Chapter 17

Eira’s POV
I stirred at the sound of voices nearby.
My eyes fluttered open, but the dizziness clung to me like a heavy fog. My limbs felt weighed down, my chest hurt and breathing felt like a chore.
The ceiling above me was unfamiliar, definitely not of the hospital room I had last seen. I turned my head to look around. The room was well-furnished, its walls and floor made of polished wood, even the air smelled different too, something warmer… richer. Wood. Earth. Home.
’Their home. I’m inside their home.’
Panic crept up as the realisation struck me. I tried to move, ignoring the pain in me chest, only to find one of my wrists cuffed to the side of the bed.
They truly meant to keep me here as their captive.
Once more I heard those voices, now getting closer and clearer.
“I’m not going to that bitch. I’m not a damn doctor. Call Liam,” came a frustrated voice from just beyond the door.
“I already called Liam. He’s busy today with surgeries. You studied medicine for three years, so you can—”
“That was years ago. I’ve forgotten everything. Find someone else.”
“We can’t risk letting someone new examine her. Do you want her to recover or not?”
“I only want her healed enough to fuck and film so we can send that video to her old admirer, that asshole Kaizan. After that, she can rot in hell for all I care.”
My blood ran cold. ’Kaizan? Who is that? Why would they send a video of me to him?’
The voices continued.
“Then for the sake of preparing her to look good in the video, just check her condition.”
“I’m not touching that bitch without a reason. Do it yourself.”
“What are you two arguing about now?” a third voice cut in—calm, but authoritative.
“I want him to check her. You know he has studied medicine before.”
“That bitch won’t die, so stop troubling our guy,” someone muttered from behind the door, voice sharp with indifference. “And I came to tell you—get her tested for diseases before we fuck her. I’m not putting my cock in some diseased cunt.”
“Liam already ran the tests. She’s clean,” came the reply.
“Oh? you two are here as well. Let’s take a look at that bitch together.”
Panic gripped my chest as their footsteps approached. They were going to enter the room.
I shut my eyes tightly, forcing my breath to slow. If they thought I was asleep, maybe they’d leave me alone. Maybe they wouldn’t touch me.
The door creaked open.
I heard the distinct sound of footsteps hitting the wooden floor. All five of them were inside now, and I could feel their presence like a storm brewing above me.
“She should’ve woken up by now,” Roman said. I could recognize his voice now—calm, but cold. “It’s been more than twenty-four hours.”
“She’s pretending,” came another voice, one that sent a shiver down my spine. Him. He always knew when I faked sleep, even back then. He would always catch me. Just like now.
My heart clenched as silence fell over the room.
Knowing I’d been caught, I slowly opened my eyes and looked at them.
Familiar faces from my past that once I thought to be people close to me, but now felt complete like strangers.
Each one of them had turned different kind monster to me, hurting me in their own different ways.
One of them I was once madly in love with and he felt the same towards me. We made promises to spend this life together. His light green eyes used to be gentle, a mirror of the soul I once trusted.
I still remembered his words, clear as crystal. “You’ll be an adult soon. Then I’ll declare you as mine, and we’ll get engaged. We’ll get married.”
One of them had raped me just a month before I was about to come of an age. I couldn’t even tell my pain to anyone, not even to the one I loved. What could I have possibly told him? That while I was saving myself for him, his friend tore me apart?
Another had beaten me to death that I still woke up screaming from nightmares of that night. While the one I loved was watching me getting beaten up quietly from the side.
One of them had always bullied me. Mocked me. Made my life hell for no reason, like I was his favorite game to torment. I endured it—for the sake of the one I loved. Because they were friends.
And the last… he had always hated me. From the very beginning. My mere existence seemed to offend him. Even now, his eyes held nothing but loathing. And I still didn’t know what I had done to deserve it.
Loved, raped, beaten up, bullied, and hated for no reason. This is what these five gave me, in return for how much I trusted them.
Lucian stepped forward, entering my line of sight with a twisted smirk. “So, you were pretending, huh? Pretentious, as always.”
I didn’t answer. Any reply would only invite more of his sick amusement, more of his venom. And I had no strength left for that.
He turned toward Jason, lips curled into a cruel grin. “Roman wanted you to check her, didn’t he? Then check her pussy. See if it’s at least a little fuckable or already rotted from overuse.”
Jason gave him a look of pure disgust. “And if it is rotten?”
“Then we’ll just fuck her with our eyes closed,” Lucian replied with a low, sinister chuckle. “You got a tool? She is looking so disgusting that I don’t want to touch her yet.”
“My tools are too precious to touch filth,” Jason snapped, his voice cold.
I simply turned my face toward the window, eyes vacant, mind detaching from my body. Over the years I had heard every disgusting comment men could make about my body, every part they took interest in, that my mind had trained itself to shut it down.
Just fuck and leave. That’s what my mind always told them in silence, and it would wake up again after they had done and left.
“Take this.” It was Kael’s voice I knew. He had tossed something to Lucian.
Lucian walked towards me, but I didn’t look at him.
“Spread your legs,” he ordered, something sharp and cold running along the bare skin of my exposed thigh.
I did as I was told.
Just fuck and leave. Over and over again, I repeated it in my head.
What more could they do?
Men were all the same. Human or werewolf—it didn’t matter. Every last one of them was a fucking bastard.