CHAPTER 35: SHE WAS SOLD TO A BROTHEL.

The moment Victoria stepped through the academy gates, she was met with a wall of scorn. Darius stood off to the side, silent and observing, while the male and female students gathered in a loose semicircle.

"There she is," sneered the red-haired girl with a wide smirk stretching across her heavily painted lips. Her voice rang out loud enough for the entire courtyard to hear. "Couldn’t even hide her true colors for a single day. I guess once a slut, always a slut."

The other ladies let out cruel chuckles, feeding off her cruelty.

Just then, Zephyr appeared, striding forward from behind Victoria. His eyes were shadowed with fury, his expression tight with restrained rage.

"Oh, my Goddess," one of the blonde twins gasped theatrically, her shoulder-length hair swaying as she turned to the group. "Don’t tell me you actually hooked up with Alpha Zephyr, Victoria. What, you think if you sleep with one of the alphas, you’ll get out of punishment chores? Is that your plan now? Seduce your way out of consequences?"

She scoffed and crossed her arms, her tone laced with derision. "Pathetic."

"You’ve really outdone yourself this time," said the other blonde twin, whose long, flowing hair reached the middle of her back. Her eyes were narrowed and her voice brimming with false disappointment. "Even if the chores were hard. which they’re not...it doesn’t mean you need to throw yourself at the Alpha you find. Couldn’t you at least wait until you found your mate before spreading your legs?"

"That’s enough!" Zephyr’s voice rang out like a crack of thunder, sharp and commanding. He stepped forward and crossed his arms over his broad chest, the tension in his muscles visible. "All of you need to shut up. You know nothing about what happened."

Victoria kept her gaze fixed ahead, refusing to shrink beneath their stares.

"She was sold to a brothel," Zephyr continued, his voice now lower, rough with disgust. "She was about to be claimed by an Alpha there. If I hadn’t intervened when I did, you wouldn’t even be seeing her here right now."

"Please," the purple-haired girl scoffed, rolling her eyes and flipping her hair back dramatically. "There’s no point defending her. We’re not blind, Alpha Zephyr. You reek of sex. Don’t try to convince us you didn’t sleep with her."

Zephyr exhaled heavily, visibly trying to remain calm. "I smell of sex because I had fun with a brothel worker earlier. Not Victoria. I wouldn’t go for her, even if she were a prostitute."

The words struck like a slap. Victoria’s breath hitched, but she didn’t flinch.

"Well, there’s no scent on her at all," the redhead pointed out with a smug expression. "No sign of being claimed. And since she didn’t awaken her wolf at eighteen and still hasn’t awakened it now...it’s obvious she’s human. Even if she turns twenty-one, nothing’s going to change."

She stepped forward smugly. "Face it, Victoria. You’re nothing but a powerless, scentless.... "

Smack!

The redhead’s words were cut off by the sharp sound of a slap. Her head jerked to the side as Victoria’s palm struck her cheek.

"How dare you!" the redhead screeched, spinning back around with fury burning in her eyes.

Smack! Again, Victoria struck her.

This time, Victoria’s eyes were blazing. "You think this is fun? You think it’s a game? You dared to sell me off to a brothel like I was some toy?!"

"I didn’t sell you!" the redhead cried, holding her cheek. "No one sold you! You went there yourself with Alpha Zephyr! Stop trying to twist things to make yourself the victim!"

Smack!

This time, it was the purple-haired girl who staggered back, holding her face where Victoria had slapped her.

Victoria reached into the folds of her coat and pulled out a folded piece of parchment, holding it high.

"Then what is this?" she demanded. Her voice cracked slightly with rage and something deeper...something close to betrayal. "This is a document stating I was sold for twenty gold coins to the brothel. Twenty coins. That’s all I was worth to whoever did this."

Gasps and murmurs rippled through the students.

She unfolded the paper slowly. Though the document bore no name at first glance, Victoria had learned a few tricks during her years surviving on the streets. Her voice was calmer now, colder, as she continued.

"I managed to take this from the brothel owner’s waist pouch while he wasn’t paying attention. The ink looked strange....watery at first, then dry and invisible. But I’ve seen this before. It’s a kind of disappearing ink. Only water can reveal the truth."

She strode toward a nearby cooking bucket, filled with water for the kitchen staff. Without a moment’s hesitation, she dipped the paper into the water.

When she pulled it out, bold letters shimmered into view under the heading where the seller’s name had once been hidden:

The Belmont Family.

Victoria turned slowly, her eyes scanning the crowd. Her voice was low, yet powerful.

"The Belmont family, huh?" She raised an eyebrow and smiled...sharp, dangerous. "Who are the Belmonts?"

The color drained from the faces of the two blonde twins. Their friends shifted uncomfortably, suddenly too quiet, too still. Guilt flickered in their eyes, confirming everything Victoria needed to know.

"I didn’t want to believe anyone could be stupid enough to try something like that so close to the academy gates," she said, her voice now echoing with steel. "But then Zephyr asked me how I ended up at the brothel. And now, seeing your faces... it’s obvious."

All eyes turned toward the red-haired lady, who was already trembling with fear, her knees wobbling beneath her weight.

"Don’t look at me!" she snapped, her voice high-pitched and panicked. "I’m not the only one with the Belmont name in my family!"

"Oh, really?" Darius finally spoke, his voice calm but razor-sharp. He had been silent all this time, but now his presence commanded attention. He folded his arms behind his back, his eyes narrowing on the girl. "The brothel you sold her to isn’t far from this training ground. And, correct me if I’m wrong, that brothel is only visited by Werewolves living in this area. Currently, there is no other Werewolf family bearing the name Belmont residing here...at least not in this part of the pack."

He took a step forward, his voice turning cold. "Do you still dare to lie, Anna?"

Anna’s legs gave out completely. She collapsed to her knees, her hands trembling as she clasped them together. Tears poured freely down her face.

"I’m sorry, Alpha Darius!" she cried, choking on her own words. "I....I only wanted to teach Victoria a lesson! I didn’t mean for it to go this far!"

"Teach her a lesson?" Zephyr barked out a harsh laugh, stepping forward. His golden eyes glinted with fury. "You nearly got her killed, Anna. You sold her to a brothel full of aging, desperate Alphas ready to mark and destroy her. And when she managed to escape, you used my name...dragging me into your mess to cover your tracks. You claimed she was with me to avoid suspicion!"

"Please," Anna begged, her hands now pressing against the dirt, her tears soaking the ground. "Please, Alpha Darius... Alpha Zephyr... don’t expel me from the training grounds. My family will disown me. They’ll kill me if they find out! I wasn’t thinking. I swear I wasn’t thinking clearly...I regret it! I regret everything!"

She couldn’t even bring herself to implicate the twins or the purple-haired girl...girls who were equally guilty because their families held far more influence and power than hers. They had forced her into it from the start, making sure she used her own family name so that if things didn’t go as planned, she would be the one to take the fall. And she had.

Darius stepped forward, his voice flat and merciless.

"Oh, so you already know you’ll be expelled?" he said, his tone chilling. "Well then, let me make it official. Before your expulsion, you will receive fifty strokes of the cane for the crime of trafficking a fellow student and endangering her life. After that, you are hereby banned from applying to any Alpha Academy....ever again."

He paused, then added with brutal finality, "You ruined your own future, Anna. No one else is to blame for that."

"No! Please, Alpha Darius!" Anna sobbed louder, reaching for the hem of his robes. "Please don’t do this to me! I’m the only child in my family....they’ve invested everything in me. I’m their only hope!"

Her pleas echoed through the training ground, but her desperation was met with cold silence.

Then, unexpectedly, a soft yet firm voice cut through the tension in the air.

"I’m the one she planned to harm," Victoria said, stepping forward with fire in her eyes and resolve in her voice. "So I want you to release her."

The words hit the crowd like a thunderclap.

Silence fell.

Gasps of disbelief rippled through the gathered students. Every pair of eyes swiveled toward Victoria, whose calm expression masked the storm that raged beneath her surface. Even Anna stopped sobbing, stunned by what she had just heard.

"Let her stay," Victoria continued, her tone unwavering. "Let her continue her training."

Everyone stood frozen, shocked not only by the boldness of her request, but by the unexpected mercy she had chosen to show.

"Is she crazy?!"