A Match of Monsters

Chapter Twenty-Two

When Elain was forced awake the next morning, the hand that slapped her face felt completely human.

The man had the same bulked up muscular build and dirty blond curls that the alpha'd had last night, but at least he was not naked. Tattered leather boots and trousers covered his lower body, but of his upper he only wore an open deer hide jacket.

"Little Human, if you want to survive, it's time you answer our questions. If you speak to our satisfaction, you will join the pack. If not, you can feed the pack." His word were much more eloquent that those of his more bestial form, well spoken without the unexpected holts between words and syllables.

Elain clutch the sleeping kit tighter against her chest and pressed her back tighter against the roughly hewn stone behind her. The pain from the yank as the heavy chain attached to her collar fell to the ground from where it rested on her shoulder was enough to convince her to nod her head. He might look human right now, but the alpha was still a monster. She did not want anything happening to her or the kit because she did not comply with them.

"Good. I would speak to you out her, but the Alpha wishes for this conversation to be in the privacy of our tent. Grab your dragon pup and behave."

With those cautioning words, his large hands reached out and unlocked the chain links that had been weighing down her neck all night. Just to clip and lock a leash in its place. Thick, woven leather that weighted almost as much as the metal, Elain could already feel the pressure on her throat as one side of the collar was dragged down by its weight and began to rub on the raw skin over her clavicle, at the indent where her shoulder met her neck.

Red and swelling, the flesh was painful to the touch, but Elain dared not cry out in pain. She was scared to display any pain, in case the werewolves decided not to keep her alive after all. She did not know how they thought or would react to anything she did, whether it be perceived as weakness or rebellion. She would not take the risk.

So Elain only bit her lip until she could taste the iron of her own blood. It did not take any effort, as the bruised skin was cracked and bleeding with only a thin scab spread taught across it to cover the abuse of her stress over the last week.

She pulled the kit tightly into her embrace until he was curled up over her heart, and wrapped him tightly in her cloak until she was exposed to the harsh weather and his snout could barely be seen. When she was ready, she looked at the Alpha but did not raise her gaze before once more nodding her head.

Her throat was dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth from her terror. She did not dare attempt to answer the Alpha in fear that she would choke on her words. All she could do was move her head and hope that he understood her.

"If you and the dragon pup are ready, then it is time for you to see our Alpha. Keep it silent and remember to speak your answers. Do this and you will live, do it well and we might consider feeding you." The words and their meaning that rang clearly through them were cruel, but his voice was emotionless. As he spoke, he gave Elain no hints as to how he felt about their situation, and she was too scared of accidentally challenging him to look up and study his eyes. Or even his body language.

"Y-yes, Alpha." She managed to stutter out after a long moment of building silence. She felt as if her voice was strangling her when she forced it past her teeth and out into the tight atmosphere between them.

He roughly grabbed and yanked it up until she had not chance but to stare into the dark frost of his eyes. Her own were forced to stay open as his snow blue ones burned with a deadly intensity.

"You will look at us when we speak, and you answer us with your words. The sun is high in the sky and we will consider it more of a challenge if you refuse to look into either mine or the Alpha's eyes, than if you do. You appear to be smart for a human, so I'm sure that you understand what it will mean if you are so foolish as to challenge us in any way." Now, for the first time since she had heard him speak to her, she could hear the emotion travelling through his voice. Supressed and difficult to detects, but there all the same. Disgust, loathing, and strangest of all – pity. The lilt of her words, how they went from sharp to soft and back again betrayed how he felt, even if he was able o hide it in his eyes behind a heavy wall of superior distain at the state of her intact humanity.