Without breaking his gaze from mine he strikes the sword into Jane's chest.
Tossing the sword aside easily like he hadn't just killed someone, tears brim in my eyes for some weird reason I feel responsible for her death.
Aitch walks up to me holding my jaw in between his hand pressing his fingers hard till it aches.
“How do you expect to kill Jaden Perry, your mate, when you can't kill a stranger?” he says fiercely, pushing me to the side.
“Lock her up” he orders, the tears finally fall as I'm escorted back to my cage.
“Welcome to the badlands,” he says once more, locking the cage as I hug myself terrified.
Six weeks later...
JADEN PERRY
“Do you have a life outside this room?” his annoying voice says.
“Unless you have good news for me Elijah, you're not welcome,” I say, continuing my one-hand push-up.
Losing count, I start all over again. I am a thousand and my Beta interrupts me, won't get me there.
“What if I say I've found her, Jaden?” I stop holding myself up.
Showing no emotion, I'm off the floor of the gym, grabbing a towel and bottled water and pouring it on my overgrown hair and tanned muscles.
“Where is she?” I ask simply, cleaning my face with the towel.
“The badlands,”
“The home of rogues,” I say, surprised.
“Why so shocked that's what she is, isn't it?” I tense at his words, holding on to every fiber of self-control I had not to punch him right in the face.
How the hell did she wind up there? I thought she was happy with Dimitri though it killed me inside.
My Beta had returned from his vacation with his mate, and I saw something changed in him, something I was envious of; happiness, true happiness.
One I couldn't attain, one that lied with Hailey, only saying her name made my heart tighten in my chest.
If she is in the badlands, this might be the opportunity I have been waiting for.
“Get the car ready, Eli. I'll take a quick bath and be out in a sec,”
”Wow, so fast, can't wait to reunite with your lover,” throwing the towel at him. I ignored his laugh, not amused one bit, even though I had developed butterflies deep in my belly knowing I'll be seeing Hailey Stewart soon.
HAILEY STEWARTS
“You're doing it wrong, Angel, your weight is slowing you down,” Ride yells.
“I'll love that ass to slow me down if it ain't up for the challenge,” Tyler chirps.
Really? Because I was trying my best not to be toppled by the large man in front of me.
He hits me with a double combo; both I block with my hands and push at his chest, he stumbles back, and I don't give him the chance to recover, hitting him in the stomach with my knee, launching my weight they called my 'weakness' on him, and he falls to the ground, I lock my hands on his head, applying pressure on his windpipe till he taps out.
“That's my girl,” Ride comments, while a few clap.
I glare at him, hands on my waist, as I pant like I ran a marathon.
“You did well,” Ride comes to my side, smiling stupidly, pulling his tongue piercing in-between his teeth.
I've found a home in the badlands, home of people who were just misunderstood, rogues who have been cast out of their packs, regretted mates, the few who survived an accident at their packs, or people who don't like to be bound by the rules, generally, it's a freedom land; they only termed them bad because society found anyone not in a pack is no wolf.
They look down on them like they weren't part of the werewolf race.
They had some bad habits like the selling of sex slaves and bizarre arena fights, but they had good in them.
“Last time you're going to speak about my ass,”
“Yes, Angel,” Tyler says, smirking.
Angel in my name throughout.
I walk back into the house, needing a bath.
I had been moved from the prison cells to a small room upstairs.
Training every day in deadly weaponry, Aitch always said a female fighter, one whose sole purpose was to kill Jaden Perry and my mother's murders.
They had a problem with Jaden Perry, an enmity I know nothing about.
Aitch seems to hate him the most. I don't pry into their personal lives, and they don't pry into mine.
Looking at the mirror at the change six weeks had brought about. I had gained more weight, my thighs, muscles, and boobs a balance between my feminine side and fighter.
My red hair had been dyed raven black, and my hand had a tattoo of a jasmine flower and the initial M.
I love the change I had done physically, soon enough. I would have to prove my loyalty by killing Jaden Perry, soon enough, I'll return.
“Angel,” Salvana comes bursting through the door with a panicked look on her face.
“Jess, you scared me, Sal,” Salvana is the girl who handed me the sword on my first fight with Crazy Jane.
“Aitch is selling you to madam Von,”
“He's what?!” I scream at the same time the door is flung open, and a few guys I don't recognize walk in, making way for Aitch.
“My little Angel,”
“Sire,” I greet with a bow, hoping what Sal said is a misconception.
“I'm sorry to say, but you're being sold tonight,”
“What?!” I scream, Aitch raises his brow, warning me to watch my tone, a look I ignore.
“You are in high demand, and the price for you is so tempting I couldn't say no, plus madam Von gets what madam Von wants,”
“But Aitch-”
“No buts, child,” He says, interrupting Sal.
“You'll find your way, Angel, and if you might want to return, we accept you with open arms,”
“Yes, sire,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“These are her men; they'll escort you to see her,”
I followed the men outside, a bit hurt that Aitch would do such a thing, but I was helpless in this situation.
They stop behind a door; one nod, I could go in.
The lady in a long red gown that exposed the swell of her boobs and a split running from her legs up her thighs.
Her hair is decorated beautifully, with a frown on her face as she looks at me.
She stands up from where she's sitting and circles around me.
Pulling my hair back.
“You don't look at me till you're asked to,” she releases me with force, and I regain my balance easily.
She walks up to my front this time; I focus on her smooth legs to avoid being touched.
“You can go; you'll get delivered later tonight, take no personal belongings, and wear the clothes I assign to you. Disobey any of these commands and you will be punished severely, am I understood?”
I stay quiet, my hands a fist beside me.
“I don't like repeating myself,” She warns.
“Yes,”
She walks away to the chair, and Aitch walks in.
“You can go now, Angel,”
Ride, Tye, and Sal waiting outside the room.
“How was it?” Sal is the first to ask.
“I'm being sold tonight,”
“There has to be a way to stop it,” Tyler states, as we walk away from the room.
“You know Aitch; there's nothing that can happen,”
“So this is goodbye,”
“Hey don't get worked up; we still have a few hours till I leave; do we all act like I'm not even here or try to make the best of it,”
“Well, let's do things your way, anything you like; our treat,” my face lights up at the one thing I know will make me feel a little bit better – ice cream.
* * *
The night fell quicker than expected. I was called out of the game room, where I said my goodbyes to all of them.
For his sake, I'm glad Aitch didn't show up as she said earlier; she gave her men a cloth box that I had to change in, with silvery heels.
The lace panties were tight and hard to pull on, tired of trying to wear my old ones.
My hands are cuffed to the SUV I'm being picked up in luxury.
Oh, how sweet. How did they know I'll try to break out, even with the heavy guns they all held?
The drive ends sooner than I would like; one of the men uncuffs my arm and leads me out of the car.
Another rich slob, I don't bother looking at the house, irritated as the men lead me in.
They stand behind two double doors, and I walk in without being told to.
My jaw drops, then anger surges through me as I look at the man in a high chair – Jaden Perry.
He looked bigger, his hair longer, his shoulders broader, and his eyes dead – no other way I could explain it.
Just orbs of eyes that watched me the same way I did him.
“You don't look your master in the eyes,” Madam Von slaps me on the face, but it felt like a tap.
The man I had been training all this while to kill is sitting right in front of me, with a deadly smirk on his face.
“You're staring,”
“You're not my master,” I say, my voice cold, looking at Jaden with a mix of anger and curiosity.
“You're also not my mate,” I add, my anger growing.
“Why are you here?” he asks, his eyes still fixed on me.
“I'm here to be sold to you,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper.
“You're going to pay double or nothing,” Jaden says, his voice cold, his eyes still fixed on me.
Madam Von flogs me already, but I keep my eyes on Jaden, not breaking my gaze, even as the pain increases.
“This doesn't mean I'm giving up,” I say, my voice firm, my eyes still on Jaden.
“It's not just about you anymore,” Jaden says, his voice still cold, his eyes still fixed on me.
“What does this mean for me?” I ask, my voice calm, my eyes still on Jaden.
“This means you'll do as you're told,” Madam Von says, her voice firm, her eyes cold.
“What do you want me to do?”
“You'll touch yourself for me,” Jaden says, his voice cold, his eyes still fixed on me.
“I won't do it,”
“You have no choice,”
“I'll try anyway,”
“We'll see about that,”
