****LYRA POV****

Days blended together. I didn’t know how long I had been hiding inside my room.

Too afraid to step outside. Too ashamed to face everyone after the humiliation.

Thankfully, Jules kept bringing me food. Maybe the only reason I was still alive.

I cried until I couldn’t anymore. At some point, I stopped feeling anything. I just…Accepted my fate.

What choice did I have?

A gentle knock pulled me from my thoughts. I smiled weakly.

Jules.

I opened the door and immediately froze.

A woman stood next to him, her eyes filled with pure judgment. Sharp. Cold. Unapologetic.

Okay…. She hated me.

“G-Good morning,” I stuttered, rubbing my sweaty palms on my dress, trying to hold a smile.

The woman scoffed, eyeing me from head to toe like I was something she stepped on. “Take the food back,” she told Jules. “She’s clearly been eating enough.”

Her words stabbed at my gut.

But I said nothing. I never did.

“But Alpha Lucian instructed that the guest shouldn’t be starved,” Jules said, his voice careful.

At the sound of Lucian’s name… my mate, or ex-mate my heart flinched.

The woman chuckled. “Then tell him Lady Courtney said otherwise.”

Jules opened his mouth to protest, but one look from her shut him up. He bowed and left.

It warmed my heart that Jules wanted to stand up for me.

“Follow me,” Lady Courtney ordered, already walking down the hall.

I trailed behind her like a shadow, head bowed. Every step made my stomach churn. I could feel the stares, the whispers…

*******

We stopped in front of a flower-draped building—so beautiful it felt like a lie.

Courtney turned to me, her voice dripping with disdain. “It’s time you learn your duties as one of Lucian’s whores.”

My heart cracked.

Whore?

Was that all I was now?

“And as one of them,” she continued, eyeing me like dirt, “you need to look presentable.”

I bit my lip hard, too ashamed to look her in the eye.

There was nothing she could do to make me look ‘presentable.’

Aurora had tried. She really did. But you can’t polish something so… broken.

As we walked inside, she didn’t check to see if I followed. “Hold your head high. If you don’t, they’ll wipe the floors with you.”

Easy for her to say.

I’d always been the floor.

Still, I raised my head.

And then I saw him.

Lucian.

Shirtless.

Sitting in the middle of the room like a god among men, surrounded by seven nearly naked women, all draped over him like vines, touching, moaning, laughing.

There was music. Laughter. Perfume. Skin. So much skin.

I couldn’t move.

“Why are you standing there like a lost goat?” Courtney snapped, yanking me away and dragging me into a private room.

The door slammed shut behind us. My breath hitched.

Tears burned my eyes before I could stop them.

> “Did you really think you were worthy of a mate like him? You’re nothing but fat. Ugly. A joke.” The voice in my head taunted me.

I dropped to my knees.

“Enough,” Courtney snapped, dragging me back to my feet. “Wipe those tears. You’re his whore now. Accept it.”

I couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe.

She tossed a handkerchief at me, and I whispered, “Thank you,” as I wiped my face.

For a moment, I wondered…. Did she actually care?

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said flatly. “No, I don’t care. This is a whorehouse. Every woman here wants Lucian’s attention. And if you want it too, you better be ready to earn it.”

Earn it?

His eyes burned with disgust every time he looked at me. I couldn’t compete with the women clinging to him like he was their only lifeline.

“Take off your clothes.”

My mouth fell open. “W-What?”

“Take. Off. Your. Clothes.”

“No…”

> “No one wants to see your disgusting body. Don’t embarrass yourself further.”

I shook my head. My arms tightened around myself.

But Courtney didn’t wait. She moved fast.

Ripping. Pulling. Forcing.

I screamed, kicked, bit, but she didn’t stop until I was naked. Cold and shivering.

Vulnerable.

She didn’t speak. Just stared at my body like it was a challenge.

Then, she tossed a dress at me.

If you could even call it a dress.

Short. Tight. Barely-there neckline.

“I… I can’t,” I whispered, throwing it aside.

Courtney sighed, picked it back up, and said, “Don’t make me force you again. I’m doing my job.”

Tears stung my eyes.

But I didn’t fight this time.

She slid the dress on me, no bra, no underwear. Nothing to shield me.

“Perfect,” she said and shoved me into a chair in front of a mirror.

I kept my eyes shut.

I didn’t want to see what she saw.

She painted my face with makeup, rubbed me down with oils that smelled like temptation.

I felt like a lamb about to be sacrificed.

Then… she smiled.

“You’re good to go.”

My eyes flew open. “Go… where?”

“To Alpha Lucian, of course. Tonight, you get all his attention.”

No.

No, no.

I tried to run.

She grabbed me before I could even reach the door.

She was so strong.

She dragged me down the hallway. I begged her to stop. Pleaded.

She didn’t even flinch.

My breasts were spilling out of the top. My thighs were barely covered. My ass was nearly out.

I looked like a whore.

I could feel eyes on me. Whispers, chuckled but I didn't pay them attention.

I focused on Lucian.

Lucian’s gaze locked onto mine.

He was still shirtless. Two girls grinding against him. Their boobs in his face.

And yet… his eyes were only on me.

It was like time stopped.

Courtney let go of me.

I couldn’t think.

My legs moved voluntarily towards him. It could be jealousy, but I needed those girls out of here.

The whispers faded.

Lucian shoved the girls off him like they were insects. It brought a proud smirk to my lips. I walked closer in confidence.

And for a brief second it was like I mattered.

I knelt between his legs. My hands shook as he pulled me up into his lap.

His calloused hands slid up my thighs, rough and slow.It was like all the confidence disappeared immediately.

My breath caught. Heat twisted deep in my belly as if my body didn’t know it was supposed to hate him.

“Courtney knows how to serve me,” he growled against my skin, lips brushing my trembling legs.

My whole body shuddered.

I felt his breath. His heat. His want.

Maybe I was a whore.

But if that is what it will take to get my mate's attention. Then I didn't mean.

And in that moment, I felt it...the bond. Or maybe I imagined it.

“I should bend you over my lap and fuck you like the filthy little slut you are,” he whispered darkly in my ear, his voice a slow burn in my belly.

I smirked, meeting his wicked eyes.

Maybe being a whore wasn’t so bad after all.

“Then maybe you should, Alpha.”