Something fit itself around my neck. It was thick, course and I struggled as it enclosed, Damien buckling it behind me. I glanced down, feeling tears in my eyes.
A collar. A dog collar. Damien was holding something else in his hand. I jumped as an eclectic shock burst through the collar and zapped me. Damien burst into laughter, as did the rest of the table while a lone tear trailed down my cheek.
“Now she looks like the pathetic mutt she is. It’s perfect. An obedience collar for a stupid dog” Damien’s voice said as he looked towards our father.
I tried to take it off and my father’s voice rang out. “You will leave that collar on” he demanded, using his Alpha tone.
I was betrayed. My hands slowly lowered to the sides as I stared accusingly at my father and then at my smug brother.
“Damien, you may use the shocker when she is disobedient, but don’t overuse it” my father warned “think of it as training your sister to learn to be better behaved. Like a puppy,” he said with a chuckle.
The dining table laughed out loud. Tears shimmered in my eyes. My father glanced at the plate and gave a malicious grin. Oh no. No, no, no. My stomach churned. I had never felt so degraded. I couldn’t take the collar off. Not now that the Alpha tone had been used. Another Alpha would have to counteract it to allow me to. I wanted to run out of the room, but Damien still stood behind me, blocking off any chance of escape. I felt his breath in my ear as he leaned down slightly to speak to me “I’m going to have fun shocking you over and over you little bitch. I’m turning you into my personal slave and I’m going to make your life so much more miserable than it already is.”
I wanted to hit him. I wanted to hit all of them. They looked so smug. They were enjoying my humiliation and degradation. I watched wide-eyed as my father picked up the plate of food with a steady hand and examined it. Then with a vicious grin, he placed it down on the floor, right next to his foot, and looked deliberately at me. “Eat from the floor like the dog you are” he ordered.
I hesitated and then shook my head refusing. I still had some pride. But then I felt Damien’s hands shove me between the shoulder blades, sending me sprawling forward/ I landed in front of the plate. A shock went through me. Damien was pressing the button. I flinched. My father waited. Another zap. It stung. I suspected that the voltage was higher than what would be used on an ordinary dog, judging by how painful it was. I was struggling to remain seated.
This time it was an extra long zap. My body convulsed and I collapsed. My face was right next to the plate. I heard Damien’s chuckle and saw my father as he put his foot right on the back of my head, shoving it closer.
“Eat” he growled as the dining room continued to watch, giggles and murmurs sounding behind me.I was their entertainment. Their punching bag. The next zap caused me to see stars. With no choice and desperate to be able to leave the room as well as stop being shocked with electricity, I closed my eyes in shame and then opened my mouth, slowly eating the food off the plate on the floor. I had reached another all time low.
Alpha Jaxon Tate’s POV
My eye was twitching and my eyes were narrowed as I took in the sight right in front of me. My Beta Callum looked amused more than anything, but he knew how this would be taken and how this situation would develop. The other Alpha, Alpha Rowan, and his daughter Liandra seemed oblivious to the tension in the room. Or maybe they were too stupid to recognize that I was not about to be cowed into doing what they wanted. Either way, they looked too comfortable for my liking.”Alpha Jaxon Tate” Alpha Rowan began, leaning forward in his chair to gaze at me with his dark brown eyes, a solemn expression on his face “I understand that as yet, despite your age of twenty-three years, you have yet to find or claim a chosen mate as your own?”
I gritted my teeth. This was not the first time that an arrogant Alpha had seen fit to be condescending or presumptuous in assuming they could make remarks on the lack of a Luna in the Blood Moon Pack. I forced myself to take a deep breath, even as I became aware of Liandra’s green eyes on me, a sly smile on her lips.I inclined my head, my tone even as I addressed the other Alpha in as civil a tone as I could muster. “I have not yet found my fated mate and I have no desire to take a chosen mate, simply for the sake of a Luna” I bit out.
The other Alpha looked at me incredulously “A Luna is needed in order to help keep order in the pack and to share the responsibilities between the Alpha and herself. It keeps the pack balanced and harmonizes it” he said frowning at me, as though I was some dumb kid he could frighten into submission with just a few choice words. Moron.
“This pack manages just fine without the presence of a Luna,” I said, fixing my gaze on the man “My Beta Callum and my Gamma Cody manage quite fine and share the responsibilities evenly.”
His lips twisted as though he found this amusing. “But an Alpha requires an heir to take over the running of the pack eventually, does he not?” he drawled.
“Only if he has plans to die in the near future and I’m afraid I have no such compunctions,” I said wryly, my lips curling into a vicious grin.
He looked taken aback by this. “Well, but, things happen that are outside our control” he spluttered.
Liandra had remained silent as she observed this exchange between her father and me. She was a pretty girl, I was forced to acknowledge, with black raven hair, porcelain pale skin, and a body that was slender with curvy hips and a buxom bosom. She was attractive, I had to admit. But that was as far as the attraction went. I had it on good authority that she was dumb as a doorknob and also free with her sexual favors. I tried not to shudder at the thought of having somebody like that as my mate. It would simply not do.
“Things do happen” I acknowledged, leaning forward and raking my gaze over the other Alpha “but I will not take a mate simply out of fear. I have already made arrangements should I be killed in battle or taking over another pack” I said gravely.
“But wouldn’t you prefer your own bloodline to remain the leader of the Blood Moon Pack?” he urged, “it’s been in your family for generations. Would you really let another, not of your blood, run this pack?”
My eyes were glacial “Blood does not always mean family Alpha Rowan” I said tersely, “Family can be forged through the strongest of relationships and loyalty.”
Another stunned silence. Liandra chose that moment to lean forward, giving me a view of her cleavage as she flipped her hair and gave me a wide smile, designed to gain my attention.
“What my father is saying Alpha Jaxon, is that a Luna can be a benefit to the pack, not just a hindrance as you are assuming” she breathed, twirling a strand of hair in her hand and blinking innocently at me.
“Not unless the Luna is planning on sleeping with every man in the pack,” I said bluntly “I don’t want a Luna in my bed and that’s the only benefit I could see as far as I’m aware.”
She gasped, turning bright red. Her father slammed his hand on the desk. “Listen here Alpha Jaxon” he snapped as I stared at him amused “There’s no need to insult my daughter like that.”
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