Misty II

[4] Giver

"Can I go out?"

Emily collected the steel bowl from me and glanced at the woman beside her.

My eyes fell on the green-eyed beauty. Her hair were chestnut with face holding blankness. She was the first person I had seen after waking up.

Sitting there near my bed, she was observing me sleeping. Since then, she hadn't spoken a word to anyone. Later, Emily entered with the hot soup. Both watched me sipping it while my gaze didn't move off the newly bandaged knees of mine.

The bedsheets were replaced by a thin blanket underneath my body. I was naked again under the furs.

Just as the glimpses of last night entered my mind, the fear started crawling back along.

"With those knees?" The new woman spoke finally. She had a velvety voice and yet no smile on her face. Her eyes were so blank as if my situation was not pitiful enough for her. "Especially after what you did last night."

She wasn't wearing tight braids, instead the hair were wet and down.

I blinked, glancing at Emily who was staring down at the Ruby on my neck.

"I did what every abducted girl should do here," I whispered lowly, feeling the dryness around my eyes. I was fed up of sitting nearly naked in front of strangers. Amelia had removed the bedsheet from my body after treating the wounds, last night.

"What do ya think? No one tried that before? Once, twice or thousand times?" The woman said, raising her voice, clenching her jaws. "You were no one new to do that. But you are human."

My nostrils flared in mild anger as my stomach churned at her words. I looked at her with a small sad smile on my face. "Someone finally acknowledged what I am," I said, chuckling sadly. "What I actually am."

"Why won't I?" She said, looking at me. "Southern pack was made from a human. Having a human sent from that pack is no surprise to me. You must have been too weak to shift."

"Right," I muttered sarcastically. I gulped when the sudden realization hit me hard. "You are an outsider too," I exclaimed in the low tone, making her smile tightly.

She glanced at Emily and looked back at me. "Not anymore. I am of this pack, now. Just like you will be after tonight's rituals." Slowly her nostrils flared, she showed me the anger in her eyes. "So does every other bride that comes in. They all try to resist, to run away. But you're human. The injuries you would get by trying will get you killed."

"A better idea than marrying some creepy monster," I muttered while lowering my eyes at my lap.

"What does that mean?" Emily asked innocently.

I looked at her in blankness, observing her genuine curiosity. Shaking my head in trauma, I blinked slowly.

"It is for your own good, I am telling you this. Do not resist," the woman said, making me look at her. She flared her nostrils again as if controlling her urge to say more words. "Just obey them and you won't die. You won't be hated. You won't be hurt."

"When did you give up?" I asked her, my voice shaking on its own, shocking me.

She chuckled humorlessly, her eyes giving me the same blankness again. She shook her head.

"They all give up, Misty. You'll give up too if you manage to stay alive."

Shivers went down my spine.

"Are you Alvena?" I asked quietly, hating my weak voice. I couldn't control the urge to cry.

"She awaits meeting you too," said the woman, making me bite my tongue. "I am Nysa, Robin's mate."