7. Royalty

“Ashley, how long have you been a slave?”

“As long as I can remember” I knew he was going to say it

“Ashley, I think you are this baby”

I am not sure what comes over me, but I laugh, laugh at the idea, laugh at the situation but my laugh turns into a cry. I had been treated like crap my whole life and it explained why Maddox banned everyone from having sex with me, he didn’t want to risk me getting pregnant and carrying on my blood line.

“Are you okay?”

I climb off his lap and start pacing the room, “Oh yeah, of course I am okay, I have been living as a slave for who knows how long, apparently kidnapped at birth because of my blood line and now I am discovering that I am some sort of royalty and at some point you are going to take my virginity”

All the words came out in a rush, my breathing had quickened and it felt as if my heart was going to explode out of my chest. He stands up and moves towards me “I will only take your virginity when you are ready and the rest we will deal with together” he tilts my chin up so I have to look him in the eye and when I nod and close my eyes exasperated, he kisses me on the forehead, something I was growing accustomed too.

He smiles and tells me he is going to do some more research and that he finds it difficult to believe that a baby with a royal mark would go unfound. Everything he is saying is buzzing around in my head and it’s getting too much. I wanted to run or scream or something “Air” I say to him, clutching at my throat and Daryl takes me outside, his face full of concern.

The fresh air felt amazing as I sucked in massive amounts trying to fill my lungs, I felt like it was clearing my head. I’m not sure what happened but my legs start moving on their own and before I know it, I am running at top speed towards the forest. I have no plan other than to escape, not from Daryl but from the life I was about to be thrown head first into.

Footsteps are not far behind me and I try to speed up as someone leaps on me, pinning my chest to the forest floor. I knew it was Daryl by his scent, he rolls me over but still holds me firm, when I finally open my eyes he looks pissed, he didn’t even look that angry when he killed Maddox.

He growls “What are you trying to pull?” and when I don’t immediately answer, his grip on my hands tighten, it was like he had forgotten I had a broken thumb and he only releases when I whimper in pain.

His face is inches from mine “I told you, I will only mark you when you are ready but if you pull this shit again, I won’t wait” he stands up and without waiting for me to get up, he pulls me off the ground and hangs me over his shoulder like I was some kind of play thing or something he had just hunted.

The threat made me feel like he was using me for something rather than saving me from my life because I had never heard of a male threatening to mark their mate because of something they had done, but he was forgetting running away was my natural response after being held captive for so long.

He carries me that way all the way back to the pack house and up the stairs, throwing me down on his bed “Well?” he growls as I still hadn’t spoken but I was too busy trying to control my shaking and couldn’t look him in the eye as I adjusted myself. “I’m waiting Ashley”

“It’s too much” it was all I could say and I threw myself face down into the pillows. I hear Daryl sigh and then the door close with the familiar turning of the lock. I waited until the footsteps faded away and then climbed off the bed, there had to be something in this room that would get rid of this blue mark.

I searched everywhere, I tried scrubbing it, I chucked the bleach I found in the bathroom on it. Then I saw it his razor blade. Breaking the end off so I could just get to the blade, I sat on the side with my back to the large mirror. If I had to cut some of my flesh off, then I would, it wouldn’t be the first time I had lost a bit of flesh.

It wasn’t an easy angle and even harder with a broken thumb, but I sliced anyway, blood dripping down my back into my pants. I didn’t hear the door opening or see him walk into the bathroom. Daryl grabs my arm that’s holding the blade “What the fuck are you doing?” he wasn’t angry, he sounded more concerned maybe annoyed if anything.

“I don’t want it” and I try to pull my arm from his grip

“You were born with it, you cannot change that Ashley” and he pulls me from the sink and drags my protesting body to the bedroom. When he lets go he tells me to turn around and I stand my ground. “I will not ask you again, turn around”

I stay still, I had done the damage myself, I will deal with it, even if I could feel my pants being soaked with blood from the open wound. Daryl grabs me by the shoulders, a low guttural rumble echoes around the bedroom. “Don’t disobey me mate” and he spins me around, growling I am guessing at the sight of what I had done. “You are not healing, you are going to need stitches”.

He goes back into the bathroom and when he comes back, he presses something up against my back making me squirm at the pain from the pressure he is putting on me. I try to move away but he holds me firm “Ashley, I am trying to help you”

“I don’t want your help” I spit, I had never had help in the past and i certainly didn't need it now.

He drops the towel and sighs then walks out the room “Fine, but that is going to get infected” He slams the door behind him.

I grab the towel he threw on the floor and tried to press it against my back, the stinging was excruciating but nothing I couldn’t handle, after all I had been through a lot worse.

A few minutes later Daryl comes in with the doctor from the pack’s hospital, the same doctor who had looked at my thumb. “Come here” Daryl points to the spot in front of him and again I refuse to do as he asks, he growls at me and clears the gap between us, gabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the doctor. “You are giving me very little choice Ashley, I will mark you” he mutters into my ear

He had given me chance after chance and I was still acting like a child, maybe I should just accept his mark.

“You cannot say to anyone what you are about to see” he is speaking to the doctor who nods in agreement and without missing a beat, Daryl turns me around and I hear a gasp

“Is that?”

“Yes, but you cannot tell anyone”

“She is…”

“Once again, yes, if it gets out, they will come for her”

I wriggle out of his grip and face them both “Who will come for me?, you killed Alpha Maddox”. I don’t know why but I thought I would state the obvious.

“Let the doctor see to your wound and then I will tell you everything” Daryl looks at the doctor, “If any information gets out about her, your life is on the line, do you understand?”

The doctor submits to Daryl immediately and swears an oath, he then tells me to lie on the bed so he could get a proper look at my back. I was already fed up with the men in this pack ordering me around, but I wanted answers from Daryl and did as he asked.

Stretching out on the bed, the doctor lifted my blood soaked top slightly and I watched as Daryl adjusts his position slightly, clearly making sure that the doctor is not doing anything more than he should be doing.

He tells Daryl what he already expected, that I would need stitches but he didn’t have any anaesthetic on him. Daryl started to tell him to go and grab some but I jumped in “It’s fine, I am use to pain”

Silence fell in the room and the chances are they were probably having a silent conversation between themselves, I had seen it many times in the Black nights pack and unless he marks me as a mate, he won’t be able to have these conversations with me.

Daryl crouches down next to me on the bed, his face concerned “Are you sure?, the doctor can go and grab some, it will only take a couple of minutes”

I shrug “It’s fine”

Daryl gives the doctor the go ahead and then offers me a hand, when I reject it and turn my head to the other side. I hear his voice in my head “Mate, I am trying to help” and I turn back to look at him stunned, how had he just mind linked me? Only those who were in the same pack or officially mated could do that.