His Plan
three
*ROSEA*
It takes an hour for Jordan to seek me out. I don’t know if he does it on purpose because he knows waiting for him is the worst part of any interaction that might lead to something intimate. When he finally opens the door to my room, I don’t even get up from my spot.
“Unbelievable, you are truly here,” he laughs.
“You told me you wanted to see me,” I say shortly.
I don’t know when he started to have his own separate bedroom, but that’s certainly one thing I won’t complain about, even if it means he is bedding all kinds of other women here. But the pain I feel from his betrayal is still worth the peaceful nights on my own.
Now, however, he is so close to my personal space that I feel sick to my stomach.
For a moment, neither of us says anything, and I hate how much his presence still scares me.
There is this tight ball in my stomach, clenching in fear that he is here now and knowing how unpredictable he is.
I thought I had become good at detaching myself from what’s happening around me, from the humiliation of Jordan, the elders, and his ranked members, but also from the mockery and the hatred I feel from the pack.
But when we are alone, his presence still terrifies me.
It makes it hard for me to stay calm and composed and to not cry in fear.
I want to beg for my life. I want to humiliate myself by begging him to let me go.
Formerly, I begged for his love, but I know he has no love to give.
He has no pity, no love, no empathy for anyone who isn’t himself.
Jordan walks closer to me and like a flash, slaps me so hard it makes me drop to the ground. Before I can scramble to my feet, he is hovering above me, straddling my hips, his hand grabbing my face. He sneers while his thumb rubs the blood running down my nose over my lips.
“That defiant look of yours,” he growls. “I’ve always hated it, even when we met for the first time. You should have been a submissive little wife to me, but you couldn’t even do the most basic thing.”
The funny thing is, I tried being that for him at the beginning, but he is right; I couldn’t. I just couldn’t be the girl who was waiting for him on my hands and knees every day, happy about every word of praise and ready to fulfill all his fantasies.
When I stay quiet, his eyes darken. “I thought,” he hisses, “we should work on what you promised the elders.”
I look at him, forcing my face to remain straight and my body stiff. “If this is what you want, Jordan.”
“Fuck!” he snarls, smacking my head backward so it hits the floor. The pain knocks the air out of my lungs. With one hand, he grabs my throat, squeezing it while his other hand grasps a silver knife. “Beg for your life,” he hisses.
I don’t say anything, my eyes pinned to a point on the ceiling, while I can feel the tip of the knife being pressed into my left cheek.
The pain is sharp, piercing, and the fact that he keeps his hand around my throat while cutting a trail with his knife down my cheek makes the pain feel even more intense.
I keep my thoughts and fears to myself, while my gaze snaps to his face.
To my surprise, he looks angry at first, but then desperate.
“Fuck you, Rosea, you are sick,” he spits.
“You are sick in your head. Always have been. Only a psychopath wouldn’t even bat an eye now.
” He looks disgusted when he looks at me.
“You are such a turn-off. I can’t even look at you anymore. ”
Tossing the knife to the side, he stands up and rushes out of the room, not even sparing me another glance.
Rosea, my wolf calls out, clearly on alert. Damn it! I thought he would kill us!
I finally pull myself up to my feet and walk to my restroom. I don’t think he would dirty his own hands, I reply, inspecting myself in the mirror.
He used a silver knife, that bastard. I make sure to clean the wound and disinfect it.
At least it’s just a thin line, so if a scar remains, it won’t be too visible.
His prints around my neck, however, are much more prominent than the last time.
For how long did he strangle me? Maybe that’s the reason my wolf didn’t call out to me.
I tried to reach you, Alora says. But you were so detached; I didn’t think you were able to hear me.
What did you want me to do? I ask.
I begged you to let me out and kill him, she snarls.
Alora, I know that’s what you want—
But we can’t; that’s what you want to say, right? But how much is too much, Rosea? We can’t continue like this. He will kill us, one way or another.
I know, and I don’t want to die, I tell her. That’s exactly why I can’t let you come out to kill him. You wouldn’t be able to, as he is an alpha wolf now. I pause. The ball of dread I felt earlier turns into something closer to fury. I want to live, and I want to see him suffer. That’s my goal.
I don’t think I have much going for me anymore.
I have my mate, just that he turned out to be a sociopath, and I am pretty much used goods, as he keeps telling me over and over again.
Even if I manage to leave, I doubt there is much out there for me.
Certainly not love or a family, both things I dreamed of when I was a teen.
The only thing I can hope for is to be able to torment Jordan in another way. Maybe it will take time for me to do it, maybe I can only do it when I am old, but one thing is for certain: I can only do it if I am alive.
Rosea, Alora says, her voice on alert. Something doesn’t feel right.
What do you mean?
I don’t know. Just stay on alert!
That’s easier said than done, but I try to focus on what’s going on around me. She is right, there are voices I can hear. It seems to be a whole group that’s talking; something happened. On a normal day, I would think of an attack, maybe, but not today.
When Jordan left me, he was furious, he was done. In a way, Alora was right when she said he looked like he wanted to kill me.
But I know him. I know he won’t dirty his hands.
These thoughts finally push me into action.
He wouldn’t do it himself, but he wants to do it.
He has a plan. Fuck! He has a plan. How much time has passed?
A glance at my clock tells me that Jordan left two hours ago.
So long! What have I been doing since? I don’t bother with covering my wound or my neck, but hurry to my stash of pills and the small bag of necessities I have hidden there.
It’s for an absolute emergency. Small enough that I can hide it somewhere on my body, as I do now underneath my clothes.
If Jordan sends someone to kill me, I can try to run.
If he has something else planned, they’d need to strip me naked to see what I am carrying, but I hope they won’t go that far.
“Luna!” The door opens, and Clemmens comes inside. He walks slowly, almost reluctantly so, but two other warriors push forward.
Rosea, my wolf snarls. Should we put up a fight?
Not yet, spare your strength, I say. Whatever is going to happen, we’ll need it. If we make a run now—
It’s hopeless; you are right. But when someone wants to kill us—
Then, I’ll hand you full control, and you can go down the way you want to, I promise her.
I turn to look at the man, hoping my expression is void of fear and emotion. “How can I help you?”
The two warriors make to lunge forward, but Clemmens stops them. “The alpha’s orders were clear,” he says calmly. “I am supposed to take her to the office.” I look at him, and then at the silver cuffs in his hands.
Now that’s low, even for Jordan’s standard.
Clemmens briefly raises his eyes, looking at my face and my neck, but averts them afterward, like the coward he has always been. “I assume I will eventually hear what this is about, won’t I?” I ask dryly. “Whatever has he come up with now… I wonder.”
I reach out my hands, letting him cuff them together.
Clemmens doesn’t say anything, but his hands tremble slightly when he leads me out of the room.
I don’t feel anything, no more than usual; there is just a vast emptiness.
I don’t mind that people keep staring at me and whispering.
It’s not like this is the first time I’ve been humiliated in front of other pack members.
Jordan belittled and insulted me, diminished me.
He had his men walk over me and my rank and made sure everyone knew that my only worth was giving him a baby, which I couldn’t do.
This is not new.
It’s not new, Rosea.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Sophie. The poor omega girl looks horrified and as if she is about to do something dumb. The silver ties might limit my strength, but they don’t completely block me. I am still an alpha’s daughter after all.
Don’t! I link her. They will kill you if you do anything. Lay low and stay out of Jordan’s way. I pause. Thank you for your kindness, Sophie.
I swear the poor girl has tears in her eyes, but fortunately, she listens to my words and doesn’t intervene.
Another fortunate thing is that they don’t drag me all through the pack house, but just straight to Jordan’s office.
We have passed enough pack members, anyway, for this to spread like wildfire, but part of me is relieved that I don’t need to walk through the whole pack.
My dignity is all I have.
It’s all I have.
When all things crumble, my pride in being my father’s daughter and my mother’s student is all that will remain with me.
No matter what they take from me, I’ll still have that.
“Took you long enough, Beta Clemmens!” Jordan snarls when Clemmens finally enters his office with me.
He doesn’t spare me a glance, not that I would have expected it.
Inside the room, I can see the elders and the warrior, whom I recognized from the picture, hugging fake me.
His arm is broken, and he looks terrified.
How anyone could see and believe this show is beyond me. But it has long passed the stage of being subtle, and Jordan has worked well enough for the pack to not care anymore about me or about justice.
A hive mind can be truly dangerous.
“Luna,” Elder Frank looks at me with mock disappointment in his eyes. “We are unbelievably disappointed in your actions. How could you betray the alpha like that?!”
My gaze wanders towards the poor warrior with the broken arm. So, this is what this is about? What a cheap, pathetic setup. Jordan must be desperate if he is going for such a pathetic show. Unfortunately, pathetic or not, the elders are playing along, so are Clemmens and the warriors.