Arabella’s POV
The dungeon was dark and I could hear water dripping from somewhere. I didn’t remember how long I had been here. Hours? Days?
“She killed my cousin! She should be executed now.”
“That isn’t how I do things in my pack. First, there will be a trial.”
“A trial? She killed him. What the hell do you need a trial for? I am the future Luna of this pack. Surely I have a say in these affairs.”
His voice turned frosty. “No, you don’t. Take her to the dungeons.”
How long had it been since then? I had no idea.
I looked at my hands. I had taken a person’s life. Because of me, the person would no longer draw breath. I looked at my hands. I hadn’t meant to. No, that was a lie. I’d fully meant to. I had chosen myself and had no regrets. I would make the same choice again if I had to.
I heard the slam of a door and the sound of footsteps on a staircase then light at the periphery of my vision.
It was Anastasia, her mouth twisted with intense dislike. Suddenly I felt very grateful for the bars separating us.
“You won’t get away with this. If you think Luciano will save you from this, you have something else coming.”
Luciano save me? I would have to be raving mad to believe that. I was on my own.
She moved closer to the bars. “How did you do it? Alec is… was strong. How did a weak thing like you get to him?”
I remained silent.
“I asked you a question!” She punched the bars of the cell and one bent. My eyes widened with shock. Anastasia was stronger than she looked.
“Scared? You should be because once I get you out of that cell you are dead. Do you hear me? You are dead.” She looked at me with murderous intent in her hazel eyes so like Alec’s that it was like looking at a mirror.
I repressed a shudder.
“I wonder what they saw in you. Alec and Luciano. I knew I needed to have you killled the first day I saw you with Luciano. Maybe if I had done it sooner, you wouldn’t have been able to do this. But don’t worry I’ll correct my mistake.”
Then she was gone with the light.
Well someone had a penchant for drama.
I shivered feeling cold all of a sudden. What were the odds of me escaping with my life? Exceedingly low. Maybe if there was a way to contact Natasha… no except I wanted to get her into trouble as well, I couldn’t involve her besides we were business associates, not murder accomplices.
Maybe I shouldn’t have killed him. Maybe I should have just taken it. It wouldn’t be the first time after all. Alpha Luciano had already broken me in. My mind went back to the moment he’d kissed me.
I had not expected the kiss so I’d been stunned for a moment. For many moments actually but that was beside the point. I pulled away from him.
“I’m sorry. I… I don’t feel attracted to you.”
I really didn’t see how he’d gotten that idea. Everything had been so rushed. If that was the way people genuinely caught feelings, I would be married to Alpha Luciano already or even Margaret.
We’d met how many days ago and been in each other’s company for how many seconds exactly?
It was too fast and it made me nervous that anyone could decide they liked me in such a short span of time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I hated him or found him repulsive apart from very recently when he had bartered for me like I was a property with no mind of my own.
The only reason it had hurt me was that I had started to see him as one of the good guys, a potential friend but knowing what I knew about his cousin and his acquisition of me, I was beginning to realize there was a lot I didn’t know about Alec.
Alec looked taken aback. Like he couldn’t believe anyone would reject someone like him. Then he got angry. He stood up and smashed the glass jar containing water on the ground.
I jerked back shocked at this sudden display of violence.
“Alec.”
“So you’ll let him touch you but not me.”
“Alec, please calm down, you are scaring me.”
“Maybe you should be scared Breeana.” He leaned in placing his hands on either side of me. I freaked out and pushed him off me then ran towards the door. Or at least I tried to.
He caught me by my arm and threw me back on the bed.
“So now you are running away from me. I thought we were connecting.”
He mounted the bed, his hips over mine, his hands trapping both of my hands above my head.
“Alec, please.”
I tried to struggle but it only seemed to excite him further. I didn’t know what to do.
“You are my property now, Breeana.” He released one of my hands, then the other before he reached for the buckle of his pants. “I know we might be starting on what might not be the best of terms now but you will come to realize in due time that I care about you the way no one else will. Ever since I saw you at the Lupo-Mortale Meeting house, I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
I felt him on my lap, hard and wet, I nearly barfed in my mouth. He had been one of the people who had seen Alpha Luciano fuck me in public. That day had receded to the back of my head the way most terrible memories do but it came back to me now.
How insulted I felt. How used Alpha Luciano had made me feel that day in an attempt to break me and incite my father. That day Alec had watched me and gotten it into his head that he was the one for a broken woman like Arabella Bianchi.
He grabbed at my skirt and I doubled my efforts at struggling, he ignored my ineffectual punches and slaps as though I were a marionette fighting against him. He hiked my skirt off and ripped my panties off. I was as dry as a desert. But he didn’t seem to mind. He spat on his hand and then massaged his dick lubricating himself.
“I imagined what it would be like to have been the one who you rode. The one who owned you and others would envy me and want you but you would be mine alone. And now I will have that.”
I felt him against me and a million thoughts went through my head at once. I was going to be raped here. I would be unable to stop it. It would hurt. A lot. More than anything that Luciano had ever done to me because I didn’t have the mate bond to cushion these effects. Just my mind.
Was this my lot to be continuously victimized? Was it my lot to just stay there and take whatever it was life threw at me?
My body relaxed and Alec, noticing the change, nodded. “Good girl.” One of his hands left mine to touch the juncture between my thighs. Noticing he was unbalanced, I lifted my knee and kneed him in his nuts then I pushed him so he fell on the other side of me cupping his nuts. I moved and stood up from the bed running towards the door, it was locked.
I looked around and located the key by the bed stand on a table. I ran back and picked it up. I ran back to the door and it clicked open as I was about to reach for the doorknob, Alex grabbed me from behind and started choking me.
I fought for breath and cried trying to pry his fingers off my neck.
I could feel my consciousness drifting away. No, I wasn’t going to give up like this. As he choked me, I noticed a ceramic bowl with synthetic fruit in it.
I reached out with my hand and grabbed it then hit Alec’s head from behind. He let go of me and fell to the ground. Maybe I should have left it like that. But my anger was too great and I couldn’t help myself so I kept hitting him again and again until I no longer heard his breathing then I moved backwards in shock and unbelievable satisfaction.
I had done that. My hand was stained with his blood. His head was bashed in and I could have run but I couldn’t. I just stood there, my mind and body numb with shock until they arrived.
Now the judgment was before me but if could have chosen again, I would still kill him.