Page 22 of The Wolf Moon

“Bad luck?!” I was officially furious.

Alpha Roman reached forward, running his hands over my thigh quite abruptly. I gasped with surprise, but then protested loudly when he suddenly snapped the straps of my blade from my leg with ease.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I cried out, appalled at the mistreatment of my equipment. He continued to pull the blade and it’s sheath from me, tossing it across the room with determination. I stood quickly and he did the same, towering over me far too close for comfort.

“No more fighting,” He ordered firmly, “Any challenge against you is a challenge against me. I will fight your enemies for you.”

“Are you insane?” I sputtered with confusion and frustration.

“No more weapons. No hunting. No running about doing whatever you feel like doing. You’re staying here and only here from now until the next full moon,” He continued, ignoring my protests without consideration.

I was positively shaking with anger.

“I’m not going to be your obedient little slave,” I hissed venomously.

“You’re mine and you’ll do as I say,” He responded dangerously, those ancient eyes staring into mine in a show of dominance as I glared at him defiantly.

I looked away from his eyes just briefly, immediately wanting to kick myself for giving my thoughts away as I glanced at where he tossed my weapon. And then I tried to duck around him. I didn’t make it further than a single step before he snatched my arm, twisting me around and capturing me with my back against the length of his body so firmly that it was impossible to escape.

“Let go of me,” I growled through my teeth.

“Stop struggling,” Alpha Roman demanded sharply, the order a powerful one that reached into me like the brush of his fingers on my soul. I yelped in surprise, a chill raising hair along my flesh in response. It was a familiar feeling, his demand, like when he had ordered me to shift a few times before. But more than that… it tasted similar to that power within me. That which hid under my flesh recognized it momentarily and moved inside me uncomfortably.

“You let go,” I demanded right back at him, pushing my own order towards him and that beast of nature always just under his surface. We both struggled in the moment, my body half trying to escape his grasp and half giving up, and him both tightening his grip and relaxing his body simultaneously.

“I thought the mark might sway you more, but you reject me still,” Alpha Roman said, panting with exertion. There was something of delight in his tone, as though he was pleased I could still disobey him. And then he suddenly had me on the bed, my wrist captured by something metallic and firm.

He released me and I immediately began pulling at the cuff that now contained me to the bed post firmly. I groaned in frustration, stepping a foot against the bed frame and pulling against the steel as much as I could tolerate before turning to glare at Alpha Roman.

“Why do you want to keep me here? What does it matter if I fight or get injured? It’s what you want in the end, isn’t it?” I asked with growing irritation and confusion. Roman suddenly began to crawl closer to me, reaching for my face determinedly. I pulled away angrily, but he grabbed me and forced me to look into those dangerous eyes.

“I will be the one to kill you, Milena. That weight will be on me and me alone. If anyone else tries to take you from me, I will destroy them,” He said so slowly, his words so dark and heavy that I felt short of breath. I knew in that moment he meant it. He meant to keep me here, enslaved in this one house, until I took my last agonizing breath. And when that time came, he intended not to aid me.

Before I could say anything more, he was gone.

~…~

When I was younger, my mother liked to refer to me as the beast. She would constantly make the reference when it came to addressing my existence. Tell the beast to stop climbing that building. Oh no, the beast is terrorizing those poor boys again. Go fetch the beast and tell her supper is ready.

And yet, I’d only been punished seriously just one time from what I could recall. I had grown weary of my short life in our village. I was always something of an adventurer and I wanted to see other places; the other humans we were forbidden to see. So, I had decided to find them myself.

I ran away, only about eleven at that time, and I was absent for at least a few days. However, I was grossly unprepared. I had no idea where any of the other villages were and I didn’t think I would miss my home so much or so soon. That, paired with the idea that wolves would catch me in the night, was enough to eventually make me turn back.

My parents were both relieved and livid. I was confined to my room, trapped and contained for days. It was the worst thing that had happened to me. I craved the outside and loathed containment.

Here I was years later, trapped in a room that wasn’t mine, contained to a village that wasn’t human, and greatly missing the family I no longer could get back to. I remained where Alpha Roman left me, tugging on the cuff around my wrist repeatedly for an immeasurable amount of time. I wanted to give up; to lay down in a ball and just wait for whatever would come next. But something in me refused. It whispered about my family who thought me dead and my life which I felt had only just begun.

So, I tugged on that cuff, letting it dig into both my flesh and the wood of the bedpost until both were properly carved into.

When night blanketed the day, I finally heard Alpha Roman return. I stopped pulling on the cuff and instead shifted on the bed, leaning into the bedpost as though trying to hide the evidence of my daily activity. Then I glared at the door of the room, waiting for the true beast to arrive.

He opened the door easily, his arms filled with clothes and on top of those a tray of what appeared to be food. I watched silently as he approached the bed and put the tray down on the surface in front of me. He placed the clothing beside the tray and then began to lean towards me.

“What are you-” I began defensively, but paused when he merely unlocked the cuff around my wrist and released me. He took a moment to look at the damage done to my wrist due to my struggles, but merely made a noise of disapproval before letting me go.

“Eat. Clean yourself up. Change your clothes. They’re too-” Alpha Roman paused, looking at my clothes momentarily. A flash of interest crossed his features and I instantly moved to cover myself with my arms, glaring at him angrily. He decided against continuing his line of thought and instead added, “… they don’t fit.”

“Fine,” I said bitterly, “But only because I want to. Not because you told me to.”

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