You Wouldn't Dare (Khaos Trilogy Book 1), стр. 30

She gave me a nasty grin, her eyes scanning over my entire body and even without my wolf I knew her thoughts- she saw me as weak and therefore easily manipulated. She thought she could be my mate in name only, free to live her life as she wished, and that is something she definitely would not have been able to do with her father’s option for a mate. What could I possibly do to stop her? I was worthless, isn’t that what I had always been taught?

I didn’t have to say a word; they decided there and then that Louisa would be my chosen mate. Her father would handle her fiancé, but my father would foot the bill to pay them off and stop them from seeking revenge. I would pay him back with my blood and tears. He hadn’t said that out loud, but I had played my part long enough to know my fate.

As for Louisa, she would move into our pack on her eighteenth and from now up until then, she would be heavily guarded to ensure she did not meet her true mate. The minute I turned eighteen, we would complete the mating and secure the next Alpha and Luna. I hung my head, quietly accepting my lot in life. It was out of my control anyway.

Khaos – Fourteen Years Old

Louisa was coming to visit. She had been here more and more lately for one reason or another. I hardly ever saw her. She would stay with my parents, planning the mating ceremony and learning the ins and outs of our pack dynamic. Her cackling laughter would ring out, especially whenever she was around my father. She walked around as though she already owned the place, her eyes scanning the contents of the packhouse as though she was making a mental itinerary of its valuables.

Whenever we were in each other’s company, she would look at me with scorn, distaste written over her face. My mother had filled her in on my history, telling her how bad I was, how I was too disgusting and unworthy of love. It was the same old story.

When she had first started visiting three years ago, she had at least put up a pretence, smiling whenever we were in the company of other wolves. She soon realised she needn’t bother. Even lowly Omegas would spit on me as I walked past. Why should she have to act as though she was over the moon by this? She played her part well; as far as anyone else was concerned, I had molested her and now she was subject to the ultimate humiliation - to live as the mate of the worthless dog heir. What could I possibly amount to?

I was fourteen years old and still the same size I had been at ten. All my peers towered over me. I was lucky to get one meal a day, and even then, it wasn’t really edible, whereas every other young male in this pack was adored, given nothing but the best.

There was one thing that had changed about me. My looks. And not for the better. My left eye was permanently closed; a careless warrior had gotten carried away when dealing out his punishment and a whip had caused me to go blind, leaving a nasty-looking scar over my eyelid. I had no use of one of my hands; the fingers had been snapped during an interrogation (supposedly as a training technique to see how I would handle being tortured for information) and like everything else, they hadn’t been set properly and hadn’t healed as they should have. I walked with a noticeable limp from all the damage caused to my legs over the years, and my back had a slight hump from The Cage.

The Cage had recently become a favourite punishment of my fathers. It was a tiny metal box that I would be forced into for hours on end. It had two air holes at the top, spikes on the sides and the bottom was one giant razor, so every move I made cut into my flesh and left me bleeding in agony for however long I was in there. In order to fit, I had to sit with my knees bent under my chin and my head bent over, sitting up as curled up as possible, wrapping my arms around my legs to stop them from sliding. I had been in The Cage more times than I could count - for looking in my father’s direction, for not cleaning out the dog cages thoroughly enough, losing fights, failing schoolwork, sleeping too late- I could write a list as long as my arm. If I had my wolf, I could heal most of my body and not feel half as rotten as I did every day, but I still wasn’t permitted to bond with him yet. If ever I dared to ask about him, I would be punished twice over. I had been told that he was just as deformed as I was, that he was unstable and disturbed. I had once summoned up the courage to ask how they could possibly know this if I had never been able to set my wolf free. It was the first and last time I had asked. As soon as the words had left my mouth, I had been dragged to the courtyard and my dad had ordered the warriors to strip me naked and whip me. If I passed out from the pain, they were instructed to throw water on me and revive me, beginning the punishment from scratch. I had learnt to keep my big mouth shut.

I finished getting ready and went to my father’s room so he could escort me to dinner. My parents expected me to be here every night at seven, and