Zara's POV
In that moment, my mind went completely blank.
David rushed over and pinned me hard against a nearby tree trunk. His eyes darted back and forth in shock between the hickeys on my neck and my face for several moments, Then, his expression hardened, and his hand shot out, clamping tight around my throat.
"Don't tell me you actually hooked up with some rogues just to escape from me, and kill my guards!"
Damn he is so close to the truth!
Right now my brain is slowly running out of oxygen, but my mind has never been clearer.
I stare David straight in the eye, forcing the words out. "Just because you cheated, you think everyone else is as big of a slut as you are? Is that it?!"
"Figures. What else can I expect from someone who'd throw away his fiancée of years in a single night, just to fast-track his way to the Alpha position? Your brain is clearly not wired like a normal wolf's!"
Just as I expected, David's tone softens once I spoke. But a moment later, his gaze suddenly sharpened again. "Then what about the hickey on your neck? Explain yourself!"
I let out a bitter scoff. "Did it ever cross your mind that your guards might try to force themselves on me behind your back? Do you have any idea how terrifying last night was? I barely seized the one, split-second chance I had to steal a dagger while they were assaulting me, just to kill them both." As I speak, I put on a look of grief and indignation, my tone practically an accusation.
A look of shocked disbelief crosses David's face. "Impossible!" he said. "I hand-picked those two myself. There's no way they'd go behind my back!"
My voice dripped with even more sarcasm. "You were also my hand-picked choice, after all. Weren't you, Mr. Heir?"
"For soldiers whose lust have been suppressed for long, all they have to do is to claim they were overwhelmed by Rogues last night. And all the blame will fall squarely on you—the one who sent me to the border. Am I wrong? After all, who's to know what really happened? And who's going to doubt two of your most loyal guards?"
David's eyes go wide. His mouth hangs open, but he says nothing, as if completely stunned. But I know him too well after all these years. His focus is locked entirely on me, searching for any chink in my armor—a slip of the tongue, a falter in my expression, or any giveaway in my body language. And so, I let a perfectly calibrated look of hurt wash over my face, as if I'm genuinely offended by his suspicion.
Finally, his features relax. "My mistake. I've had you wrong."
I arch a brow. "An apology? For me? After you conspired with Sophia to sell me into sex slavery? You don't see the hypocrisy in that, do you?"
"And what's with your unnatural fixation on the love bite on my neck? Sophia is the one you're engaged to. You should really care more about your darling Sophia, shouldn't you?"
Then he says the words that turn my entire world upside down.
"No," he says. "I don't about Sophia at all. You're the one I care about."
Me: ?
"What???" I think my ears are trying to murder me.
"You heard right," David runs his eyes over me, "isn't this normal? Sophia is just a mistress's daughter—she has no beauty and lacks proper upbringing. But you grew up as Luna's daughter. You're beautiful, graceful, and have real grit. She can't compare to you in any way. I'm choosing to marry her only because she's the heiress of the Shadow pack."
"I had been with you for several years. You, and you alone, are the girl I really am satisfied with and want to possess."
"Don't be so ridiculous, you bastard!" I stare at him in disbelief, shoving him away as he tries to pull me into a hug. "You betray me, you try to sell me as a sex slave... and you have the audacity to say you love me?"
"You've completely misunderstood me, darling," David says, his face a mask of wounded innocence, as if I'm the one at fault. "I was forced to hurt you, but I've been protecting you this whole time, too. Remember yesterday? When Sophia wanted me to hit you, I got you out of it, didn't I? I saved you from that."
"Besides, I could never stand to see you bought by some other wolf as a sex slave. After all, You were mine. The thought of you screaming under another man makes my blood boil. I have it all planned out. I'm sending a proxy to the auction tonight to buy you for me at any price, and I'll be there to personally ensure the transaction goes through. After that, we can be together again. You'll be my secret mistress, and you will belong only to me, forever."
I'm totally floored and don't know what fucking to say.
Well, huh, this is really too ridiculous, far beyond my recognition. No wolf with an ounce of decency would say something like that.
I swallow nervously, my eyes instinctively flicking in the direction the other man went, anxiously wondering what's taking him so long.
But the instant my gaze shifts, David notices. His expression quickly turns hard as he closes in on me.
"Why aren't you answering me? And why are you looking over there? Don't tell me you're actually hooking up with some guy over there?!"
I force myself to calm down and look back at David, yet my body trembling from the fear and nerves. I say, the words half-truth, half-lie, "No, I'm just too afraid to meet your gaze. You're terrifying."
"How can you say you want to possess me, after three years of making my life miserable?"
David's expression softens, his voice gentler now. He reaches out and tenderly twirls a stray strand of my hair.
"You're right, Zara," he says. "I know I've hurt you so much these past three years. After tonight, let my actions win your heart back."
Before they take me away, I look back one last time. Nothing has changed in that direction—just trees. The wind sweeps through the forest, almost wiping away the hidden path he made.
...
I have to be presented to Sophia before they prep me for the auction.
"Look scared. Submissive. It'll make Sophia go easier on you." In his room, David presses an ice cube hard against my neck. He holds it there until the hickey vanishes, the biting cold making me gasp. "I know it's not in your nature, but just play along for a little while. For me."
Just as I'm about to cry out, he tosses the ice aside and pulls me into his arms.
His hand glides over the frozen patch of my skin, a hollow gesture of comfort, a lie meant to warm me.
"After tonight, this will all be over," he murmurs. "You won't have to suffer anymore. I'll take care of you. I'll keep you from all harm."
Trapped in his embrace, I'm so numb with misery that tears start to fall.
Why? Why does fate dangle a sliver of hope in front of me only to snatch it away? Is this just another, crueler way to torture me?
Now I'd rather some wealthy pervert buy me and make me his pleasure slave. Anything is better than being bought by David, trapped forever as his mistress.
I'm lost in these bitter thoughts, until David pulls me into the reception room and Sophia's sharp rebuke jolts me back to reality.
"Congratulation, my dear sister," Sophia says, her voice dripping with mockery as she approaches, swirling the red wine in her glass. "So glad you're finally getting what you deserve."
She flicks a glance over her shoulder. Instantly, the two servants behind me seize my shoulders and force me to my knees.
My hair is pulled back hard with pain, and I'm forced to meet Sophia's gaze.
From the sidelines, David nervously signals with his eyes. He's trying to tell me one thing:
Don't fight back.
A bitter laugh escapes me. This place has always been hell ever since Mom died.
I stare hard at Sophia. "Well, congratulations to you too, sister. You're the one who's truly made our name—'Shadow Pack'—a reality. After all, you being the heiress and your mistress mom being the Luna is the darkest shadow and shame to ever fall on this pack!"
Crack!
Sophia's hand connects sharply with my face. The impact sends a deafening ring through my ears, and I can barely make out David's sharp intake of breath.
"I see one night in the wilderness did nothing for that attitude," she says angrily. "It's almost funny. The little coward who stood by and did nothing while her mother died... and now you're playing the brave hero? Where is all this phony courage coming from?"
Tears instantly blind me. I almost roar at Sophia, "I didn't let her die! I was just framed by your mistress mother Ashley! Like mother, like daughter...you're both disgusting. You have no honor!"
"You daughter of a bitch!" Sophia's gaze hardens, and she dashes the wine across my face. "You're still running your mouth? Even when you're about to be auctioned off as a pleasure slave? Fine. I'll be the one to finally shut you up."
Sophia's hand rises again, ready to leave a stinging print on my other cheek, but David lunges forward, seizing her wrist.
"Darling, not now," David soothes, his voice deceptively soft. "She's about to be auctioned off. You need to see her as our property, and to property, we should keep our them well, shouldn't we?"
He adds, "The higher the price she fetches, the more spectacular our wedding will be."
David's thumb caresses Sophia's jaw, and the tension melts from her expression. A triumphant smirk plays on her lips as she snakes an arm around his waist, side-eyeing me. "Property?" she scoffs. "You're right, David. I really should start looking at her as exactly that."
"How can a she-wolf who slaughtered her own mother, so notorious that no one would ever claim her, and can only be passed off as a pleasure slave with her history hidden, be considered a true wolf?"
Then, she lifts her eyes to the two bodyguards behind me. "Take her down. Deal with the mark on her face. I want her shaved clean, stripped of all identity as a member of the Jones family, and squeezed into that skimpy, skin-toned thing we picked out... In short, present her as a perfect sex slave."
"Yes, ma'am." The two bodyguards haul me to my feet and start dragging me out of the drawing room.
My hair, face, and shirt are soaked. As I'm dragged along, a long, crooked trail of water slicks the floor behind me - like the twisted path of my troubled fate..
For a split second, I want to expose David's offer to make me his mistress. But I immediately push that thought away.
I have no proof. If I say anything now, I'll just sound desperate and crazy.
With this thought shattered, all that's left inside me is a crushing, endless sorrow.
Mom, I miss you so much.
Why did you push me from the cliff that day? To face those two Rogues all on your own? I would have rather died with you right then...
And that wolf who promised to protect me? He has to be a wolf of noble blood. I just know it. Could he appear at tonight's sex slave auction, and be the one to save me?
"No." I shake my head sadly, crushing the foolish hope that bloomed in my chest. He said he despises sex slaves, so why would he ever be at a place like this? Besides, David is the heir, a soon-to-be Alpha. How can his money possibly compete with the Alpha's?
Nobody would save me.
...