Rising From The Ashes, The Vengeful Luna

Displeased: Alpha Liam POV

To say I was displeased was an understatement as I stepped out the next morning, to meet Autumn’s eyes as she motioned for me to follow her. As we walked, she offered up some information on the girl who had dared to trespass into my private space and sanctuary.

“Her name is Delilah and she’s new to the pack. She came from Alpha Roman’s” she said quietly.

“How did she get past security and into my room?” I growled.

“She took advantage of a shift change. It won’t happen again” Autumn offered up, looking slightly irritated. “It’s no excuse but with all the new pack members she somehow managed to slip through the cracks.”

Naturally. It was pretty clever of her to take note of the shift change and use it to her advantage. Any other time, I might have been impressed but I was still angry that I had let down my guard long enough for her to enter.

“What was she doing in my room, besides trying to seduce me?” I snarled.

I could still remember the feel of the girl's thighs as she clenched them, leaning over me, her eyes mere inches from mine when I woke up. It was lucky she didn’t have ill intentions or else she would be dead by now.

Autumn sighed. “She was an ex-girlfriend of Tobias’s. She seemed to be under the mistaken impression that if she managed to sleep with you, you would take her as your Luna.”

I snorted. “Everybody seems to think that way. What is it with these girls? Why can’t they simply wait for their fated mates like we are meant to? What is it about power that makes them go crazy” I said scathingly, shaking my head. “No inhibitions, any of them. They simply want the position of Luna without working for it. I’m not stupid enough to take a woman such as this as my mate.”

“We know,” Autumn said wryly, her hair bouncing lightly off her shoulders. “The thing is that you can’t afford not to punish her for this. Even as a new pack member, what she did was against the rules. I have her down here” she added, motioning dramatically to the dungeon as I smirked, already anticipating that’s what Autumn would have done.

We entered the basement together. I hadn’t gotten a close look at the girl before, but as I looked at her teary face and smeared makeup, I didn’t feel a hint of sympathy for her. I strode up to the cell, looking intently through the bars, unable to believe the gall of this woman. What had she been thinking? She was plain, average-looking at best. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back and she had big blue eyes that she batted at me, as though hoping that was enough to convince me to let her go. I almost laughed incredulously. This girl had no shame. Even now, she was attempting to play the victim and try to persuade me to let her go. It wasn't going to happen.

“Alpha Liam,” she said, her hands restrained in cuffs that burned her skin, her eyes looking at me pleadingly. “Alpha Liam, please, I didn’t mean you any harm last night, I swear.”

I snorted. Autumn looked at the girl with narrowed eyes. “You entered our Alpha’s quarters last night, uninvited, and attempted to sleep with him while he lay there sleeping. That is tantamount to rape” she hissed, clenching her little hands into fists as the girl’s eyes widened and she looked between the two of us in disbelief.

“No that’s not what I was doing” she protested heatedly.

“Really?” My voice was smooth as silk. “Then what would you call it?”

She brightened. My tone had made her think that she was not in trouble, even as I fought to keep my composure.

“I was just trying to make you feel good” she purred, licking her lips. “As my new Alpha, I thought it was my duty to serve you.”

“To serve me?” My tone is filled with disgust. “Is that how Tobias put it when he asked for you girls to come to him?”

She flinched. “Tobias did nothing of the sort. I was merely trying…” she continued to protest, her cheeks flushing a bright red.

“Trying to rape me” I supplied, my tone turning dark. “Whether you are a girl or not, the premise of what you were doing remains. Did you honestly think that by sleeping with me, you could force me to make you my Luna? It doesn’t work that way. Those tricks might work in other packs, but not here. You were stupid to even try. I’m not attracted to you in the slightest” I growled as tears filled her eyes and humiliation covered her face. “In fact, I find you ugly" I finished with condemnation.

“Alpha Liam” she tried to move closer, inching her way towards me on her knees, her face lifting to gaze up at me earnestly. “Alpha Liam, the word is you don’t have a mate. Everybody was talking about it. I just thought that if you were to take a chosen mate, why not see if it could be me? Can you blame me for trying” she protested thickly.

“You were stupid and foolish. I don’t care what the rumors around the pack are. You let desire overcome common sense. Autumn” I looked at my Gamma who was remarkably calm as she listened to the exchange. “What happens to women like this in my pack?” I asked her deliberately, wanting the girl to be afraid.

She smiled. It was malicious and purposely aimed at this Delilah woman. “Well” she said tapping her chin and considering it. “You have three choices,” she told Delilah who stared at her, the blood draining from her face. “The first one is torture” she sounded matter of fact, “the second one is banishment.”

Delilah looked at me desperately and then glanced back to Autumn, a lone tear trailing down her cheek. “Not a rogue” she blurted out, sobbing “I would never survive. I’m not strong enough” she whispered. “I would die.”

Autumn shrugged. She was unfazed by the girls pleas. She merely tilted her head and studied her. “Then that leaves you with the first option or the third one. Privately, I would take the first option but I’m not you and I have different values” she added nonchalantly. “For all I know you might enjoy the third option.”

Delilah licked her lips. “I don’t want torture” she confessed, her voice shaking as she stared down at the ground. “What is the third option?” she asked desperately.

Her voice was meek. I nodded at my Gamma. She gave a slow and wicked grin at Delilah, leaning forward to rake her gaze over the girl.

“The third option is to have done to you what you were trying to do to him” she pointed at me.

Delilah stared at her uncomprehendingly. Autumn looked impatient. She rolled her eyes and then slowly spelled it out for her.

“Rape. We give you to several of our men and teach you exactly why you should never have tried to sleep or seduce Alpha Liam.”

“What kind of option is that” Delilah screamed, getting to her feet and trying to grab the bars, only to jump back as she was burned by the silver.

“I thought I was being magnanimous even allowing you to choose,” Autumn told her coldly. “Generally, I don’t give that option but I was in a good mood today. What will it be?” she asked frostily.

“I…I can’t” she stammered, looking pitiful and swaying on her feet. “How can you do this?” she cried.

“You won’t make yourself a victim in front of me. You knew full well the consequences of what you were doing. This is Alpha Liam’s pack, not Alpha Roman’s. We aren’t as merciful as he might have been. Choose.”

My Gamma’s tone is flat. She studies her nails, eyeing Delilah with a sidelong glance. Silence. The girl was shaking her head in denial.

“Torture” I growled, sick of the delay. “Torture her until she can’t move and then starve her for three days. It should prove to be enough of an example to the others not to try anything like this.”

I was fed up and ready to go back to work. This was simply a waste of my energy and time. The girl would learn her lesson and with luck would stay away from me and even the pack house if she was smart.

“As you wish Alpha Liam. I’ll get started straight away” Autumn promised me.

“You? But you’re a woman” protested Delilah with a shriek.

“My gamma is quite capable of torture,” I told the girl with a sneer. “I’ll be up in the study if you need me” I added, turning on my heel and heading for the stairs.

A scream for mercy was the only sound that accompanied me before I shut the door and closed it off, muffling the sound as I walked steadily back towards my study.