Page 21 of Cursed Beasts

I took off my dirty pajamas, thinking I just might burn them because they were soiled and I didn’t need the reminder that these assholes made me feel weak and helpless. My body still felt spent when I tried to climb into the tub, almost slipped, but I caught myself. I lowered my body into the almost scalding water, loving the feel against my body.

Once I was fully immersed in the water, another onslaught of emotions bubbled up and I cried again. I let out every emotion I was feeling, the pity, the sadness, the despair, everything. It took until my hands pruned up to slow down my crying, feeling mildly better shortly after that.

My stomach growled, bringing me back to reality. I needed food and water to help with the dizziness I was feeling. Thankfully, it seemed someone had left some bath products in here. I scrubbed my body raw, getting all the grime off of me, regretting that I didn’t put my hair up before getting in. Baths weren’t my preferred way to get clean, but if this was all I had, then this would have to do.

Washing my hair was more difficult since it was so long, leaving me grossed out. I had to use this water to wash my hair. I might have to see how to get more water so I could give it a proper wash. Surprisingly, the water stayed pretty warm the entire time.

I reluctantly got out, seeing towels hanging on the wall. They were warm, fluffy and fucking amazing. They were towels you’d expect in a five-star hotel. I took comfort in the warmth, wrapping my hair up too while I went to go look for a change of clothes.

The smell of chicken assaulted my senses, and in the middle of my bed there was a tray of food. I wanted to be stubborn and not eat anything off of it, but I was starving. I didn’t know who had been leaving me food, wondering if it was one of the guys but if they turned into wolves most of the day, then who had brought me breakfast and lunch the first night I was here?

I seriously needed to sit down and figure out what the hell was going on. Nothing made sense, making me believe they kept me in the dark for a reason. Maybe I just needed to figure a way out of here. Fuck it, I needed to get out of here.

I heard the clock chime; realizing it was ten to four. After Lucien’s confession, I realized the clock was a countdown till they became wolves again.

* * *

I was dressedand had eaten by the time three am rolled around. My intention was to explore around at one am, but I chickened out hearing a wolf outside of my window. I couldn’t believe they were shifters and witches. My grandmother had told stories of packs who had disappeared hundreds of years ago, but no one knew where they went, if they slowly became extinct or if they had been killed off.

I longed to be back home so I could look up grimoires or even old texts to learn more about them. The bookworm in me found them fascinating, and the need to research and catalog everything I could, gnawed at me.

I had met shifters before. They usually required some locating spell, removal of mating bond or some sort of protection spell. The men were usually a broody bunch, especially if they brought their mates with them. I had to admire their devotion to their mates; it was a love like no other, because they cherish their women like goddesses.

Normally we made our interactions quick with them because their tempers were explosive and now that I’m thinking about it, Zev, Aeon and Lucien seemed to share that characteristic with the shifters I had met before. They were also just as big or even bigger, in their wolf and human form.

These characteristics popped up in my head, and I decided to write this down just in case. It never hurt to be prepared, but it was also the librarian in me that liked to catalog everything. If I could find the library again, I might find some information there as well.

The thought of exploring the library here made me insanely happy. Even though it was dark, it looked enormous. Maybe before I escaped, I would need to pay the library a visit.

After I finished writing about the guys, to make the time pass, I looked through the trunk that came with me. Apparently, Serena thought of everything. Now I know why she had sent me to the apothecary the day I left, to restock things for me so I could have them here.

The thoughtfulness made me want to read her letter, but I think that was meant for another day. I needed to figure out how to get the hell out of here.

This was the first night that I heard the clock chime at three am. It seems the other two nights I was too distracted or asleep. Now I knew the clock was my alarm, keeping track at the start of the hour, giving me ten minutes and another chime when it turned to four in the morning.

Opening my door slowly, I listened for any snarling or growling in the hall, afraid that maybe one of them would be here to scare me or pull me out of my bed again. Just the thought of what they had put me through pissed me off again.

I had my little breakdown yesterday, and gave myself time to wallow in my sadness. When I woke up this morning, I was determined to escape but not without giving them payback if I could.

The hallway looked empty as I slowly made my way out of the room. I wore my worn converse so I could be as quiet as possible and dressed all in black, the color was a staple in my wardrobe. I walked down the hallway towards the main landing, so I could go outside.

The castle was so quiet that I wondered if they had even changed back. Did they change back every day? I grew hot with apprehension, thinking I probably should have waited an extra day to figure out their schedule.

The sound of voices was right in front of the foyer. I pressed myself flush with the wall trying to pick up the conversation, but they were too far away. They continued talking in rough snappy voices, so I went back the way I came to see if there was another way out. As I walked around, I tried opening random doors to familiarize myself a little bit with my surroundings.

The doors were all spaced out evenly, leading me to believe that these were all bedrooms. I passed my bedroom down another hallway that seemed to be going in the direction of the front of the house. There was a small narrow stairway leading up and down. As much as I wanted to go outside, learning the layout of the castle seemed just as important.

I decided to go downstairs just in case I got lost; it seemed like the easiest way to find a route back to my room. There wasn’t a lot of light to show me the way since this house was lit by candlelight. The stairs made loud creaking sounds, and I knew they had heard me. I quickly ran down the rest of the stairs, looking for somewhere to hide for a few minutes, just in case one of them came to check in on me.

It looked like I was in a storage area that had little room to walk around. Everything was very dusty, looking like no one had been down here in years. I knocked over a set of chairs, making a loud noise and dust went flying everywhere.

Good job Katarina, way to be stealthy.

I sneezed a few times before I could get out of the room, anticipating one of them finding me already. The stairs behind me creaked, kicking me into gear to find a hiding spot but I decided to just get the hell back to my room. Walking down a series of hallways was frustrating me. I didn’t know if I was just going in a circle or whoever has built this castle was a masochist and wanted to fuck with everyone who lived here.

When I finally felt like I was going the right way, I started to open doors to the rooms in the hallways, seeing more bedrooms and a few rooms that were also packed with random stuff. It was strange that so much was put away in these rooms. I opened a room that had huge windows, letting me see some contents in the room.

What looked to be a bassinet in the middle of the room drew my attention to the other items in the room. It looked like a few kids’ beds were also here as well as toys and some clothes. Everything had a thick layer of dust, making me think it had been a while since someone had been in here. At one point it looked like a lot of people lived here. What happened and why was it only the three of them now?

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