Sarah twisted and turned on the cold concrete floor, trying in vain to get comfy enough to fall asleep. She had been living in this very dungeon for five years and yet she still couldn’t get used to the funky scent and the crappy food, neither could she stand sleeping on the spiky floor. She had cramps all over and her neck felt as if it was falling off her shoulders.

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to try and elevate her head using the small, rusty plate she had been fed in not too long ago. But what else could she do? This…was the inescapable life of a sex slave.

As Sarah tried to bear through the torture, a loud beating against metal sounded then someone spoke loudly, the voice belonging to none other than Mr. Knack; the owner of the Human Trade branch she was currently residing at. “Today’s your lucky day, sluts. The mighty Damon Kalesto—” He stretched the word ‘mighty’ with thick malice as his heavy footsteps resounded through the dark dungeon, striking fear into all who heard him approaching. “...is coming to get himself another sex slave, so everyone’s gonna see daylight for a few minutes. You’d better keep yourselves in check because anyone who acts out will eat and sleep with my c*ck down their throat...Got it?!”

A series of submissive yes sir’s from the other women followed his warning, but as for Sarah, her curiosity was just beginning to surface.

“Who is this Damon Kalesto?” She dared to ask, sitting up slowly despite the lower-back pains that plagued her.

From day one, they’d never been allowed out of their cells unless they were chosen, bathing or dead. The werewolves were usually the ones who entered the dungeon and chose whoever suited their tastes, so now that this particular person was receiving special treatment, she was simply curious of his identity and influence as she should be.

But Mr. Knack thought of it otherwise. His eyes narrowed and he cracked his neck in preparation for what’s to come. He threw the leather whip over his shoulder then walked to her cell until Sarah could vaguely see him through the rusty silver bars. “You dare to speak up when I didn’t ask you to?” He said, grinning wickedly as he fished the cell key from his chest pocket and shoved it into the keyhole.

Sarah immediately curled herself into a ball. She knew exactly what would happen after Mr Knack grinned like that...

“S-Sorry.” She mumbled, quickly covering her mouth as she realized her mistake. She shouldn’t have said anything. She should’ve just kept her mouth shut.

But if she was going to regret it now, there wasn’t any use. He showed absolutely no mercy when anyone disobeyed his rules and once he decided she would be punished, he’d definitely see it through.

“You clearly haven’t learnt a thing so I’ll make sure you know to keep your mouth shut this time around...Clothes off!” He unbuckled his belt, walking up to her with the eyes of a predator and the expression of a complete lunatic.

Sarah didn’t want to do it, her mind and body were against such a disgusting thing, however, she knew that resistance would not get her anywhere at all...it’d only make things worse. Paling, she reached for the straps of her dress and began to slide it off her shoulders, but just when her breasts surfaced from under her clothing, one of Mr. Knack’s subordinates came barging in, alarm printed on his face. “Sir, the schedule has changed and he is expected to arrive within an hour! He wants to choose from humans with blue eyes and black hair!”

The predacious look faded from Mr Knack's eyes and instead, his face mirrored his subordinate’s. He shuffled to fix his pants, the keys jingling in his hands as he moved. “What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and find all the women he wants! We can’t have him displeased or it’ll be the end of us!”

Sarah’s eyes swirled with confusion and her fingers went stiff around her straps. She didn’t know what the sudden chaos was for, but she sighed in relief either way. She was thankful to whoever this Damon Kalesto person was, because if it weren’t for him, she would have been completely done for.

Within just a few minutes, all human women with blue eyes and black hair were led to stand on a large platform and the chair designated for their client placed up front. At first, they had been well organized into five horizontal groups of ten, but that alignment was soon long forgotten and now, the girls were bundled up against each other, some whispering amongst themselves while others stood silently as they waited for another command. Sarah was one of the silent ones crammed up at the back.

After all the years that had passed, Mr Knack already discarded the possibility of her ever getting chosen so he made sure to place her at the very back. She didn’t mind because she too thought the same, but what she did have a problem with, was how suffocating this placement was.

It was the first time she had been outside the dungeons in a very long while, but she couldn’t even enjoy it to fullest. All she wanted was to simply head back inside. The longer she stayed there, the more sweat crawled across her skin. Her knees were close to buckling too.

These blue eyes and black hair of hers were to be blamed for this.

What felt like hours passed before Damon Kalesto's arrival was announced. Mr Knack’s voice boomed through the air, voicing his next instructions. But by then, Sarah couldn’t even manage to listen.

She blinked as a wave of dizziness passed over her, holding onto a woman’s shoulder when she found herself struggling to keep her body upright. Biting her lip, she darted her eyes from the floor and craned her neck to see the cruel werewolf who had made her stand so long that she could hardly even breath.

With one sweep, her eyes landed on the man sitting up front, staring coldly at all the women before him. If he was the Damon Kalesto Mr. Knack spoke of, then she wasn’t sure if he came to find a sex-slave or to kill them all. The look on his face was deadly, and from his demeanour to his appearance, everything about him exuded authority.

Still, despite how unapproachable he seemed even from afar, Sarah couldn’t help but stare. He sat there in a neat blue suit, leaning an elbow on the armrest as he watched them. With his black hair slicked to the back, his full lips and sharp jawline were a dangerous lure. Then, when it came to his eyes, all else seemed like a shadow from behind.

But besides his looks, there was something that drew her to him, something that felt almost magnetic between them. She didn’t dare blink, for she found herself unable to look away. Was it the submission his eyes demanded? Or was she just merely drawn to him like a woman to a man?

She couldn’t tell which one but it was different. He felt different.

He shifted, his gaze sweeping across the crowd and landing on her. Her stomach instantly did a few flips. This feeling was new to her and she had no idea why it was happening with a man she'd only just met. But while there was just confusion on her end, his eyes bulged the second he looked at her, and he immediately flew out of his seat.

He seemed struck with realization. But what exactly?

She wanted to figure it out, to understand what this was, but another wave of dizziness made everything blur around her. She had been sweating all along, and now, even strands of hair that were blowing with the wind, had become stiff against her skin. Her strength evaporated quickly and her legs gave out under her, sending her slamming into the floor.

Panic swarmed the crowd, but before anyone could even touch her, a golden-eyed figure shoved through and warm arms took her into their embrace, igniting tingles along her skin.

Whispers erupted among the girls but Sarah could barely hear a thing except for the words of the person who was holding her...

“Mate. Mine!” The husky voice thundered, just before she blacked out completely.

Damon Kalesto was sitting on a small stool in his living room. His eyes were glued to something --or rather someone who had taken his breath away. He studied her every feature, from the long lashes down to the almost unnoticeable pimple at the side of her lips. She was just too beautiful not to admire.

He kept a mental note of how her small button nose twitched whenever she shifted, how her lips jutted into a soft pout every once in a while.

It was a creepy thing to do...watching her like this. But he couldn’t help himself.

Ever since he laid eyes on her, it felt as if he’d suffocate the moment he looked away. Her blue eyes had pulled him in with ease and he fell deep into their abyss. He knew exactly what this uncontrollable attraction meant...she was his mate.

With that realization, he wanted to know everything about her, her life before and within those dungeons, her friends, her family. He was willing to listen to it all as long as it was from her lips.

But the unsettling part of it was that this was never supposed to happen. His chances of finding a mate were slim, especially after what happened ten years ago.

And it wasn’t only that. In truth, he hated the word with every fibre of his being: ‘mate’. To him, this annoying string that tied two random souls, was merely the Moon Goddess’ whim.

No one had the right to dictate who a king claimed as his, not even his own creator. He alone would decide his fate...who to love and who to despise, who to protect and who to kill.

However... this woman made his heart beat faster. Back there, he had not wanted the moment to end, but then, before he could even open his mouth to speak to her, she blacked out.

He was angry that he didn’t get to hear her voice, that rags covered her soft skin, and that his mate... was labeled a slave. But what filled his gut with fury even more, were the bruises and scars scattered over her body.

All he needed was her confirmation that those filthy traders had done this to her and he’d wipe them all out with his bare hands. Anyone who had dared to touch her, would feel his wrath.

“Oh! Damon~” Alexis; a sex slave of his, came bouncing into the room. Damon casted an irritated glance at her before returning his full attention back to his mate. With a wave of his hand, he signaled for her immediate dissmisal.

Alexis bit her lip, her eyes narrowing on the human sleeping peacefully across the couch. “I have never seen a werewolf mated to a human.” She continued on to say, forcing a smile as she walked up beside him. “How is this even possible?”

Damon clenched his jaw. He didn’t care about why and how, he just knew that she was his mate...nothing else mattered. Who would dare to question him, anyway?

Alexis jolted as his glare sunk into her skin. Without another word, she heeded the unspoken warning and scrambled out of there. But as she was turning the corner, she mumbled something that she thought Damon didn’t catch. “Don’t come crying when you meet the same doom like ten years ago...”

But Damon had heard every word and he was livid. His hands trembled with the urge to crush her face but he didn’t dare leave his mate's side. Alexis could wait...after all, he had all the time in the world to rip her to pieces.

--

--

An hour passed by and Sarah finally stirred awake. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling, the fresh air drifting into her nose feeling very foreign to her senses. Sunlight streamed in through glass windows, touching her skin with a delicate glow before Damon’s onlooking eyes.

She jolted up and darted her gaze, but froze when she felt a warm breath tickle her neck.

Damon’s nose nuzzled into her from the side, sniffing as it traveled along her skin. “Hmmm,” he hummed against her, basking in her delicious lotus flower scent.

He didn’t know what to say, so he drank in her scent instead of her voice. Perhaps the most urgent thing was to ask about her bruises, but he thought it would only overwhelm her. He wanted her at ease and comfortable before getting to that.

However, when silence reigned between them for far too long, he took one last whiff, then looked up at her. Seeing the look on her face and the wide eyes that stared back at him, he reluctantly leaned back a bit, just enough so she could breath. He wanted to touch her, to continue worshiping her scent... but he willed himself to bear with it for her sake.

Sarah finally released the breath she had been holding and turned her head slowly, coming face to face with the familiar handsome guest sitting next to her, Damon Kalesto.

“Speak,” Damon demanded, the command making her flinch. As a man without much patience, he was getting tired of waiting to hear her voice.

“Where…Where am I?” She breathed, the sound making Damon’s heart hammer against his ribs.

She was sitting on a couch that could probably be passed as a bed because of how large it was, and in front of her, a glass table separated it from another of its size and colour. On the grey walls, there were numerous paintings of wolves and such, and the shelves to her left filled with a mix of books and trophies. The space seemed somewhat empty but Sarah couldn’t help but be impressed despite that. It’d been so long since she’d seen a normal house.

“This is your new home.” Damon told her. His face was stoic, but inside, he was proud to have clearly impressed her with this initially useless mansion of his.

“M-My home?” She stammered, eyes snapping back to him. “Why...? Did something happen? H-Have I done something wrong? Whatever it is, I’m sorry! I was just f-feeling a little dizzy at th—”

Before she could finish, a finger had pressed to her lips, halting her words. “I am the Alpha King.” He said, holding her gaze. “And I chose you. From now on, you are my possession, mine to keep and mine to protect. You will stay by my side, Sarah...where my eyes can always reach you.”

Tingles sprouted at her lips, dancing across her skin.

“I am the Alpha King and I chose you. From now on, you are my possession, mine to keep and mine to protect. You will stay by my side, Sarah...where my eyes can always reach you.”

“A-Alpha King…?”

As her throat tightened, she felt suffocated by the fear that coursed through her. Gasping for air, her mind backtracked to a few months back, the day Mr Knack had brought in newcomers.

She remembered how the cold water from the rusty shower-head had drummed against the open slashes on her back as she listened to the quiet murmurs of the women in the stall next to her.

‘...The Alpha King that sits on the throne is nothing but a thief--’ The newcomer had said, ‘---a cold-blooded thief who ruthlessly wiped out the royal family and stole their place! Anyone who crosses that man –whether young or old, strong or weak-- would have to face the blazing fire from the pit of hell! And that isn’t all! If a wild wolf howls or a deer hollers and disrupts his slumber, it would face its demise that very night! He’s a Devil, I tell you! A devil!’

‘Hey!’ A woman cackled, ‘Your crazy exaggerations won’t scare me. If I become his slave, I’m gonna have him hunt you down first for spewing such--’

‘Hush, Silvya!’ Another hissed, ‘Its true! The King hates everything that breathes! Its why he doesn’t even have servants serving him. I’ve seen him, believe it or not...the day my Alpha dared to defy him. I escaped his clutches by the skin of my teeth, only to be captured by these savages in the end...’

Sarah trembled, staring into those cold hazel eyes of his.

Ruthless, sinister, cold- blooded… were just a few out of the many used to describe the Alpha King. If this man, Damon Kalesto, was truly the King, then today must be the day she would have her last breath.

‘I chose you...”

‘…you are my possession…’

‘…mine to protect...’

Why would someone like him utter such words? The Alpha King didn’t protect anyone! Was he just a cruel predator playing with his prey before the fatal blow?

“I won’t hurt you...” He muttered, his voice low and careful as if trying to comfort a scared child. He pushed his stool back, putting more distance between them. “... so just stay by my side.”

Was that his way of telling her that he’d be watching her every move and then the moment she messed up, he’d end her?

“N-No...” She trembled, her voice a shaky rasp climbing her throat. “This c-can’t be happening...”

Who would've thought that the master who took her from the depths of that dungeon after five whole years, would be the King himself? But that place might’ve been safer than this!

What was she to do? Fall to her knees before him? Cry and beg for mercy?

But as she stared back into those unblinking eyes, she found herself pulling her knees to her chest and reaching up, brushing the spot where his finger had grazed her lip just briefly. It had wobbled the moment he touched it, but a strange tingling sensation persisted there even now.

“Why--” She squeezed out, “--Why does it tingle?”

Damon’s tense shoulders loosened at her words, his lips twitching slightly as he leaned forward an inch, “I told you...You are mine.” His voice was still forced into a careful murmur, but his eyes held an unyielding firmness, reflecting a truth even she could not deny.

Her innocent gaze searched his face, each passing second filling Damon with a strange sense of satisfaction. But just over her shoulder and hanging against the wall, he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror, the slight curve of his lips an unfamiliar sight. His smile fell in an instant, face hardening.

For once, he didn’t want fear. For once, his mind was free of everything else and filled with her.

He liked the feeling...however, that didn’t mean it wasn't wrong. Yes, they were mates but if she continued to make him waver... it’d be dangerous. She had too much hold over him.

“The tingles...” He said, shifting on the stool as he avoided her eyes. “... are a sign that you belong by my side, as my mate.”

“Mate?” Her breath trembled.

He was saying...she, a human and a filthy one at that, was his mate? It had to be a lie, a cruel joke of his perhaps?

But deep down, she knew he had no reason to lie.

“A mate is so—”

“I know what it means, that much at least.”

“Oh...” Damon blinked. “I see.”

It had been years... since anyone had cut into his sentence. The last time it happened, the foolish Alpha’s tongue had left his mouth the next second. Now, however, he didn’t even have the slightest thought of hurting her. Instead, he wanted nothing more than to continue hearing her soft voice, to nuzzle against her neck and to hug her like his life depended on it.

A king had control of everything. But that tight grip he had on his own feelings was gone. It was beginning to feel upsetting. And he couldn’t even direct his anger at her if he wanted to, for those blue eyes of hers would shut him up in an instant!

How long until he became a slave to her will?

Damon clenched his jaw and stood abruptly, the stool flipping over behind him. “Clean up if you want, I don’t care. And there’s food in the fridge. If you’re hungry, make it yourself.” Without waiting for a response, he stormed off, waves of rage rolling off him.

Sarah flinched back, gripping her legs. Somehow, his demeanor had changed in a matter of moments. She watched his back as he disappeared around the corner. He was seething, any fool could tell. Was he going to rip her to shreds the next time he saw her?

The least he could've done before feeding on her flesh and hanging her remains on the walls, was make her food, bring her warm clothes and have her enjoy her last few moments inside this stunning place.

Certainly, he was as cold-hearted as they said.

After a few long minutes of glancing around with reasonable caution, Sarah slipped off the couch and allowed her bare feet to touch the fluffy mat on the floor. She didn’t know where to go, or what her duty entailed of while she was alive and kicking, but she took hesitant steps forward, exploring what was apparently her ‘home’ until he decided to end her.

‘For now, it’ll be fine, right?’