Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future by Neener Chapter 3

I hear Alpha Graham’s footsteps walk back down the hallway as he leaves the dungeon. Ryan tightens his grip on my neck, extending his wolf claws, making me yelp.

As soon the door slams, Ryan releases my neck and kneels in front of me. His face is contorted with anger. His eyes flicker black as his wolf, Dagger, comes to the surface. He grabs my shoulders, shaking me roughly, “What the Hell did you do to make him so mad?”

Why isn’t he beating me like he told Alpha Graham he would? I stiffen my whole body, avoiding eye contact with him. I’m shaking so badly, I can’t even speak now.

The thought of two people beating me regularly for the rest of my life…it just can’t be real. Can it?

How can the Goddess allow this to happen? I want to die.

That’s not an exaggeration. That’s not me being

dramatic. Please, Goddess, don’t let this happen. Just let me die.

I shake so badly that I fall to my knees. I start to sob hysterically and my brain shuts down from being able to think rationally.

Ryan grabs my chin and forces me to look at him in his cold gray eyes. He looks at me in horror for a moment, “Wh-what happened to your eyes?”

He moves his hands up from my chin to just below my eyes. It feels like his hands are trembling against my face.

“A-are you a hybrid or something?”

my head no between sobs. As I shake my head, I feel him starting to press

he saw the violet color. He was going to blind me. I place my hands on top of his trying to pull him away.

Don’t

just a moment, time freezes. I don’t mean like it feels like time is standing still because I’m in the middle of a traumatic situation. No, time is actually frozen. Well, frozen for everything except for

face. Next to him, a fly is suspended in mid-air. The second hand on the clock has stopped on the wall behind him. Drips of water aren’t finished falling, leaving umbrella-shaped splashes

Moon Goddess hear me? Did she have mercy on

As quickly as it stopped, time starts again. Ryan starts screaming and pushes himself

at my hands. They are normal again,

tight, waiting for Ryan to retaliate. “If you tell anyone, I will kill you,”

he punches me in the stomach, knocking

of my lungs.

out the door. I don’t know how long I sit like this but when I finally open my eyes I breathe

lean against my bed

my breath. He didn’t hurt me? Surely he was coming back. I sniff the air

of the dungeon.

out loud, just in

Graham will find me and murder me. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration, either. Even if I try to run away, either he or Ryan would find me before I could get off the territory. I think he really would kill me at this point. Speaking of which, it was only a matter of time before Ryan comes back to beat the crap out of me

and make myself go down the hall to wash up at the sink. I splash cold water on my face and look in the grungy mirror. Both of my eyes are pure violet now. The silver streaks are starting to take

the baseball cap Diane gave

would avoid seeing the color. Ryan glares at me every chance he gets. After dinner, it takes longer than usual to stock pantries because whoever did it while I was in the hospital had no idea what they were