His Wolfless Bride

CHAPTER 3: Freedom... Almost

Three days have lapsed like it’s been a year. My stomach is growling, pleading for food. My throat is drying, appealing for water. My body is aching, calling on for a doctor. There’s nothing much I can do, but to bear it all, coz that’s life… my life.

The same clunking noise from the other side of the door, echoes. Then a voice says,

“Get out. If you want to eat, then move quickly.”

‘If you want to eat, then move quickly,’ that sentence rings in my head like a broken record.

I get up with the help of my trembling hands. I try to move fast, but to no avail. Every tiny move I make earns a painful moan from me. My muscles are vibrating and my bones are tingling. The weight of my wounds and bruises, in addition to the pangs of hunger, are so burdensome that walking becomes quite unachievable to do. Even so, I force my legs forward with a mindset that screams, ‘I need to eat! I gotta eat!’

I walk, with each step, favoring one leg. When I step out of the room, the blistering rays of the sun that pierces through the listless clouds momentarily shut my eyes. When I open my eyes, my packmates' baleful glares and clenched faces greet me as if I’m a contagious illness that’s plaguing all of us. Everyone has already probably heard that I stole a loaf of bread and a pouch of gold coins that were really mine.

I continue to walk, ignoring them. Their reactions wouldn’t put food in my stomach. So paying attention to them is just a waste of my always unappreciated effort.

I’m still several steps away from the pack’s open kitchen when I notice that the last scoop of soup is already given to an Omega, the last three pieces of bread are given to another Omega and the last chicken leg is given to the last Omega on the line. My shoulders slump at the sight and my stomach grumbles even louder. I couldn’t walk fast enough to at least get something.

I sigh. Well, even if I make it to the line, I’ll be standing last and still won't get anything. So why bother blaming myself for not moving fast enough?

“Marguerite!”

I squeeze my eyes when Apha Naomi’s voice reaches my ears. Great! After not getting any food for the fourth day, now I’ll be feasted upon by this wicked woman. I don’t turn in her direction and just continue to walk away.

“Aren’t you hungry? I brought you something!”

My bare feet stick to the soil and my head turns over my shoulder. My lips partly open at the sight of Alpha Naomi. She’s carrying a tray of appetizingly-looking food and a glass of orange juice fit for high-ranking members of our pack.

What in the world is wrong with her? What is she trying to pull?

Steadily and carefully, I turn to meet her gaze. I try to look into the depths of her eyes to read her, but all I can see is her wolf, partially glaring at me.

Alpha Naomi stretches her arms, offering me the tray and the glass. “I knew you’d be very hungry, so I made sure to bring you these.”

Though she’s smiling, somewhere in my guts tells me that behind that smile is pure evilness that only she could pull off. I stare at her without any intention of accepting her offer.

She notices my hesitation.

“I won’t poison you. If that’s what you’re thinking. I wouldn’t go that far,” she says.

She takes a tiny sip of the orange juice. Next, she pinches a tiny portion of chicken and shoves it in her mouth. She chews with annoying exaggeration.

“See? There’s no poison. So take these, before I change my mind.”

Great! That’s one thing to be less worried about. I’m extremely hungry. My head is spinning and I can barely walk, so I can’t afford to be prideful at this point. Whatever is running through her astonishingly devious mind, I’ll just deal with it later. But for now, I’m desperate to eat.

Just when I’m about to reach for the tray and glass, Alpha Naomi does what she does best - humiliate me. She deliberately drops the food and drink to the ground. The broken plate and glass mangle across the stones, the orange juice wets the soil, the mashed potato smothers the grass and the chicken, well, she stomps on it twice, before laughing at the top of her lungs. I’m aware that she’ll never be nice to me, but I couldn’t believe she’d waste food, food that I lack everyday, for the sole purpose of entertainment.

“Why would I give you something to eat, when I enjoy seeing you starve?” she asks, after flipping her dull red hair to her back.

Right! She pulls the exact words out of my mouth. But as I’ve said, I can’t be prideful at this point. Pride has left my vocabulary a long time ago and I don’t think it’ll return to me anytime soon. Dismissing all the possible mockery of my packmates, who are just watching while laughing, I only listen to my furious belly. I take a huge breath before kneeling down. Pain billows through my wounds, but it doesn't matter. I have to do what I gotta do. I dig my fingers into the ground, then collect the food, and shamelessly ram it into my mouth.

“Oh my goodness!”

“She’s not a werewolf! She’s a werepig!”

“Disgusting!”

“I hope the Alpha and the Luna throw her away! She’s a disgrace to our pack!”

Relief that I’m able to eat again eclipses any form of shame that’s forming in me. I sniff and refuse to let a single tear fall from my eyes again. They can’t see me break. That would only give them more reason to bully me.

I swallow the food and the little dirt in it while inwardly cursing at myself for not having the strength to fight back.

On my second attempt to scoop the food from the ground, Alpha Naomi satisfies herself by stomping on my knuckles. My throbbing wounds and bruises are probably so severe that they dwarf the pain of what she just did. Unaccompanied by restraint, I glare at her.

“What?! Do you want to fight?! Do you think you can now?!” she asks. “Remember, you can’t do anything if I rip you apart with my canines and claws!”

Her threat doesn’t disrupt my glare. In fact, it darkens the longer my eyes connect to her freckled, sickening face.

If she transforms into a wolf, I’ll do everything to kill her using the shards of those broken plate and glass around me. I won’t allow that I’ll be the only one to die here. She has more to lose than me. So I’m sure that she values her life more than I do my own.

I shove her foot off my knuckles, not letting the pain she caused me show on my clenched face.

She grunts, then grabs my well-worn coat's collar. I steady my weight so she couldn’t pull me up like she's wanting to. Ruby, her wolf, bares its canines at me. Since I don’t have a wolf in me to compete with hers, I just continue glaring at her with more intensity than before.

Alpha Naomi’s face turns red, so much so that it tones with the color of her hair. I’d love to proclaim that she can’t bully me forever. However, before my thoughts become words, red furs start to occur on her jaw and arms. My glare softens even if I don’t intend to. Since I hate showing my fear, I stay still, silently crawling my fingers towards one of the shards. My heart thuds at every passing second. If she moves faster than me, I’ll die. But if I move faster than her, I’ll kill her, then someone from our pack will kill me too. The latter scenario is much more acceptable, so I’ve got to move faster.

The instant my fingertips skim on a shard, Alpha Naomi’s canines protrude from her gums. My hand trembles, causing it to accidentally push the shard away. Anguish wriggles in my chest, advances to my throat, then detonates from my mouth when Ruby takes over Alpha Noami’s appearance. I try to escape, but the moment I stand up, my knees buckle in hunger, in pain and in fear. Before Ruby could charge forward, I manage to get my hand on one of the scattered shards. At the exact second she inches closer to me, I swing the shard in my hand towards her direction. The next thing I notice is blood smothering my hands and dripping down her left cheek.

Ruby growls. “How dare you wound me?! You’ll pay for it a big time!”

Ironic. Despite putting uncountable bruises and wounds on me, she’s so infuriated that I scratched her cheek? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. She’s the only one who has the right to hurt others - others whom she thinks are lower and less important than her.

My eyes widen at the angry red wolf as my hands unintentionally grip the shard tighter. The next course of events goes so fast that I’m unable to act accordingly. Buzzes from my packmates echo as they watch me about to be eaten alive by their Alpha.

I tumble down to the ground, activating my wounds and injuries to throb more. My clumsiness gives Ruby the chance to successfully leap on top of me.

“No!” I yell.

Ruby stretches her huge mouth open, bragging her razor-sharp canines to my face. I squeeze my eyes, then swing the shard once more as fear squirms through me. I wait for my death to come while praying that the wounds I gave Ruby are fatal enough for her to die too.

Seconds passed,... then I suddenly feel nothing. Ruby’s furs aren’t brushing my skin anymore. What happened? Am I dead now? But, I didn’t feel her canines or claws even nudge my flesh. Reluctantly, I inch an eye open and see no wolf, but the bright blue sky above me. I turn my head to the side and see Ruby, infuriated and slowly transforming back into Alpha Naomi’s form.

Why? Did she have a second thought of killing me? But that’s not possible. I saw in her eyes how badly she wants me dead.

All my confusion is finally resolved when a cool, soft voice whispers to my ears, “It’s alright. I’m home now.”

My heart flutters and tears assemble in my eyes again.

His voice, I’ve not heard it for four months, but in just seconds, it washes away all the racked up agony in me. His strong, big arms lock me up and they effortlessly free me from misery.

I look up to see his handsome face. “Captain Haile, your back.”

He gently caresses my face. I jerk when he probably nudges a wound or a bruise on it, but I don’t protest at his touch coz it’s giving me the warmth and comfort I badly need.

Captain Haile forces a sad smile, while his eyes examine my dirty and probably much thinner face. He then replies, “I’m back. No one will hurt you now that I’m here again.”