Men were crawling all over me, their lips and tongues exploring parts of me that weren't theirs to explore. Pain grew hot between my legs as the Beta shoved himself into me. He'd demanded to be last and despite the dozens of men that'd violated me, he hurt the worse.

He threw his head back as a loud growl escaped his lips just as he pulled out, releasing all over himself and me. "God," he groaned as his lips found my neck causing a disgusted shiver to run down my back. "You're absolutely amazing," he mused as he began kissing behind my ear before moving along my jawline, "but I want something special from you." Without warning, his rough hand grabbed my cheeks, causing my jaw to me slightly open. "I want to see if you're as good as you look." My eyes widened. I knew exactly what he was going to do.

"Please don't," my weak voice begged, hoarse from the constant begging and screaming I'd done. "D-Don't do this."

"It's funny how you think you can tell me what to do," he humorlessly chuckled before he positioned himself over me, his grip on my jaw never wavering and his member in front of my face still covered in the mess he'd produced mere moments ago.

"No!" I screamed. "No!"

I shot up in the bed, screaming as tears streamed down my face. Within a moment Greyson was in front of me, gently cupping my face so I was looking at him. "What's wrong?" He demanded, his thick eyebrows furrowed as he looked at me for injuries. I opened my mouth to speak, but only sobs came out as bail rose up my throat. "Avery, what the-" he started, but I quickly jumped out of the bed and hurried to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before the contents of my stomach poured out of my mouth. Greyson gently pulled my hair out of my face and softly rubbed my back, though that only hurt me more due to the massive bruise he so kindly gave me.

"Shh, it's okay," he whispered once I'd finished, my legs too weak to continue holding me up and I ended up collapsing into his arms. "What happened?" he softly asked as he brushed my hair from my face.

"I remembered everything," I sobbed, feverishly shaking my head in order to get the horrid images out of my head. "Everything those men did to me. Everything my old pack did to me. I remembered it all and it was awful." I brought a shaking hand up to my lips as tears continued falling down my cheeks. Greyson's jaw tightened as his arms wrapped around me and picked me up so he could carry me to the bed. As soon as he sat me down, his eyes glazed over letting me know he was communicating with someone through his Link.

"I'm going to be gone for a little while. Maybe a day or two," he tightly said once the clouds left his eyes.

"W-Where are you going?" I questioned trying to get my breathing under control once more.

"I told you I would make those bastards pay for what they did to you and that's what I'm going to do," he replied in a low voice, pure hatred clinging to every word he spoke. "I'm going to have my third in command Matthew look after you." I quickly shook my head as thoughts began bombarding my brain.

"I-I can't be alone with another man, Greyson. I-I don't know what he'll do to me and I can't go through that again," I rambled, my heartbeat speeding up as more tears filled my eyes.

"Avery, look at me," Greyson softly said as he gently turned my head so I could look at him and became captivated in his moss eyes. "I wouldn't put you with someone I didn't trust, okay. I know Matthew and he wouldn't hurt you in any way. I can't leave you with a female because there's no one I trust with your safe being more than Matthew." I looked down and bit my lip, flipping the idea over in my mind before I looked back up at him.

"If anything happens, just call my name and I swear I'll be right there, okay?" I slowly nodded, trusting him despite him giving me every reason to do the exact opposite. He slowly moved his head so that his lips came into soft contact with my forehead, causing sparks to wash over me in waves before he placed his own forehead against mine.

"Greyson?" I softly asked, causing him to hum in response. "Be honest with me. If he'd done what he did to anyone else, would you care?"

Silence hung in the air.

"If he'd done what he did to anyone else, yes I would do the same. I might be a monster but I still have boundaries, and he grossly crossed them."

His response made me feel a bit better that he wasn't a complete monster that condoned such vile actions.

He sighed as he gripped my waist. "Let's take a shower before I go, okay?" I mutely nodded once more despite my better judgment cueing him to gently pick me up and carry me to his bathroom. I caught a glimpse of his clock before we entered the bathroom. It was only 3:47 in the morning, but I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep anytime soon.

Greyson effortlessly turned on the shower before offering me a toothbrush to use while the water heated up which I gratefully took desperately to get the nasty taste out of my mouth. As I did, Greyson's eyes watched every movement, analyzing it as if they had secret meanings to them. As soon as I'd finished rinsing my mouth with water, Greyson hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me toward him before he gently began peeling my clothes off, and despite the grace he used, his actions reminded me too much of the savage men who'd ruthlessly ripped my clothes from my body and invaded me.

"Don't," I weakly squeaked as he dropped my shirt to the ground and made a move toward my pants, though it had a spark of power in it. A low growl resonated within his chest and I tightly screwed my eyes shut and waited for the impact of another blow. Maybe a punch in the face or a kick in the ribs, but it never came. I slowly opened my eyes to see that Greyson was no longer in front of me but rather in the shower, waiting for me with an unsettling look blazing in his eyes. Without wasting another second, I finished stripping before I climbed in the shower where Greyson instantly pulled me flush against his body before he started bathing me like he had last night, allowing me to clean my own private areas.

"What was your old pack like?" He suddenly asked as he began washing himself.

I scuffed. "I didn't have a life in my old pack," I bitterly admitted. "My alpha abused me, everyone ignored me or used my body except for my Luna, but even she couldn't help me much besides occasionally giving me food or talking to me. Long story short, it was absolute hell."

"Where were your parents?" He questioned, genuine concern evident in his voice.

"They were killed a little while back for going rogue," I emotionlessly stated. Silence was my response, and it hung in the air until we were done.

"Try to relax," Greyson instructed as he slid on some sweatpants as I slid on yet another one of his t-shirts. "But I promise you if you try to escape it will not fare well for you." I swallowed and nodded. I wouldn't try anyway. I didn't know the layout of the pack grounds yet.

Greyson's eyes swept over me before he gave me a curt nod and walked out the room in mighty strides and yelled, "Matthew will be here soon," right before the sound of a slamming door was heard. His loud howl ripped through the air, letting everyone in the pack know that the Hunt was about to commence.

I hurried to the window just to see Greyson's massive wolf hurrying toward the edge of the trees. "Be careful." The words pushed past my lips despite the immense hatred I had for him and his people. Greyson suddenly stopped, his ears perked up before he turned, his eyes instantly finding mine causing a weird feeling to fill my chest. They will pay, was what his eyes told me before he hastily turned and ran deeper into the woods. I released the breath I didn't know I was holding as I pressed my back against the wall and slowly slid down it, allowing tears to form in my eyes.

Once I hit the ground I instantly pulled my knees into my chest and let the loud ugly sobs that had built up in my chest free, crying so hard that my body shook and my head hurt. I wanted my parents back. I wanted my old life with them back. I wanted my happiness back. My nails scraped against my legs as my sobs became more intense and the air supply to lungs became low due to my hyperventilating. I felt my head became light as pressure slowly began filling my head. I tried calming myself down, but my body was already too tired to keep on. Black filled the edges of my vision and before I knew it, I was swallowed by a black void.

***

I awoke to strange noises. I could see the light shining through my eyelids, causing my head to hurt more than it already did. I slowly sat up and cradled my head as pain shot through it once I sat up. "God," I sighed as I glanced at the clock. 8:56. Greyson shouldn't be back yet. "And boyyyy you got me rockin side to side!" A foreign voice sang from downstairs, causing me to tense up as I looked for something I could use to defend myself. A quiet curse escaped my lips as I searched my mind in efforts to remember something in the house that I could use to my advantage.

The fire poker in the living room. Perfect.

I stealthily moved out of the room and down the stairs, careful not to hit a squeaky floorboard. I silently passed the kitchen where the toned back of a stranger with brown hair faced me and moved into the hearth room where a set of fire pokers leaned against the wall next to the fireplace. My family's old house used to have a fireplace like this.

Without a moment's hesitation, I silently slid one out of its holster before I quietly padded across the room and back to the kitchen. The stranger's back was still facing me as he belted lyrics to a song I'd never heard of. Fear slowly clawed up my throat as I tried to strategize. He was muscular and most likely well trained, and if he was apart of Greyson's pack he'd be a merciless killing machine and who easily- my thoughts were cut off by my body becoming restless and taking a swing at the man, aiming for his head. But when the pike was within an inch of the man's head, he swiftly turned around and caught it, letting it hover over his head.

Panic bubbled within me, but I kept a straight face and applied more pressure to the deadly object. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" I lowly growled out as I stared into green eyes. A look of confusion grew on his face.

"Looks like somebody has a-"

"Finish that sentence, I dare you," I growled out, the pike becoming closer and closer into contact with his head. I felt a low buzz move through me at this faux confidence and strength I was showing to cover my unmatched fear and uncertainty of what this man might do to me if he found my weakness or even a crack in the mask I was hiding behind. "Now, tell me your name or I'll shove this through your skull."

"Okay, let's not do that," the man said as he effortlessly pulled the pike out of my grasp before simply tossing it to the side. I narrowed my eyes at him. "But to answer your question, my name is Matthew, Greyson's former Gamma and new Beta. He sent me here to look after you while he's Hunting. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you're his mate, Avery. If not, then this is super awkward...well it's already awkward since you just tried to murder me with a stick, but you know what I'm saying."

I relaxed, but only slightly as I observed him. He was tall and muscular just like most men in this pack, but he had something pleasantly different about him. When I looked at his face and listened to his voice, there wasn't a certain harshness that made me fear for my life or wonder if my next breath would be my last. He just seemed like a regular guy, or rather as regular as you can be as a werewolf. "Yeah, he told me about you," I said, still trying to get a proper feel for Matthew before I made any sudden movements.

"Well it's nice to meet you," he said as he extended his hand which I hesitantly shook, "but next time, please don't come running at me with a pike until after I'm done singing with Ari," he chuckled, causing me to realize that the music he'd been singing to was still playing and the song was coming to an end. "Awe, you made me miss it," he frowned, "but since I like you so far when you're not trying to bash my brains out with a fire poker, I'll let it slide." I couldn't help the small laugh that pushed past my lips, causing a charming smile to grow across his face. "See, a smile looks way better on you than a murderous glare."

I rolled my eyes in response as I hopped up on the counter and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket that was next to me. Something about Matthew made me relax and actually want to be around him instead of only doing it out of fear, though I was still on the edge of the counter in case I had to make a break for it. "Why are you here?" I questioned as I took a bite out my apple.

His head cocked to the side like a confused little puppy. "I told you that Greyson-"

"I don't mean here," I countered, covering my mouth with my hand so its contents wouldn't be exposed whilst I was talking, "I meant here in this pack. All these people seem like hard bloodthirsty monsters, and then there's you who seems like neither," I explained. "So why are you here?"

"We all have our reasons, Avery," he said, all joy and jokes abandoning his voice, "and we're not as heartless as we seem."

"With an Alpha like Greyson I can't see how that's true," I scuffed as I took a bite of my apple before I realized my grave mistake. My eyes grew wide as they found Matthew's. "Oh God, please don't tell him I just said that. He'd go nuts or he'll punish me or even worse he'll-"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down," Matthew gently comforted as he gently placed his hands on my shoulders, the warmth of his hands slowly seeping through the thin material of Greyson's shirt that I was wearing. I tried focusing on my rapid breathing as he spoke. "Don't worry, I know how Greyson can be sometimes, but everything's alright. I won't tell him. Promise."

"Thank you," I whispered once I got my breathing under control. "It's just that...Goddess, why does he hate me so much?" I questioned as tears began forming in my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away. "When I was younger I dreamed of having someone who'd love me unconditionally and protect me from the burdens of the world, not make me feel like I'm the burden unworthy of respect or love."

"Greyson doesn't hate you," Matthew instantly replied, gently squeezing my shoulder. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but something was holding him back.

"Then what is it?" I pried.

"He's just...different. Just give him some time," he vaguely stated.

"I don't know how much time I have when even the slightest move sets him off," I sighed as I ran my hand through my hair.

"Hey, if he's ever a threat to your life, call me and I'll be right there, okay?" He offered, sincerity evident in his voice. "Greyson's not always Greyson when his temper gets a hold of him." I nodded in response, glad that someone was in my corner. "But all I can say is to just give him time." Despite my urge to keep pressing to know exactly why I'm "giving him time", I merely nodded. I'd get my answers eventually. Matthew's the closest thing I've had to a friend in a while. Plus, if I could gain his trust, he could help me out of here. He's even said himself that he knew how Greyson could get sometimes. But God, why did Greyson's "sometimes" have to be all the time with me? I frowned at the thought.

"Hey, don't frown. It doesn't suit your face," Matthew said, intervening with my thoughts as he used his pointer fingers on each hand to push up the corners of my lips. "How about we watch some movies or something to cheer you up?"

I instantly nodded, nostalgia rushing through my veins as I remembered the many movies nights my family and I had once shared. "Good," he said, satisfied with my response. "You go in the living room and find a movie while I get the popcorn."

"We can't have popcorn, it's way too early, barely even past nine."

"It's never too early to eat popcorn, Avery," Matthew scuffed. He did have a point.

"Touché," I said before I followed his instructions and scoured for a movie to watch with the closest thing I'd had to a friend in a long, long time while momentarily forgetting about Greyson and my haunting nightmares.