Sold To The Alphas

Kaia

It was too early for anyone to be awake, but my room felt like a coffin. I couldn't stay in there. I hadn't slept, and my body felt like lead, dragging across the floor. My brain was a thick fog, heavy and slow, moving like a corpse.

The hallway was a tomb. Silent. Empty. Perfectly still.

Then I felt it. A prickle on the back of my neck. Something was in the shadows, tracking me.

The hit came out of nowhere. A shadow slammed into me, shoving me into a dark corner until the walls felt like they were closing in to swallow me whole.

A white-hot flash of pain erupted across my face. The slap was a single, sharp crack that echoed off the stone.

"You little bitch!"

Devora's face was twisted, ugly with a manic kind of rage. Behind her, her two shadows hovered with grins that were too wide and far too sharp. Their teeth glinted like small, hungry predators.

She fist her hand into my hair, yanking my head back until my scalp burned. "You're a whore! I saw the way you threw yourself at Damon! You think you're good enough to even look at the son of the Second Empire?"

My cheek was a sheet of fire. I tried to pull away, my voice trembling. "I-I didn't! I never even looked at him!"

Her laugh was thin and jagged, like breaking glass. "Liar! You're nothing without your father. You're trash! He is mine!"

The air left me. They moved in like a pack. A fist sank into my stomach, stealing my breath. Another cracked against my ribs. A brutal rain of strikes followed-stomach, side, face. One set of nails clawed at my head while another blow landed in my side. Every nerve in my body screamed in a single, dying note of agony.

Then, something inside me snapped.

The pain didn't just fade; it vanished. The world stopped hurting. Everything went quiet. The high-pitched, terrified ringing in my ears died down, replaced by a low, hungry roar.

I didn't plan the next move. I didn't think at all. I just became a blur. My hands shot out, not to block, but to destroy.

I locked my fingers around Devora's throat.

Her eyes went wide. The hate drained out of her face, replaced by raw, naked terror.

"G-gah..." She tried to scream, but it only came out as a wet, choked rattle.

Power surged through my veins, hot and heavy like molten metal. I lifted her off her feet. She kicked and clawed, but it was like a doll fighting a mountain. I threw her against the cold wall with a force that made the stones vibrate. She felt light. She felt pathetic.

Her friends froze. Their cruel little smiles shattered. I could smell the sharp, stinking scent of their fear.

I felt nothing. No pain, no regret. Only the rage.

My vision bled into something else. The blue was gone, replaced by a cold,