If she still couldn't tell who the two men were talking about then she would have lived the last eighteen years in vain.
"Why? Her virginity is probably the only valuable thing she has. If I can't get it, why should I even bother to touch her?" Karl snarled as if he was about to come to blows with Mike.
But Valerie knew he wouldn't and couldn't. Even though both of them were alpha's, he was in Mike's territory and as the future alpha of the pack, Mike could not be disgraced in his territory.
"Because I have discovered that she is my mate. Can you imagine the humiliation I felt when I found out that there was a mate bond between us?
She is a useless omega without a wolf, why would the moon goddess pair an alpha like me with someone so useless and mediocre?
For this humiliation, she will have to pay, and her virginity is the price.
So, you just have to wait until I am done playing with her then reject her and break the mate bond before you can get her." Mike explained with utter disgust as if he had swallowed a fly.
Even Valerie outside the window could hear the disgust in his voice clearly.
She also couldn't believe what she had just heard.
Mike was her mate!
Her tormenter turned out to be the perfect partner the moon goddess had created for her.
But so what? Let alone Mike, she didn't want this mate either.
"What a bummer! Why did she have to be your mate?
But it doesn't matter, as long as you don't completely waste her, I would be happy to come in and comfort her when you break the mate bond and discard her.
She would be vulnerable at that time and sleeping with her in the name of comfort would be a piece of cake.
Oh, Valerie, I have waited for this day for years." Karl agreed to Mike's suggestion without a single consideration for Valerie's dignity.
To the two men in that room, Valerie was simply a toy they could play with whenever they wanted and discard when used and unwanted.
Hearing her name mentioned by Karl, Valerie confirmed her earlier guess. They were indeed talking about her.
Karl never cared for her, he was simply fulfilling a sick bet he had with Mike who now happened to be her mate.
She felt sick to the stomach and nearly vomited.
Valerie's ears buzzed with the words she had just heard and the blood in her veins turned freezing cold.
She could no longer hear a word that was said after that.
Her heart felt as if it had been ripped out of her chest, smashed to the ground and stomped over and over again and turned into mush.
She felt as if even if she picked it back up and put it back in her chest, it could never be whole again.
Valerie didn't know how she returned to her room.
When she came back to her senses, it was from someone pounding at her door and hurling insults at her for being late preparing breakfast.
"Valerie you lazy hussy. What the hell are you doing not making breakfast at this time?
Do you think that everyone has nothing to do like you and we have to wait for you to get your beauty sleep?" A voice she would thank her ancestors for if she went one day without hearing came through the closed door.
That was Innocent hanging her door down.
A girl with a completely different character from her name.
She was vicious and cunning and would do whatever it takes to get what she wanted.
She was also Mike's chosen Luna. Something everyone in the pack seemed to have accepted and everyone assumed that they would turn out to be mates.
Well, joke on them, for she was now aware that she was Mike's mate.
Innocent and other girls in the pack used to follow her around once when her father was alive.
They wanted to get close to the future alpha and could only do that through Valerie since Mike was always with her training with her father.
But that felt like a lifetime ago.
All those little followers had disappeared with her father's execution.
They had also turned into little tormenters who drew pleasure in making her life impossible.
Wanting to avoid another round of scolding and a beating, Valerie got up from the floor where she seemed to have spent the night sitting down and her legs nearly gave out.
Her head was still spinning but she forced herself to stand up straight.
She walked to the old mattress on the floor and put her hand under her pillow made from old and torn clothes.
Her hand came out holding an old and worn out button phone. She pressed a button at the side of the phone and the small screen lit up with a dim yellow light.
It showed that the time was already six in the morning.
It was the time the pack members usually had breakfast, but today she hadn't even left her room yet.
She was in for a long day.
Valerie gathered herself and locked the memory of what had happened the previous night away.
She had to get through the day first.
She could throw a pity-party for herself later when she had time to rest.
For now, she had to go out and make breakfast and probably endure another punishment for being late.
Her wolf was still silent, so she had to do it all alone today.
The moment Valerie opened the door, a heavy slap landed on her face.
She could feel one side of her face swell at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"What took you so long? Do you think I have all day to wait here for you?" Innocent questioned harshly.
Valerie was already used to such treatment and although she had an overwhelming urge to fight back, she knew that she couldn't.
This was a trap Innocent was setting up again.
As long as she said one word, she would end up in the dungeon and wouldn't come out until all her skin was torn from whipping.
When Innocent started tormenting her, she would argue and defend herself, but she soon learned that the more she defended herself, the worse her punishment would become.
So, she learned to endure in silence.
A slap like this one was nothing to her now.
She stood before Innocent silently with her head lowered as if in submission.
Her wolf hated this posture more than anything else, but because she couldn't be exposed, Lizzie had also learned to suppress herself and not attack anyone.
"What are you still standing there for? Go and make breakfast." Innocent ordered with the authority of the future Luna she believed herself to be.
Valerie didn't need to be told twice as she scampered off and headed towards the kitchen.