Veil.

Tears rush down my face in a frenzy.

There's nothing gentle about the way he's taking me.

His thrusts are deep, brutal. It severs my grip on control, and I'm left a wailing mess.

Quin's beast is lost in the throes of pleasure. It's evident in the powerful slam of his hips on mine, the lengthening of his phallus with each dip he takes in my pussy.

He's stretching me impossibly wide, the slimy saliva dripping from his mouth drops in the point we're connected, making his thrusts easy but painful nonetheless.

I'm ripped off of any thought except what's currently happening to me, I'm having sex with the man I once hated, no, his beast, which hated me just as much.

He's the last man I'd ever willingly be with.

The boy who showed me hell.

The boy who drove me to the edge of insanity.

Every groan that spills from his beast's mouth is a reminder of his taunting words back in high school.

A reminder of his voice that spat nothing but venom at me.

My nails bite hard into the stone floor. I scrape the ground, feeling the pains I'm inflicting on myself, but I don't care. I just want to get away.

I hate him so much.

I want to get out and run as far away from him as possible, to run as far away from this hell as possible.

Hence, I try to scramble away, but he moves every inch with me, lodging himself inside me with a purr.

Like, disconnecting from me will make him drown.

He's holding onto me like I'm his lifeline.

"I hate you! I hate you so much!!" I cry out, forcing my body to move away.

It's so painful.

At this point, I don't know if the pain is coming from his brutal thrusts or from the memories of our past.

All I know is that I can't stand this. I can't stand him.

Another feline purr comes from him. Louder this time, it shakes my core.

The moment he let out that purr, my belly flips.

There's a strange undertone to it, but I can't seem to decipher it, not while my mind is messed up.

Tears blur my vision even as I still attempt to put some distance between us. I've read about people sleeping with their mates in their beast forms, but I never once thought I'd experience it.

Strangely, I'm not doing it with my mate but with my enemy.

Rio sentenced me to the worst death possible.

The pain worsens as he stretches me wider, dominating my walls and leaving me open.

For the past three years, I've not had sex at all. I never imagined the first sex I'd have would be something this savage.

Our kind is not meant to stay that long away from sexual intercourse, especially women. It closes our walls and pleasure glands, which prevents our rut. Our heat.

Pleasure becomes extinct; it'll no longer be felt. Getting wet becomes impossible.

Right now, I'm so dry. My cunt isn't gushing any fluid.

Ryder gave me no choice, and I lived with my fate.

That's why this is nothing but cruelty to me.

My belly burns when I feel him slam into me again and again.

I weep, chanting the goddess's name like a prayer.

Please, somebody, help me.

I move again.

This time, I managed to get away.

I scramble to the wall and curl in on myself, my hair damp and matted to my forehead.

My body is shaking terribly hard as I look into his amber eyes.

He bares his maw, fangs filling my view. He growls both in pain and frustration. His paw-hand swishes through the air, trying to reach out for me.

"No...please..." I wail, shooting out my hands to block the attack.

My heart is drumming insanely fast against my ribcage. This is horror.

"I can't do this. You're my worst enemy. You can't get what you want from me." Jumbled words rush out of my mouth.

He snarls into my face, his face now at my eye level.

I flinch when he lifts his paw-hand to my face.

Oh, seven seas, he wants to crush me now?

The panic sets in, increasing the rate of the terror I feel. The shake of my body.

I brace myself for death, eyes closed.

A minute passes. Two minutes while the song of death is on repeat in my mind, and yet the pain that comes from being crushed doesn't overwhelm me.

What I feel is a feather-light touch on my cheek, wiping the waters away slowly. Gently.

The tempo of my heart increases instead of reducing.

What's this?

Gentleness?

Quin can never be associated with gentleness. Impulsive, yes. Brutal and savage, even, but never this.

I pop my right eye open when his hand falls from my face and meet the emotionless eyes of the feral beast staring into my face.

My lips part, and I exhale through them, watching him.

He purrs in my face, looking at me.

'Why...did you stop?' My mouth moves, but the question doesn't come out. It's stuck in my throat as I hold his stare.

His hand comes up again, to my hair this time. He grabs some strands and flicks his fingers through them as if he's studying them.

Even though he doesn't need to bring it to his nose to perceive my scent, he does it anyway, inhaling my scent. The sound of his intake of breath breaches the silence of the cellar.

Suddenly, he drops my hair. He looks me in my face, fangs bared as if ready to tear into my flesh right away.

He steps backward, eyes still on me.

I'm still shaking. Confusion marring my features.

Did...he recognize me?

Is that...possible?

His loud roar snaps through my brain, interrupting my thought process. My hands cover my ears.

Something is wrong with him, and I don't know what it is.

But if this is what I think it is, if Quin has recognized me, then this will turn worse than it already is. My death won't be quick. It'll be agonizing. The kind that'll haunt me even on the other side.

I prepare for his next action, waiting for him to stop roaring.

When I notice he's stopped, I remove my hands from my ears and look back up at him.

His dick is still hard and red at the tip, beading with his precum.

It bobs as he whirls around to face me, danger glimmering in his eyes. A silent promise of agony.

My throat tightens when he begins to take a step toward me, his tail's poise lethal.

"No...no..." I whimper, shaking my head as he closes the gap between us. Blood rushing through me, cinching my lungs.

Then I feel it.

Two powerful paw-hands haul me up. The breath in my lungs whooshes out in a sharp rush.

I expect him to throw me against the walls. I'm mentally prepared for it, not physically.

But on the contrary, the beast pulls me into his broad chest, closing his powerful arms around my frame.

His feet thump like boulders on the floor as he carries me through the cell into his inner chamber, a small, dim space with an oblong stone stool that can as well serve as a bed.

He lays me on it nicely, the movement a contrast to the roar he'd let out, the hard gaze he gave me, and the way he'd fucked me.

Of course, my heart is still beating hard, adrenaline racing through my blood.

Confusion, that's what I feel.

What is he doing?

Why did he bring me here? To butcher me?

To make a meal out of me?

I watch him pace like a beast protecting his territory, eyes still on me.

What in seven seas is going on here?

There's this struggle between deciphering his actions and closing my eyes to sleep going on inside me.

I choose to stay awake, watch him pace, and unravel his actions and thoughts.

In the first few minutes, it works.

But the ache I feel in my body, the hard throbbing of my cunt from his earlier torture, draws sleep faster to my eyes.

I try to fight it. I do.

Yet nature wins, dragging me under before I know it.

Even though I'm fast asleep, I can feel the beast's eyes on me.

He's watching, pacing, purring all for a reason I don't know yet, but I know I'm not safe.

Not with Quin, not with his beast.

I can never be safe until...

Tbc

Veil.

The splash of cold, stinky water hit my face, and with a gasp, I rise up from the bed.

Bed?

Realizing it's true that I'm actually on a bed, I dart a frantic look around me.

How in the heavens did I end up here, or is the previous day a dream?

I mean, I clearly remember being in a cellar with Quin.

I remember his rough thrusts into me; the throbbing of my pussy is clear proof.

He didn't kill me. My worst enemy didn't feast on my flesh.

I bite my lip, unsure whether to feel relief or dread.

As if that's not enough magic in one day, I'm suddenly back in my old bedroom in the pack house. The smell of dust wafts into my nostrils.

Was it Quin who brought me here, or did I sleepwalk?

This doesn't make sense.

The barrage of thoughts spinning through my head hinders me from taking in the people in my room until another splash of cold, dirty water plummets on me again.

I perceive the acrid scent of...urine.

Disgust crawls up my throat, and I look up with anger and disbelief in my eyes, only to see them: Ava, Caroline, and Emma, my best friends.

My lips widen in a smile upon realizing it's them, but contempt twists their faces as they look at me, their hands crossed over their chests.

I look down at my drenched clothes as the thick scent of urine burns through my nostrils.

"Wow...what a nasty welcome," I say with a slight humor lacing my voice, wiping my face with the quilt before peering back at them. "Ava? Caroline? Emma?" I call, uncomfortable by their silent treatment and judgmental stare.

It's been years since I last set my eyes on them, but truly, they've not changed a bit. Caroline is still just as slim as she was before, and Ava is still radiant despite being plus-size. The spaghetti dress she's putting on reveals the freckles on her body that earned her the nickname 'frecky' from me.

Well, Emma is the only one looking different, with bright skin and a few pounds of flesh. Her dark hair looks silky.

My eyes catch the wedding band on her finger, which surprises me.

Is Emma married?

Caroline's scoff breaks the silence that envelopes us. She tilts her head, a sneer on her lips as she addresses me.

"Do you want to know what's nasty? It's you showing your goddamn face back in our pack, bitch!"

Her words sting, so icy that they freeze my blood.

Of all people, my best friends are the only ones I was hoping would believe that I'm innocent.

Certainly, they are aware that the night I eloped with Ryder, I left with nothing.

Weren't they the ones who led me to the border where Ryder and I met?

I force myself to breathe past the heavy stench, rising up to my feet.

"Wait, you also believe I stole the moonstone?" I ask in disbelief. "Is that why you poured..." I trail off, looking from my soaked clothes to the bed and back at them. "You just poured urine on me?"

They burst into laughter, their eyes shimmering with mirth.

Emma speaks this time, sounding accusing. "You know...I've always known you to be a pretender, Veil, and goodness, that bored the shit out of me." The blood drained from my face. "But guess what? We both know the truth, Veil, you're a thief..."

"But, you were there the night I left...You helped sneak away from the pack." I softly remind them only to be silenced by Ava's next words.

"It doesn't excuse the fact that you stole from us..." She walks forward, tsking and shaking her head. "You know, it'd have been better for you if you had died last night, because trust me, every minute you spend in this pack will be nothing but hell, Veil. Life wouldn't be as it was years ago, when you were feeling like the queen of the world, using us as your puppets. Now..."

"We'll make you suffer, Veil. You don't know how long we've prayed for things to turn like this, so we'll make you feel what it's like being like us, poor church rats." The threat she spills makes me grit my teeth.

Poor church rats, that's how they always refer to themselves whenever they see me in luxury clothes back in Halesbridge Academy. We'd laugh it off as nothing, and I always made sure they had access to any of my belongings they wanted.

Despite all that, this was what they thought about me all the years we've been friends.

The betrayal stings so hard, I try to fight it. Unfortunately, they don't give me the opportunity.

"Bring her along," Emma says with authority, snapping her fingers at Caroline and Ava, who quickly do her bidding.

They arrest my arms, and they drag me away from the bedroom with force.

Oh, not again! I whimper inside me, the ache I feel resurfacing.

"What are you doing?" I bite out, snapping my gaze at them as they drag me outside, several pairs of eyes watching me, the pack maids, obviously, until we arrive at the pack's public lavatory.

The buzzing of flies grates on my nerves just as the pungent odor wafting from the lavatory twists my intestines.

"What's this? Why did you bring me here?" I bark as they push me to my knees, my bruised hands meeting with the hot sand.

"What else?" Emma sneers. "The lavatory needs to be sparkling, and who better to do that than the..." she air quotes her red-painted fingers "slave?"

The color drains from my face.

I'm not surprised they've reduced me to that.

I flinch as another fly buzzes close to my ear as I watch Ava stab a mop on the ground before me, silently ordering me to take it and get to work.

My hands visibly shake, vomit building in my gut as I reach for the mop, the cool steel barely dousing the fire burning inside me.

Their laughter tears through me, filling me with bitterness.

"Come on, be quick about it. I'll be right back to check how it is once you finish." Emma announces, amusement dancing in her almond eyes.

I watch them whirl on their heels, walking away while I process how my life ended up being worse in my pack.

"Oh, and Veil..." I peer up, locking eyes with Emma when she calls, her wedding band glinting under the sunlight as she waves her hand. "That won't be all. You have hectares of land waiting for you to cultivate them, so chop-chop, there's too much work to do."

I nod slowly, bringing my eyes down at the mop as their footsteps fade away.

Now alone, the buzzing of flies fills the silence, weakness creeping into bones the moment I realize I've about twenty toilets to clean, all brimming with shits.

"Goddess, how did I end up in this mess?" I mutter to myself, tears rimming my eyes as I pick up the bucket and start cleaning.

My body aches all over, the bruises on my fingers hindering me from squeezing out the mop appropriately.

The silence causes thoughts about last night with Quin to flash through my mind again.

Why didn't he kill me? Truthfully, it'd have been the easy way out, even though I abhor the thought.

I don't understand his reason for stopping his brutal assault, only to carry me to what I assume is his bed chamber.

I formulate several theories in my head, trying to solve the puzzle, but I come up blank.

Was it really him who brought me to my old bedroom?

"Oh, shit!!" I hiss, slapping away the fly perched on the tip of my nose.

Goddess, this is so disgusting!

Having my best friends turn on me makes this new life insufferable.

Is this how my life will be now?

Why hasn't my mother come to see me, at least?

I remember our days together in Halesbridge Academy. We were inseparable, united, or so I thought.

Now, I'm nothing more than a slave to them.

Thinking about them reminds me of the ring I saw on Emma's finger.

Is she truly married? To whom?

Finishing with the first three toilets, I move onto the next, but just as I open it, a

My head swims so hard my vision gives way. I try to hold myself up, but I land face-first on the floor, the pain worsening.

Whimpers rip from my mouth as I hear it, a distinct voice calling my name; however, my mind is too frazzled, stuck in a dark web to make sense of the voice.

Tbc.

Veil.

"You're awake, finally." The baritone voice slams through me as I pop my eyes open, groaning at the intense pain I feel going through me.

A look around the place shows I'm in a hospital. Again?

What's with me and getting stuck in a hospital?

Seriously, I'm beginning to dread the idea of it.

"How do you feel?" I blink up at the male, surprised to see it's Pudim, Emma's brother, hovering over me with a worried look etched on his face.

His appearance hasn't changed: tanned skin, a rough beard, and wild curls of jet-black hair, falling in fringes over his forehead.

"Pudim?" I croak with a smile and wince when I feel my lip crack from being parched. "How did I end up here?"

He gives me a long look and steps back a bit, shoving his hands into his pocket. His mouth opens, ready to respond, but the creak of the door as it flutters open snaps Pudim's lips shut.

A heavy presence, thick as fog before a storm, wafts through the atmosphere even before I set my eyes on him.

Hunter.

Oh, shit.

Please don't tell me he's the one who brought me here?

The sneer on his lips seems to confirm it as he pulls away the cigarette between his lips.

"So, news has it that you're skilled in fainting like a spineless fish, witch. What happened to your fins?" He spits out, voice laced with mockery.

Goodness, I'm minutes away from melting in this bed, and I don't know why.

I used to hate it whenever he called me that years ago, but after the two encounters I've had with him since my return, the term tugs at something raw and visceral inside me.

The scent of nicotine envelops the room as he casts a shadow over me with his height.

I can't help the cough that tears from my chest, despite how hard I try to control it.

"I...don't...know..." I cough hard, the back of my eyes stinging. "Could you please take that away?" I point at the cigarette.

"Ordering me around now, is it?" He drawls, lifting the cigarette and watching the tip burn as ash drops onto the bed. Eyes fixed on me, he takes a long drag and puffs it out through his nose and mouth. "Unfortunately, your juju isn't strong enough to make me do your bidding, witch."

Pudim watches us in silence.

If there's someone who's seen enough of our sibling banters, it's him because he's practically friends with my stepbrothers.

A sharp pinprick of discomfort settles inside me when Hunter sinks into the bed beside me with a lopsided curl of his lips.

"Tell me, did you think fainting while working would spare you from your duties?"

"It wasn't intentional," I affirm, steeling my gaze as I look at him.

Hunter laughs, but there's no humor behind it. "Oh, sure, yes. It wasn't intentional." He mimics my voice. "You were only looking for a knight in shining armor to come and save you."

I bite the inside of my cheek as I glower at him. Of course, the asshole doesn't so much flinch under my blazing stare.

The black leather jacket he's putting on is heavy with his MC patches, the largest one declaring him as the president.

"Fainting twice under twenty-four hours is a dereliction of duty, witch, and I must warn you, we don't do that here. Not in this pack." His smoky green eyes trail down to my lips, which I'm biting, and back up to my face. "Maybe in your spineless mate's pack, yes, but not here."

So, it was he who took me to my old bedroom?

Well, he doesn't sound like it. Besides, Hunter sees me as a plague to lay his hands on me.

Despite myself, I blurt. "You brought me here?"

Storm rages in his eyes, enough to swallow me whole. "You'd be the last person on earth I'd ever touch, witch." He spits it out like a curse.

It's just another moment of me questioning why he despises me so much.

His words shouldn't sting this much, but they do, and I hate it.

He drags a string of breath into his lungs and emerges to his feet, taking another drag of his cigarette. As he puffs it out, he leans into the nightstand and drops the cigarette on it.

I watch it burn, spreading its scent through the room.

"If that repeats itself again, witch, you'll have to answer to me; consider today a freebie."

The contents in my belly writhe from dread at his words.

Pudim and I silently fix our eyes on him as he adjusts his Jacket, flicks his fingers through his smoky blonde hair, and parades out of the room.

I flinch as the door slams shut, rattling the silence in the room.

Goddess, what have I gotten myself into?

Pudim clears his voice, drawing my attention to him.

There's a quiet understanding in his eyes, or maybe it's just my thoughts.

"I'm glad you're okay..."

"You clearly know I'm not," I snap, halting his words. It'd be stupid of me to admit I'm alright when everyone else is just a viper towards me, threatening to suffocate me with their venom.

"Well, you're not dead. So, I guess that counts." He says. The bed dips as he sinks into it, sitting beside me. "How did you do it, though?" I flick a confused look at him. "I mean, how did you survive Quin's rut?"

His question processes through my mind as I remember how Quin pulled himself away from me, roaring until he hauled me to his chest and took me to his inner chamber.

It's a mystery, if you ask me. Feral beasts like him would never do that.

To Pudim, I blurt. "I don't know. I guess it just happened."

Silence stirs between us for a minute. Then I ask. "Pudim, I want to see my mother. Can you take me to her?"

Desperation leaks through my voice. I clutch onto his veiny wrist to punctuate my plea and eagerness.

Pudim shifts uncomfortably, his face turning blank.

That worries me, sparking suspicion immediately.

"Pudim? I want to see my mother."

He scratches his beard, exhaling hugely. "I'm sorry, Veil, but...your mother is gone."

My breathing snaps like a whip the moment his words reach me.

"My...mother is...gone?" I stutter, the words bitter to spill, difficult to believe.

Pudim nods, confirming it.

My hand clenches around his wrist as tears surge to the edges of my vision.

"What...how...did...it...happen?"

"A few years ago, right after you vanished...there was a protracted rogue attack in the pack. Many people died, the alpha included. Well, same as your mother and the rest of the Lunas."

A rogue attack in the pack? That's impossible.

Moonbloom pack is the strongest in the realm, so how did it happen?

"The moonstone." Pudim chimes in as if he's reading my thoughts. "The moment it was gone, the pack became vulnerable. Prone to external attacks."

So this was why the whole pack wanted me dead the day I set foot here?

With effort, I blink away the tears rimming my eyes and peer up at him.

Pudim and I were somehow friends years back. Being Emma's brother, he attended just the same parties and events with us.

He was practically my prom during our junior year in Halesbridge. Maybe he'll believe me, even if others don't.

Holding his hand tighter, I rasp. "Pudim, I didn't take the moonstone. I promise you, I didn't. You've got to believe me..."

His eyes soften, and he presses his free hand over mine. "Veil, I don't know what to believe..."

"It has to be a mishap, a coincidence, or something. I think someone else stole it and is framing me for it..."

"Do you have any proof?" He asks, his pale gray eyes holding mine.

My shoulders deflate. "I...don't." I sigh sadly, the gloomy expression back on my face.

"Well, what if..." Pudim tries to speak, but the knock on the door disrupts us.

Without waiting for permission, the person on the other side steps in.

The doctor, Eliza.

An itinerant doctor who travels from pack to pack treating people with terminal illness, but her mate is from our pack, Jacob, one of the pack's warriors.

"I hope I'm not interrupting?" She asks, looking between Pudim and me.

Awkwardly, we pull our hands away from each other as Pudim stands up.

"No, doc." He hums, giving me a fleeting look.

Eliza nods, smiling at me. To Pudim, she says. "Do you mind giving us some privacy, beta?"

My eyes go wide as saucers.

He's the pack's beta now?

Interesting.

I never saw that coming.

Respectfully, he nods, heading to the door.

Somehow, I feel whatever Doctor Eliza is going to say won't be good.

She looks through the clipboard in her hands, then back at me as she asks.

"Ms. Veil, when was the last time you had sex?"

Tbc.