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Absolutely Free Reading:📖Alpha's Caged Mate
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PERSON_PROFILE

*“Murderer…”**“Liar…”**“Traitor!”*Each vile word spat at Ava stung like the cut of a blade, digging deep and slicing her up from the inside out. These weren’t strangers hurling profane slurs at her and glaring at her with such intense hatred in their glowing eyes; these were the people who’d watched her grow up, taught her what it meant to be a Wolf.

Now, they bared their fangs at her in rage, the shadow of their inner Wolves threatening to rise to the surface, to come tear Ava apart. These had been her people once, but tonight it was clear they were her enemies.

“Burn, you *fucking* traitor!”

A rock sailed out of the darkness and caught Ava across the forehead. Ava hissed in a yelp of pain and dropped to her knees.

“On your knees where you belong, rogue bitch!” The crowd erupted in a round of raucous cheers seeing the girl felled.

The guards holding the lead to her shackles continued on, forcing Ava to stumble back to her feet or risk being dragged through the mud. Determined to maintain her dignity in spite of her rising sense of panic, Ava blinked the warm trickle of blood out of her eye and quickly got her feet under her.

She was a rising Beta of the Red Moon Pack, whether they liked it or not. She refused to show such weakness in front of her subordinates.

Ava bit back a heaving breath.

She felt the oppressive weight of his gaze land on her, once again.

**Xavier**. Alpha. Best friend. Potential lover. Now, potential executioner.

He’d meant the world to Ava her entire life. Before he’d grown into a powerful male, before he’d inherited the title of Alpha of the Red Moon Pack, he’d been Xavi. He’d been hers. Along with Sophia and Samantha, he’d been her closest companion and confidante.

Now, everything had changed. *Everything*.

Ava’s guard finally came to a stop in the middle of a familiar clearing. A small stream ran through it and coupled with the break in the forest canopy, the spot made for a peaceful place to stargaze.

She and her friends came here often. And although they hadn’t visited the glade in some time, Samantha and Sophia’s scents permeated the clearing, only overpowered by the overwhelming scent of their blood. There were no bodies to be seen, but she knew this was where they had died.

The dread building in her chest increased as she caught another scent on the wind. Inexplicably, she smelled her own violet-tinged musk intermingled with theirs. Faint enough to distinguish from her current presence in the area, but strong enough to suggest she’d been in the glade recently. Ava started to sweat. If she could scent herself her, the other Wolves had, as well.

Now, the tree line was crowded with representatives of their community, come to witness the trial and punishment of a so-called murderer. Standing in the center of the clearing were two figures whose shadows cut imposing silhouettes against the night.

The first was Xavier. Beside him, standing tall and proud, was his father, August, who telegraphed absolutely nothing despite having just lost a daughter.

“Let her burn!”

“Make the filthy rogue whore pay!”

The jeers continued as Ava was brought to a stop before the former and current Alphas. Ava watched the males closely, eagerly looking for any sign that might tip her on to their intentions.

August began making a move forward, but a soft growl from Xavier made him pause. The exchange was nearly imperceivable, but Ava still caught the tiny nod August gave to Xavier, acquiescing the reigns in Xavier’s first real act as Alpha.

Stepping forward, Xavier raised a hand toward the crowd that was practically vibrating with furious energy. “Peace, Wolves! By the end of the night, I promise you justice will be served.”

Ava swallowed heavily as the surrounding Wolves cheered and settled, ready for the bloodshed to begin. Xavier nodded, satisfied that Pack had immediately responded to his command. “Then, let the tribunal begin.”

He strode up to where Ava stood shackled. She wanted him to say that he didn’t believe the lies, that he knew her better than she knew herself – just like she knew him. He didn’t. Instead, he took her in, from the mussed pajamas she’d been wearing when she’d been dragged into custody, to the fresh, seeping wound on her forehead. This close, he let Ava see the uncertainty and regret written all over his handsome face.

Behind him, August cleared his throat, low and sharp – a clear reprimand, reminding Xavier of who he was and what they were there for. The admonishment worked as Xavier’s expression shuttered taking her friend away and leaving only the austere leader in his place.

“Kneel.”

“Xavier– “Ava started to protest.

“*Kneel*.” His voice went hard.

“Xavier, please! You know I had nothing to do with S– “

“Your loyalty to this Pack is already in question. Think long and hard on whether or not you also want to openly defy its leader.” Ava heard the disguised plea in his words, to not make things harder on herself.

Swallowing, Ava ducked her head in a sign of submission and lowered herself to her knees before Xavier. He gave another satisfied nod and pitched his voice low, “You’ll have your chance to speak.”

“As we all know,” Xavier faced her, but addressed the crowd. “We stand here together in mourning over the loss of two of our own. Ava Davis, you’re under suspicion of making treacherous dealings and sundering a hole within the Red Moon Pack that can never be replaced. What say you?”

“I’m innocent!” She looked around to the crowed before settling her entreating gaze back on Xavier, “You all know me – Xavier, *you* know me. Sophia and Samantha were like sisters to me, there’s no way I could ever hurt them.”

Xavier’s jaw tightened at the word ‘sister’ and Ava knew he was thinking about Sophia.

But he composed himself quickly, “Noted.” Turning toward a spot in the trees, he called out, “Victor, it was you who brought these allegations up against Ava. Tell us why.”

“Alpha!” Victor stormed forward to join them in the center of the clearing. The slight Omega had been August’s right-hand for years and was Sam’s father. He shook with rage as he considered her, vengeful satisfaction filling his eyes as he took in her shackled, subjugated form. “I’m honored to help bring this filthy traitor the retribution she deserves.”

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the crowd as Victor spun to address them, “This…*beast* murdered our own.”

Ava’s head began shaking her denial even as he continued to speak. “I did *not– “*

“The future of our Pack and she betrayed their trust. She’s betrayed *our* trust.” He spat, never once looking her in the eye as he spelled out her death sentence.

“Victor, I know that you’re hurting- “Ava pled.

“Because she was my daughter!” Victor spun toward her, bellowing.

His cry echoed through the night, his pain sharp as a knife. He took a few breaths to compose himself before turning to face the Pack again. Wrong or not, he’d resonated with them. Members, both male and female were openly weeping in their anger, feeling the open wound Sam and Sophia’s deaths had opened in our community.

“Your proof, Omega.” Xavier calmly demanded.

This trial was a joke, most of those gathered here had already judged her and found her guilty in their minds. Even so, she couldn’t be punished without proper evidence.

“We all scented her on the wind upon our arrival,” he started, drawing furious nods from the masses. With a dejected heart, Ava saw Xavier’s nostrils flare as he, too, gave a solemn nod. “Beyond that telling truth, my daughter’s phone!”

Any hope she felt died as Victor pulled a cell phone out of his coat pocket. The bejeweled leopard-print case looked stunningly out of place in this gloomy field.

He pulled up their text thread and began reading aloud. “’Sam, you made me look like a damn fool. We need to talk.’ Sent from the *accused’s* phone number yesterday afternoon. Then, at half past midnight last night my daughter replied, ‘I’m here. Where are you?’” His revelation was met with heavy silence.

“That isn’t proof!” Ava cried, frustrated tears finally leaking past her defenses, the last vestiges of her façade shredded by the blatant accusation leveled toward her.

Such evidence would never hold up in human court, but this wasn’t the human world. Here, Pack Law reigned, and the Pack ran on emotion, instinct.

The tide of public opinion had turned against her and that was enough. “What reason would I have for doing this?”

“She had what you couldn’t!” Victor’s implication was clear.

It was a bold claim he made, and it painted a torrid picture for the jury. Rumors of Samantha’s budding relationship with Xavier had apparently been circulating. Unfortunately, Ava hadn’t heard them before she’d made her confession to him.

She chanced a glance at Xavier, but his eyes where doggedly trained on Victor. His eyebrows were drawn low, and Ava knew he was thinking about that night, too.

Two nights ago, she’d poured out her heart to him, hoping that he could envision the future she saw for them. Then, his gentle dismissal had crushed her even if she refused to let him see it. Now, it was cause for homicide.

She’d been so bold, so confident in herself and comfortable with her and Xavier’s relationship. Daughter of the Pack’s second-in-command, she wasn’t bred to be shy, in fact she was known for being the brash one of their group. It wouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone to find out she’d propositioned their Alpha, not like it would if Samantha had done so. Given the difference between mine and Samantha’s ranks, Xavier picking Samantha over her would be a shock to our Pack’s hierarchy.

To many, it’d seem like an insult to Ava’s rank and honor. Retaliation on her part might be accepted, even expected, but *murder*…

“Your pathetic pride was hurt, and my daughter died for it,” Victor continued. “What’s more, our beloved princess was caught in your crossfire!”

The mention of Sophia elicited a strong reaction from the crowd, just like he knew it would. Sophia, indeed, had been beloved. She’d been warmth and levity, the kindest friend and fiercest protector. Victor said as much, causing the Pack to erupt in mournful howls, quickly replaced by calls for her head.

“Traitor! Murderer!”

An intense itch erupted underneath the surface of Ava’s skin. Mia, her Wolf, threatening to unleash herself to protect Ava from the other Wolves, but trapped inside by the shackles binding her wrists.

“Xavier, *please*, you know none of this is true.” She supplicated herself to him further, head bowed, neck bared.

Xavier looked at the crowd and began to speak when his father stepped up to him for the first time since the trial had started. The shouts of the crowd masked the words that would doom Ava.

“Think very hard, Xavier,” The older male’s voice was stern, but calm, with the subtle charisma of a master manipulator. “Look at your people and the pain this girl has caused.”

“The evidence was circumstantial, at best, father.” Xavier said, though he seemed unsure of himself, especially under his father’s scrutiny.

“The good of the Pack comes first, Xavier. Always.” He subtly nodded at the raging crowd, hyped up by Victor’s angry chants for retribution. “This chaos cannot be allowed to fester within our ranks. It needs to end here.”

His voice held a little too much of his previous command and Xavier tensed at the perceived encroachment on his control. August backed up a step and smirked, “But, of course, the decision is up to you…Alpha.”

Xavier stood a moment contemplating his father’s whispered words and the increasingly hostile crowd calling for Ava’s head. The evidence wasn’t fool proof, but it was there. It was enough.

He turned to Ava, “The messages, your scent…It’s too much, Ava. It’s too clear. The Pack has spoken!”

“No!” She screamed as the insults turned to cheers.

Hands roughly dragged Ava to her feet.

“Given what evidence we’ve gathered and the dishonor you’ve brought upon this Pack,” Xavier’s voice boomed across the field like thunder. “As Alpha of the Red Moon Pack, I sentence you, Ava Davis, daughter of the Beta, to life imprisonment.”

Ava grew silent. Life imprisonment. The rest of her life would be spent in a glorified dungeon.

Numb, she turned to look at her parents in a final bid for salvation. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting.

No one would go against the Alpha’s decision. After all, a Beta’s first commitment was to the Alpha.

Xavier followed her gaze leveling her shivering parents with a ruthless glare. “Do you object to my judgment and the will of your Pack?”

Tense silence quickly fell, everyone waiting with bated breath to hear the Beta’s response, Ava included. Under the Pack’s scrutiny, her father’s shoulders straightened while her mother’s fell, ever-so-slightly. Ava knew then what they’d say.

“We do not, Alpha.” Her father proclaimed.

There was no containing Ava’s sorrow and panic. Heaving sobs ripped from her chest, all semblance of pride completely gone. She’d been damned after all.

As Ava’s jailers hauled her out of the clearing past Xavier, he uttered one final nail in her coffin.

“It should’ve been you.”
**Three years later...**

“Ava Davis!”

The gruff yell of a guard yelling her name startled Ava from her fraught sleep. Momentarily caught in the fuzzy in-between state of dreaming and the waking world, Ava felt the blissfully numb for the precious few seconds before reality caught back up to her.

All too quickly, the dark stone walls surrounding her came back into focus, the stale smell of under-washed Wolves caused her nostrils to flare. As she shifted on her rock-hard cot, the aching in her back wrenched reluctant groans from her perpetually parched throat. Thirsty. Hungry. Sore and tired. Ava’s breath caught as the misery of her reality weighed on her like a boulder crushing her chest.

And yet, tonight was nothing special. She’d woken up in a similar state, or worse, every night for the past three years. Ever since everyone she’d ever known and loved had turned their backs on her and left her to rot, alone and forgotten. Then, she recalled her dream. *For the love of the moon*, Ava’s thoughts were as wretched as the rest of her felt. *Even in my dreams, I can’t get any goddamn peace.*

“Davis, I said move!” The guard banged her cell door with a baton. “Catherine Maddison! You, too.”

A sharp pain knifed through Ava’s torso as she made to stand. Biting back another groan, she only took a moment to put pressure on her bruised ribs, determined to catch her breath and compose herself before making her way to the door. The ache that throbbed across her midsection was bone-deep, but Ava gritted her teeth and didn’t make a sound.

Over the past three years, Ava had learned how this place operated, what was important to survive. Her name and status, none of that mattered in this depressing little hellhole. In fact, they’d only put a target on her back when she’d first gotten here. It hadn’t taken her too long to realize that pride wouldn’t get her far among the prisoners. It had taken her even less time to realize that her pride would get her even less so with the guards. Everyone was a prisoner here, whether they’d been sentenced here or not, and Ava represented the very system that had ruined all their lives.

There would be no solace here, no rescue. That had been her first lesson, but it wouldn’t be her last.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

She hadn’t been imprisoned long the first time she was drug from her bunk. Rough hands yanked her across the cold concrete floor and, before her lupin eyes could adjust to the dark, a boot caught her in the stomach.

“Like that, Beta bitch?” The voice that taunted her was deep for a female and raspy. “Who’s top dog, now?”

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Ava grabbed her attacker’s foot and yanked hard, throwing them off-balance. As the shadowy figure crashed to the ground, Ava was on them. She rolled to her knees and leapt upon the assailant’s chest with reflexes honed by years of combat training.

“Still me.” Ava sneered.

Ava pulled back her fist and smashed it into the attacker’s face one, two, three times before another hand grabbed her wrist.

“Ooh, she’s feisty!” Another voice barked.

Shit. It was dark and she’d assumed the person attacking her was alone, a stupid rookie mistake.

The unknown assailant behind her twisted her arm, wrenching her shoulder until it popped. Ava gasped, her body going rigid and allowing the attacker to drag her off of the first goon who was currently writhing in pain, hand clasped to a pulverized nose.

Ava felt a final flash of satisfaction before she was shoved to the ground. Suddenly, a couple of attackers seemed to multiply as half a dozen aggressive shadows surrounded her.

“What do you want from me?” She gasped, her voice laced with anger and pain.

A hot, wet glob pelted her in the face. “You still think you’re better than us. You’re about to learn your place.”

Then a foot slammed into her dislocated shoulder, grinding the abused joint into the stone floor below.

Ava screamed and, as if her pained cry was a cue for the mob, the pelting began in earnest and didn’t let up.

Ava reflexively curled in on herself, raising her one working hand over her head trying desperately, futilely to protect herself. Whenever she kicked, there was someone there to hold her down. Whenever she opened her mouth to scream, an arm was there to snake its way around her throat, cutting off her cries for help.

There were just too many of them and she’d never been taught to fight alone. She was supposed to have her Pack for backup, that’s how every Wolf was raised. The lone wolf seldom survives. Now, Ava was the lone wolf against a rabid mob. Ava knew that if it weren’t for the silver shackles keeping all of their Wolves at bay, she’d be dead. And no one would care.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

​ Ava learned the value of silence that night and it had served her well these past three agonizingly slow years. After she’d been jumped, she’d gone to a guard and was sent to her cot without supper for the inconvenience.

​ Even though it was nearly impossible to avoid physical altercations in the prison, the gang beatings ended after that night. Ava suspected that had more to do with Layla than any of the guards, though.

​ “Davis. I will not ask nicely again.” *Damn*. She’d tarried too long, and the guard had circled back around to her cell. The broad female stormed up to Ava, grasping her by a bruised wrist and pulled her out of the cell. In the hallway, she was shoved to the back of a line of girls being paraded out of the main living area. “Was the other night not enough to teach you to toe the line?”

​ Ava choked back the tears that immediately rushed to the surface at the crass reminder of three nights ago, by far the hardest lesson the dungeon had given to Ava.

*Right*, Ava thought. *You don’t need a mob for things to get deadly down here.*

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

​ Ava was flat on her back, reeling from the sudden severance of her connection to Mia, her Wolf. Different from the usual suppression caused by their silver shackles, Mia was…gone.

​ She heard a choked gasp and looked over to see Layla, *sweet Layla*, gasping for air that couldn’t quite make it past the gaping slash across her throat.

​ “*No*,” Ava fought down her pain and confusion, crawling to kneel beside the dying girl. How did this happen? Who’d hurt Layla? She was the kindest soul Ava had ever met in her life, the only prisoner who never caused or attracted trouble. She’d taken Ava under her wing and saved her from herself countless times over the years. This was…unfathomable. “Layla, I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “Please hold on.”

​ Through her own blood and tears, Layla’s lips twitched up into a smile. She whispered something Ava couldn’t quite catch right before the light faded from her warm brown eyes.

​ “Layla –” A baton came down on Ava’s back as she was dragged away, sobbing not just for the loss of another friend, but for the soul who never deserved to be here and would never get the chance to leave.

​ Ava knew she’d have to do it for her, somehow. It was Layla’s last wish, even if Ava couldn’t hear her, she knew what Layla had reminded her with her last breath. *California.*

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

​ “We have enough.”

​ Ava looked up to find herself in a holding room with a dozen other females. An unfamiliar female walked down the line of women, examining them closely. When she came to Ava at the end of the line, the female grimaced at Ava’s smattering of deep purple bruises. “They’ll do,” she nodded.

With a shove, the guard behind her prompted her to follow the line of girls out of a set of metal doors Ava hadn’t seen since she’d been brought here.

​ A gentle breeze caressed her feverish skin, halting Ava in her tracks. Looking up, she nearly cried at the sight of the moon cradled by a sea of stars overhead. They were outside! For the first time in three years, Ava could see the sky. By the sobbing gasps around her, Ava knew she wasn’t the only one feeling a weight lifted from their shoulders.

​ “Enough! Get them inside before we’re seen.” The clipped command was the last thing Ava heard before a back was thrown over her head. Cries from the girls were muffled by the sound of an engine revving to life. Ava was hefted bodily into the air, ribs screaming, and thrown into what could only be the back of a van. Her protests joined the other women’s as metal doors slammed shut and their new cage began to move. After three years, Ava was finally leaving the dungeon. Only, she had a sinking feeling she was going to wish she’d stayed.
By the time the truck had rolled to a stop, Ava had successfully navigated the extreme sense of panic and dread that had plagued her for most of the sightless ride and settled into a grim determination to face whatever was coming head-on.

If she’d learned anything over the last three years, it was that the adaptable ones survive the longest. To make it in the dungeon she’d figured out how to cage the fighter she’d been born to be and cow herself in effort to not draw unwanted attention. She didn’t know what fresh hell these new circumstances would bring, but Ava was ready to re-light her fire, if the opportunity called for it.

Even if Mia was still silent.

Despite the countless morbid scenarios flitting across her mind, the jagged hole in her…inner self where Mia should be, was an ever-present distraction. She didn’t know what exactly had been done to her to sever their bond, in fact that entire cursed night was a blur. Even as she focused on her memories of a couple nights ago, only vague fleeting images flashed across her mind’s eye.

There had been a confrontation that had turned violent, as most confrontations usually did in the dungeon. Ava’s body was consumed with a pain more deeply profound than any she’d experienced during her time in the dungeon or before. It went beyond physical pain, manifesting in ways Ava simply didn’t have the correct vocabulary to properly verbalize. It had been as if her soul had been torn in two, but that didn’t feel like a proper explanation, either.

Mia was part of Ava, as all Wolves were a part of their hosts, but she was her own entity as well – the primal beast inside the sentient female. They shared a body and a fate, but both functioned independently of one another, Ava had full rein of their human body and when it came time to hand over the reins and transform, Mia took control of their lupine form.

The relationship between a host and their Wolf is a symbiotic one with each consciousness contributing unique attributes to the other in order to make both forms strong. Ava gave Mia sentience, the ability to cognate above a common wolf’s level, making her a fierce strategist, as well as an asset to the Pack both in and out of human form. For Ava, Mia heightened her humanity, giving her increased reflexes, senses, and strength. Mia gave Ava a canine’s sixth sense of primal instinct and established the preternatural bonds that shape a Wolf Pack, allowing them to recognize one another’s status. In another life, Mia might have recognized her mate in another Wolf, solidifying a bond with their perfect partner, ensuring a life a connection and contentment for them both.

Now, that reality seemed so far outside the realm of impossibility, least of all being the fact that Ava hadn’t felt a trace of Mia’s latent consciousness in the three days since Layla died. Currently sitting shackled and hooded in the back of a van going the moon knows where, Ava would be lucky if anything other than a gory, prolonged death awaited her whenever the doors finally opened.

When they finally do, Ava braced herself for the worst, her body going taught as a bow string when a calloused hand drags her out of the back of the vehicle. Silently, she tries to gain her bearings, straining to hone her senses, looking for any clue as to where they’ve been taken. With Mia out of commission, though, all she can hear is the panicked heavy breaths of a dozen terrified women being shuffled out of a murder van.

“Where are we?” Ava chances the question, willing to risk getting hit in order to suss out any useful information about their situation.

“Quiet female. You’ll find out soon enough.” A guard answered.

Female. Not ‘rat,’ which is what the dungeon guards called most of the prisoners, or ‘beta bitch,’ which is what they usually reserved especially for her. And when a hand grasped her arm, prompting her to move, it guided her rather than dragged her wherever she was meant to go.

“You aren’t the prison guards.” She already knew by the lack of vitriol in the way that they moved, spoke, and comported themselves.

Her suspicions were confirmed when her escort scoffed. “Hardly.”

He didn’t elaborate and Ava didn’t need Mia to know better than to push her luck with him. They might not be the jaded, cruel prison guards she’d known for the past three years, but she didn’t know these people or what they were planning to do with her and the other females. Ava watched true crime religiously. Just because they weren’t being abused now didn’t mean they weren’t in store for worse than the dungeon had to offer. So, she’d continue to keep her guard up.

Without Mia’s superhuman senses, Ava soon loses track of where they’re being led. Eventually, the cool night air falls away to the artificial bite of central air conditioning. *We’re in a building with AC*, Ava warily mused. *Murderers don’t use AC, right?*

Ava felt her confusion grow as she picked up the distant sound of dance music. Not the kind you’d find on the radio or in a night club, but a more curated international sound better suited to the fancy lounges her dad and the other men in the Pack were fond of visiting in the city.

Finally, the line came to a stop. For a long couple of minutes nothing happened and, despite her shackles, Ava tensed to bolt just as the hood was ripped from her head. She winced at the sudden light, but as the sunspots faded from her eyes and her vision came into focus, Ava’s confusion solidified into a hefty lump of apprehension sitting low in her stomach.

The room they were in looked an awful lot like the lounges Ava had thought of before. Dark leather couches accented with emerald velveteen settees and ottomans filled a room that’s walls were lined with far too many mirrors, gilded though they were. The ceiling of the room was covered in dormant strobe lights and, of course, more mirrors. Ava’s eyes followed the long shiny line of bronze poles to where they stood affixed in immaculately polished black marble floors.

Ava’s expectations for the upcoming events quickly realigned as she took in the room’s more…specific details. Like the bronze chains that hung from the ceiling, some ending in bronze bars, while others led to leather handcuffs. When she spotted a large dark X-shaped structure at one end of the room, Ava’s suspicions were all but confirmed. *A sex club*.

Within the span of a few hours, Ava had gone from resigning herself to dying early and unacknowledged in a pit to standing in what looked to be a posh bar for the kinkily inclined. Ava was scared, of course she was. On her mental list of worst-case scenarios, being sold to a sex club was surely up there. But, taking in her surroundings, this didn’t look like the seedy urban underbelly she’d imagined. This looked like a way out.

Ava was steadily putting together the bones of a plan when a beautiful woman walks through a gilded glass door. Tall with long black hair and cheekbones like steel, this woman had *presence*. Her dulled senses prevented Ava from picking up any specific information about the woman, but Ava knew she was a Wolf and that, whatever this establishment was, it was hers.

“Madame Bella, they’ve arrived,” the female from the prison walked stand behind their tall, lavishly dressed hostess.

Lighting a cigarette, Madame Bella slowly walked down the line considering each of the filthy, trembling females, much like her minion had back in the holding room.

“Such. Pretty. Omegas.” Each of her words was punctuated by the sharp *click* of her six-inch stilettos. When she came to Ava she stopped, taking a drag of her cigarette without breaking eye-contact. “Not an Omega.”

She raised her hand with the cigarette in summons, “Dorinda, explain this one.”

The female from prison, their handler Ava guessed, rushed to Madame Bella’s side, “This one’s not an Omega, Madame. But, if the guards were to be believed, she *is* untouched.”

Bella’s eyebrow quirks in interest, “In this day and age? Impressive find, Dorinda. Why can’t I read her?”

Dorinda swallows silently, “There’s something wrong with her Wolf. They didn’t elaborate, but her connection was severed, she’s effectively human.”

Ava refused to flinch at the stark words and held her chin up when the other females had nerve enough to stare at her, appalled. Even now, she was the odd one out.

“*Human*,” Bella said it the same way one says *unexpected garbage*. “And what am I supposed to do with something so weak, Dorinda? Take it back.” With a dismissive wave, Bella began to turn away.

“But…she’s…a –“

“A what, Dorinda? A virgin?” She cut the other woman off. “Woman, please. Even I’m not so callous to give a defenseless innocent to a rutting Alpha. She’ll be torn to shreds before she can pay off the cost of the clean-up crew.”

Several of the other females begin to weep as Madame Bella rolls her expressionless eyes. “She’s useless to me. Take her back.”

​ When the female turned to leave again, Ava knew her chance for survival would walk away with her. “Wait!” She put every bit of authority she’d inherited from her title into her voice. If there was a time for gambling, it was now. “You can’t send me back.”

​ Bella paused, eyebrow quirking again, this time, Ava expected, in amusement. “And why, pray tell, is that?”

​ “The dungeon is a lot of things, but it’s not a brothel,” Ava gestured to the other girls. “Whatever this deal was, I highly doubt it was on the up-and-up. If you send me back, I might let something slip.”

​ Any amusement abruptly vacated the woman’s diamond-hard face. Ava knew she was over-playing her hand, but she felt more in her element parlaying with this intimidating female than she had in years. “You raise a fair point. Why don’t I just dispose of you instead?”

​ Ava set her jaw, “This is a pretty nice-looking establishment, all things considered. I don’t think you like getting your hands dirty.”

​ Bella cocked her head in bemusement, “Darling, if you think I need to sully my hands to get things done, you’re not as quick as I was beginning to think you were.”

​ Ava shrugged, effecting an air of nonchalance she didn’t feel, “Fair point,” she parroted. “I may not be able to make you money in the…traditional sense, but I’ve got something the others don’t.”

​ When Bella didn’t cut her off, she gestured to the crying bewildered girls beside her, “I have drive. I *want* to be here. I’ll wait tables or wash your unmentionables, whatever you need me to do, I’m *willing*.”

​ The stern female considered Ava again, a new emotion almost like respect reflecting in her gaze. “Why? Cry as they might, they’ll earn enough to buy their way out of here within a couple of years. Scrubbing toilets isn’t nearly as lucrative. Where’s your hope, girl?”

​ Ava smirked mirthlessly, “That died a long time ago. And have you seen the prison? If you had, scrubbing toilets wouldn’t seem so bad.”

​ A quick almost-smile flashed across Bella’s lips, gone before Ava was certain it had ever been there at all. “Fine,” was all she said before sauntering out of the room, leaving the handlers to see to the shaken girls.

​ Twenty minutes later, Ava found herself in a closet-sized room, bland and small, but dry and relatively safe. Best of all, it had a tiny window, small enough to ensure she stay in place, but just enough to let her watch the stars. And she did. For the first time in years, Ave prayed directly to the moon until dawn broke.
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