The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 39

Konstantin has really changed. Instead of the usual smug and proud manner that he carries himself in, this new Konstantin kept his head low and his back hunched over. He tried to make himself look as small as possible and never stared too long at anything, eyes moving from side to side constantly. It's as if he was scared of something and he looked very uneasy... uncomfortable.

It was quite strange.

This wasn't the Beta that I met in the Games who laughed and enjoyed every single drop of attention. This wasn't the same boy who paraded himself, gestures and all. Twirling, grinning and basking in the spotlight.

Cora really broke him. Whatever she did, she wrecked him and left nothing.

But this was her Beta.

This was her friend.

How could she do this to him?

Why does he look like he just wants this all to end?

"Come, let's get out of this stuffy room." He managed, walking towards the door.

My eyes widened in surprise. "I'm allowed to leave?"

"You're not a prisoner here." Konstantin jokes dully, but takes it back. "Well, you are, but if you're with me it'll be okay."

I didn't miss how he mumbled a quiet: 'I hope.'

Again, I'm taken aback by him. The stark contrast between the Konstantin I met at the Games and the one in front of me now is so different that I'm starting to wonder if they're the same man. But it was him.

I remember him so well. He was the first boy that ever gave me the time of day, talking to me and smiling at me, calling me beautiful and making me blush all over. I felt bad for him. This was his home, his life and it seemed that everything was taken away from him. "You should come with me," I said, without thinking.

Konstantin barely looked up. "Where?"

"Let's leave together. Find a way out of here." I urged, wanting the best for him. "This isn't you."

"And you think after what I've done to Jeremy, he and his Alpha will merely accept me with open arms?" The guilt in his eyes tells me so much about his time with Jeremy. And I know I should hate him for being Jeremy's pain, his torture r, but all I felt was pity. He didn't know any better. There was truly nothing else he knew except this life. And he was taught to do this. He didn't just grow up to be a villain. "There's no where for me to go, June. The only place I can be is alone, sent far away from here and have a quiet life which the Alpha promised."

"Something tells me your Alpha is lying to you." I don't bother to sugarcoat things and, from the sullen expression on his face, he knows it's true. He knows deep down his Alpha is giving empty promises. "They're going to keep you here forever because they can. Aren't your parents going to help you? Aren't they powerful? Why can't they do something?"

"They're de a d, June." Just as he opens the door, he turns to face me, his eyes red rimmed. "It was part of my punishment. He killed them in front of me and took everything they owned for himself. He had their bodies hanged in this room for days until the smell was too much."

Monster.

The city pack Alpha was the real monster that everyone should fear. The one that wore a mask so thick, the one that smiled the widest and spewed nothing but lies.

They all labeled Ajax as a monster.

But this man, this Alpha that ruled the city pack, is the real monster.

In the Games, he was so glamorous, so powerful, standing before all of us with this fabricated image of kindness and humor. It was all lies. He was all lies.

And it seems all our problems, all our sufferings, all pointed to him. He was our common factor. We have all suffered under his reign. Ajax, Jeremy and Konstantin, and so many more have been under his mercy.

"I'm sorry." I found myself saying to him. "I'm sorry you lost them."

"Consequences." He merely responds, facing the door once again.

But I could see tears falling down his cheeks, which he quickly wiped away. He was barely holding on, his body shaking without him even realizing it.

I felt bad.

I really did.

He's just a boy too.

This thought haunts me. For they were all just kids, their lives taken away from them before they even knew what it was. What did they ever know?

I try to distract myself from going into despair and eventually tunneling out of control, focusing instead on everything but Konstantin and our terrible situation. We were outside his room now, in this long hallway of alabaster walls and golden embellishments. Following the light at the end of the hall, the sight took my breath away. The walls were all glass, from floor to ceiling, the view of the city glowing. I've never seen anything so... alive.

As terrible as the city pack is, their land, this place was so beautiful.

Konstantin's house-? But we were obviously in a building, so I don't know what this is called. His home overlooked the city pack's breath taking metropolis, the lights ever bright, the buildings taller and surrounding us in this jungle of concrete.

His home itself is gorgeous, the alabaster walls turning into alabaster pillars with gold plating. Konstantin had paintings on the walls, the size bigger than my house in the farm pack. His lights were dimly lit, allowing the lights of the city to stream in instead. An opened glass door leads to a wide expanse of balcony with a long wide pool that had its own gold trimmings, reflecting the lights around it.

Everything here s creamed wealth, screamed power and this excess of riches and luxury that I can only stare at. His home alone is so spectacular that I just know this was worth countless of packs and taking into account that he's merely a throwaway Beta

now.

Konstantin goes down a flight of stairs to the side, the railings yet again gold and it wasn't just painted gold, it was actually gold, the metal gleaming. I held it, feeling the smooth yet hard material. It was cold to touch as I blinked, unable to believe that this was all real.

They were truly filthy rich and comparing this to my home in the farm pack before Ajax came along, the difference is almost disgusting. I was sick to my stomach because this was even better than the mansion at the Games, which took generations and generations of wealth to build.

We could barely feed ourselves.

Yet the city pack were drowning in their own fortunes.

It makes me wonder how they got all this, but I didn't have to think hard as I remember Ajax's story, how they were burned away from existence, all their things taken and their resources drained.

This wasn't wealth from hard work.

This was wealth built from the backs of the poor.

The helpless.

I can hardly bare staring at this now. For how many were killed for these gold railings? These long expensive couches? This magnificent piano made of exotic wood shoved to the side that I know Konstantin doesn't use? The chandelier hanging from the ceiling that sparkled with real gem stones?

Konstantin took me to the balcony, hanging over yet another railing made of gold, his body to the edge of the building. The air was crisp, the smell of pollution and literally every scent of the world blowing against my face. He spread his arms wide and his expression lightens as if, despite everything, he knows this is his home and, in some way, he loves it just like any of us loving our homes. "Welcome to the city pack."

Purely for my pride, I don't allow myself to enjoy any of it. "I'm not here on holiday, Konstantin."

"A shame, because if you look past the fact that millions died for this one part of my balcony, our lands- not the riches- but the land itself is actually beautiful." He sucks in a breath, eyes fluttering close. "You can see the ocean on that side and the woods on the other. They've built these long bridges connecting us to the world. We have our own airports, businesses and a life much like the humans do. On good days, I can reach the clouds from here. On rainy days, we're nearly too high for the rain to touch us. And when there's a storm, I can see the lightning strike the ground."

I looked down from the railing of the balcony to replace us so high up from the ground that I could barely see the roads, the thousand and thousand of cars that drove past, the countless people that walked on the streets.

"But I can see that you're judging it," Konstantin says with a small frown. "It's true. Only one fourth of the total population is actually from the city pack- the only ones to truly enjoy this place. Everyone else are prisoners, slave s taken from their packs and forced to work here. Everything you see was built by the blood, sweat and tears of the people the city pack have taken from their homes, from the pack they have pillaged."

From people like Ajax.

"We are terrible people. I know that." He says in a voice so low that I barely heard it. "The things that have been done- the things that are still being done to achieve all of this is... is something else."

"Let's go back inside please." I nearly begged, stepping back. He was right.

Everything was beautiful and magnificent.

But they were all done by terrible means and it taints the beauty.

Konstantin nods, taking me back inside and is kind enough to press a button that drapes all the glass in a cloud like curtain that covers the view. "Are you hungry?"

I don't answer, trailing behind him as he guides us towards another room, a dining room. Without needing much light, the gold and marble and the alabaster lit everything for us. A long black table glimmered from the middle of the room, grabbing my attention immediately. It was surrounded by golden plated seats, cushioned and upholstered with even more gold. A massive crystal chandelier hung above the table, flashing the entire room with a glitter like shine that had me blinking back.

Food was already laid out, complicated ones that I didn't understand. Glittery drinks in crystal glasses accompanied the dishes and overall, it looks so beautiful, so lavish.

To my dread, even the food had gold sheets.

Are those edible?

"We have fresh oysters straight from the sea, imported beef that tastes like butter, caviar harvested from the best fish, white truffles that are nearly as expensive as gold, cured ham that was shipped abroad and sliced by our talented chefs, a pâté so delicate that it melts in your mouth, mushrooms from the some forbidden mountains..." He went on and on pointing out dishes and everything like he was an expert in food. "What would you like?"

I didn't have the heart to tell him no.

He looked so happy.

Like this was the first conversation he has had without any of the pressure and I felt bad, so I sat with him while he animatedly spoke of more food. He didn't even notice that I didn't touch the food on my plate, instead thinking deeply about how I could get away, how I could run, how I could make it to the borders and replace Ajax.

The streets are long and wide and the number of people that would see me and immediately take me back is countless. This wasn't just some pack I could run away from. I had to know the place, I had to know which direction to go.

And suddenly, my mark burned but it wasn't uncomfortable, mostly just present, as if telling me something, but I couldn't figure it out.

All I know, all that I'm sure of is that at the end of this mark there was Ajax and Jeremy. I'm almost sure they know I'm missing. Maybe this is why my mark is burning.

They're coming for me.

I held my mark, my hand covering it.

"I was surprised to see your mark. Everyone was. It's sort of a barbaric tradition, isn't it? No one does it anymore." Konstantin says, eyes to my hand. "It doesn't really do anything, right?"

"No." I said, even though I did feel like something was happening. "It's just a mark."

He nods, believing so easily. "I thought so."

Konstantin continues talking about anything and everything. It made me wonder how long it was since he last talked to someone.

Was he a prisoner too? Has he not left his home? Have they kept him locked here?

And then, like a dark storm cloud appearing, the doors to the dining room flew open, revealing the man I had not seen since the start of the Games. He was flanked by guards on all sides before they broke apart to give way to him.

He was tall, his posture impeccable. Dressed in clothes so bejeweled and expensive that even my inexperienced eyes picked up on, he looked like a King. Much like before, his face was a mask, hiding away the demons underneath. A perfect politician, he scanned the room before flashing me with a smile that turned my blood cold.

Konstantin was on his feet immediately, bowing so low he nearly smacked his head on the table. "Alpha,"

I do not bow. I do not stand up.

Even if all I wanted to do at that moment was that, to follow and to bend.

I kept seated, my jaw clenched tight in defiance.

He scared me. More than he will ever know, but I will not give him the satisfaction. I will not allow him what he so obviously wants from me.

The Alpha regarded me with his blue eyes, taking me in as though I was n a ked in front of him. "I was expecting Konstantin to break you in by this time."

"Break me in?" I replace myself repeating, teeth gritted.

The wicked smile on his face told me exactly what it meant. They wanted Konstantin to take advantage of me... to ruin me. The only reason they gave me to him was because they expected Konstantin to use me.

Cora appeared right behind her father, tossing her hair back. Dressed much like her father in what I can only imagine wealthy Princesses could wear, she barely notices me, her eyes on Konstantin. Cora was like a predator when she smiled, wicked just like her father and full of maliciousness.

Konstantin looked down at his hands, unable to look at Cora, and it seemed that the way he flinched, the way he looked down and trembled meant only one thing. Someone had broken him in and by the smile on Cora's face I know who did it.

He was always so indifferent to her before, uncaring and barely noticing her.

But now he saw her.

Now he feared her.

"I came here to see why everyone was fighting over this little girl." The Alpha smiled again, taking long strides towards me. His guards dispersed to every inch of the room, enclosing around us and always protecting him. "I think I understand it now." This time, I lose my breath, my heart hammering in my chest.

"If Konstantin doesn't want to, I certainly will." He takes me by the chin, pulling me forward until I'm a mere breath away from his face. "No wonder everyone has been fighting over you. Pretty little thing."

I felt like I might throw up.

I almost wish I did so I could vomit all over him.

"Father! Don't be disgusting." Cora scoffed from behind him. "She's a one."

"And I'll defile her like a one." The Alpha grins, a finger gliding down my neck.

"Fuck you." I reeled back, utterly disgusted, but he kept his hold on me tight. He didn't really like me. I can see it in his eyes. He merely wanted to take something and he knew which one would destroy me the most.

"Feisty. All you ones are at first. Until you realize it's fruitless." Gone was the mask he wore, in front of me was the monster and he didn't shy away from showing me. This wasn't the Games anymore. He didn't need to hide away his demons. "That fighting would get you nowhere." Beside me, I felt Konstantin move the weight of his body alternately between his left foot and his right foot, uncomfortable and scared. He wants to help, he wants to do something, but it is clear he is frightened of this man. And for good reason.

"I want you to listen very carefully," The Alpha whispered, his breath fanning my face. "I know what your mate is like and thus I will punish you for it, since I can't hurt him myself. I'm going to hurt you, with every city pack life he takes, I'm going to beat you bloody, an inch from d e a t h. I'm going to take advantage of you like you've never had before. Do you understand?"

From beside me, Konstantin sucks a breath.

"Don't even try to escape or I'll wipe your vulnerable farm pack off just like the rest of your disgusting kind." He smiles, white teeth bright and sharp. "I own you now. And I will do whatever it takes to tame you. You'll submit to me. Eventually. All of your kind does in the end."

As if to prove his point, he leaned forward, his tongue latching onto my neck and I scream, jumping away as if I had been burned, holding my mark as I shook uncontrollably.

I swung at him, blindly throwing my fist at his face just like the way Ajax taught me.

The Alpha easily grabs it, yanking me forward. "I do love taking things that aren't mine. You're only making me want you more."

He pulled away, straightening his back as his eyes turned black.

"I've changed my mind, Konstantin. Do not touch her. She's mine." The Alpha turns to his guards. "Make sure she doesn't leave. I will come back for her soon."