The Alpha King's Third Wife

Chapter Four- Even A Graveyard Is More Welcoming

Chapter Four- Even A Graveyard Is More Welcoming - Opening The Door For Death?

Knock! knock! Oh, I'll just let myself in then!

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Names- Aconitum, Aconi for short (are- core-knee) (ak- uh- nahy)

Strychnine, Strych for short (Ss- try- ch)

Blyvy

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"Get up! We do not have all day." Becca's eyes rose from the floor and she glared at Aconi defiantly as she sneered at her with a disparaging look.

As much as the outlandish looking woman frightened her and she had been quickly made aware of her short- temper, Becca was not going to get up just because she ordered her to. She was in an entirely alien land, dealt with the most frustrating imbroglio, but she was no one's puppet.

"You should never ever slap me again, I do not care who you think you are, but I am not your little bitch." Becca spat in an attitude she knew would ruffle her feathers and crossed her arms over her chest. As long as those horridly terrifying beasts and their master Strych do not return with a promise of punishment, then she was not going anywhere.

Aconi's eyes darkened in hue as her face was distorted by anger, but yet again drew in a deep breath and composed herself, telling herself that she could not allow the inferior creature to get under her skin too much. She just could not stand disobedience, but she could not punish her at will, she had already made a terrible mistake by slapping and could not afford to leave a visible mark on the pathetic human. Her paper thin skin could not handle even a tiny grasp from her claws without tearing and much to her discontent, her alpha preferred his little trophies beautiful and unscathed.

"With your rotten attitude, you are not going to last a day. You will not tell me what to do, little human. Now get up this instant or you will really know who I am." Aconi threatened in a beastly voice, finishing off with a menacing growl that sounded unlike anything Becca has ever heard before. It ripped straight through her chest.

Fearing Aconi would suddenly transform into a hairy beast much like the ones she encountered earlier, Becca swallowed her retorts and rose to her feet. As soon as she assumed upright stance, Aconi swiftly grasped her forearm and yanked her forward. Before she could even process the jolt that had left her arm in pain, Aconi was hauling her out of the room. Becca tried to wrest her arm free, but she held her with a vice- like- grip. For a woman of her stature, Aconi had extraordinary strength, possibly ten times her own. With that physical advantage, Aconi effortlessly kept her in tow despite her struggling, until they had made it through two doors which parted at the middle.

The doors led into a bathroom of some sort which much like the mansion, had an intricate design to it and was optically appeasing but very unique. The design Becca could forgive, in fact she could have appreciated it more had the centerpiece of it not repulsed her so much. Right in the middle of the room, was a grand platform carved from luxurious stones which undoubtedly were of an otherworldly nature and it framed a large, octagonal bath tub containing a murky, slimy looking crimson liquid swarming with floating impurities.

Becca's attention snapped back to Aconi as her fingers dug into her arm and once she had her attention, Aconi pointed her nose in the air and took a long whiff. "Your scent is nauseating," her face distorted in exaggerated disgust and she yanked her forward until her body faced the bathtub directly, "and it is my job to make sure the king is not disgusted by you. I have to get rid of your putrid human scent before the new moon ceremony, and it begins tonight. Now strip and step into the bath!" She released her hand and gave her back a shove, not to motivate her to move, just to remind her of what a mean witch she is.

"What? Why?" Becca grimaced as she stared into the bathtub and was taunted by how deep it was. She felt a bitter taste slathered all over her tongue when she thought about immersing her naked body in the liquid. It was absolutely revolting and she could not shake off the feeling that it was blood or another bodily fluid and the impurities were blood clots or fragments of tissue matter.

"What is in there?" She queried with a slight quiver to her voice, her stomach clenching as she envisioned Aconi forcing her to drink from the tub. "I am not getting in there, why does it look so disgusting?"

She was not going to soak herself in the nasty liquid for anyone's comfort and she really could not see what the witch was talking about. Sure she had not taken a shower in four days, but there was nothing off-putting about the way she smelled.

Aconi snarled, giving her another shove which left her stumbling forward and almost threw her off balance. "Stop asking questions and step inside, unless you need me to call the guards to help you undress and throw you inside the tub." The wicked woman c****d a brow and smirked in satisfaction as a look of dread etched itself onto Becca's face.

Again the thought of those extraterrestrial monsters bearing their teeth at her was great motivation, but not enough to outweigh her disgust and fear of getting contaminated and falling ill. But the thought of Strych's calloused hands roaming all over her body and his evil face breathing close to hers; squashed that disgust and any fears she had at instance. Becca reluctantly ensured her nudity and only gulped uneasily before climbing onto the platform and dipping her foot into the liquid. It was cold, but not unbearably so and it had a slippery property to it which spread over skin like thin mucus. Becca felt bile rise to her throat, but she closed her eyes and immersed her body in the liquid. She thought she could ignore the sensations crawling all over her skin, but she did not last more than a few seconds before being overcame by the urge to spew out the contents of her stomach.

"Oh my god! Blurrr!!" She hurled and gagged. The liquid had a vile smell to it too she had not picked up before, which strongly attacked her senses now that she was in it.

"Pathetic little human!" Aconi chortled, extremely amused. Her wicked laughter was a nuisance to the ears and left Becca strangely incensed. Aconi's cackles stopped abruptly as Becca tried to climb out of the bath. The woman held both her shoulders and pushed her down. "Where do you think you're going? Bath your filthy body and stop making those annoying sounds. Do not try anything stupid or I swear I will break your little neck."

Becca only scowled at her, resisting every tempting thought prompting her to grab Aconi and pull her into the tub. "You must be a witch, you do look like one as well." She mocked her appearance with a demeaning up and down stare.

"Huh!" Aconi laughed scoffingly. "I will be damned if I will have to call you my luna." she declared bitterly, exchanging her a worse stare than the one she gave her. The b***h really needed to know her place, she was her lady- in- waiting but she was not going to take another insult from her.

Thanks to Steph's obsession with werewolves and fantasy and paranormal romance novels and motion pictures, she was familiar with the terminology and ranks, so she knew what a luna is; a bedwarmer and baby factory for a usually arrogant, hot-headed, misogynistic "alpha"- and that was not a title she would ever desire. But she could tell that Aconi was threatened at the possibility her ranking above her so she tilted her chin up and challenged her.

"You do not know what it takes to be king Atrax's luna, dear you wouldn't even be able to satisfy him sexually," Aconi's thin fingers clipped her chin and she smirked as she pulled it down, "but worry not, you are not going to last another day here, I have seen what the Alpha does to the likes of you. Delight me, keep up with that attitude and you will end up in some dark dungeon, cold and starved enough to eat your own faeces."

Frissons of fear crawled up Becca's spine and left her visibly shivering as her imagination depicted the twisted cruelty Aconi taunted her with. She would rather die than to allow anyone to subject her to such inhumane treatment, she just did not say so. Right after Aconi straightened her back, looking bored out of her mind, Becca's body betrayed her and her stomach rumbled furiously, demanding to be fed. Aconi rolled her eyes and reached for a black towel and threw it at her. The towel slapped her face and she caught it before it could land in the bloody liquid, knowing the witch would not give her another one if it got wet.

"Dry yourself and follow me." The witch instructed and walked out.

Becca was happy to finally free herself from the bath. Goosebumps were erected all over her arms and legs by the time she wrapped the towel around her body. She brought her arm under her nostrils and inhaled, she was glad she did not smell horrid and oddly enough her pores felt open and she felt clean and refreshed. As she sauntered towards the exit, Becca caught her reflection in a medium sized mirror in a luxurious gold frame. She only stared back at herself, taking in her appearance with displeasure. Her eyebags were ridiculous, she would have never allowed herself to get this unsightly. Looks mattered a lot to her, her self- worth plummeted when she did not look her best. Hence she felt like s**t and wanted to restore her beauty immediately, but she couldn't. Her frustration with her ugliness and the disastrous cocktail of emotions stirring within her came crashing down on her and the urge to burst into tears suddenly became unbearable. She missed her bedroom, she missed her bathroom, her cats, her parents, the honk of the delivery van that was almost always at her driveway. The sting of unshed tears left her heart contracting painfully and her chest tight, but she inhaled and exhaled deeply and pulled herself together. Aconi could not see her like this, she would be too happy.

After composing herself, Becca dragged her feet out of the ensuite bathroom and found Aconi posed in front of the bed like some army general. Her scowling eyes seemed to urge her to quicken her pace, but Becca deliberately delayed each step. Her stomach lamented yet again and Aconi's reaction was an exaggerated version of the one she gave her in the bathroom.

"Go find something to eat, those sounds are very irritating." She flicked her wrist like she was sending off some irksome animal and Becca looked askance at her.

"I cannot just strut around in a towel." A towel designed to be scanty and to barely reach below her asscheeks. Additionally, this mansion or palace was foreign to her, how did she expect her to find her bearings? It must be a trick, mr "Horror Beta" and his ensemble of furried wolf- beasts were probably waiting for her outside.

At Aconi's evil chuckle, Becca's eyes left the door and returned to her just in time to catch her pointing around. "By all means, help yourself to a garment."

Becca did a quick search, not comfortable touching anything. There was not a single article of clothing in sight. Not even a cloth she could enswath her body with and shape into a dress. Before she could ask what she was expecting her to wear, the door shifted open and a young woman dressed almost similarly to Aconi walked in. The woman with the straightest dirty blonde hair greeted Aconi in a way to acknowledge her seniority and ignored her. Becca thought she was going to pretend she had not noticed her, until her unnatural amethyst- blue eyes landed on her and she gestured to the door with a tilt of her head.

"Please follow me." Her voice was dulcet. She herself appeared to be more sweet and polite than Aconi, so Becca felt more at ease following her.

The captivating design of the palace captured her intrigue again as they walked down the longest hallway. The young woman sighed deeply, prescinding her attention from surveying her rather interesting penitentiary. Becca stared at her intently and found herself wondering if she too had been abducted, despite her ethereal eye colour suggesting she was not a human being.

"Hey." she whispered so lowly she thought the woman would not hear, but unbeknownst to her, thanks to her acute hearing, she would have heard even if she whispered in a lower decibel.

"We are almost there." She announced jadely, looking ahead. Becca accepted that she had no interest in looking at her and she continued to tentatively ask,

"How did you get here? Did they kidnap you as well? There are other girls too… do you know what they want from me?"

Following that whispered question, the woman's movements stilled and so did her own. Her eyes finally met hers and her expression was jarring. Not at all what she was expecting basing herself on the judgement she had made. Then she laughed and it dawned on Becca just how wrong she had been to question her about this flurrying situation.

"What kind of question is that?" The woman asked snidely, her once honeyed voice now acerbic and derisive. "The Alpha better not hear you asking such stupid questions. Take my advice, you do not utter nonsense in his presence, foolish little human." Blyvy rolled her eyes. Why did the king always have to pick from the most unintelligible population? His selections were always baffling.

After debasing her, Blyvy carried on and Becca followed suit, copying the woman even as she turned her body towards another heavy, high double- door.

"You will find means to feed inside." The woman apprised and turned her back to her. She was not going to stick around for questions or to assist in any way. Becca wrinkled her nose at her rudeness. If only Steph knew how contemptible werewolves are, she would be astonished and not pleasantly so.

Becca had an avalanche of misgivings, especially about Aconi's concern for her hunger. She could well see herself walking straight into a butchery and instead of finding a meal waiting for her, getting chopped into pieces and becoming a meal for these creatures. Her heartbeat accelerated and her mouth went dry as she extended out her arm and her courage ran out before she could grab the handle.

"Okay Becca," she exhaled loudly and drew in a great draft of air, "if you die you die, it is better for them to eat you than to get beaten and raped." It in fact would be a merciful ending if she just got ripped apart and disemboweled by the wolves than becoming a s*x slave for their king. She was prepared to die, but not to be violated, not to have her dignity ripped away in the worst way possible.

With that mentality, Becca pressed her palm into the door and much to her surprise, the doors parted and opened on their own. She stepped inside without a single heartbeat of hesitation but was startled out of her mind as the doors slammed shut.