Blood Type R

Chapter 6

She stood there, listening to the men outside discuss among themselves in Swedish. There was no happy tone to be heard. She looked around the room with no real intention. Her body just begged for her to do something.

The door finally opened to the tudor home, and of course Oren walked in.

Cora was breathing deeply through her nose, her nostrils flaring with each breath.

"So, I guess you can tell it didn't go well?" Oren asked as he shut the wooden door, a slow creak echoing in the home.

She didn't move, and only stared at his face. She couldn't decide on what to say. Finally, her shrewd side got the best of her.

"Well, if you call not getting r***d going bad, then sure, it went terribly. He liked the way I smelled though," she said, adding an ounce of positivity after the glare Oren gave her.

"Well, as much as you might feel good about yourself, you should know that he doesn't condone r**e, so it wouldn't have happened either way. He just wanted to examine your body. On top of that, you rejected his touch, twice. Don't worry, you're not the only one in trouble. Gally will be reprimanded for failing to properly instruct you. Don't know what the hell she was thinking."

"In trouble? For what, exactly?" she declared. "It didn't feel like 'rejecting his touch'. It felt like preserving my goddamn honor," she argued with a fierce tone, although her voice was shaky.

Oren laughed, and looked around the room incredulously. His eyes then fell to her, slowly licking his bottom lip before he said, "Since when do I care about your honor?"

She let out her own sound that mimicked a growl, and fretted in place in an attempt to control herself. She hated this man. "Now, hold on...If you want me to be your Luna, then shouldn't you care?" she countered. Her angry face warped to victory, proud of herself for her spur of the moment retort.

He shook his head, crossed his arms and sat down on the backside of the gray couch, just like Ludovic had.

She already liked Ludovic better.

"You have no idea how we work. Seriously, what the f**k did Gally teach you?" he let out a slow, deep sigh. "Once you're Luna...sure. Then it matters. Right now? You are nobody. Our respect here is earned, not given. Right now you have no respect." He paused. She latched to his eyes in the silence. "So I must show you what it means to fail me."

The coldness in his eyes numbed her skin. He looked at her like a predator would. It was the first time she truly felt like prey among them.

Prey. Punishment.

Ben.

"Please," she begged. She hated to beg to him, but she fell to her knees regardless. "Please, hurt me, in anyway. Don't touch my brother. I will do everything better next time. I won't flinch. I'll pretend to enjoy whatever he wants," she lamented.

"Oh! Who this that I am meeting? Does Cora Gabris even know how to beg?" he asked with such a belittling tone that she almost snapped at him again.

I cannot. I must submit to him. Ben is relying on me. Physical pain means nothing compared to what may become of Ben. Lie, I must lie. I must make Oren feel good.

"I am sorry, alright? Is that what you want to hear? It's been less than forty-eight hours and I am trying my best. I promise next time it will be better. I know I can do this. I just...it was a lot take in. I swear I will do better."

There was a lingering stillness, her breathing was shallow, and her ears searched for any sound to indicate his mood. She slowly looked up to him with a beseeching glimpse, and she could see his eyes dart back and forth between hers.

"Fair enough. The boy will remain unharmed. But not you. I need to make sure this lesson sticks."

They both looked at each other, unmoving, the tension in the room reminding her of a horror story that she had read once.

One thing was certain in all of this - Cora would never survive in the wild as prey. Most would have run by now.

He broke the placidity and lunged at her. She immediately pulled back. She stood no chance.

He grabbed her with a strength that made her cry out, certain that all the vessels in her right arm had been broken, his fingers feeling like they pushed passed her muscle to touch her bone.

He pulled off the leather belt and ripped off her dress. She cried out as her skin was exposed to the air, her naked body touching him in her throes. Fresh air touched regions it should never reach in the presence of strangers.

It didn't matter though. She was nothing compared to him, at least not physically. She could hear a predatory sound in the way he growled. She was scared for a moment that he might try to eat her.

She lost all control over herself, every reaction was now at a primal level. "And as a reminder," he rumbled, just before she felt flesh tear on her back. Her body surged with more adrenaline as she thrashed, his grip the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor.

Then he let go.

She wailed with each exhale, the pain more shocking than anything, the warmth of her blood terrifying her. She crawled to her dress and grabbed the remnants of it to cover herself, her hands shaking as she she struggled to grab it. She sat on the cold floor, clutching the ripped cloth to herself.

Oren cleared his throat as if he had merely smacked her hands. "So, now that that is done," he said and wiped his hand on a towel from the kitchen island. He used his claws to scratch her. "Ludovic is looking for a mate. Not a little play thing. So f*****g him until he can't see won't be enough. He is going to want a mate that wants him, that pines for him. He really took to the idea of you being an R, but without a connection, you will make this unnecessarily hard. You have the best advantage here. Utilize it. It won't take much. He just needs a reason to commit to you, and that's it. Give it to him."

She said nothing and just shivered, her eyes wide as she stared at a very specific nail inside the floor board. She could feel blood pooling around her, her jaw shaking uncontrollably.

She had never felt this way before.

She would not forget, nor forgive, this.

*******

Two days had passed.

Ludovic was spending the rest of the week examining other potential females and taking time to ruminate. He would then select the ones that he wanted to see further.

Cora had no plan if he didn't allow her into the next round of selection. She couldn't mentally bear the weight of him rejecting her.

She was lying on her stomach on the cot that they had placed in the room for her. Her back pain was horrendous, the sliced flesh barely healing. Gally had given her tea with leaves in it to help with the pain, but it only controlled the swelling. Any movement hurt, the scabbed wound threatening to burst open if she turned her body too much.

She could hear a small commotion downstairs but paid no mind. She didn't care for this family, not in the slightest.

Then she heard her door open, and someone walked in with hurried steps.

"Get up, Cora," she heard Gally say gently.

"I will need help, unless you want it to rip again," she said with the flattest tone.

"Of course," Gally said with a surprising warmth. Cora furrowed her brow at that, as Gally had been punished by Oren as well, and of course Gally blamed Cora. Why was she suddenly warm to her?

Gally grabbed Cora by her good arm and helped her up. Gally was stronger than any human male she had met.

Cora winced as she stood until she was upright and let out a sigh of relief. She preferred to either stand straight or lie on her stomach. Everything else hurt too much.

"Ludovic is here," Gally said to her.

"What?" Cora asked sharply.

"I'll help you dress, leave your hair as is, and we will make sure the arm isn't visible. Try your best not to show how much pain you're in."

Cora was about to quip back, but swallowed her own words at the thought of Ludovic being here. Was he here to reject her in person?

Gally helped her dress, her hair draping over her shoulders. She walked down the stairs barefoot, doing everything in her power to ignore the throbbing pain as the mauled skin on her back stretched with every footstep.

I have to do everything he says. Everything. Whatever Ludovic wants, he will get.

Going down the stairs, Gally said, "I will translate for the both of you." They rounded the corner that took them to the main landing for the second floor.

"Should I apologize?" Cora whispered to Gally.

"No, let him speak," Gally replied just as quietly, leading them down the stairs.

Ludovic was standing in the doorway with a very similar outfit from before. He looked Cora up and down, his eyes lingering on her face when she winced from going down the stairs too fast. She couldn't let that show. She didn't know Oren well, but she didn't want to make this any worse than it was, so she would protect his dirty secrets. For now, anyway.

There was another lycan with him, a smaller male dressed in similar fashion to Ludovic, his eyes covered in a dark makeup and his skin darker than Cora's. He spoke to Gally in Swedish, igniting a quick conversation. Gally finally looked down and stiffly nodded her head.

"Hello, Cora. My name is Berric. I will translate for you two today, in place of Gally," he said. His dark eyes harbored a false warmth. She nodded in return.

Ludovic wasted no time and began to speak, his warm, rough voice captivating her attention. She played with her fingers while she looked him in the eyes, something so imperious about his presence. He made Oren seem like a fox playing at wolf.

Then Berric said, "He wants to know why you are doing any of this?"

Cora immediately looked to Gally, who threw Cora a commanding glare. She then looked back to Ludovic, who raised his brow in a questioning manner. "I...It is required of me."

Ludovic's eyes squinted ever so as his gaze bore into her. Please, that's all I can tell you. Then he spoke again.

Berric said, "He said that this is a waste of both of your time, if you are simply going to go through the motions just to please him."

"Well, I mean...what does that mean? Does he mean he will let me go?" she asked without thinking. Gally tensed and Berric spoke to Ludovic.

"No," Ludovic said himself. Then he began to speak in Swedish until the translator said, "He said that you are too useful to waste. If not with with him, then you will go with a beta."

Cora looked down in defeat, dreading where this might be going. He is going to give me to a beta. Surely that will mean that Oren will kill Ben. Oh god.

Ludovic began to speak before she could correct her dismal posture. "Our alpha says that he will consider a political arrangement for a mate, for as long as you keep his interest. If you fail, then he considers it worth his time as he will know which beta to put you with."

Cora nodded, hanging onto every word. A second chance? "Alright, I can do that," she said with the most genuine voice she could muster.

The throbbing in her back was starting to get to her. Another reminder of why she was to comply. f**k Oren for playing such mental games with me.

Ludovic was silent for a brief moment, him and Cora just staring at each other while he took in a deep breath of his robust chest, finally speaking in the tongue that was foreign to her. She hoped it would be something about how he wanted to repeat their first meeting, or how she could do anything to redeem herself. She'd even beg or worship him if that's what he asked.

Just don't deny me. Ben's life depends on it.

When the translator spoke, it was the exact opposite.

"Our alpha wants to know how to make your accommodations more comfortable in Reiger."

At least she didn't have to fake her genuine surprise. She looked to Ludovic, then to the translator, then to Gally and back to Ludovic and said directly to him, "What?"

She stared at Ludovic as the translator spoke, "He says that Aldric failed in that regard. He did not allow for his R mate to get accustomed. You will obviously need accommodations to come to peace with this. You are to become a member of the pack, one way or another and it is important to him that it is done right."

She smiled. It was her first genuine smile since being here. Ludovic's eyes retained his stolid glare, although his gaze was glued to her, examining every inch of her reaction.

She wanted to say that Ben should go home. But she knew that she couldn't do that. That was too risky. She didn't want to ruin her small gain.

She looked down and thought about it seriously. What could I use right now to make me happier here, to make me more receptive to Ludovic?

"I want to see more of the lycans and of the human village. I want out of the attic in this house. I want to get to know the lands and everything. Freedom, I guess. And better food. I am tired of buttered bread and porridge." The last bit she just threw on to see if she could get it. Gally was awful at making porridge, and the bread tasted like stale flour.

The translator spoke and then Ludovic nodded, responding in a low tone that gave her gooseflesh.

"Our alpha says fair enough. Next time that you two meet, he suggests that you come as yourself, not as whatever the Ashmore clan has told you to prepare as. He said that you will learn the formal rules over time. Right now, they are not necessary. He will ensure that the Ashmore's meet your requests."

Cora nodded and slowly began to smile. This was the first time she was genuinely happy here. Her happiness at this scenario was probably the most surprising thing, in truth. A week ago, being told this information would never have been a source of happiness.

Now? It was among the top three best things that she could have heard.

She bowed her head to Ludovic. "Thank you."

Ludovic didn't say anything to Cora, but just looked to Gally, saying something foreign to her. He then looked Cora over one more time before leaving.

A long road was laid before Cora, but she didn't even bother to look down it.

She just wanted to savor this little victory for now.