Xira POV
Cold water slammed into my face, and for one disorienting moment, I was drowning again. Back in the lake, with May's hands on my head, holding me under.
I coughed violently, the urge to survive causing me to swallow deep gulps of air which was thick with a damp, foul smell. Icy streams of water dripped down my hair. Nearby laughter rang out—low, mean.
I blinked rapidly, the world shaking for a moment before everything steadied and I made out where I was. Facing me were dirty walls which had been stained with heaven knows what. I was in a dank, dark tiny cell in the dungeons underneath the pack house. But, how had I gotten here from the forest?
"The Alphas don't have all day to wait for you to get your beauty sleep," a voice barked, harsh.
Alphas? As in plural?
My head snapped up in the direction of the voice, then I winced when a wave of pain flooded my head. As I tried to raise myself off the ground, I realized that my hands had been chained with dark, rusted metal. The same went for my feet, too. I sucked in a breath, panic rising in my chest.
"Up!" The voice growled impatiently again.
Right outside was a mountain of a man who was looking down at me in disgust. Tattoos roped around every inch of skin that was visible and, thanks to his lack of a shirt, a lot was visible. Fearful that if I did not do as he had ordered he wouldn't waste a chance to come inside and do goddess knows what to me, I quickly got up. But thanks to the wet ground and chains around my hands and feet, I slipped and fell painfully on my tailbone.
"OUCH!"
The man snarled angrily at me and, despite feeling an unbelievable amount of pain, I hastily got to my feet again, trying to dodge the wet ground.
"What..." I croaked, "What is happening?"
"You will find out soon enough, princess," he grunted and wrinkling his nose in disgust before impatiently dragging the ends of my chain so I had no choice but to stumble out after him.
I wished I was able to smell just so I could sniff myself but then again,
I was too tired, too weak to care if I smelled like the dead.
Memories started to pool in and I remembered the forest, Beta Ronan's dead body, the Alpha's disappearance… the flare of red magic, the empty space where he'd stood. He had left me. The thought made me smile bitterly.
The guard didn't slow down, dragging me up a set of rough-hewn stairs and out into a blinding courtyard. Without ceremony, I was dragged across the courtyard like a sack of grain, the chains dancing with every labored step I took. I felt dozens of eyes on me.
These were not the usual contemptuous looks I got from the pack members; this was something new and even more scary. Hard, merciless eyes belonging to warriors who lounged against walls or stood at attention. They were scattered across the conquered courtyard, their hostility a physical force that made the air hard to breathe. Some hooted, yelling obscenities that burned my ears.
The daughter of the defeated Alpha. My fate would be a spectacle.
I noticed something too, they reacted as if they could smell something disgusting.
Finally, I was flung forward. I landed on my knees in the dirt at the edge of the courtyard, where the remnants of my pack were gathered.
Unlike me, they were not chained. They were mostly women, elders, and low-ranking men—all the ones who couldn't fight or had surrendered. Their faces were bruised, bloodied, and like the guards, their faces were contorted in disgust.
Some were even leaning as far away from me as they could get, while pinching their noses.
I watched in horror and realization.
I was the cause of the stink.
My eyes scanned the group, and felt May's glare. It was hateful.
Like she blamed me for the situation we were in, Like she wanted to rip me apart.
As I knelt, the pack members shifted as far as they could get from me, whispers breaking into soft cries. Their whispers cut through the silence, sharp as knives.
"What is that stink?"
"It's her…"
"The curse…"
"She did this…"
Besides the phantom of those smells in the forest, I had never smelled anything else.
I could not smell myself, I did not know what stink they were talking about.
Then my eyes widened in remembrance.
I was supposed to take my medicine twice a day.
Since my father had kept me, he needed to make sure that I was not easily detected.
The medicine I drank every day gave me an artificial scent to mask the fact that I did not have one.
I had never gone a day without taking my complete dosage so I had never seen what it would do if I stopped it abruptly.
I wondered if stopping the medicine had caused a stink, literally.
I curled inward, trying to make myself as small as possible, wishing the earth would swallow me whole. Then, it hit me again. That scent. It washed over the courtyard, sharp, powerful, and utterly overwhelming, drowning out the smells of blood and fear. It was the same scent from the forest, the one that had awakened something inside me. Now, it felt like a drug; I wanted more.
Heavy, synchronized footsteps echoed on the stone walkway. Everything else faded.
They walked into view, and the world seemed to stop. Tall. Impossibly broad-shouldered. Mirror images, yet I could see that they were different. They moved with a predator's lethal grace, dark hair framing faces of sharp, brutal beauty. It was the dangerous beauty of a poised viper, alluring and deadly. Their scent wrapped around me, tighter than any chain. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic bird eager to escape.
The pack fell into a silence so complete I could hear the rustle of leaves in the distant trees. The twins stopped before us.
One smiled. It was a slow, charming curl of his lips that never reached his cold, assessing eyes. A killer's smile. The other didn't even bother. His expression seemed carved from ice, his gaze a razor sweeping over the bowed pack. Dismissive. Calculating. When those eyes found me, kneeling in the dirt, something dark and violent flickered within them. Hate.
However, there was no disgust in their faces.
It seemed that my smell did not affect them.
The smiling one spoke first, his voice deceptively smooth, almost pleasant. "Where is Alpha Edmund?"
As one, every head in the courtyard swiveled toward me as if I held answers. The weight of their expectation, their blame, pressed down. My mouth was sandpaper dry. "I… I swear I don't know," I whispered, the words barely audible. "He left me. He used magic and disappeared."
The charming smile vanished. In a blur of motion too fast to follow, the unsmiling twin was before me.
"You lie poorly," he stated, his voice quiet and final.
The other twin tilted his head, studying me like a curious, repulsive insect. "If you don't tell us where he ran," he said, his tone light, conversational, "we will begin killing them." A lazy gesture encompassed the huddled pack. "We'll start with the pups. They make the most noise."
A collective gasp, followed by a strangled sob, ripped through the air.
"No!" I shook my head frantically, the chains rattling. "I'm telling the truth! He abandoned me! He left me for dead!"
For a heart-stopping moment, there was only silence. Then, laughter. It rippled from the smiling twin, cold and sharp, empty of any real humor. It was the sound of cruelty being entertained.
Before it could fade, a voice, shrill with venomous judgment, cut through the courtyard. "Maybe you should kill her instead."
I turned. May had pushed her way to the front of the pack, her face pale but her eyes blazing with a hatred so pure it was almost glorious.
"She is the Alpha's daughter," She declared, loud enough for all to hear. "The cursed, scentless abomination. If you want to teach the Alpha a lesson, if you want to purge the rot from this pack, start with her. Why should we suffer for the sins of her father?"
Murmurs of agreement rose around her, a wave of validation for her betrayal. My chest tightened until I couldn't breathe. The twins' gazes slid back to me, now glittering with a new, predatory interest.
The smiling one crouched down, bringing his terrifyingly handsome face level with mine. His proximity made the intoxicating, frightening scent nearly suffocating. "Well," he murmured, his breath ghosting over my cheek. "That does make you… special."
The unsmiling one didn't move, his voice a blade of frost. "Or disposable."
The chains felt heavier, biting into my hope. Terror felt like a current under my skin.
"So," the smiling twin whispered, a cruel playfulness in his eyes. "Shall we take her advice? Perhaps you can join your beloved." He tilted his head toward the outer wall.
My gaze followed, and my vision blurred, the world tilting on its side.
Axel. His head was mounted on a spike atop the wall, alongside others. A grisly row of trophies. His eyes were open, glassy and unseeing, his mouth frozen in a final snarl. Blood, dried to a black crust, matted his hair and streaked the stone below. Other heads lined the wall. Warriors. Elders. Faces I had seen every day of my life.
"No…" The word was a broken thing, torn from a place deeper than sound. "Please, no…"