The Mystery Of His Legendary Queen

Chapter2

When I woke up again, I found myself inside a cage in what looked like a basement dungeon. The air smelled damp and rotten. When I looked around, I saw only one other person—a girl about my age.

I scooted closer to her. “Hey, are you alright?”

She jumped and spun toward me.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. My name is Da’Vina, but people call me Nina. Are you okay?”

She slowly sat up, and my stomach twisted when I saw the bruises covering her body.

“You don’t want them to hear you speaking,” she whispered. “They’ll punish you.”

“Where are we?”

She glanced nervously toward the stairs before scooting closer to the bars of her cage.

“We’re in the cells beneath Alpha Victor’s pack house. We have to obey him, or he’ll hurt us.”

Before I could respond, a deep growl echoed through the dungeon.

I turned and froze.

Alpha Victor stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“I see you’re awake,” he said with a smirk.

I looked back toward the girl, and she had already curled herself tightly into the corner of her cage.

Victor’s eyes slowly dragged over me.

“You truly are beautiful. You’ll make wonderful pups someday, my dear.”

Disgust curled in my stomach. I spit at the floor in front of him.

“I will never bear your children.”

His expression darkened instantly.

Before I could react, the cell door swung open, and suddenly his hand was wrapped around my throat, lifting me off the ground.

I clawed at his wrist and struggled to breathe, but without Rudina near the surface—and with the drugs still clouding my system—I wasn’t strong enough to fight him.

He threw me onto the floor before driving his boot hard into my stomach.

“You will do as you are told,” he snarled, “or you will suffer.”

Apparently, my brain never learned when to stay quiet.

“I will never listen to you,” I hissed through the pain. “You are not my Alpha.”

I saw the punch coming, but I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it.

His fist connected with my face, and darkness swallowed me once again.

One Year Later

“You little b***h! You’ll pay for that!”

I honestly didn’t know why I always got myself into trouble.

The Beta had tried to take advantage of me, and I hit him for it. The moment I did, I ran.

Unfortunately, he was faster.

He caught me by the hair and dragged me back toward the dungeons while I kicked and fought against him.

“You’ll stay down here with no food or water for a week, you b***h!”

Once again, my mouth worked faster than my brain.

“You act like that’s a new punishment for me.”

I spat the words with enough venom to make him pause.

For a second, I didn’t realize I was letting my aura slip through. Panic flashed through me, and I quickly shoved it back down.

My parents died protecting my secret. I couldn’t let it slip now.

The Beta looked unsettled for a moment before shoving me into the cage and slamming the door shut behind me.

“Rudina,” I whispered once he was gone, “why can’t we just show them our true power? We shouldn’t have to live like this after everything they’ve done.”

“I know, Nina,” my wolf replied softly, “but it’s not time yet. If they discover who we truly are, we’ll be in even greater danger.”

I sighed and shut her out before turning toward the only person I’d truly cared about since my parents died.

Sharaya curled into a ball in the next cage.

“Sharaya?” I rushed to the bars. “Are you alright? Why are you down here?”

She slowly rolled over, and tears instantly filled my eyes.

Bruises covered her face and body.

I shoved my hand through the bars and grabbed hers tightly.

“I tried to fight him, Nina,” she whispered weakly. “I did. But I’m not strong enough.”

Tears streamed down my face.

“Nina, you have to stop fighting them. They’re going to seriously hurt you one day like they hurt me.”

I squeezed her hand tighter.

“Sharaya, you’re stronger than you think you are. And I’ll never stop fighting them. We’re getting out of here soon. Just hold on a little longer. Please.”

A faint smile crossed her lips before exhaustion pulled her under.

Rudina and I listened carefully until we were sure her heartbeat was steady.

“Rudina,” I whispered, “we have to get her out of here. They’ll kill her next time.”

“It’s not time yet, Da’Vina. Just wait a few more days. Something is going to happen, and then we can escape. Until then, protect her. We can handle more than she can.”

I knew she was right.

Still, it killed me to sit there and do nothing.

We spent days trapped in those cages, fighting against hunger and thirst. Sharaya was released after two days and secretly brought me water whenever she could, but on the third day she got caught.

I hadn’t seen her since.

Bruises covered my body from protecting her while she was down there, though Rudina intentionally healed them slowly.

We had made the mistake of healing too quickly once before, and Alpha Victor noticed. He beat me relentlessly, trying to force me to explain how I healed so fast, but I never broke.

The next full moon was my eighteenth birthday.

Victor believed I was his mate.

And every night, I prayed to the Goddess that she had not tied me to that monster.

I got my wolf when I was ten years old—far earlier than normal—and my parents hid me from the world until Alpha Victor destroyed everything.

Footsteps echoed down the dungeon stairs.

I smelled him before I saw him.

“Victor,” I muttered coldly, “did you come to watch me suffer some more?”

He laughed darkly.

“That is Alpha to you, omega.”

I curled my lip in disgust.

“You will never be my Alpha, Victor.”

He stopped in front of my cage.

“You’re right,” he said softly. “You are only a breeding machine.”

Rage surged through me.

“I will never be your breeding machine, and my body will never belong to you.”

His roar shook the dungeon walls.

“You will be mine whether you want it or not!” he bellowed. “The next full moon is tomorrow night—or have you forgotten? You’ll be taken upstairs and cleaned up. I will not mate with you while you smell like this.”

I growled low in my throat as Rudina pushed against my control, desperate to break free.

Victor smirked.

“Don’t worry, little pet. We’ll have our fun tomorrow night. Don’t be impatient.”

The moment he disappeared upstairs, I finally regained control over Rudina.

Not long after, guards dragged me from the cage and took me to a room.

But this wasn’t a normal room.

This was the room.

The one nobody ever escaped from.

“Rudina,” I whispered shakily, “what are we going to do if he really is our mate?”

“If the Moon Goddess paired us with him, she must have had a reason,” Rudina replied. “But we will reject him. There is no way I could ever accept that man after everything he’s done.”

“Have you felt Sharaya lately?”

“Actually, I spoke to her wolf. She escaped by pretending to be dead—though she nearly became one for real. She found a pack willing to take her in, and they’re waiting for you. They promised to protect you too.”

Relief washed through me.

“That’s good.”

I shut Rudina out and headed toward the bathroom.

The room was filled with revealing clothes—obviously chosen by Victor—but after digging around long enough, I finally found a sweater and a pair of loose pants to throw over them.

When I looked in the mirror, I barely recognized myself.

The brown dye in my hair had faded enough for streaks of white to peek through. My ice-blue contacts were dry and dull, making me look lifeless.

I was skin and bones.

Bruises and scars covered nearly every inch of my body from the beatings I’d endured.

I turned on the shower as hot as I could stand it before stepping underneath the spray.

Tomorrow was coming fast.

Rudina had promised me that tomorrow night was when we escaped.

Still, every part of me wanted to run tonight.

When I finished showering, I pulled my clothes back on—there wasn’t even a towel left for me—before crawling onto the bed.

“Go to sleep, Nina,” Rudina whispered gently. “I’ll watch over us.”

And with those words, exhaustion finally dragged me under.