Chapter 9: Last Hole

His claws hovered above Moon’s chest for a moment before he moved away.

Instead, he slapped Moon’s face hard.

"You know the consequence of lying to your Alpha? You disgusting wench."

"You are a man, yet you still dare to seduce me with this lousy body?"

He scowled.

Moon’s head spun from the slap, blood slipping from the corner of his lips. He didn’t understand how he had seduced this man.

But he couldn’t fight against him. All he could do was swallow the blood that was threatening to gush out.

But the Alpha was not finished, his hand searched around Moon’s waist and yanked the sash that bound his skirt. His big hands haphazardly moved around Moon’s waist to reveal whatever he was hiding beneath.

He couldn’t believe he was attracted to a man. He didn’t want to admit he was just cradling a man in his arms.

Moon’s eyes felt hot from the humiliation.

He didn’t want to reveal his power yet, but it seemed he had no choice now. He couldn’t just lie limp and give another man a chance to humiliate him.

Every touch from this man felt like a hundred needles pricking his bones; he felt like throwing up every second.

His blood was boiling with another kind of fire he didn’t know, as if it wanted to rush out and boil this Alpha, burn him to ashes.

He gathered his spiritual energy into his foot and kicked hard into the Alpha’s crotch.

"UGH..."

A hollow growl escaped from the Alpha’s throat as he slammed back on the floor.

He clutched his groin, his fierce eyes replaced with unadulterated shock.

The Alpha was not prepared for this weakling to fight back at all.

His brows trembled.

A hot, wet sensation on the hand clutching his crotch snapped him right out of the lust he felt earlier.

He lifted his hand, and the world blurred red in his vision.

’Blood?’

’This filthy man actually made him bleed?’

He suddenly sneered like a mad rogue.

"You’re dead, witch."

He slowly stood up, his eyes locked onto Moon. "I gave you a chance to be my 3rd Nova, but since you are determined to be burned, let’s do it properly."

Moon stayed silent on the floor, utterly devastated, spent, and exhausted. His stomach still felt sick from the man’s touch.

"Owen, take him to the Omega quarters. Let him serve those filthy, defective wolves left over from the years." The Alpha shouted out.

A shadow moved inside the cell—the same Beta Moon had seen in the grand hall.

His eyes filled with contempt and excitement.

The Alpha took his cloak from the Beta and sneered at Moon, "Let’s see the witch’s power: how many defects he can heal."

His face contorted with pain as he stormed out of the cell.

The maids came inside with their heads down. They cleaned him with a coarse towel and helped him put on another maid’s uniform.

Moon’s eyes flickered with anger. He gritted his teeth, but didn’t make things difficult for a mere maid.

’One day they will pay for this,’ he whispered.

---

Moon was dragged to a distant, worn-out house. Not the magnificent Gothic-style castle, but a line of stone houses with a small yard and black wooden fences. It looked eerie but calm.

The people here were all strange with wolf ears, or a tail, some had a wolf nose, and some had furry hands.

As he stumbled on the ragged gravel path, the fishy raw meat scent invaded his nose. Some children were peeking through the broken fence. Their innocent, tiny blue eyes reminded him that the world still had some warmth left.

The guards shoved him forward, rushing him toward the edge where civilisation ended and the forest began, leaving the innocent children behind. As the scenery grew darker and gloomier, Moon dragged his aching body forward to an unknown fate.

Moon’s maid skirt flowed with each step; his hair was tied up, but still matted with the damp filth of the cell.

As he was passing a shared bathing house, he felt a soft yearning from his heart. He looked up and saw Ugo, standing near the bathhouse, holding a ladle, his upper body bare.

In daylight, his complicated lines of tattoos looked intimidating. The grey, coarse trousers hung low on his waistline. His hair was damp, slicked back. He was smoking and spinning the ladle lazily.

’What are those lines? Some plant inscription?’ Moon thought as his gaze was glued to the bizarre art on the body.

As if realising someone was looking, Ugo suddenly looked in Moon’s direction, his brows furrowed instantly, but before he could do anything, the guards pushed Moon forward, deliberately shouting,

"Yo! Man, you have got your luck for a week. Look what we have got—a witch. Riding this one can make you a man or might as well wake up your wolf spirit. Want to try? Come to the Last Hole."

They grinned with dirty amusement, raising his wrist high, like showing off goods before trading.

Hearing their shout, some ragged, rough, defective wolves came out to see what the excitement was about.

In their dull and hard life, it’s a rare occurrence to enjoy life.

In just a few moments, the once surreally silent area filled with chatter and laughter.

A crowd gradually formed around them, as the people squinted their eyes to see Moon.

"She has no curves, I am out."

One man with a scrap of cloth on his waist said aloud. His burly, bare muscles flexed with each move he took, his wolf nose pointed high—looking scary with all of the mottled cut marks on his body and face.

He was clearly bathing and came out almost naked after hearing the shout.

Moon could feel many predatory gazes suddenly fall on his body, stripping him naked with their eyes.

The guard’s eyes darted around, his lips curled up. "OH, man! This one is for hard tastes; he is a man."

"A man?"

Gasps and sharp intakes of breath filled the air. Moon avoided all of them, slapped the pinching hand off, and stepped forward.

The guard was dissatisfied, so he grabbed Moon’s arm to stop him.

At that moment, a deep voice rang out behind him. "What’s going on here?"

Moon turned toward the familiar voice.

Leo was standing behind him, holding a wooden basin filled with dirty clothes.

Moon’s gaze climbed up to his bare torso, and he could not help but complain in his mind, ’Do you all have to be so shameless as to walk around bare-chested? Don’t you have any clothes to wear?’

"Where are you taking him?" Leo’s voice was sharp, even when he was literally downgraded to a cleaner.

The guards were clearly intimidated, but they still snapped at Leo, "It has nothing to do with you."

Leo raised his brows and stepped in front of the replying guard. His tall figure forced the guard to look up from below.

"Really? Then is it yours to bark about?"

The pressure in the air felt suffocating until the guard backed down, the slight tremor in his voice was almost audible, "We are ordered to take him to the Last Hole. It’s Alpha’s command. He wants this witch to heal the defective wolves here as many as possible."

CRACK!

The basin handle broke under Leo’s hand. His eyes gradually lost their playful youthfulness and became bottomless dark holes.

He suddenly lifted the broken basin and smashed it on the guard’s head. The dirty clothes all became a mess around the guards.

"What did you say?" He growled.

"We... We are just following orders." Another guard hurriedly came forward.

"It’s Alpha’s order." Another one chimed in.

Leo’s knuckles cracked for a moment before he stormed back the way Moon had come.

Moon looked at the departing figure, feeling complicated. He felt a strange feeling of loss in his heart. Somewhere it ached, somewhere he felt anger brawling with helplessness.

Still, none of them came to his side. Moon glanced in Ugo’s direction—who seemed glued to the ground—for the last time and started to walk.

His pace became quicker with each step. He wanted to leave these brothers behind to calm his thumping heart.

They reached the so-called Last Hole—a two-story, dark stone house, shrouded by a dense patch of briars, bizarre charcoal-drawn art and countless hearts with confessions from who knows whom.

The crawling dark moss from the ground to the top of the chimney swirled like a huge snake draped in a dark green robe. The air was hot, humid, and gloomy. Only the smoke lingering above its head proved that life was still here.

The guards pushed him past the rusted door and through a narrow, scraped, half-open door, blocking out the last remaining light, into the filthy, darkest desires of man.

Moon looked around the dark, smoky room, his Mage’s sight couldn’t escape the scattered chairs and half-broken tables around. In the corner, a big black wooden board hung like a beheaded corpse; the red, matted words looked surprisingly sharp for this place.

"Last Hole" Moon muttered.