Evaline:
The stench of damp stone and rot clung to the air as the guards shoved me into the one of the cells in the dungeon. And then, the metal door was slammed shut behind me with a deafening clang.
The force of their push had me stumbling forward, and I barely caught myself before hitting the ground.
The cell was dark and the only source of light was a flickering torch placed outside the iron bars.
I shivered, but not from the cold - it was the weight of my reality finally sinking in. My life was hanging from a thread, and any minute could be my last.
After I got caught by the rogues and passed out, I was shoved into a car and brought to whatever place this was. And if I had to guess... I was surely somewhere in the Rogue territory.
I slumped against the wall and my gaze landed on the heavy chains bolted to the floor. No one had bothered to lock me to them... yet.
The following hours dragged by in complete silence, and each passing second amplified the suffocating dread in my chest. I didn’t know what the Rogue Kings had planned for me, but I doubted they went to such great lengths to capture me just to show me mercy.
The Rogue Alpha Kings wanted revenge, and they had succeeded in their mission. All they needed was to eliminate the only survivor of Shadowfang pack - me.
Considering everything I had been through in the past eight years of my life, I believed that there was nothing out there that I couldn’t face, but this... this was different.
The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed down the dimly lit corridor, growing louder with each passing second. I sat up with my gaze fixed on the part of corridor I could see while my heartbeat escalated.
The scent of dominance and raw power hit me even before I saw him.
Rogue Alpha King River.
From what I knew, he was the eldest of the four brothers, and also the most ruthless of the quad.
He stepped into view, his presence immediately dominating the small space. Tall and broad-shouldered, he carried himself with an authority that demanded submission. His cold green eyes found mine, and the sheer intensity of his gaze made me want to shrink back.
But I didn’t.
"Stand up," he commanded in his deep voice that was dripping with disdain.
I hesitated for only a moment before rising to my feet. I refused to cower even as his piercing gaze bore into me.
"So, this is the daughter of the great Alpha of Shadowfang Pack," River said, his tone laced with mockery. "Daughter of the man who thought he could rule my land after killing my family. Funny how far you have fallen, isn’t it?"
I clenched my fists and swallowed the retort that was burning on my tongue. I understood his hatred, what I couldn’t understand was his attempt at making me feel guilty about someone else’s crimes. But I knew that there was no point in arguing. Nothing I could say would change his hatred for me.
He studied me for a minute or two, taking in my expression before he suddenly asked, "You don’t think that I despise you because you are wolfless, do you?"
Before I could have even thought about answering him, he was already continuing, "No. I despise you because of your blood. Because you carry the name of a man who destroyed lives and betrayed his kind. My brothers and I have waited years to see the Greystones pay the price for their crimes. And now, here you are - the last pathetic remnant."
His words were filled with so much hatred, but I refused to show just how affected I was. I met his gaze head-on, keeping my voice steady as I finally spoke. "If you hate me so much, why don’t you just kill me?"
A cruel smirk tugged at his lips as he answered, "Because death is too easy for you. You don’t deserve the peace it brings."
He stepped closer, causing his towering form to cast a shadow over me. "From this moment forward, you are no longer the Princess of the Shadowfang Pack. You will be nothing but a survivor here... but only if you know how to even survive."
"What kind of survival?" I asked, surprised at how calm I sounded despite the tsunami brewing within me.
He appeared lost in thought for a moment, as if he was actually considering what to do in order to make my life worse. And then, I saw as his eyes twinkle with an idea.
"How about the Princess starting her new life as a maid?" He proposed and waited for some sort of reaction from me, maybe shock, or anger.
But when he got absolutely nothing, a scowl appeared on his face and he added, "You will scrub the floors, wash clothes, and serve the very people who hate you. Consider it your first punishment for the sins your blood carries."
He watched me for another minute, but I remained silent, giving him nothing but a dead silence in response. Eventually, he decided that he didn’t want to waste any more time on me. But before leaving, he spared me few more words. "You will report to the head maid at dawn. Don’t think for a second that I’ll tolerate disobedience. If you step out of line, I’ll make sure you regret it."
And with that, he was gone, leaving me alone in the suffocating darkness of the cell to process what just happened.