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Esm only regained consciousness just before sunset. As soon as her eyelids fluttered open, she immediately wished her timing had been better. At least after the two people in her room were gone.

She could barely make out their images, but she knew without a doubt that they were right there, staring at her without an ounce of pity, despite her close brush with death.

She didn't want to look at them, so she turned her back to them, her eyes once again shut tightly. 

“And here I thought you were dead,” Dawson was the first to speak out of the two siblings. She didn't need to look at him to know what kind of expression they had on their faces.

“I told you she is just feigning her illness,” Ophelia said, her tone laced with irritated as if she couldn't stand the sight of Esme. 

The smell of herbs filled the room, but these siblings acted as if they couldn't perceive it. Even Esme herself was feeling repulsed and nauseous by the smell of it alone, and she didn't even have a wolf, yet it was overwhelming her nasal senses. How much more was it for them with their higher sense of smell? 

“You still have work to do, so get up,” Ophelia added. He nose scrunched, as the smell of those herbs was becoming overwhelming for her. Giving one last piercing glare at Esme's unmoving figure, she clicked and left the room.

The small space only made the smell worse, and the little window could barely provide enough ventilation.

With his sister gone, Dawson drew nearer. He squatted beside the bed. He pulled the blanket that covered Esme, and his exoression darkened. He wounds still fresh and looked as if they had only just stopped bleeding. Shock crossed his face, and he grimaced as if imagining the pain she must be fighting. 

Had it been anyone else, the wounds wouldn't last more than a minute or two, and they would have healed without leaving scars behind due to their healing abilities that came with the possession of a wolf. But even with that, he knew that wounds like these would hurt even with the ability to heal. 

“You should have kept your mouth shut, Esme. Had you done that, you wouldn't be in this state,” he went ahead to pull the blanket completely from her body, leaving her completely naked before him. 

With the only covering she had taken from her, Esme's body trembled as she tried to hold back her tears and not display any fear before Dawson. There was nothing that the alpha and his family had not done to her that she hadn't been able to brave through it. She won't break now. She bit her lower lip to stop a whimper as the cold air made contact with her body, sipping in through her. It made her wounds sting, but all she did was bite harder on her lip and close her eyes even tighter. 

“I believe this should be enough reminder that you shouldn't spell doom upon your own pack in the future,” Dawson trailed his hand on her naked and wounded body, causing an involuntary shudder from her. Something dark flickered in his eyes, but he shook his head and continued trailing a finger down to her lower back, only stopping an inch away from her buttocks. 

“I must admit, you have a lovely body, Esme. Without these wounds and scars, you would be quite an Aphrodite if not a Succubus. I mean, you already have the face,” Dawson said. 

Esme felt chills run down her spine, but she fought hard against her natural instincts not to turn and glare at him. That would only reveal more of herself to him. There was something in the way he spoke and said these words that scared the life out of her.

Esme felt his fingers rise from her body, and she thought he was done, but hell, was she wrong. 

Disregarding the numerous wounds on her back that would reopen at any time, Dawson slipped his hand around her as he forced her back on the mattress and her front facing him. His eyes darkened the moment he saw her.

Esme was quick to use her hands to cover her breasts and clamp her legs as tightly as she could. She closed her eyes even tighter, refusing to look at him, to see the look in his eyes. She already felt like a rabbit before a wolf. She didn't want to look more pitiful than that. She also disregarded her wounds as she struggled to keep the little dignity that she had left.

“Just as I thought,” he bends once again, but this time, he places his hands on either side of her as he loomed over her on the bed. 

Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She had cried enough. And from what she had learned all these years, they loved to see the tears fall from her eyes. They loved to see her miserable.

Nothing repulsed and disgusted Esme than the thought and feel of his hands on her. his lustfill gaze and dirty mouth uttering those wirds about her body.

Dawson held her left hand as he pulled it off her chest, and then the one and Esme realized once again just how weak she was when compared to them. To him. Her effort to keep her hands covering her breasts was nothing but a vain effort as he easily pryed them off her.

“Why am I only realizing this now,” he drawled as he cupped her left breast and fondled with it. “I don't mind mating you now,” lust filled his voice with every word that he uttered. He even pinched her nipple and licked his lips like a starved animal. 

“Open your eyes and look at me, Esmeralda,” he said despite knowing he was probably the last person she wanted to see. “If you don't, I will make you look at me,” he said after seeing her defiance. But still, Esme refused to open her eyes. “Very well then, I must thank you for making me do this. It is much ro my pleasure.”

Dawson leaned closer, his face barely inches away from her nipple. While his right hand squeezed her other breast. His left hand trailed down her body, stopping on her thighs as he tried to force her legs apart.