-KATRINA'S POV-

THE temperature and the gut-wrenching stench of the chamber delivered constant cramping on my chest, making it hard to breathe as I forced my swollen eyes to open.

How many hours has it been?

Six? Seven?

I had no idea.

Frequently blacking out made me lose count of the time I was locked in the frostiness of a dreary rancid room, shackled at the murky corner, curling like a ball on the stuffy floor and with only a thin and worn-out dress sheathing my beaten-up body.

Panting heavily, I waited for a few seconds and as soon as my eyesight varied to the darkness, I deliberately moved and sat up. My clammy hair dropped on my shoulders and the strands fiddled the wounds on my skin which made me grunt in a feeble voice, "Goddess!"

The shits that I earned from the whipping rippled like thousand of bugs were biting my flesh, draining my remaining resilience.

Nevertheless, I must endure and I must be strong.

Gathering my remaining strength, I leaned against the hard wall and pressed the back of my head to the roughness of the icy bricks behind me while condoning the pang of my affliction realizing how karma slapped me hard on the face.

I never expected that in just a blink of an eye, from a glamorous lady, I would drop down to a pathetic slave in Ravenstone City.

I bitterly chuckled.

Is this the price of bullying Lucy del Romance and making her life miserable that she does not deserve?

I admit, I committed villainous deeds in the past nonetheless, I did not regret being wicked. That's what life taught me. To be formidable and vicious for in the werewolf realm, only the toughest survive.

So far, I have proven to the owner of the shop where I was being imprisoned how difficult it was to handle someone like me.

It's like trying to tame a wild beast that would only wear out their patience and energy for I; Katrina Clayton would never be tamed.

I will not succumb to anyone, especially to the owner of the Omega slave shop who conned me and made my life a living hell for the past few weeks since I entered that territory.

My teeth ground against my dried chapped lips.

Not a day had passed that I was not experiencing being whipped while I was stifled like a hopeless critter. Only once a day that my captors fed me which made me lose so much weight I could see my bones poking out of my bruised skin.

However, the horrible treatment did not deter me from provoking Madam X's temper. Whenever I had the opportunity, I spat and attacked her which was a bad move for me as I always ended up being locked in that nauseating cellar.

Yet, I and my wolf only got more vexed. The chain and the collar wrapped in my neck only sent us to a new level of ferocity.

My fists clenched tightly and my nails dug into my delicate flesh.

"I swear, once the Moon Goddess gives me another chance, I will make sure to kill that witch. I'd rather see her die first before me!" I breathed out.

I had nothing to lose anyway.

I had no one left in that realm to be worried about for my mother was murdered after the night of the mating season ball in DarkStone City.

A psychopathic bastard named Ashter Vertillo slaughtered her without batting an eye. Without remorse.

I had witnessed his horrendous crime and could still remember my mother's face when she told me to run and save myself. I had no plan of leaving her behind but Ashter proved to me that his monstrosity was better than mine. For the first time in my life, I inferred what the meaning of fear was as I saw him mercilessly rip off my mother's head.

Dread washed all over me.

At that moment, I realized that I had an encounter with a demon which gave me a real nightmare.

"Mom..." I murmured feeling my chest squeezed in anguish. How I wanted to cry hard and let myself be weak even for a few seconds, but I was so dehydrated that my tear duct could not produce tears anymore.

I wished to give justice to her tragic demise but how? I got myself involved with another trouble again and I had no idea if I could get out of that hellhole alive.

"Snap out of it," I quickly grunted to myself as courage streamed to my pulsing vessels. "It's not time yet to give up."

I still have to escape the RavenStone underground. Still have to gain enough power and strength to avenge my mother. Even if Ashter Vertillo is beyond terrifying, I vowed to make him pay for what he did.

I will finish him off with my own hands and then, I could finally be in peace.

Those thoughts brought a vile smirk to the corner of my mouth and for a few minutes, I stared into the darkness of the room. While drowning myself in deep deliberation in the soothing stillness, I suddenly heard thuds of footsteps approaching before the wooden door was shoved open.

The ambiguous light from the corridor hit my face but I remained unmoving on my spot and only gazed up at the gray-haired woman wearing a signature bloody-red body-hugging dress, an extravagant coat, and a pair of stilettos who came in.

She's the witch who lured me.

Madam X.

"Have you realized already that your defiance won't work here in my domain, slave?" She asked in a stern tone. She bent down and clasped the sides of my face with her long bony fingers and glared down at me with her sharp full of hostility orifices.

Giving her a bored stare, I shrugged my shoulder and replied, "Yeah, whatever."

Madam X rose a brow not expecting that I did not snap, yell, or strike at her.

I heaved a sigh. Well, I was just using my brain because I was freaking starving and I needed to eat decent food.

How am I going to run out of that hideous place if I have no energy left?

"Such trash," Madam X hissed before she pulled her hand back and looked behind to where her new underling wearing formal suits stood like a statue. "Prepare her for the auction. She's the first one that I want to get rid of tonight."

As soon as the witch left the cellar and her subordinate followed her order, my brows knotted together, and uttered, "Auction?"