Page 20 of Choosing Her Alpha
"Who did that to you?" the raven-haired jewel asked. "Did your father order that? I have known some fucking evil alphas, but what kind of monster would do that to a baby knowing what would happen the rest of her life?"
"That's so cruel," the sapphire jewel agreed. The other three gave sympathetic murmurs.
"Oh my," one gasped, shocked and appalled. They'd seen the scars now on her back and across her thighs.
The reminder of her past had her fists in tight balls. It was like Maura was suddenly in the room with them, spewing filth and telling her why she deserved those scars, laughing at her as the jewel’s tutted.
Sasha breathed fast through her nose. She had nothing to be ashamedabout,she reminded herself. These women could not embarrass her with their calls for moisturizer and gasps of half-felt empathy. They didn't know her. They didn't know where or what she came from, and they couldn't understand the woman who had done those horrible things to her.
She lacked the beautiful, slim curves the four colorful betas claimed, she did not possess the generous softness of the red jewel, a woman who Sasha thought must have breeder genetics. She also may not have been clean and perfect, but she would not feel uncomfortable with things she could not change.
Or so she told herself.
The reality was that she was the current focus of more attention now than she had ever had in her entire life, and she was going to burst into tears (again) or scream bloody murder if they said just one more thing.
The black-haired jewel saw her starting to crack. Maybe, being a breeder herself, she felt it. She pulled the others away from Sasha and apologized.
"We're sorry, sweetie. We don't mean to scare you." Her words pushed like a whisper to her brain, encouraging Sasha to calm. "I'm Bella. I'm so sorry. Look at us, treating you the way we hate to be treated, taking your clothes off, getting into your space, not asking what you want.
"It's been a boring week, I guess. We missed two outings because of some trouble in the city and have been stuck in this room for too long. That's not an excuse for getting all excited and crowding you."
The young woman with light brown hair, wearing yellow and gold, made sounds of agreement and offered her hand. "I'm Ardrua. That was so rude, please forgive us."
Sasha fluttered her hands in front of her body. "Can I have something to wear?" She didn't like the meek, childlike sound of her own voice.
Three of the women dashed away to look for clothing, but a woman with dark brown hair wearing purple grabbed a blanket from the platform couch.
"I'm Neena, sweetie. Don't be afraid of us. We mean you no harm. You will love our makeovers. Your skin will feel so delicious that you won't be able to stop touching yourself."
Sasha pulled the blanket around herself and just blinked at her, feeling stupid. What had that woman just said?
Bella laughed at the younger girl's expression. "Oh, so young and innocent. I am sure our warlord adores you already."
Sasha didn't agree.
Two years ago, Merrick had come into her life and plowed through every bit of innocence she had. She was still a virgin only because Merrick didn't want to run afoul of breeder law.
But just because she'd never had sex and the idea of physical pleasure was still alien to her immature body didn't mean she was innocent. She knew how to endure. Survival sucked up innocence like a dry ground sucked up the rain. Yet all Sasha's past experiences weren't keeping her from feeling out of her depth.
Looking at this room, at these women, pretty-dressed jewels, she had the dawning realization that Constantine Kane had just added her to his harem.
His harem.
First a torture chamber. Then his big lap for lunch. Finally, his harem.
Lovely.
"Can we then?" Neena wanted to know.
"Huh?"
With a giggle, Ardrua finished for her, "Give you a makeover!"
Uncertain, Sasha replied with a weak, "Yes?"
Exchanging her blanket for a robe, they took her through a hidden panel in the wall, down two flights to awhite tiledspace that felt directly beneath the room they had just come from. It was a bath space, but oneclearlydesigned to suit the needs of multiple women who would spend a lot of time here. A shower with so many pipes and shower heads it made Sasha think of the distillery room, a bath tubthat stood on four clawed feet, and a second, sunken tub thing thatwas actually already filledwith heated, swirling water—several sinks, and three toilets hidden behind white curtains created a room for washing that was out of a dream. Oh, how the drones at home would coo and sigh over this room.
How much water did this one room in Kane's complex consume?
