Leah's POV
After that night, Alpha Finn disappeared for several days.
I spent most of my time confined to bed, with the doctor visiting every morning to administer medication. Each time he left, I felt heavily sedated, barely able to move my arms and legs. I only dared to attempt movement when no one was around. On one occasion, I managed to push myself up and sit upright.
The nightmares had ceased, but the memory of the little boy from my dream lingered, causing my heart to ache whenever I thought of him. Was it just a dream? If so, why did it feel so real?
One morning, the maids came early.
"Alpha is back and he wants to see you now," one of them announced.
My heart sank. Every time he summoned me, it ended in torment. What did he want this time?
The maids dressed me up like a doll before placing me in a wheelchair. Soldiers then escorted me to a vast door. As it swung open, the sight before me left me stunned.
Alpha Finn was surrounded by six young, naked women, all vying for his attention, trying to please him. The door shut behind me, leaving me with no escape. I was forced to witness the intimate scene, feeling invisible to him.
Overwhelmed, I lowered my head and closed my eyes, unable to bear the graphic display.
But the sound of moaning made my head feel like it was going to explode. Why? Why would he do something so cruel to me?
Then, cutting through the haze, I heard his commanding voice.
"Open your eyes. Watch and learn."
Compelled, I lifted my head and opened my eyes. A terrible question emerged in my mind—Why did he want me to watch this? These women were experienced, moving around him with silent precision, their actions like a twisted, intimate choreography.
Disgust churned in my stomach. This is sick, I thought. No woman should ever have to do this.
Alpha Finn noticed the look of revulsion on my face. He pushed the girls aside and stalked towards me.
“What? You don’t like what you see?” he asked, leaning forward to cup my face roughly.
“No, Sir,” I whispered, biting my lip to hold back my anger.
He slapped me hard. “Then you’ll have to figure out a way to like it,” he hissed. “Because this is what you’re going to do for the rest of your pathetic life.”
I was stunned. He grinned, clearly enjoying my pain.
“Do you really think I saved your life because I pitied you? All my bitches have to work for me. You have to earn your keep.”
I would rather die than spend my life like this, I thought desperately.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the ice pick in a nearby ice bucket.
He was close enough, and he didn’t know I had regained control of my limbs. This is it, I thought.
With all the strength I could muster, I lunged for the ice pick and drove it into his throat. Blood spurted out, splashing across my face as the girls screamed and fled in panic. Alpha Finn staggered back, a whizzing sound escaping from the puncture in his throat as he struggled to breathe.
I jumped out of the wheelchair and ran towards the door. Just as my fingers brushed the doorknob, a pair of hands yanked my hair back.
“Where do you think you’re going, pretty?”
I looked back and saw a pair of eyes burning like fiery volcanoes.
As he pulled the ice pick out of his throat and threw it on the ground, the wound on his neck healed itself in front of my eyes!
"This is impossible!" I screamed. "I stabbed you! You were supposed to be..."
"Dead, I know," he grinned, tossing me onto the floor like a ragdoll. He began pacing back and forth, frustration etched into every muscle of his body. "How can I be killed if I’m already dead?!"
Like an enraged beast, he circled me, his prey, ready to pounce.
I tried pushing myself up, but the pain in my back was unbearable. My spine must have been broken from the fall; pain radiated from my waist, and every breath came with a gush of blood from my throat, making it impossible to scream.
"Okay, I've got good news and bad news," he said, tilting his head with a cruel smirk. "The good news is you’ve regained your mobility. The bad news is you start working for me tomorrow."
I couldn't hold back any longer. "What are you?! Are you a monster?!" I asked in a trembling voice, coughing up another wave of blood.
"What am I? What am I?!" He laughed maniacally, yanking at his hair while glaring at his reflection in a shattered mirror. He smashed the mirror with his fist, grabbed a shard, and pressed it against my nape.
"I'm not a monster," he said, suddenly calm. "I'm not a man, nor a werewolf. I'm just a very, very sad creature that’s lost everything."
"But why...? Why do you hate me like this?!" I sobbed.
"No, no, no, my little pretty," he rasped, cupping my face with one hand. With the shard, he drew a long, deep cut from my neck to my nipple, slicing my blouse open.
It took a few seconds before the blood came out.
I was horrified.
Is he going to kill me?!
"Don't confuse cruelty with hatred. I don’t hate you. I don't hate anyone. Only those who can love can truly hate, and love is one of the many things I lost long ago."
He spread my legs open and mounted on top of me, his eyes boring into mine with unbridled malice.
"I know it's hard for you to understand, but in this world, some creatures just want to hurt others for no reason at all. And that's exactly what I’m going to do - hurt you very, very badly. But I have to warn you, sweetheart, don’t make a sound. If you do, it’ll turn me on, and fucking a low-bred ugly girl like you is the last thing I want to do in this world.”