(Zorya)
My body screamed, my head spun, and my eyes could barely open.
I focused them on the clock in my room, and it showed 11 am.
“Hey!
How are you feeling?” Ashlia asked, helping me up.
“As if my head is going to explode,” I hoarsely whispered.
“Here, drink this.
It will help and will reduce the pain too.” She handed me a small glass containing clear red liquid inside, like cranberry juice.
With a thankful nod, I accepted and downed it in one go.
She also offered me a contraceptive pill, which I took without a question.
The last thing I wanted was to get pregnant by this asshole.
She sat down beside me and began scribbling on the pad before turning it towards me.
“Red Room is always brutal.”
With a heavy heart, I nodded, taking the pad from her.
“He drugged me.
I couldn’t control my body’s reaction.” I wrote back, turning the writing pad towards her.
The images from last night were hazy, but they were there in my memory, etched like a torturous reminder.
She sighed after reading what I had written and took the pad from me.
“He wanted you to be compliant and needy for him.
Caliath likes to be in control, but at the same time he wants his slaves to reciprocate his advances.
He doesn’t like it when someone resists him.”
She had used Caliath instead of Alpha Caliath.
I had noticed this before too.
Whenever she spoke of him, she used his name.
And the information she had shared was of a personal nature.
Could she have been speaking from personal experience?
“How is Xalik?” I wrote.
“He is well and fit for the final and was discharged last night.” She reached into her pocket and fished out a small note.
It was perfectly folded and extended towards me.
With astonished eyes, I accepted, and with trembling fingers I unfolded it.
Xalik’s handwriting.
“Zorya!
I am well, don’t worry about me.
I wish I could hear you sing before I went for the final match, but it won’t be possible.
I will come to you whenever I can…
Xalik!”
I smiled in relief, holding back the happy tears.
“Thank you!” I whispered, folding the note and hiding it under my leg.
She sweetly smiled.
She seemed to have spoken to him.
Before I could take the pad from her to ask how she got him to write a note, the door opened.
Ashlia effortlessly hid the pad and the pen in her lab coat’s pocket.
My eyes shot towards the door, and my heart jumped into my throat.
Caliath stood in the doorway, wearing a crisp white dress shirt tucked into slim-fit black pants.
His hands were tucked into the pockets of his pants.
Beta Hadis held the door open for him.
His steely blue eyes wavered between Ashlia and me.
She stood up and lowered her gaze, her face going rigid.
“Ashlia!” He said boredly.
“Caliath!” She indifferently answered, taking his first name without his title.
“Did she drink the potion?” He asked, moving towards me.
A terror crept over me, settling like the night mist.
My heart beat like a deer running from a cheetah.
I couldn’t handle abuse in this state anymore.
“Yes, but she needs rest.
Her body takes time to recover.
She is not a shifter, as you know,” she rigidly answered.
Her face hardened as I had never seen before.
Hatred, incessant hatred she seemed to carry for this man, and I wondered what he had done to her.
“I know.
Don’t lecture me.” His silent footsteps came to a halt beside me.
His hand shifted to hold my face, angling it up.
My breath caught in my chest, but I kept my gaze on him.
“How are you feeling?
Did I tire you?” He questioned.
Nervousness gripped me.
“A bit, yes.
Master.”
His expression remained neutral.
“Rest for now, but I want you by my side for the final.
Hadis will bring you.” To my relief, he let my face go and faced Ashlia.
We are expecting every Alpha in the region to attend.
Her gown and other stuff will be delivered.”
Ashlia quietly nodded, keeping her gaze on Caliath.
“I understand.”
“Even after everything, you stand in front of me like you own the place.
Learn to be humble, or I need to teach you again,” he threatened, making Ashlia let out a wounded smile.
Before she could answer.
Beta Hadis spoke.
“Alpha, delegation from Tidehigh Pack is here.
You are needed.”
Caliath’s sharp gaze took her in one last time before he turned around and left the room.
Beta Hadis lingered; his silent gaze met Ashlia before he lowered his head, tucked his phone in his pocket and left too—closing the door behind him.
Unexplainable hatred, accumulated for a long time, crept up on her face, and I wondered what that was all about.
“Are you alright?” I questioned, and she turned to watch me.
“Yes, some wounds never heal.”
There was history between them, but I was too afraid to ask.
Ashlia carried scars which were etched on her soul, and they hadn’t healed.
She helped me with breakfast.
I hid the note in the same place I had done the previous one.
Not a wise move, but I wasn’t ready to part with them.
Ewera arrived after that.
“How are you, Zorya?” She asked with a smile.
“I am alright.”
She prepared a bath for me with scented and healing oils.
I wondered if it was on Caliath’s instructions.
The bath helped with the pain in my private parts, though.
My breasts were sore from all the pinching, and down under was aching.
Ewera dried me up and applied moisturiser all over my body before letting me wear the white gown.
She began brushing my hair.
Beta Hadis brought the silver mermaid-styled gown I was supposed to don tonight, along with some fancy hair accessories, earrings, and a makeup kit.
He handed it over to Ashlia and then lingered, appearing nervous.
His gaze remained on Ashlia.
“I will take you to The Clinic,” he reluctantly said, but he was in a dazed state.
Beta Hadis had always been quiet, stern, and business-like.
But this was a new side of him, the one I had never witnessed before.
“No need.
I can find my way.
Besides, I have to help Zorya get ready as per your Alpha’s orders,” she dismissively said.
He lowered his head and quietly left, leaving me wondering at what I had just witnessed.