Audrey had fainted right after Alpha Lake and Andrew had walked away from her in the forest. The pain was too much for her weak human body to bear.
She remained there till very late in the evening...
"Audrey, Audrey, wake up, we're here to help," Sandra gently tapped her cheek as Alex untied her from the tree.
Audrey opened her blurry eyes and recognized the figures of her friends trying to help her.
They placed each of her arms on their shoulders as they slowly took her out of the forest.
Audrey coughed loudly as she felt her dry throat start to itch her. She wanted to thank her friends for saving her but she couldn't find her voice.
'Catherine,' Audrey heard a voice call out as they passed by two gigantic trees with thick thorny vines wrapping around them.
Audrey thought she was starting to hallucinate from hunger and pain but she suddenly heard the voice again, instantly feeling like there was a magnetic force pulling her toward the trees.
Before she could find the strength to ask her friends if they heard the voice too, Alex suddenly spoke up.
"Don't worry, Audrey, we'll surely get those fools back," Alex assured.
"Most definitely," Sandra agreed, frowning angrily.
That night, Audrey was too weak to do anything, but she managed to eat the little bread Ms. Bridget gave her.
She nearly slept a wink in her tiny wooden bed, and before she knew it, it was morning. Another day in hell.
After a tiring day at the vineyard, Audrey was gathering her tools to return to the Packhouse when she suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her.
"That's her! Thief!"
They turned around in the direction of the ruckus and saw two tall guards angrily storming their way, a blonde girl behind them.
Audrey recognized the guards instantly. They were Bill and Bull, the two most wicked sets of twin guards she'd ever known. She hated them and they knew it. It was mutual.
"What does the bitch want now?" Sandra was already standing protectively in front of Audrey, waiting for them to arrive.
Audrey was not in the mood for trouble at that moment, her heart started beating rapidly as she saw the sun going down.
She had thought she could escape meeting the Alpha today, but from the looks of it, these people were not going to let her go easily. It was her after all. They never let an opportunity to torture the useless human girl slide.
"Move! This wolf-less bitch needs to be punished!" The blonde girl stood in front of Sandra, ordering her rudely.
"Don't you dare call her a bitch, Cara?" Alex warned.
Cara rolled her eyes and folded her hands on her chest.
"Enough! Step aside!" Sandra was roughly tossed onto the dirty earth by Bill as he harshly grabbed Audrey's arm.
"Let go of me, you pig!" Audrey struggled.
Slap!!!
A harsh slap landed on Audrey's cheek.
"You f**king bitch, I'll make sure you go to hell!" Bull said scornfully.
"Drag her to the Alpha!" Bill ordered two farm guards who were standing aside at the corner...
Alpha Lake was standing with his beta, Andrew, beside a black-tinted car in front of the packhouse.
They were deep into a discussion when his beta suddenly looked past him and stopped paying attention to what he was saying.
"What has she done now?" his beta asked curiously.
"Who?" Alpha Lake looked in the same direction as his beta and was immediately filled with indescribable scorn and rage.
He watched as his farm guards dragged Audrey toward him. He hated the very existence of her.
He had plans for her; she would wish she was dead when he was done with her.
Andrew didn't understand his best friend; he was always collected but each time he saw Audrey, it was always like there was a storm brewing within him. He never understood why he chose to keep the girl near him when her very existence infuriated him
He knew his Alpha as a very calm person who always had his emotions in check, but when it came to Audrey, he saw how easily his Alpha lost control of his emotions.
But, even though he did not completely agree with his Alpha on the ways he treated his poor maid, he chose to believe in him. He trusted him. He believed he would come around eventually.
"Alpha, Beta," Bill and Bull bowed to their alpha and beta, then roughly threw Audrey in front of them.
"Alpha, I didn't do it! Please!! I've not done anything." Audrey pleaded with her head bowed.
She did not know what they wanted to accuse her of, but she knew they were lairs. They just hated her and enjoyed seeing her suffer.
"Good evening, Alpha, beta." Alpha Lake was about to question his guards about the situation, but he was suddenly interrupted by an annoying whiny voice.
"Cara?" He called with a frown, allowing her to explain herself.
She sashayed her way over to stand in front of the Alpha.
"Yesterday, I saw her steal twenty bunches of grapes from your farm, Alpha." Cara pointed at Audrey accusingly.
"She even took..."
"You can go." Alpha Lake commanded calmly, cutting Cara off. His anger was already filled to the brim, he did not need her to add to it.
He looked at Audrey in fury, she had the guts to take something from him after her stupid mother took away his most precious thing. How dare she take something from him? She owed him her life!
"Rot in hell, bitch," Cara flung her blonde hair over her shoulder as she walked past Audrey.
"Alpha, I d…"
"Shut up!"
slap!!!
"Arghh!!" Audrey felt the excruciating pain; she felt like her jawbone had dislocated; she winced deeply as she felt Alpha Lake drag her hair painfully from behind, forcing her teary red face to look up at him.
"Please! It hurts! I didn't do it!" She pleaded, trying but failing to remove his hand from her hair. Instead, his hand only got tighter, and it felt like her scalp was tearing apart.
His beta stood there with an unreadable expression on his face, trying his best to look as unbothered as possible.
"Fucking bi*ch!" He slapped her hard across the face again, his strong and long fingers instantly leaving a print mark on her smooth cheek.
Audrey fell onto the dirty floor from the force of the slap.
"Take her to the dungeon!" He growled lowly.
"Please! Please! No, please! I didn't do it!"
She was mercilessly dragged across the floor, blood stains could be seen leaking out from the scratches that formed on her leg due to the manhandling.
Audrey felt devastated. She had been to the dungeon before, and it wasn't somewhere she wished to return to cold, dark, and scary. She was only fifteen years old then and was sent there just because she had mistakenly let a fork slip from her hands.
She could still remember how she had coiled up in a corner and cried the whole day. Luckily, Ms. Bridget had interceded for her, and she got released that evening.
She never wanted to go back there; it was her worst nightmare, but now, her fears were coming to reality, and fast.
"Why not send her away from the Pack, since she causes you so much trouble, Alpha?"
"Know your place!" He slammed Andrew against the car and furiously walked into the Packhouse.
***
"I did no such thing! I'm no thief! Please!!!"
Audrey screamed as they dragged her along the dimly lit dungeon passage.
They reached a black gated door and paused, unlocked it, and roughly dragged her in.
Inside the dungeon, the room was pitch black; Bill turned on a switch on the wall, and the center of the room was illuminated. A big chain hung from the ceiling to the floor.
They dragged Audrey to the center of the room, despite her shouting, pleading, and struggling, they forced her hands up and chained them above her head.
"Please, I didn't do it. I'm not even capable of such a thing," She cried quietly, tired from all the struggling and shouting. Her throat felt like sandpaper.
"Ouch!" She cried out as one of the guards adjusted the chain from the wall, he dragged it till her legs were slightly lifted from the cemented floor. The shackles around her wrists were hurting her badly, they were locked around her wrists like a second skin.
"Please, believe me, I was tied up in the forest all day; Cara was the one- Argh!" Audrey screamed as she felt the chain tug her wrist again, raising her higher away from the floor.
She sobbed quietly, wishing she would just die and leave this cruel earth.
"Water, please." Her voice sounded hoarse, and her throat felt so dry, it hurt.
"You'll get nothing, Wench," Bill replied.
He went close to her and caressed her teary cheeks.
"Or, you can suck my d**k for some wat-ah!"
Audrey hit her head hard on his lips, feeling a bit satisfied.
He let out a painful cry, blood spilling out of his broken lips.
"You!"
He raised his hand to slap her but before he could reach her cheek, his hand was held back in a firm and strong grip.
"Enough, get out."