Beloved

Chapter Twenty-Seven

(Here's something to remind you of Emanual... happy holidays and happy reading!) 

Kristen's POV

The room had fallen silent, but Calvin's words still echoed through my head. My gaze had glued itself to my thighs, scared of meeting his mad eyes. I was sure they were set firm on me. He was probably waiting for my reaction.

"W-what do you mean?" I croaked, my voice tiny and raspy.

"You're a smart, little human, Kristen." He paused for a brief moment, only to put his rough hand on my cheek. I shakily inhaled and closed my eyes. Moving my head away from his hands didn't help and I was too scared to do anything else.

"You know how I feel about you, don't you?"

"No..." My voice was barely more than a pathetic whisper.

"How can you not? You've seen the way I've looked at you, haven't you?" At that moment, he reminded me of a snake. Hovering above me, flicking out his tongue and taunting me with his ridicule words. Compared to him, I wasn't more than a tiny mouse.

"Answer me." He snapped and my body jumped. I glanced up at him to find cold eyes and skin a shade redder than usual.

"Yes-yes, I've seen."

"Good. Be more obedient next time. When I ask a question, I want an answer." His fingers weren't stroking my cheek anymore but had slithered down to my neck. His palm kept from squeezing my windpipe, but it was firmly settled above it, as a clear reminder of what he could do. In fear of another bad reaction, I nodded slowly. My head was barely moving, because of his sweaty grip on my neck, but it seemed to please him.

Silence filled the cell again, and nothing but the sound of my ragged breathing was heard. Calvin stood from his crouched position and looked at me shortly, not much emotion showing on his face.

Then, he left. The clicking sound of a lock sounded to my disappointment.

I stayed put, catching my breath and letting my tears dry.

• • •

My eyelids sprung open. I tried lifting myself from my curled up position on the concrete floor but ended up lying down again. I had been fighting to stay awake for hours – maybe more, maybe less. I feared Calvin coming into the room, while I was asleep. Who knew what he'd do to me.

This time, I was lying right in front of the door, fiddling with the rotten corners. The tips of my fingers were sore by now, but I kept digging into the wood, trying to get past the endless splinters. In the process, I had dozed off countless of times. I wanted to give in. My entire body begged me to let myself rest.

Giving up on the door, I got on my knees and crawled to the corner furthest from the entrance and curled myself into a ball, protecting myself from the cool air.

• • •

"Wake up." 

My dreamless slumber was ruined by a warm hand, wrapping itself around my upper arm and hauling me up to a seated position. I was quick to wake up when I realized who was on the other end of the hand. I avoided eye contact with him. 

"How are you feeling?" The words were decent. Nice, even. But the tone of his voice suggested otherwise. He didn't care. 

"Bad."

"Hm, don't worry, this won't be your room forever. Just till I get everything sorted out."

"What is it you want?" My voice was soft and small. I hoped the humbleness of my tone would cover for the explicit question. 

Calvin didn't answer for some time, an empty expression covering his face. 

"Emanual and I are the same age. We grew up so close, but our lives were still very different." My eyes ran over his features as he talked. He was wearing a simple gray shirt and black jeans, but his eyes contrasted from his casual clothes. His pupils were full of tension and heat. 

"He grew up to be an Alpha. He was popular, had the perfect family and was always assured a bright future. And why? Because he was lucky enough to get born into a privileged life." Resentment radiated off of him as he spoke. His voice was strained as if he was pushing every syllable out through his teeth. 

"You should understand the unfairness of this, Kristen." He bent his knees till he was on an eye level with me and pierced me with his gaze. I tensed at his words. 

"W-why should I?" Anxiety rose to my cheeks and neck, burning my skin and coloring me red. 

"Uncovering your background wasn't very hard. It didn't take a lot of researching to learn that you were abandoned by your parents as a little girl."

"I wasn't abandoned. My parents died." I spat at him, nearly surprising myself with my harsh reply. 

"Hm, my bad." He shifted his crouched down stance and looked at me. 

"Anyhow, he's finally gonna get what he deserves. And so am I." His gaze on me was hard and I squirmed. Images of Calvin hurting Emanual filled my head, making me nauseous. 

"Please don't do this." I weakly pleaded. I didn't even know what he was going to do, but I knew I wouldn't see Emanual again if Calvin succeeded. And I couldn't stop him from doing just that. 

"Think about it. He kidnapped you, lied to you, locked you in his house... I could go on!" He lifted his hands as he talked. 

"You finally get revenge, too. He's a greedy asshole, who only thinks about himself and his own desires." I widened my eyes at his words, and stayed quiet for a bit. I wanted to scream at him that he was ten times worse than Emanual, but in fear of starting an argument and Calvin using physical strength to win, I didn't say a word. 

"Don't you want that, Kristen?"

"No," I paused, licking my dry lips, a tear escaping my left eye. "He's my mate. I don't want him to get hurt." I said quietly. He placed his hand on my shoulder before replying. 

"Does that make what he did to you okay? If you two weren't mates, he wouldn't even have a speck of interest in you." The last sentence felt like a kick in the stomach and another tear ran down my cheek. Calvin had said what I had always worried about deep down. Was he right? I sniffled, gathering the pieces of hope I still had in my heart.

"He'll always be better than you." 

A growl immediately rippled through Calvin's chest, making me press myself more into the wall behind me. He sprung to his feet, hovering over me. 

"If you don't start accepting this, you'll end up dead, too."

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wooh. sorry for not updating in over a month, december is hectic and i've been stuck for a bit. 

but thank you guys so so so much for 100k reads!! it's crazy and not at all what i imagined would happen when i started this story two years ago <3 i can't thank you guys enough. all of you!

please remember to vote and please leave a comment if you liked this chapter. seeing your comments and votes is super motivating!!

thank you,

Mic x