Auctioned to the Cruel King - Chapter 1: Chapter 1

KAYLA
Over the course of my two-year long marriage to Alpha Landon, I thought I had reached the limit of pain tolerance. But I was dead wrong.
As I was dragged into his private chambers by his guards and tied to a chair in the middle of the room, my eyes pooled over with tears as I stared at the man who I'd once loved with my whole heart. I saw nothing of the love and affection that once filled his eyes when he looked at me. In their stead was pure hatred and contempt, and it shook me to the core.
"Landon, w-what's going on? I-I don't under—'"
"Shut the fuck up!" He hissed, his voice echoing off the walls and sending a rush of fear through my veins. "How dare you disobey me?! I gave you strict orders and you had the nerve to go against them?"
I shook my head vigorously. He had locked me up in the storage room two days earlier simply because I'd been an hour late in serving his dinner, and he ordered me to stay in there until he was satisfied with my punishment. This was not the first time he had punished me for meaningless things, but I had a reasonable explanation for it. I'd been feeling fatigued and nauseous for the past few weeks, and it made me weak and slower in my chores. The reason why I left the room despite his orders was to visit the pack doctor.
There, my suspicion was confirmed. I was four weeks pregnant.
I was on my way to tell Landon the news when his guards waylaid me in the hallway and dragged me here.
"I didn't disobey you on purpose, I swear! I'm pre–"
My words were cut off when, without warning, his hands clamped around my neck and squeezed hard, cutting off my airflow. I sputtered, choking as I tried to pull myself out of his grip. But it was no use. He was too strong for me.
Finally, he let go, shoving me roughly to the side. I coughed painfully, longing to massage my throat. But my hands were bound tightly to the chair.
"Since you're begging to be taught a lesson, be my guest," Landon spat. "You're nothing but a useless bag of bones. And you think you have the liberty to be disrespectful as well? Lowlife omega. I'll show you what a real woman looks like."
Before I could process the sting of his words, the doors swung open and I watched a blonde woman waltz in. When she turned to look at me, I instantly recognized her; Miranda, the daughter of one of the pack elders. She was from a wealthy family, and I'd seen her around the pack a few times, but I never thought much of it because she and Landon were childhood friends. And now she was here, dressed in a skimpy outfit that left nothing to the imagination. And she was smiling at my mate and putting her body on display. To my shock, Landon was smiling back.
My heart clenched.
No. It can't be. Landon wouldn't do this to me.
But again, I was dead wrong.
They wasted no time in clinging to each other and kissing passionately, their hands roaming through each other's bodies hungrily. Bile rose in my throat when I realized what was happening.
My mate was about to have sex with another woman, right in front of me.
I wanted to scream but I couldn't bring myself to make a sound. Tears blurred my vision as I watched him rip off her clothes and push her to the bed. Next thing I knew, he had spread her legs and began to thrust into her.
My heart shattered as I watched the display in disbelief. Pain like a thousand needles pierced through my skin as I shut my eyes tightly, hoping to lessen the ache in my chest. But the sounds they were making made that impossible. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I couldn't help but question the moon goddess. Why did she mate me to a man who would purposely humiliate me like this?! What had I done to deserve this?
I thought I was immune to all of Landon's punishments, but this was the height of it. He had subjected me to difficult things in the past, but I never thought he would go as far as to desecrate our mate bond. Despite everything I had gone through, a part of me still longed for Landon's love. I still loved him, and to watch this happen was more heartbreaking than anything else I had ever experienced.
A sob broke out of my throat as the memories of our first time together flooded my mind.
As long as I could remember, I had always been an outcast in Blood Moon Pack. As an omega, I was bullied, ridiculed, and treated like dirt. But the more reason why I was hated was my family's bleak history. My mother was a known pack whore, and could not account for my father's identity when she got pregnant with me. Therefore, I was fatherless. That only brought more hate and suffering on me.
But all of that changed when I turned eighteen. To my greatest surprise, my mate turned out to be the pack Alpha. I had never been in such disbelief like the day I felt the bond between us snap into place. I didn't know what to expect. Surely, no Alpha would want to be tied to an Omega with such a bad reputation. But Landon didn't seem to mind. For the first time, he noticed me, and he was kind to me. He treated me like I actually mattered, and soon, I found myself falling madly in love with him. Those few weeks were the best of my entire life. Landon never gave me any reason to doubt him, so I gave him my virginity without a second thought.
It was bliss.
Until it wasn't.
And just like that, I was the pack outcast once again.
I grew tired and lean from the maltreatment, but still I never gave up on trying to get close to my mate. Like a fool, I believed that if the moon goddess had destined this man for me, then things were meant to work out one way or the other. Sometimes, Landon would surprise me by getting intimate with me in our bedroom. My heart would soar with joy because I took it as a sign of returning normalcy. But the very next day, he would toss me aside.
It quickly became clear that I was a toy for him; getting used and then discarded as he pleased. But I always hoped that all this would end.
Until now.
No pain I felt in the last three years could compare to watching Landon make love to another woman. Miranda was still moaning loudly as he pounded into her on our matrimonial bed. The tears spilled down my cheeks in rivulets and I didn't bother to hold them in. This was Landon's way of showing me that I was nothing to him. And it hurt.
A searing pain in my chest numbed my body for a brief second. I tried to keep my eyes open but a wave of dizziness hit me. My head was spinning. Pain was clawing at my chest. Amidst all this, the grunts and moans from Landon and Miranda were like torture.
I couldn't take it anymore. My heart was too weak to handle all this.
My eyes fluttered shut as I swayed through the air, and the last thing I heard was the thud of my body hitting the ground before the world went black.
My eyelids throbbed in pain as I struggled to open my eyes. It felt heavy, like a thousand blocks had been placed on top of it. When I finally managed it, my vision was too blurry to make out anything other than the shape of a man standing over me. All I knew was that I was in a hospital bed, courtesy of the unmistakable scent of disinfectant and the beeping of machines.
Pain shot through my head as I tried to remember how I got here. And then it all came flooding back. Landon and Miranda. I adjusted on the bed beneath me and tried to open my eyes again. The shape in front of me bent forward, and the blurry features of a middle-aged man came into view. I could tell he was a doctor by his attire.
"You're awake," he said, peering at me through his glasses. "How are you feeling now? Does any part of your body hurt?"
"I am…" I stopped, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded. "I'm in a lot of pain," I managed to say. "How did I get here?"
"You were rushed here a few hours ago. You passed out and have been unconscious till now."
Rushed? I glanced around with hope that Landon was here somewhere. Does that mean he still cared?
I was about to ask the doctor when I saw the grave look on his face.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news," he said.
My hand instantly flew to my stomach. My baby..
The doctor moved forward. "We couldn't save your baby, I'm sorry."
I let out a strangled cry as I stared at him, shaking my head. "No…no.."
The doctor hung his head apologetically. My eyes stung with tears as I touched my stomach lightly. This couldn't be true.
"There's more," the doctor announced in an even graver voice. I stared at him, dazed. What could possibly be worse than this? I was too afraid to ask.
"There were some complications during the procedure. Your body was too fragile to withstand the carriage of a child. Your organs, your bones…they are as weak as a child's. It seems like your body has gone through very intense physical labor for a long period of time. It should have been obvious that your body is much too weak to carry a child, much less birth one."
I still didn't understand where he was going with this, but I still flushed at his words, feeling bad for myself as I recalled all the times I'd been locked up and starved.
The doctor stared at me briefly before he continued. "That caused a lot of damage to your womb."
My breath hitched.
"W-What does that mean, doctor? I don't understand."
He sighed. "With the severity of this, I think it's clear to see that the damage to your body is irreversible. You can never conceive again."