Alpha Torin groaned into her lips, his fangs threatened to come out, even his teeth itched to elongate, but he controlled himself.

He kissed her in a way his wolf desired, the kiss consuming him and making him burn with lust. Freya wanted to push him away, but at the same time, his kiss was so healing that she found herself wanting to melt into it.

It was until Alpha Torin started tugging at her uniform that he jerked away from her. Freya’s eyes burned as she opened them, and they shone a bright pair of gold only to see that the Alpha’s own was burning bright gold too.

Their eyes were glowing. The connection between them was still raw, alive, and aching to be consummated. Freya forgot herself for a moment as they both stared at one another.

Then suddenly, Alpha Torin wrapped his fingers, claws out, around her throat and backed her to the wall. Their glowing eyes dissolved, Freya choking out of breath.

“What the hell are you doing to me you little witch? Why are you compelling me and making my wolf think he belongs to you?” Freya struggled to breathe as he lifted her off the floor, her back pressing to the wall achingly, his grip tightening around her throat.

“I…I’m…not…com…pelling…you” She struggled to speak, her eyes forming water as the grip kept tightening.

“You liar. Is it part of your plans? To bewitch me? Who sent you to get me drawn to you? You think you can lure me with that? I will make your life a living hell.” His angry words came out in sharp whispers, his breath raging and uncontrollable.

“P…plea…se “ He suddenly dropped her with a thud and his fangs disappeared inside his nails. Freya coughed out, clutching her neck which had now turned red.

She looked up to Alpha Torin who was looking down at her like she was a miracle and curse. Her eyes burned with rage, she wished she had those cursed powers right now so she could kill him with it.

If killing Alpha Torin was her last achievement before she died, she didn’t mind.

As if the moment couldn’t get any worse, Luna Athena announced her presence and Freya’s attention shifted to her, but Torin’s gaze remained on Freya.

Luna Athena, who had her cat in her hand as usual, had a smirk on her face as she took Freya's position on the floor. With the water in her eyes, hands still clutching her red painful neck, it was obvious that the Alpha had been making her life miserable.

That made Athena happy. But she was about to make her life more miserable.

“What are you doing here, Athena?” Luna Athena felt a slight pang in her chest. Alpha Torin had never regarded her as his Luna before.

Putting that thought aside, she said, “I have someone here with me who wants to testify who this…thing on the floor really is.” Luna Anthena smirked, her hand that wasn't holding her cat moving up to adjust the strap of the luxurious crimson gown she had on that didn’t need adjustment.

Just then, Amelia walked forward, stopping beside Luna Athena. Freya’s breath stuttered.

Amelia was looking better now, but she still had a healing cut on her cheek from the combat they had a few days ago. She had hardly thought about Amelia at all while she was rotting in the dungeon.

Now that she saw her standing there, not knowing what it was she was going to say, her worries doubled. Freya leapt to her feet.

“Who’s she?” Alpha Torin inquired, eyeing Amelia like she was nonexistent.

“Her name is Amelia, she’s human and she used to know who Freya here is. Said she is a hunter who was sent here as a spy, to seduce you Alpha into lowering your defenses. She was sent by the hunters, my Alpha.” Luna Athena declared impeccably.

Freya couldn’t believe her ears, her gaze shifted from Athena to Amelia, and she caught that triumph look sparking in her gaze. What had she done to deserve this from who was her childhood best friend?

Amelia, who had joked beside her by the campfires of the hunter’s enclave. There was no warmth in Amelia now, only spite and hatred. Freya lowered her gaze and closed her eyes, feeling heavily betrayed now than ever.

“I didn’t believe her at first,” Athena continued, circling Freya like a lioness circling a tethered deer. “…but then I remembered how my cat had meowed at you repeatedly that night when I brought you to this part of the territory. That was my cat telling me you were a traitor, but I was blind to it. I thought it admired you. She sneered.

She stopped in front of Freya, and her cat hissed softly.

“You see? He knows who you are.” She patted her cat’s head and it melted into her hold in response.

Amidst all these, Alpha Torin only stayed in his position, still watching.

Freya knew better than to expose that Amelia was a hunter too. Who would believe a word that came from the mouth of a branded slave?

So she did the only thing she could do at that moment. She dropped to her knees.

“I’m not here to seduce him,” she said quietly. “But it’s true. I was a hunter.”

Luna Athena stiffened.

Freya lifted her face, and for once, her voice carried weight. “The rest of my squad was slaughtered by wolves. I’m the last. And I hated your kind for it. I won’t lie about wanting revenge. I let the wolves bring me here along with other humans because I…” she let her voice break. “Because I have nothing left to live for. I have nobody. There’s no war left to fight. I just…I just want to survive.” She croaked.

For a long moment, the room pulsed with silence.

The Luna’s eyes narrowed at Freya, lips curling with disdain. She turned toward Alpha Torin, “She has confessed that she’s a hunter, she has no right to breathing in the next hour.” She said with hostility while Freya still kept her gaze down on her knees. She just wanted to survive this.

Amelia also watched with enthusiasm, hoping for the Alpha’s mean judgement. She couldn’t wait for Freya to be ended. Her existence was a threat to her. She didn’t want to have to ever compare herself with Freya again.

Alpha Torin looked from Freya to Athena, “She had already been punished.”

Athena turned to him slowly, as if she hadn’t heard correctly. “What?” Even Freya was shocked at the Alpha’s response. Amelia looked disappointed, blinking profusely. She hadn’t expected such leniency from someone as vicious as Alpha Torin.

Torin stepped closer and approached Freya. His gaze never left her. “She has suffered in the dungeon. She belongs to me now. And she’ll continue to serve, until I decide otherwise.”

Athena’s mouth parted. Her fury spiked like a whip.

“You would spare a hunter?”

“She’s in chains. And she’ll be reminded of that every day she draws breath.”

It was cruel enough a sentence by any standard, but to Athena, it was mercy, and she saw through it.

Her eyes darted from Freya to Alpha Torin. Back again. And suddenly, the pieces slid into place. The Alpha who never once looked twice at another woman… now ordering this one to be bathed, fed, tended to, and spared. When on a normal day, he would have ordered her killing after she was brought out of dungeon or left to rot inside the dungeon

Something was wrong.