As I followed the woman down the hallway, I couldn't shake how big and bright the castle was.
It had been so long since I had seen the light, and it was magnificent. It had been so long since I had felt the warmth of castle walls.
Being in that miserable place traumatized me so much I could barely hold on to a single shred of pride I had.
I had been stripped bare and bathed in the cold winter.
I was constantly trained to be perfect enough, so they'd profit from the bare minimum food they served me.
Although I was spared, other women weren't. I constantly watched weak female omega wolves be taken and used to do their bidding. It was worse than a nightmare.
The constant abuse broke me into pieces that I could barely raise my head to look someone in the eye.
If I was going to regain myself, I needed to break free from this trauma and take my throne.
She opened the door to a simple room styled like a dorm with bunk beds.
Beds... it had been so long since I had laid on a bed.
Tears filled my eyes, but it didn't even last a second as the lady turned to look at me.
She had that gaze that had haunted me for the past year, the look of belittlement.
Clearing her throat, she spoke. "This is the room for middle-class ranking servants."
She opened another door to reveal a cold, empty, dark room. "This is the room for your kind." My grip tightened on my skirt.
My kind? When I was queen, you'd be dead for uttering such nonsense.
I stepped into the darkness, my feet wobbly as I moved on the stairs into the basement, to a place I was used to. Even the light never lasts. Sometimes I wonder if there's any point to this life.
In this space, there were three other women, each of them curled in a ball. Only streams of moonlight shone through a single barred window.
The room was bare and dirty. I feared the bugs that might be in the place—nothing I wasn't used to, but something I wasn't ready to relive.
"Get some rest. You resume tomorrow." The door shut behind me with finality, and I flinched.
I sat on the floor in my golden dress. It was cold but quiet. I folded myself into a ball, exhausted. I felt my skin healing the burns from the fire.
After all, werewolves had excellent healing abilities. I yawned as my eyelids got heavy, and sleep took me.
It was hot...
My body was on fire.
Only this fire was different.
The flesh between my thighs throbbed, and my insides filled with warmth.
My body was burning with need.
Mate? Mate? Mate!
I gasped awake. My body was covered in sweat. I was panting, my temperature was high, and I flushed.
I was in heat. My wolf could sense he was near and was aching for him.
This was so embarrassing. I rose to my feet and walked to the window.
The moon was tinged with a lusty pink. It was mating season.
The howls of the werewolves at night tingled my ears.
Suddenly, my vision sharpened, and through the forest, through the tears, he was there before me.
His hair was wet with droplets of stream water, his face glistening with wetness, his eyes shut. His lashes brushed his cheeks.
The moon kissed his face with the gentlest glow. He was perfect in his essence.
And his breathing matched mine.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and I sucked in a breath with a gasp. I clasped my hand over my mouth and hid by the wall.
Did he see me?
My heart was pounding with excitement, but why was I excited?
Did I think he would come to me?
And even if he did, would it matter?
I didn't want him.
I peeped from the window to see him in his powerful wolf form, hair darker than the night sky and eyes red like rubies. In the wind, he was graceful and elegant in his strides. So attractive, any female's mouth would water.
I turned and walked back across the room, my cheeks hot from blushing. "Bet you can't wait to get your claws on him?" I heard my wolf say, and my body went stiff.
Then I heard sounds—like the sounds of men—but I thought I was hearing things, so I heightened my hearing. "We are here for some relief."
"Well, they're in the dark room if you need your relief," I heard the madam say.
"It's heat season. We need to enjoy ourselves," I heard them say as their steps got closer.
Sobbing sounds came from where the other girls lay. "They're coming, oh no!" she gasped, holding her breath.
It couldn't be what I was thinking. There was no way Alpha Micheal would allow such a thing under his roof.
The door suddenly slammed open, and their heavy boots marched in. "Look, there are three— all you can eat!"
"What about that one?" A scrawny man bared his fangs.
"Not that one. The alpha spent a fortune on her, so I heard." One chuckled as he grabbed one of the women, and she screamed.
Horror filled my spine as I placed my hand over my ears so I wouldn't relive the nightmares.
"No! Save us!" one of them screamed, and a heavy slap landed across her cheek as the man lifted her over his shoulder.
I gasped, my body shaking. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I was paralyzed with fear.
They kicked and screamed as the men took them out with ease. One of them grabbed her clothes and ripped the material to shreds.
Tears fell from my eyes as I stared at the helpless woman. She turned into her wolf form, fighting, biting the man, but he grabbed her neck and squeezed. "Stay still, you fucking bitch, or I'll snap your neck, and I bet no one will miss you," he warned darkly as they stepped out of the room.
The madam looked down at me. She just watched. Then I heard her thoughts: Better them than me.
My heart sank to my stomach, my muscles trembled as she shut the door in my face.
Agonizing pain piled in my stomach. For the first time in one year, I could hear my wolf. I could even use some of my alpha a
bilities—enhanced sight, enhanced hearing—yet I didn't regain my strength to save them.
I was completely...
Useless.