Chapter 33: Beneath the Monster’s Feet
Josie
The threat silenced me in a way nothing else ever had.
I wasn’t even aware I’d stopped breathing until my vision darkened at the edges, my chest rising in shallow, broken pants. My lungs burned. My eyes stung. But I refused to give Alpha Ian the satisfaction of seeing me fall apart—not yet. Not in front of him.
Still, I was quiet.
So quiet, it scared even me.
His words echoed in my head again and again.
"Behave, or one of your mates will bleed."
My fingers curled against the ropes at my side, my wrists still raw. I blinked fast, trying to push back the tears that burned like acid. I couldn’t cry in front of him. I wouldn’t. But I was shaking. Not with fear—at least, not only fear—but with anger, sorrow, betrayal... and a darkness I didn’t know I carried.
Alpha Ian turned away, and with a snap of his fingers, a couple of men stalked into the room.
"Take her to the house," he ordered gruffly. "She needs to start learning her place."
Their hands grabbed me roughly. I stumbled forward, weak and barely able to walk straight. The night air hit me like a slap, cold and foul. The sky above was bruised black, and the wind carried the stench of rotting trees and damp soil. Every inch of this place felt haunted—like the ghosts of Ian’s past victims lingered in the shadows, whispering warnings I couldn’t hear.