Sold To The Ruthless Werewolf King

6

Emily

“Don’t kill her yet.”

Anna’s voice cut through the darkness, pulling me back from the edge of unconsciousness.

Josh’s grip loosened slightly, allowing me to breathe a little better, but not enough to fully catch my breath. It was just enough to keep me conscious and in a state of suffering.

“She’s still useful,” Anna added.

“She hit me.” Josh’s voice was a low growl against my ear. His fingers tightened again briefly. “Look at my face. She drew blood.”

Anna leaned in closer, staring at the blood on his face with fake surprise. “Oh my. I didn’t know she still had it in her.”

She reached out, gently touching his bruised jaw, before looking down at me with a dark, twisted smile.

“A warrior is still a warrior,” she mused. “Even when you break them down to nothing, they still try to bite.” She tilted her head. “Just like her mother.”

Anna’s lips curved into a slow smile. “She’s too valuable to kill right now. If you end her now, the entertainment stops.” Her eyes moved over my body. “I want to watch that fire in her eyes turn to ash. I want her to beg before the end.”

She patted Josh’s cheek, her voice turning sickeningly sweet. “Let her go, Josh. We have better things to do than watch a slave choke.”

Josh slammed me onto the hard floor. I collapsed there, choking and gasping, greedily dragging air back into my lungs.

“You’re lucky,” Josh spat, his voice dripping with pure hatred. “This isn’t over. I promise I will make your life hell.”

Anna stared down at me. “You really are just like your mother. She refused to die peacefully, no matter what we did.” She placed a finger on her chin, looking thoughtful. “If only she hadn’t taken that poison…”

My breath caught. My head was spinning so fast that I felt nauseous.

My mother. She wasn’t sick. They murdered her.

“Yes, exactly,” Anna mocked, seeing the horror on my face. “Whatever you’re thinking, you’re right. We killed her. She was so stubborn. She should have died when Mother pushed her off the cliff back then, but she survived our first try.”

“You... you killed her!”

The words tore from my throat, raw and broken.

“Got a problem with that?” Anna laughed. “She wanted a long life, so we cut it short. It was the only way our happy little family could finally be together.”

I tried to force myself up to tear her apart, but Josh kicked me hard in the stomach. I doubled over, gasping in agony. “Look at this dead soul, still trying to pick a fight,” he sneered.

“I know, right?” Anna’s cruel laughter filled the room. “You want revenge? Too bad. You’re worthless, Emily. In this life and the next.” She turned to the maids standing by the door. “Drag her out. Throw her in the cells.”

I don’t remember being carried down the hallway. I only remember Clara’s face appearing before me, her eyes wide with that performance of shock she was so good at.

“Oh my goodness!” she breathed. “Is that really you, Emily?”

Something broke open in my chest.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll make you pay for everything!” I screamed, tears blinding me. “You killed my mother!”

Clara’s expression changed from fake surprise to something more sinister. “Anna told you,” she said, motioning for the maids to stop and staring at me with her arms folded. “Don’t blame me. Blame your mother. She was too kind, too trusting, too open. She made it easy for me. She let me into her home, into her life, into everything she had.” A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “I just took what she offered.”

I gathered what little was left in me and spat in her face.

Clara froze. She slowly wiped the spit from her cheek, her face twisting with pure rage. “How dare you!” She slapped me so hard that my vision went black for a second. “I will make sure you rot for that.”

She leaned in, whispering cruelly, “Your wolf is gone, Emily. You have nothing left. Instead of dreaming about avenging a dead woman, you should worry about surviving. Only the living get revenge. Take her away.”

They threw me into the dark, freezing cell, leaving me to rot alone.

I lost track of time. It could have been weeks or months. I lived in total darkness—weak, starving, and broken. The only thing keeping my heart beating was a burning thirst for revenge. If I survive this... if I get out, I will make them bleed.

I was curled up on the filthy floor when the heavy iron door suddenly groaned open. It was the first time it had opened since they threw me inside. The light hit me so hard that I had to turn my face away. I lay there blinking, unable to remember what brightness felt like.

“Bring her out.”

It was my father’s voice.

Two maids dragged me into the hallway. I could barely hold my own weight. My legs had forgotten what they were for.

“Disgusting,” Anna muttered, covering her nose. “Only two months in there, and she looks like a wild animal.”

Two months. I had been in the dark for two whole months.

“Do you really think the Alpha King will accept a creature like this?” Anna asked, disgusted.

Alpha King.

The words reached me through the fog. Everyone in every pack knew that name. The king who had buried nine queens. The monster even monsters feared.

“Who cares if he likes her?” My father replied coldly, not even looking at me. “She’s already dead inside. She just needs to be useful to us one last time.”

One last time.

I stood in the hallway of my childhood home, held upright by two maids because my legs could no longer support me, and listened as my father discussed sending me to my death.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to send her looking like a corpse,” Josh chimed in, sounding worried. “If the King thinks we insulted him by sending a filthy slave, he’ll destroy my pack.”

“I don’t understand why you’re all panicking,” Clara said, rolling her eyes. “We can’t send her like this for our own sakes. Josh needs the Alpha King’s political support right now. The pack is already questioning if Josh is fit to be the Alpha. We need Emily to look healthy. Feed her, dress her up, and then send her.”

“No!” Anna screamed, stomping her foot. “I hate that idea! I don’t want her treated well!”

They were arguing over me as if I were a piece of meat. As if I wasn’t even human.

“Then think of it as giving Josh what he needs,” Clara said calmly.

“I know why we’re doing it,” Anna snapped. “I just hate that she gets to walk out of here breathing.”

Father rubbed his temples, his expression darkening as his patience finally snapped.

“Shut up, Anna! What do you want from me?!” Father roared. “We are doing this for you and Josh! Half the pack thinks Josh murdered the old Alpha and his two brothers to steal the title. And you? You are pretending to be a beta, but you know the truth. We don’t belong in power.”

“That’s exactly what I hate, Father!” Anna shrieked back, her face turning red. “I hate remembering that your pathetic blood runs through my veins! I hate that we are actually just low-life Omegas!”

“Keep your mouth shut! I didn’t choose to be born an Omega!” Father yelled, stepping into her face. “Everything I did—the lies, the murder—I did for you! I ruined my soul to make you happy, and you dare say you hate my blood?”

Anna flinched, looking at his furious expression. “I... I’m sorry, Father,” she stammered, backing down. “I didn’t mean it.”

Father let out a bitter breath, turning his cold eyes back to my dirty form.

“Just do what Clara says. Fix her up and send her away,” Father muttered. “It’s not like Emily is going there to be a real queen anyway. She’s going there to die.”