RETRIBUTION: The Making of a God

Chapter 3

Gwen’s POV

Howling sounds pulled me from the darkness this time and when I came to, I looked around and realized that I was in the same room my mate had all but rejected me in.

I was still sprawled out on the cold floor and from the tight muscle pains that radiated all over my body and the cold I could feel in my bones, I knew I had been passed out for a while.

It had been a dream.

A dream I hadn’t had in a very long time.

One that felt more like a memory than a dream but I could never be too sure.

The only thing that made me think it was not just a dream was the fact that my guardian was a man with a scar under his left eye.

Other than that, I had no clue about anything else.

I shifted from my position, a groan escaping my cold, chapped lips as I brought myself to sit on the cold floor.

I could still hear the several howls that pulled me out of my unconsciousness.

The clear difference between these howls and the ones from my dreams was that it was one of celebration.

I managed to pull myself to my feet and stumble across the room to one of the windows and looked out.

There was a huge bonfire a small distance from the pack house where I was, and many werewolves celebrated there. Some were in their wolf forms howling while others were in their human forms with cups, dancing and celebrating.

From where I stood inside the pack house, I could see Kian and Rachelle in each other’s arms, and from the several people that came to congratulate them, I knew Kian had announced the news of her pregnancy.

My life in Kian’s pack changed the very next morning.

With Kian’s consent, I was made Rachelle’s slave more or less. She did everything to humiliate me in front of my mate and his pack while constantly trying to convince him to formally reject me. Each time Kian refused, her treatment of me would get worse.

I could tell that his pack members were not comfortable treating me badly like Bianca insisted, after all, I was still their Alpha’s mate. Though not all of them joined in my maltreatment, no one stood up for me or showed me any kindness either.

After an argument concerning me one night, Rachelle shut herself in her room till the next day. It was strange that she hadn’t requested me to do some humiliating and tedious chore all day and rather than feel relaxed, I began to feel anxious.

She was definitely up to something.

That something became clear when just before nightfall, she found me cleaning the pigs’ dung.

“Gwen,” she said in a sickly sweet tone. “I need you to run a quick errand for me”, she said.

I stood to my feet, suspicious.

“What is it?” I asked softly.

The last time I had spoken to her in a tone she didn’t like, she had accused me of insulting her and had me flogged. It had taken weeks for me to heal since I didn’t have a wolf.

She gave an evil smile.

“Go and get me some moon shade herbs from the woods,” she instructed.

My immediate thought was that it was a trap, so I replied, “I don’t know what a moon-shade herb looks like”.

My answer seemed to please her for some reason.

“Very well,” she said. “Go to the healer and get it from her then. And if she refuses to give you, tell her to show you what it looks like and go and find it for me,” she said.

“But where would I find it?” I asked.

The smile on her face only widened.

“The woods, dear Gwen,” she said, then turned and walked away.

I could not shake the feeling that Rachelle was up to something. And unlike the other times, this one could end me.

Still, I quickly cleaned up and made my way to the healer’s cabin.

When I entered and asked her for the herb, she gave me a look I could not place.

It looked almost like suspicion but I ignored it.

“I do not have such herbs,” she said, and if I was a very wise person, I would have picked up on the manner she had said the last two words.

Alas, I was not.

“Can you show me what it looks like?” I requested.

After a moment where she hesitated, she finally moved to produce a scroll that she unrolled and turned to show me what looked like a flower.

“May I borrow it?” I asked softly.

“No, you may not,” she all but snapped and took the scroll from my hands. “Now leave,” she ordered.

I did so immediately, not understanding her aggression but pushing away such thoughts as almost everyone in the pack similarly treated me.

I entered the closest woods to me and quietly searched for the herb, praying to the moon goddess that Bianca did not send someone to kill me and that I would not meet my end then.

It was already dark when I finally found the herb and brought it to Bianca.

“What took you so long?” she asked, snatching the herb from me. “Fetch me some brewed herbs to calm me”, she instructed almost immediately. “Now!”

Swallowing the question I had been about to ask her, I quickly left her room and found my way to the kitchen to do as instructed.

“You may go to bed early,” she said a moment later when I handed her the hot cup of liquid. “I don’t need you anymore”.

I did as I was told and made my way to my room in the servants’ cabin, still unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Rachelle had not insulted or tried to humiliate me as she normally would. That in itself was suspicious. Especially since I knew she was furious that Kian still refused to formally reject me.

Her actions gave me no rest as I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

It was probably because I was awake that I heard the small commotion heading my way.

I got off my bed and made my way to my window but remembered that it was facing the woods, so I could see nothing. As the noise drew nearer, I quickly grabbed my worn cloak and put it around me to cover the simple, thin nightdress I was wearing. I had just secured it around me when my door was roughly kicked down.

Kian’s Beta who was also Rachelle’s cousin walked in looking scary as always.

He eyed me as he clutched onto my cloak in fear.

“Take her,” he said before stepping out to allow two huge guards in.

“What have I done?” I questioned fearfully as they grabbed me harshly and began to drag me away.

My repeated questions and pleas were unanswered as I was dragged to the pack house and into the hall where several werewolves waited.

I was thrown to the hard ground and felt my skin bruise in several places from the fall.

I looked up from where I lay to see my mate a few feet from me. Not too far from where he stood was Bianca in a woman’s arms…sobbing.

I must have hit my head when I was thrown to the floor. That had to be the only explanation for the sight before me.

Rachelle was crying?

But why?

My question was not answered immediately.

Instead, my arms were grabbed roughly by my mate who pulled me to my feet.

“Why did you do it?” he snarled at me.

My eyes finally found him and I couldn’t understand what I had been accused of that caused such anger in him.

“What did I do?” I asked softly since I had no idea.

His grip on my arms tightened painfully and I winced, biting my lip to endure the pain.

“You dare ask me that?” he snapped. “How could you do that? Did you not care that it would hurt me? Did it not matter to you that it was mine?!”

His grip grew tighter with each question and I whimpered in pain.

“What do you believe I have done?” I asked instead.

At this, he threw me to the ground just like the guards had earlier and I groaned in pain when my ankle twisted.