begged with all my might as her fingers crumbled thanks to her wicked shoe. Water filled my eyes, my lips remained gapped as I tried to continue to beg for some sort of pause. But soon, the pain prevented me from uttering a word. All I could was shiver while hoping that it would end soon.

But, it wasn’t destined to end soon.

After the Chief took her leg away, she instructed the women, “Deal with her for just five minutes. When I come back, make sure she’s beyond ugly. Once we are done, we’ll send her to her post. Let’s see how she’ll be a good maid after a good beating.”

“Please…” I managed a faint plea, but no one heard.

They remained in their excitement and soon, from every angle possible, the women started to land punches on my body. It was some sort of fest for them, they jested loudly while they tossed my smallish stature left to right and when it got to a certain point where pain fused with my being, I gave up on trying to find the strength to fight.

I just let them have their way. I wouldn’t have been able to fight them either way. I am just a weak ass werewolf. Even my wolf hates me so much that she won’t come out and defend me at such a crucial moment.

I am so weak and I hate myself.

But what can I do? This is who I am.

I had no idea if the beating went on for five minutes as the Chief instructed, but when it all came to an end, she walked into the room and some of the women helped me stand while they dressed me up for my maid duties.

When they finished, they applied some ointment that barely did any good and moments later, the Chief handed me to a Warrior guard who said nothing when he saw my terrible state.

After following that guard for some minutes, we ended up in front of a darkish door. It opened and a chilly bedroom came into view. It wasn’t exactly grand, but it possessed some air of exquisiteness.

“The Alpha’s room needs to be cleaned. The mop is in the bathroom where the last maid left it,” the guard coldly instructed me who was barely managing to stand. “Do not touch anything. The Alpha King will skin you alive if anything breaks or goes missing. Get to work.”

I could barely blink, so how would I be able to find my way to the bathroom talk less of grabbing a mop?

When I found a little strength to move, I only moved by two steps and that was all I could do. But that motion led me to stand in front of the wall mirror in the room.

With the side of my eye, I saw that I was dressed in the hideous maid uniform, its blueness was making me reconsider blue as my favorite color.

I then summoned the courage to look into the mirror.

I broke my heart by doing that. My hands started to shake as I stared more and more at the evidence of those women’s torture. The side of my face was swollen, and my body wore patches of their wickedness. I could see shoe prints here and there and the mess I was in pushed me to tears.

I didn’t bother to hide the tears this time. They rolled down my cheeks and I cried till I became a blurry reflection.

“You are here. That’s surprising.”

That voice was oddly familiar, so my head quickly whipped to the entrance.

“You…” I recognized the man who saved me from the fire. I know it’s a ridiculous thought, but what if he is here to save me again? “You saved me.”

“I am glad you remember me.” He walked further into the room, his steps hasty in a way that could make strong men fearful.

“Huh…”

“You owe me a favor.”

“I know, but…”

“Marry me.”

“Huh?” I heard wrong, right?

“Thalia Zahara, marry me. That’s the favor I ask of you.”