No Take Backs, My Dear Alpha

Chapter 1:A Miserable Existence

“Wake up!”

The command was followed by a downpour of ice-cold water that instantly woke Calypso from her sleep. A cold shower accompanied by the sub-zero temperature had her trembling fiercely on the floor.

“The day won’t wait for you, and neither will I”, the harsh words of her male oppressor forced her onto her feet immediately; she did not want to anger him more.

Drenched in water from head to toe, Calypso’s rags stuck to her body, giving a full outline of her curves. Embarrassment and shame made her cover her chest with both hands, but it only garnered a laugh filled with mockery.

“Don’t bother covering up; a man may be down bad, but he will never be down bad enough to consider you a mate.”

Calypso’s eye twitched from the man’s disgusting comments, but she could not say a word. As offended as she was, all she could do was curse him out in her mind, which was exactly what she did.

“Bastard!” she thought to herself, “As if any self-respecting woman would go for you either.”

“What are you glaring at?” The man’s comment made her realize her actions, and she immediately averted her gaze. “Exactly now, get your butt upstairs, you have chores to do.”

Having given his instructions, he exited the cellar, leaving Calypso to get ready. In the dark underground room that she called her ‘home’, Calypso stripped off her soaking wet clothes and put on a dry pair. There was no need for a shower, for she had already been given one.

Morning preparations never took long; they mostly consisted of her changing out of her wet clothing and putting on dry ones. After that, she made her way upstairs to start another exhausting day of doing chores and trying, but failing miserably, not to get hit. It was a depressing life, and it was reserved only for her.

Making her way up the creaking stairs, Calypso wondered what the day had in store for her, other than the usual. Nothing ever happened, but recently, several strange things were going on, and she couldn’t help but feel like something was about to happen; the voices confirmed it.

~*~

The top floor was an absolute mess, but, then again, there wasn’t a day when it wasn’t. Empty bottles of moonshine littered the floor, and muddy footprints stained the wood. Calypso blocked her nose and began breathing through her mouth because the vile smells were making her sick.

Shaking her head in silent disapproval, she began cleaning up; the sooner she finished, the faster she could return to the basement.

Picking up one empty bottle after the other, Calypso wondered what sort of celebration had happened the night before. The men with whom she ‘lived’ rarely needed a reason to get stupidly drunk, but the amount of liquor that was ingested made her believe that this time they had one.

As she was in the middle of cleaning up, the faint sound of footsteps caught her attention for a moment. A few seconds later, a man with ginger hair and a face covered in a beard opened the door and walked in. Calypso sighed heavily at the man’s arrival and went straight back to work.

Putting the bottles away, she picked up a mop and began cleaning the mud from the wooden floor. Under the eye of the ginger man, Calypso tried her hardest to focus on her work and ignore his presence, but her gut told her there was a reason he was there, and she was soon about to find out.

“You missed a spot,” the man’s gruff voice scratched Calypso's brain in the wrong way; it made her skin crawl.

“But I just got started”, she stubbornly replied

“Yeah, and you still missed a spot.”

Sighing with defeat, Calypso cleaned the very ‘spot’ he spoke of, in hopes he would shut up and leave her alone, but she hoped in vain.

“Good, now get that other spot over there by the door,” he barked

Calypso’s patience was running thin, but she silently endured, like she always did, until all the muddy footprints were gone.

“There you go, you clean pretty nicely, slave,” he mocked

The backhanded compliment received zero gratitude from Calypso; she merely rolled her eyes and proceeded to her next chore, but was stopped in her tracks.

“Hey!” His raised voice startled her.

“Yes?”

“Didn’t I just give you a compliment?”

Calypso quickly swallowed her pride and answered, “Yes.”

“So? What are you supposed to say when someone compliments you?”

The air in the room grew thick and unbreathable. Every muscle in her body fought against accepting his ‘compliment’, but she also knew that every muscle in her body would soon ache if she didn’t.

Taking a deep breath, she bowed, “Thank you.”

The man grunted, “That’s more like it, you need to remember who exactly you are around here, understood?”

“Yes”

“Can’t have you losing respect now, or you’ll embarrass me later.”

The comment filled Calypso with a sense of unease; she did not know how to respond to it, and so, she remained quiet.

Pulling out a chair for himself at the dinner table, the man sat down and put his feet up.

“We spent a long time training you, you know? Don’t let our magnificent efforts go to waste.”

A tight pain spread through Calypso’s chest as she listened to the man; his heartless words brought back several painful memories.

“Go to waste on what exactly?” The question exited her mouth before she could even think of holding it back.

“Patience, you’ll see it eventually, but, in the meantime, I want you on your best behaviour; got it?”

The vagueness in his voice sounded like he was mocking her, and Calypso could not stand him making fun of her.

“Don’t make that face,” he teased further, “At least it’s good news... for us”

“What’s the point of beating around the bush then? If something bad is going to happen to me, you might as well just tell me, don’t you think?”

Calypso’s retort struck a nerve, so much so that it got him to his feet. As he approached her slowly, her heart quickly picked up its pace until it was racing.

Backed up into a corner and with nowhere to go, Calypso shrank in fear, regretting ever opening her mouth to speak.

A large hand grabbed hold of her neck and lifted her off the ground in seconds. Calypso struggled, but the grip only grew tighter.

“Who the hell do you think you are, barking orders at me like that?”, his gruff voice lowered, causing a fearsome tone change

The question was asked, but there was obviously no intent in letting her answer it. The loss of oxygen made it impossible to breathe, let alone say anything, so she just dangled helplessly in the air.

“I’ll be damned before I let a witch like you boss me around, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll watch your damn mouth next time, understood?”

The lack of air made her lightheaded, but with the last bit of strength she had left, she slowly nodded. Only when she did so was she freed from her suffocation. Calypso’s body fell to the ground with a loud thud, and there she stayed for a moment, trying to regain her breath.

“Get up! This place is still a mess.”

Sparing her no time to recover, the slave driver barked another order and exited the room. Calypso stayed quivering on the ground, fighting back the urge to cry.

~*~



The rest of the day passed in utter silence. After her encounter early in the morning, Calypso did not dare to open her mouth, not even to sigh. Only when her tasks were completed and assessed was she allowed to go back to the basement.

In the cold and dark cellar, she sat in the corner with her legs to her chest. The temperature had dropped once again, leaving her fighting to stay warm. Though the weather made her very uncomfortable, it wasn’t the source of her dismay that evening.

The soreness of her neck was the cause of her melancholy. Once again, she was manhandled, and once again, there was nothing she could do about it. Feeling pathetic and dejected, Calypso put her head on her knees and waited for sleep to take her away from her miserable life for a while, but a faint voice stopped her from going anywhere.

“It will get better”, it said in a voice so low it could be a whisper.

When the voices started to talk, Calypso knew she had to listen, even though she didn’t know who was speaking.