BONDED BY BLOOD ( FORCED COMMITMENT)

CHAPTER 3: SOMETHING OTHER THAN DEATH.

Shhhh….” she said with her eyes and Octavia’s heart froze. Her look was completely different from the friendly one she had shown since. It was almost as scary as the man they met earlier. But she had no time to think about it. They suddenly heard noises, strong, almost like a protest, not a fight. Abigail froze and stopped before she did. She saw the people protesting three seconds later. Men, almost all of them shirtless and women, all with an aura that was scary and uncomfortable. There were a lot of them. She wondered if they were all part of this weird community.

“Come…” Abigail mouthed before they got any closer to them or before they were noticed . Octavia followed, her heart pounding inside her chest, loud and powerfully. She didn’t know what was happening, but she was scared and simply wanted to go home. Abigail pushed her behind an open door, right beside the entrance. She had not seen that before and it looked like it led to other places if you only looked properly, but she had no time to think about that, not to add that it was dark. She slowly and quietly pushed her in and asked her to remain quiet by gesturing with her fingers. Then she tapped on something and the walls moved. Her heart did a flip when she noticed it was a secret passage. It looked just like the walls of the castle. No wonder she hadn’t noticed it before. But fortunately, she didn’t close it all though. Probably because of the noise it would make or because she might die of fright in a small hole that she had no idea where it led to. She left her soon enough, and she tried to breathe. However, someone walked in almost immediately and stopped right beside the secret passage. Her heart stopped, and she held her breath. The space left there was so small, no one could see her, especially because it was dark there, but she could certainly see who was there and what was happening if she adjusted. But the way the guy stopped, it seemed like he could definitely see her.

“He definitely could not, right?” her thoughts whispered. Almost immediately, his eyes snapped at her. She jumped back in the dark and jammed her mouth with both hands, a whimper threatening to escape her mouth. His eyes were strange, cold and shifting between brown and red.

“What is this? What is he? What is going on?” She questioned no one but herself . She was so sure that he couldn’t see me, but he was staring right through her soul. Instantly, he started walking towards her and she took another step back.

“Javier…” someone instantly called out, a familiar voice and he froze.

“Come on…” the rough voice urged, coldly. Javier grunted and walked away. Then the man she saw earlier came into view. Just like Javier, he turned to that hole, like he could see her.

“Keep your heart beat in check…” he simply said and walked away. She fell down to her knees before she passed out. She focused on gathering oxygen into her lungs, with her heart beating loud against my ears. It was the first time she had taken note of how each beat vibrated through her body, yet those words returned.

“What did he mean by’ keep my heart beat in check? I was hiding? Were they dog or wild animals that could sniff things through their nose? So what the actual f**k? And what was with that guy’s eyes? Why did it seem like they could actually see me?”

“Keep your heart beat in check…” those words came again, a warning this time around. She didn’t understand what was happening, but with how scared she was, she listened.She instantly got up and focused on taking steady, deep breaths to cool down. She stopped when she heard a loud sound and instantly returned to the space left open. She adjusted and pushed herself to see what was happening. A lot more people were gathered now, men, women, and teenagers. They were all murmuring till someone came in. He dragged something along with him and kept walking till he was standing on a higher platform, enabling her to see him more. Then he pulled what he held up and high above him so everyone could see. Silence fell on everyone. Her heart stopped again, and she thought she was certainly going to die.

He held a boy, a boy that was probably fifteen, like he was an animal. His clothes were torn and his body was bloody and dripping with more blood. Then he dropped him without a care in the world. A loud thud followed. Octavia grabbed her hands tightly, scared that she would scream. She definitely could not do that. They might do the same thing to her. They had done that to such an innocent child, and no one said a thing. She had to leave that place.

“There are rules for a reason.” A voice entered. The hairs on the back of her neck stood tall and shivers ran down her spine. She thought the first guy they met was terrifying. This had quite a voice, and a certain power there. His tone held dark intent written all over it and she had not even seen this guy yet.

“If we each go about breaking the rules we set for ourselves, we end up being animals roaming the jungles aimlessly, simply to kill, eat, procreate.”

“Is that what you want?” he yelled, finally stepping into the limelight at the podium. Her heart shook. He was shirtless as well, ripped like every other guy she had seen there. What’s with the perfect genes? He had dark hair, scattered all over his face and, unlike the first guy she had seen, his face was masculine with sharp jawlines and a rough look that made him look even more dangerous. But what caught her eyes were his eyes. From where she hid, they shouldn’t be that way, yet they glowed, like that of an animal at night in the wild.

“I didn’t build this, I didn’t work this hard, I did bring us together, for our hunger and greed to tear us apart. I will rather tear your hearts out myself.” What seemed like a growl came out of his mouth. Everyone froze. A tremble went down her spine.

“This should be a lesson to everyone….” He turned his back to everyone. And the lad bleeding earlier was raised up. Held in a standing position by two people. Each holding his hands tight to keep him up. A cat-o'-nine-tails whip was handed to the one who had been speaking earlier. With a swift move, the whip sliced against the lad’s flesh, she could certainly hear it tear. A scream left her mouth before she could jam her hands against her mouth and everyone turned to her.

“No…” her thoughts whimpered. Tears immediately came running down her chin.

“No…” her heart raced.

“God, I don’t want to die today.” The tears came running down. But they knew their eyes said it all. The man holding the whip handed it over to someone else and instantly started towards her. She took a step back and back into that dark place, hoping she could disappear.

“Stay back…” Her thoughts prayed.

“Please…” She hit her back against a wall and realised that there was nowhere to run to.

“Please…” She whispered, unable to hold the way her body shook. The door opened and his eyes met hers. Her heart stopped as she stared right at his face. He looked more scary up close.

“Please don’t kill me.” Her voice came out in a whisper. His eyes widened.

“Octavia…” He called out her name.

“Who the hell brought her here?” he screamed, grabbing her hand and pulling her. Where Octavia thought death would be, was sweat, muscles, flesh and strong arms holding her tight, yet gently.

“Abigail….” He growled.