Unexpected: Forever His (Book 1)

Chapter 9: Challenges, Collars, and Disgrace

*****Kayla after her disgrace*****

I sucked in a deep breath and snapped my eyes open. I heard his unsteady, deep breaths before I saw him. The cabin was dark, but the alertness in my mind told me that he was very close. I pulled myself up, still fully clothed and glanced towards the door.

In the next second, I was pulled off of the bed by my hair and forced onto the floor on my knees. He reached up and flicked the light on by the string and I squinted my eyes as the light hit them.

"Aiden, please..." I whispered out, but he pulled roughly against my hair and forced me down even lower into my submissive position.

"You don't speak unless I tell you to, woman. I smell him all over you. Where have you been?"

I laughed but made no attempt to answer.

He responded by jerking me up by my hair onto my feet and he held my hair down so that I was forced to look up at him. "Answer me, now!"

"I've been here all along, Aiden. I went nowhere..." He opened his mouth, but I continued before he could say anything. I had to tell him what Alex told me to tell him. "Nowhere in reality. Alex summoned my spirit to him. You smell him on me because I gave myself to him. I am his queen. He told me to tell you, dear Aiden, that he has challenged you for his queen."

He laughed so loud that I thought the walls of the cabin were shaking and I felt fear creeping up through my spine.

"Challenged, huh? Well, tell me then, miss vampire queen...if he intended on challenging me, why did he send you back here knowing what I would do?"

He let my hair go only to grab my upper arm so hard that I felt it pop under the pressure and I screamed out with the pain. "By the time I am done with you, you will wish he had never summoned you at all, Kayla Greyson." He headed towards the door without releasing his hold on my arm and I was helpless to follow. My bare feet scraped violently across the floor and then the rocks in the dirt as he pulled me up the path towards the center of the village. Once we were in the middle of all of the buildings, we had already gained the attention of a small crowd of the pack and more were slowly trickling our way. He pushed me forcefully up against the pole and secured my hands around the other side with the rope hanging from it. He then turned and spoke to the crowd around us.

"Your Luna has betrayed us and in doing so has brought a threat of war to our pack. The vampire that we signed an alliance with has challenged me. I will not meet his challenge and as such, he will come and see his point of challenge to mean little by nightfall. I will teach her a lesson, but from this day forth, I stand before my pack and make my vow known in front of the Moon that I deny her as my Luna and she will be henceforth the lowest ranked member of our pack. She is a disgrace to all of us." I heard gasps and outcries of rage from different ones and I closed my eyes. I hadn't imagined Aiden would do something like this. I felt panic rushing through me and I tried to connect my mind to Alex. Fuzziness. 'Alex...please...' I tried before I heard Aiden speak again, louder this time.

"Benjamin, bring me the collar and the whip."

I heard someone cry out. "No, please. Kayla. She didn't know what she was doing, Alpha. Please."

"SILENCE! She may not have, but he did. This is his punishment, not hers. She is just the medium, but she will suffer as well for her insubordination to me. I am Alpha of this pack and she completely disregarded an order that I gave her as my Luna. No disobedience is as great as that. Surely you understand this, Annaleigh!"

I gasped and tears started to pour from my eyes. My mom and dad were here. They would have to watch this. Because of my choices, they would be hurting. I closed my eyes and fought for composure as I heard the metal of the collar being handed to Aiden. He stepped towards me and jerked my head up. He slipped the collar around my neck and when he pulled it tight, I immediately gritted my teeth in pain in order to keep from screaming. It was lined with silver on the inside. Of course. Silver. Werewolf's poison. It wouldn't kill me, but it would weaken me and cause me to not be able to heal as quickly from the whip lacerations. I looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was just about to recede behind the trees. Not close enough. He wouldn't be able to come for at least 2 or 3 more hours if the sun was any indication. I closed my eyes and lowered my head as I heard Aiden speak again.