Chapter 8 - Gift wrap
1321 Words
#musicvibe - Afterglow, Smash Into Pieces
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Valeria POV
“I’m really sorry about this.” Alpha Henry said while Evelyn scrambled to clean up the mess on the floor. “She’s completely useless.”
I racked my brain trying to figure out a way to be alone with her for a few minutes, and an idea suddenly popped up in my head.
Maybe I didn’t need a few minutes.
What if I could have all the time in the world?
“How long has she worked here?” I asked.
“Umm- not long.” Alpha Henry replied, and I instantly knew that he was lying.
I just had a feeling, I couldn’t explain it, but I hoped that my gut wasn’t wrong here.
“Does she have a family?” I asked.
Alpha Henry looked confused and I turned to Evelyn.
“Do you, dear?”
Evelyn looked at me like a deer caught in headlights.
“Her parents are dead, for all I know, my queen.” Alpha Henry replied. “She has no family.”
I turned my head away and tried to open the mindlink to Tyson. Some people would think that it would be easy to just speak to someone telepathically once you had the ability to do so, but it really wasn’t. There was a whole science behind it, and I hadn’t really figured it out yet.
To my relief, Tyson felt me pressing on the mindlink and opened it for me.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
”Just play along.” I replied. “We have to get her out of here. I have an idea.”
I closed the mindlink and smiled.
“You remember our conversation about my power problem, Darling?” I asked sweetly to Tyson.
Tyson looked at me hesitantly.
“Yes?” He replied.
“I want her.” I smiled.
Tyson looked bewildered.
“Umm- what?”
I didn’t reply, instead I turned to Alpha Henry.
“You see, I wasn’t born a lycan, I was born human.” I said, using the sweetest voice I could muster. “My recent turning caused my powers to go haywire, and I need to practice using them since they are so much stronger now. That’s why I’m actually in the market for an… assistant.”
I let the word ‘assistant’ linger a bit, like there was an underlying meaning. I was actually looking for a literal assistant, and not some test subject that I made it sound like.
But they didn’t need to know that.
“So far, I haven’t found anyone that would work.” I continued. “In case something goes wrong, I can’t risk the life of someone that would be missed.”
Alpha Henry’s face lit up.
“Then please accept her as a coronation gift from the Gray Moon pack.” He said and gestured to Evelyn.
I smiled warmly at him.
“Thank you.” I said. “I’m sure that once my powers are stabilized, I can repay you for your generosity.”
With a firebolt to the face.
Jack hauled Evelyn to her feet and ordered two Omegas standing by to clean up the rest of the mess.
“I’ll help her pack.” He sneered and pulled her away.
“No!” Evelyn cried and fell to her knees again. “Please Alpha. I’ll be good, I promise.”
“Shut up and leave.” Alpha Henry growled.
Jack pulled her up again and dragged her out of the room while she kept sobbing.
My heart broke for her, but I couldn’t think of any other way to get her out of here.
“I can’t believe they bought it.” Tyson muttered in my head.
“People are easily manipulated when they face something unknown.” I replied. “They’ve never come across anyone with powers like mine before, and they either don’t know what to expect and are open to anything, or their minds build an image of what they think I am. If I had told them that I strengthen my powers by dancing naked at the top of Big Ben with a tarantula in each hand and a cobra draped around my shoulders, they probably would have believed that too because they don’t know anything about me, and that’s an advantage right now.”
“This is not your first rodeo, I hear.” Tyson laughed, and I saw his mouth twitch, trying his best to hide his laughter.
“Nope.” I smiled, and we sat back down at the table.
*
Evelyn POV
I wasn’t even registering what I was saying, I just kept begging and pleading with Jack to have Alpha Henry change his mind and spare me.
After Micah died and the orphanage burned down, I really wanted to die too. Being a guinea pig for some witch queen wasn’t really how I imagined that I would live out the rest of my days though.
Jack pulled me back into the basement where they had locked me up the night before after taking me from the orphanage. I didn’t really know why he told them that he was going to help me pack, because I didn’t even own the clothes that I was wearing, so I figured that he wanted me alone for some other reason.
When we reached the basement, Jack closed the door and pushed me up against the wall. I forced myself to take deep breaths and control the panic that filled my senses. My heart pounded in my ears as I stared up at the Alpha heir in fear.
“Listen to me carefully, you filthy wh*re.” He growled. “You are going with the queen without a fight. If you speak badly about this pack to the royals, then you are a dead little b*tch. Do you understand me?”
“I’m not going to tell them anything.” I sobbed and pushed myself further against the wall when Jack leaned in closer.
“Good.” He said and pulled away. “You never know with traitors like you. You are all so unpredictable.”
Before I could react, pain shot through my head as Jack slapped me across the face. I fell to the ground from the blow, my vision tunneling and I felt my mouth fill with blood.
Jack grabbed my hair from behind and forced my head back.
“Let’s wrap you up like a sweet little present for the queen.” He sneered.
He pushed me back down on the floor and I scurried away into the furthest corner, hugging my knees and crying silently while following his every movement.
“Aha!” He exclaimed and I heard the rattling of chains as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs from a box. “These will do.”
He unlocked them and crouched down next to me.
“Behave, and I’ll just cuff your hands in front of you.” He sneered.
I stared at him for a moment, before trying to push past him and get up from the floor. But he was too fast and pushed me back down again, making me cry out in pain when I hit my head on the wall.
“Guess I’ll have to gag you too.” He sneered, and I realized that by fighting him I just made my situation worse.
So I forced myself to hold out my hands so that he could slip the cuffs on my wrists. I hissed in pain when I realized that the cuffs were made of silver, and my eyes widened when Jack pulled my head back and stuffed a dusty old rag into my mouth, making me gag.
“All pretty now.” He chirped and kissed my forehead. “Let’s get the queen her gift now, shall we?”
- Writer
