"That bitch!! That stupid stinking Omega!" Gaia shrieked, throwing a comb across the room that nearly hit one of her maids.
The news that Ilara had been elevated from a slave to a Concubine had already spread across the pack grounds. This was the highest form of humiliation for her.
"I've waited six years,six damn years to be made Luna yet, she bats her eyes and seduces him for one night,just one night and he elevates her to his concubine?"
Gaia felt like screaming,all her tears of scheming for that omega to always be one step ahead of her?!
Furious was an understatement,she felt like a volcano inside.
"Bring that bitch to me! I'll teach her a lesson,I'll teach her to remember her freaking place!" She ordered her maids and two of the guards at the door.
"But…but Luna,She's still in the Alpha's room and he's still there too." One of the maids stuttered.
Gaia's palm landed on her face in a second "Do I have to put every smart idea into your stupid head?!"
"Get out! Go!" She yelled frustrated.
The maids scurried out of the room and the guards followed.
Ilara woke up feeling sore. Her whole body hurt and aches in all the places Caesar had touched her last night. She felt weak from releasing too many pheromones yesterday. But mostly it was the shame that burned into her chest as she touched her swollen lips.
She was still naked under the sheets and when she blinked, her torn clothes were gone,now replaced by a silk red dress on the table beside the bed.
She sat up slowly,it hurt. Caesar wasn't just cruel,he was an animal. She sighed…she wasn't able to stop him again last night. No matter how many times she tried,she always ended up letting him have his way and she hated that.
"Alpha has made that Omega his concubine…
She could hear the whispers outside the door.
"Does she even know her place? Luna Gaia won't sit still about this." Another voice said.
They were speaking in hushed tones but she could still hear them or maybe they weren't trying to be discreet at all.
"She's just a scheming bitch. Always trying to seduce the Alpha." The first voice said again.
She froze as the panic set in. Caesar's words from last night came flooding back into her memory. The bastard had now totally deprived her of any form of freedom. This was more humiliation in the form of privilege. Her stomach twisted. If Gaia found out,she was as good as dead. Her mother may pay for it with her life.
The collar around her neck felt itchy, the chains around her wrists and ankles were gone.
The door flung open and Caesar walked in shirtless,his tall broad shouldered frame blocking the sunlight streaming in through the windows.
"Alpha?" She whispered without looking up. "When can I…see my son?"
"You'll see him when I decide." He responded with a faint casual shrug as he sat down in a chair and pulled his shirt on.
"Why are you doing this?!" She nearly yelled, frustrated. "He's just a child, whatever this is all about,it's my fault. Leave him out of it please." She said pleadingly,tears filling her eyes quickly.
She picked up the dress from the table and rushed to throw it on. It screamed too much attention.
He was suddenly up from the chair and right beside her,his form towering over her
He grabbed her chin roughly. "Forget about that child, he's dead to you. Do you hear me?"
He let go of her chin. Without another word,he turned and left the room, slipping into their hallway for a council meeting. Her heart sank when she realized the door was now open for Predators to pounce on her like prey.
The moment came faster than she had braced herself for. Two of Gaia's maids entered the room with stern expressions
"Lady Gaia would like to see you now." One of them said.
She didn't need to be told twice. She knew exactly what was coming. The guards smirked as they dragged her through the place,their hands firm on her arms.
The whole pack already knew about her status as the Alpha's concubine.
Gaia's quarters were immaculate,the air tense with her presence as she moved back and forth impatiently.
"Well,well...if it isn't the little Omega." She purred when Ilara was brought in. Her voice was laced with venom. "Finally I get to see what Caesar actually wants."
Ilara didn't answer,she simply glared back at Gaia, trying to steel herself.
Gaia's palm landed hot on her face, leaving the mark of her five slender fingers.
"You think you're clever, don't you?" She said, circling Ilara like a predator. "Do you feel proud,being his…concubine? You knew everyone would see and know right? That's why you schemed so hard and seduced him again"
She grabbed Ilara's hair at the back of her head and tilted her face upward. "I'm going to teach you your place,you wench!"
She raised her hand. "Maids."
The two women stepped forward and Ilara could see the whip gleaming in one of their hands. Her pulse quickened…not from fear but from the anticipation of the pain and how carefully she would have to survive it.
"You'll learn your place," Gaia hissed. "And you'll remember who holds power here."
The first lash landed on her ankles forcing her to kneel. She gritted her teeth to hold in the pain. As the lashes descended on her back, she bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming but groaned from every strike. Yet she didn't cry, she had survived worse than this.
"How dare you try to steal the Alpha from me?" Gaia hissed impatiently, grabbing her chin. "Caesar is mine!"
"Why don't you chain him like a dog then." Ilara whispered defiantly as another strike landed on her back.
Gaia slapped her again "how dare you refer to my mate as a dog?"
Ilara laughed. "Your mate? Why hasn't he marked you yet? It's been six years. Face it princess,he doesn't love you,he doesn't want you either. The only reason he keeps you around is because he thinks you're the one that saved him that night."
"Which we both know is a lie." She added.
Gaia flared up, grabbing Ilara by the throat. "Keep speaking to me like that and see what happens to your wretched mother and your precious son."
By the time the last lash fell on her back,she was trembling,drenched in sweat and humiliation yet she refused to cry. Her breaths were shallow and fast.
The mention of her mother and son angered her and made the pits of her stomach boil.
The door burst open and Ryker, Caesar's Beta, walked in.
"What have you done?!" He rushed to Ilara's side.
"Who gave you permission to whip her?" His voice was trembling with fury and Gaia hissed.
Her maids dropped the whip and stepped back,bowing their heads.
Ilara felt dizzy but before she could collapse,he lifted her into his arms. She was too weak to speak or resist it.
He turned around and began to walk out of the room.
No matter how much of a spoiled,furious bitch Gaia was, Ryker's authority was far more powerful than hers. So she could only stand powerless and watch.
"Pray…Alpha doesn't find out about what happened here." Ryker stopped at the door and said without looking back before he continued out the door.