Owned by the Alphas Prequel: Choosing the Alpha

I was yanked from my dream as Silas pulled me out of bed hours later.

My mind was still trying to cling to the men that had made me feel things I had never felt.

Something in my chest warmed, a spark there keeping me connected to them.

I wasn’t even sure if it was real or if they were, but it had felt like it—and that was enough to keep me living the pleasure from it.

“You reek of arousal, Kassandra. Having a bit of fun on my venom, were you?” Silas whispered in my ear as he dragged me from my cell and out of the dungeons.

I smirked, “Yeah, I pictured killing you. It turned me on,” I huffed back.

He glared at me, and his grip on my wrist tightened. It hurt, but I didn’t care. Not when I still had pleasure coursing in my body.

It hummed with a feeling that I hadn’t felt in a while.

Hope.

I wasn’t sure why tonight felt different, but it did. And images of those men and their touch were like a brand in my mind, keeping my body and mind awake, hoping for something different.

Silas took me through the castle, the stone cold on my bare feet, the windows all open, letting in the shadows of the blood moon as it sat big and bright in the sky.

It was almost time.

I shivered. I wasn’t ready to be tortured after everything I had felt from the men in my dream. But I wasn’t scared. Not like normal.

Something about the dream and the feelings I had been given made me more determined to escape.

It had been a foolish notion before. Vampires were fast and lethal. I had no chance, but tonight, I had the urge to try.

Silas led me to the middle room of the castle where the glass ceiling was open, letting in the blood moon.

The room had a large empty circle in the middle of surrounding bleachers of wooden seats that the entire vampire collective occupied. The floor was polished with marble and still had blood stains from last month on it.

The X I always got tied to was in the middle, my chains dangling down, clinking against it.

Guards lined the center, straight-backed vampires with sharp teeth and beady eyes.

They watched as Silas pushed me into the X frame.

He cuffed my wrists, and I stayed silent with pursed lips. I watched as he clipped the second cuff shut and eyed a pin on his coat.

That was my chance.

“What you did before. It made me look forward to tonight,” I whispered to Silas.

He tensed and straightened his spine to look at me.

“Are you going to sing?”

I smiled and shook my head, “Probably not. But you said you wanted my throat for something else tonight,” I said, letting my voice become breathy.

His eyes sparkled with excitement, dragging along my lips. He stepped closer and leaned his head in so his lips brushed my ear.

I took the pin, hiding it in my fist as he grabbed the chains that were loose at the moment.

“I’ll come by after the ritual then,” he said, then yanked on the chains.

My arms flung up, pinned to the top of the X by the tautness of the chains.

Silas smirked, then knelt and cuffed my feet to the bottom of the X. But I didn’t care.

I had the pin, safely in my fist, and that alone had me sure I could make it through the night.

Silas turned me to the vast crowd of vampires. He faced the small podium where the Alpha vampire stood.

The Alpha vampire had long dark hair, slightly pointed ears, and a jeweled headpiece resting on his head, dangling over his forehead.

He eyed Silas with a slight nod.

Silas grinned and cleared his throat.

“Welcome, family. Tonight we have a very special moon ritual. The blood moon!” he called out. The vampires clapped lightly, the room tense with an ominous feeling.

Images of the men from my dream pulsed in my head, and I let out a sigh. They were still just as potent in there as they had been before.

“Five years ago, I heard a song. A siren song that our ancestors told us of. One that instantly had the blood in my body responding. The more I listened, the more changes I went through. The thirst that burned in my throat disappeared. The urge to open the vein of every human I saw was gone. The blinding need that overwhelmed me the second I scented the humans was gone. Only the song remained. My bloodlust was gone.” Silas gave this speech every year.

I knew it was just to add some theatrics to his show and earn him more favor with the other vampires, but it only made me more nervous. It built the suspense to the point I was shaking on the X.

I still had the pin clutched, but I knew the pain was going to start soon. I tried to stay in my head, to only think of the men and how they touched me, but I had no idea if I was going to be able to do that once the vampires started their ritual.

“Believed to be extinct, the siren magic that was born to help us control our bloodlust has been found once again,” he said. All the vampires turned to me, and as much as that made me want to hide, I lifted my chin, refusing to cower.

I just thought I had a nice singing voice. I had no idea it held some powerful abilities until Silas ruined my life to get it.

No wonder humans had kept the power quiet if this was what vampires did when they found it.

“The last five years, we have tried to hear that song again. To rid that bloodlust from our bodies, but our efforts have been futile. Tonight, with the blood moon as our witness, we will hear her sing again,” Silas announced.

I was determined to make him a liar.

The moon hit its peak point in the sky, and Silas grinned, turning to me. One of the vampire guards wheeled over a tray of utensils. I didn’t look at it.

I was quite well acquainted with them.

Silas moved to my back, which was exposed, the middle of the X touching my ass.

He slowly untied the strings until my back was exposed. He ran his fingers over the scars that were there.

“Such a pretty thing. Be a good girl and sing for me, would you?” he asked nicely. It always started nicely.

I pursed my lips and clenched my eyes shut.

Something clattered on the tray, and I knew Silas was choosing his first instrument.

I didn’t look.

I retreated into my mind, filling it with the dream I’d had of three Alphas worshiping my body. There was no pain there.

I clutched the pin tight, using the pricking in my finger to remind me why I was hanging on.

I had considered giving in, considered just singing, helping the vampires with their bloodlust—but I had promised. My mother wouldn’t have made me promise without a reason.

I didn’t know much about what my voice could do, and I didn’t want to risk doing more harm than good.

A few years ago, I’d heard some of the vampires talking in the dungeons when they thought I had passed out. I knew it didn’t just take away their bloodlust; it made them more powerful. The vampires needed my voice to give them the power and control to take on the wolves.

I hadn’t had much to do with the wolves; my tribe was from the mountains where we were left to our own lives. We had been offered safety in the villages, but my family had said we couldn’t.

I had wondered since they had died whether that was because of me—my voice.

But there was nothing I could do now except keep my promise. And I had. For the last five years.

Silas carved through the skin of my back, asking me after every slash if I was going to sing.

I kept silent, my eyes closed.

Tears stung behind my lids, my throat tight as pain made my body shake.

The shackles that held me to the X rattled, and I finally cried out when Silas used the whip, the lash hitting my spine.

He smirked and moved around, bringing my chin up. “Change your mind yet? It’s only the first hour, and I have a lot of treats for this ritual. It is a special one, after all,” he warned.

Maybe I should have listened.

But I didn’t, going back to the dream in my mind. I let it cloud the pain in phantom pleasure. I drew on the strength that gave me and endured Silas.

He spent hours adding wounds to my scarred skin. He gave the whip to the Alpha vampire who had his turn. Then he let the guards try.

I didn’t let them break me—not mentally.

I kept my mind away from the edges of giving in. I imagined the men’s hands on me, their mouths, their kisses.

I remembered the heat, the orgasm they had teased me with.

It was real again in my head, and I stayed there.

The hours ticked by, and when Silas finally stopped, I let out a panting breath.

It hurt everywhere.

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But I still clutched the pin.

I opened my eyes as the guards lit their torches and the other vampires exited the arena.

Silas snarled as he yanked me free from the X.

I collapsed on the ground in front of him, and he hauled me up, his teeth baring at me.

“You embarrassed me in front of everyone. You will pay for your disobedience,” he snapped.

I didn’t bother responding. I was already paying for it, so his threat didn’t scare me.

There wasn’t much more he could do to me.

Silas dragged me back through the castle, and despite one of my eyes being swollen from where the tail of the whip had bit into my cheek, I watched every hall and counted every door.

I was escaping from this hell, which only mattered if I knew the way out.

My dress was stained in blood, torn where the whip had broken through the fabric.

My ankles were bruised from the shackles, my wrists too.

And I was sure I had broken ribs this time.

Breathing was harder and harder as Silas urged me on. I had no idea how I was still on my feet.

I wasn’t even sure how I had survived this time.

The three mysterious dream strangers flashed in my mind, and something inside me told me it had everything to do with them.

Silas ripped open the door to my cage and threw me in.

I tumbled to the ground, my head smacking against the side of the bed. I groaned and held the bleeding wound.

Silas was there, licking the blood with a groan.

I shoved him back, but he snarled and pinned me. I couldn’t fight back, his hand so close to finding the pin I had in my fist.

“Maybe pain isn’t the way to get what I want from you,” he smirked, his eyes wild as he looked down at the neckline of my dress.

It was low, the curve of my breasts showing through the fabric.

He leaned down and sniffed my body. I shuddered and swallowed.

I was too scared to say anything.

“I bet you feel as good as you taste,” he murmured.

I was pretty sure he was talking to himself, his movements erratic as he licked my blood from his lips.

He sniffed again. “Mmm, a virgin too.”

I pursed my lips, glaring at him. Silas smirked and let one of my wrists go to ruffle his coat and shirt out of the way of his pant buttons.

I was about to risk it all by stabbing him in the neck with my pin when another vampire opened the door to the dungeons and came to my cell.

“Silas. The Alpha wants to see you,” he said gruffly.

Silas hung his head with a hiss.

When he looked back at me, he was more in control. He let go of my bruising wrist and stood up, rolling his shoulders back.

“Only give her half of the healing elixir. I want her to feel this for a while,” Silas smirked, then strode from my cell.

I let out a breath as the other vampire came in.

Compared to Silas, they were all friendly.

He was a big vampire with dark skin, his hair in tight, sleek braids down his back. He wore a ruffled black shirt with a patterned vest.

He pulled a vial of elixir out and handed it to me.

I took it warily, wincing as the movement radiated pain through me.

Blood trickled down my back from the lashes, and I knew my skin was a mess back there.

But I was accustomed to the burn of that. Every full moon for the last five years had built quite the pain tolerance.

“This is the whole bottle?” I questioned, wondering why he hadn’t given me half like Silas had ordered.

The vampire ignored me and left the dungeons without an explanation.

I chugged down the elixir in large gulps.

I grimaced as it immediately attached to the blood in my veins. It worked fast, sewing my skin back together and leaving more scars behind.

It did as much as it could, leaving only dull aches and blood behind.

As soon as I was healed enough to move without feeling like my body was going to give out on me, I ran to the cage lock.

I let the pin out of my fist and pushed it in, wiggling it, turning it, begging the stars to be released.

The lock clanked a second later, and I almost cried.

I grabbed the cell door and slid it open, putting the pin between my fingers and curling them into a fist.

I took a deep breath, then went to the dungeon door, looking out it.

There were no vampires that I could see, and I risked opening it.

The door was heavy and scraped along the concrete, announcing my movements like a damn alarm.

I hesitated, waiting to make sure they weren’t already coming for me.

I only had this chance. Silas had been summoned, which meant while he was distracted, I could make my move.

As long as the other vampires didn’t catch me.

I took off, running down the halls of the dungeons to where I knew they threw the scraps of food they ate down a large rock chute to the pigs they kept outside.

I had been forced to serve the vamps over the years, and at the time, it had been shit.

Now, it was paying off.

I ran to the kitchen that was up one flight of concrete steps.

I went in the back entrance, slowly opening the door for any sign of vampires.

It was empty.

Was it luck or fate?

I didn’t stop to find out the answer.

I ran to the chute, grimacing as the stench of rotting food hit me.

It was disgusting and made of rock, so I knew it was going to hurt.

But pain was nothing in the face of escaping.

So I climbed inside and let go of the edge.

Stinking of rotting food, grazed and cut, I rolled out of the chute into the pig pen, mud covering my legs and arms.

I didn’t stop to clean myself, taking off in a sprint from the vampire castle.

I ran through the forest, through the small wastewater grate in the rock wall, then across the black moat before I heard the vampires.

The squeal in the dark night was piercing.

I covered my ears, wincing as I ran.

I sprinted over the marshlands outside vampire territory, the bats starting to squeal.

I didn’t have long.

I just had to make it past vampire territory.

Then I was safe.

The bats that guarded started attacking, biting and hissing as I ran.

I swatted them away with the pin between my knuckles, diving from the marshlands.

The bats couldn’t cross, and I breathed hard, looking back as they flew off to tell their masters I had gotten past.

I scrambled to my feet, pain throbbing on my skin at the bites and cuts.

But I kept running.

I had to. I couldn’t go back there.

Not now.

I looked ahead to the forest.

I was almost there.

~

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