Chapter 2

July 12

My birthday was fast approaching, and with each day that passed it felt like I was moving one step closer to the guillotine of my fate. Each morning there was a sick feeling in my stomach, a nausea that grew stronger as the reality of my fate started to take hold, because while our lives here were not easy, not simple, not happy or free they were not the worst they could be either.

Today I had been assigned to the library, a long and tedious but easy job. I climbed the ladder to the upper shelves and wiped the cloth along the shiny wood removing the thin layer of dust. Keira and I were on night duty tonight, yet another job I hated, although we all hated this one, so once I was finished in here, I would grab a quick lunch and retire to the slaves quarters to grab some sleep so that I would be up all night ready to answer the call of the Alpha and his family in case they needed anything.

If we were ever to be on the receiving end of the Alphas anger it would be in the night hours, for the most part Mrs H protected us during the day, she kept us away from him, so as long as no one messed up we would be safe. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury at night, and we all had to take our turn, one night a week we each put our lives on the line to serve our pack leader. It was anyone’s guess if we would still be alive in the morning, more than one slave hadn’t made it through the night.

The sound of a creaking floorboard outside the library door had me freezing in place. Slaves were not meant to be seen unless we were called for. The door opened on smooth hinges and my breath caught in my throat before rushing out in a gust as Mia stuck her head around the door.

“Hey Amara.” The timid blonde whispered before coming into the room and closing the door behind her. “Carly said that you’re good with the locks on the back bedrooms window, I’ve locked it and can’t get it unlocked.” She said sounding timid and I climbed down the ladder looking over the room as I went.

The room was mostly done so I threw my cloth in with the rest of my supplies, and I grabbed up the cleaning basket. “Let’s go have a look.” I murmured, the window locks were a work of art, you had to jiggle them as you twisted the key to get them to open.

We were almost at the end of the corridor when one of the bedroom doors opened and Juliet stepped out. For a moment, a very fleeting one, she looked like a normal teenager, her face sad, thoughtful. Then of course her eyes landed on the two of us and the mask came up. With a sneer of superiority, she stalked towards us with her head held high and anger in her eyes and I braced for whatever was to come even as my eyes automatically found the ground and I stepped back against the wall out of her way.

I heard footsteps on the carpet runner and a noise I couldn’t identify, but still I kept my eyes averted until I couldn’t, when the unmistakable sound of something breaking echoed through the hallway. I looked up to see the worried expression on Juliet’s face quickly morph into cunning deceit as she glanced between the two of us.

“Shit.” The word slipped out before I could stop it as Juliet’s face broke into a smug smile. “Go.” I whispered to Mia, handing her my cleaning box and shoving her lightly down the hall. Juliet wouldn’t stop her, so long as there was someone else to blame, she didn’t care who it was. The broken vase lay on the ground in pieces beyond repair, and I winced as I recognised it as the gift the Alpha received from a visiting dignitary last year.

Damn this was going to hurt!

I flinched when Juliet shouted for her father and my eyes narrowed on the girl a couple years my senior before finding the floor again. I straightened my spine and bent my head, presenting for the Alpha in the only way that was acceptable. I wouldn’t deny Juliet’s claim that it was me that broke the vase, the Alpha wouldn’t believe me, and I would only end up in extra trouble for lying or arguing with the man.

This wasn’t the first time I had taken the blame for something his bratty daughter had done, I highly doubted it would be the last.

The Alpha was an imposing man. Comfortably over six foot tall with broad shoulders and thick arms, his physique was that of a twenty-year-old, only his greying hair and the lines on his face gave away his years. His dark eyes were intense in a way that made you shiver, many had died at his hands, a lot of whom certainly didn’t deserve it.

Fear froze my body as his footsteps echoed up the stairs, his deep voice grumbling that it better be important, and I tried to focus on the soothing directions of my wolf in my head and block out all other thoughts.

‘Protect your head. If he knocks you down, curl into a ball and keep your back away from him and your arms in front of your face, let him hit your arms and legs.’

Her directions were a frenzy of hurried words as the Alpha roared with outrage at the sight of the broken vase and advanced on me with a look of pure hatred, I lowered my gaze and tensed, ready for the blow I knew would come even as he screamed at me.

His words were biting, his fists hard and by the time Mia and Layla practically dragged me down to the slave’s quarters, I could barely keep my eyes open.

Every part of my body hurt, and I groaned aloud as the girls helped me lower onto the bed that I vaguely recognised as my own.

“Go get Mrs H” Mia directed the younger girl, and I curled up on my side, trying to keep pressure off the most tender spots, I was fairly sure that he had broken something this time, it was hard to breathe. As much as I had tried to follow my wolfs directions, it was neigh-on impossible when the man had grabbed a fistful of my hair in order to hold my head in place for his fists to hit.

In and out, I focused on each breath, and tried to ignore the reality that I was going to hurt for a while. I blinked my eyes open, trying to focus as Mia’s worried gaze came into view. The girl was so gentle and kind-hearted, it would kill her to see anyone in this state, but looking at me knowing that I had saved her from a similar state had the girl practically hyperventilating.

“I’m okay.” I forced the words out of split lips. I could feel the swelling of my lips and cheek tug as I made my mouth move and winced at the sharp pain it caused.

“Oh Goddess, what happened?” Mrs H’s worried question turned the attention off of me for a moment and I groaned as I shifted on the bed again while Mia explained.

“That wretched girl.” Mrs H hissed as she knelt by my bed and started to lift my dress that was spattered with blood from my split lip. “Help me get this off her, I need to see what I’m working with.” The matronly woman stated, then I felt several sets of hands on me, lifting me and tugging on the uniform I wore. I kept my eyes closed and focused on breathing through the pain. Trying to keep the contents in my stomach from making a reappearance. God this hurt.

Layla’s gasp had my eyes opening only for the nausea to roll through me again at the deep purple bruise that mottled my side and the split in my skin that was bleeding profusely. I had known it would be bad, but I hadn’t expected it to look so angry.

“Shh, you’re okay.” Mrs H soothed, combing my hair with her fingers. “Go fetch me the medical bag Layla.”

I relaxed back into the mattress as much as I could and before Layla returned, darkness overtook me.

When I woke the room was dark, we weren’t afforded the luxury of working lights in the slave’s quarters and the dark night through the window only allowed for the slightest shimmer of moonlight, just enough that I could make out the shapes in the tiny room.

There was a chair in the corner that wasn’t usually there and a sleeping figure that snored softly, grunting and shifting in the seat. Mia would be mortified if she knew she snored. I tried to hold in the chuckle at that thought as I gingerly sat up on the bed, checking myself for injuries as I went.

A bandage was wrapped around my ribs, obscuring the nasty cut and purple bruise. My back was sore, and my face still felt a little swollen around my left eye and my lips but at least I didn’t feel like I was dying anymore.

‘How long have I been out?’ I asked my wolf, the ever-present force in my head.

‘This is the second night. I was worried little one, so was your Mrs H. I do wish you could shift.’ She stated with a sigh, not for the first time either.

The healing properties all shifters were born with meant we would naturally heal quicker than humans, but shifting into our wolf state boosted that further. I would be healed in no time if I could let her out, instead we would both have to suffer the aftereffects until everything healed on its own.

I swallowed hard as I placed my feet on the cold stone floor, I needed a drink and there wasn’t one in here. It was against the rules to be out of our quarters after dark unless we were on night duty, but I wasn’t sure I would make it until morning.

I tested my weight on tender legs, and took small steps towards the door that sectioned off my bedroom. The room really was tiny, it only took three steps and there was no furniture to get in the way other than the bed I had stood from.

I pulled a clean dress off the shelf by the door, I didn’t have anything else to wear, and while being caught out of bed would be bad, if I was dressed in nothing but my underwear, well that was unforgivable.

It took every ounce of restraint I possessed to keep myself from swearing as I pulled my arms through the stiff fabric, and by the time I was dressed I was sweating and out of breath. I felt so weak, so fragile. It was humbling. I was so used to feeling the strength of my wolf, even knowing I could never fully use it, it was there, like a security blanket, but every ounce of strength was being used to heal my broken body, leaving both of us a bit of a quivering mess.

I opened the door, careful not to wake the sleeping Mia and stepped out into the hallway lined with doors that each lead to a room just like mine.

With no carpets on the floor, I stepped carefully in my uniform shoes, so as not to wake the other girls, down the corridor, through the storeroom and into the kitchen, each step jarred my side and took my breath away, and I was actually shaking with exertion by the time I reached the kitchen.

“Amara!” Grace gasped, seeing me step into the large room and I took in the sight of the tiny red head sat the kitchen table opposite Tara, both of them with mugs of tea in hand, obviously the two were covering the night shift. “How are you feeling?” She continued standing to rush to my side, being mindful to keep her voice low.

“Okay, I guess. Stiff and sore, but I’ll live. I just needed a drink.” I uttered, patting Grace reassuringly on the shoulder as I stepped further into the room.

“He really did a number on your face.” Tara chimed in. The brunette was one of only a couple of girls here that were older than me, not counting Mrs H of course. As a general rule of thumb, the Alpha tended to get rid of us any time after we found our wolves, usually around the age of seventeen, Tara however was nineteen and still here, she had been for her whole life.

I filled a glass with cold water and leant against the counter as I sipped the liquid, letting it cool my burning throat as my body relaxed.

I closed my eyes in the quiet room, listening to the gentle shuffle as Grace retook her seat. She was one of the truly unlucky ones. A slave who a knew a different life. Grace’s parents were part of the pack, she was taken by the Alpha into servitude as payment for her parents’ disobedience. She grew up in a simple home with parents that loved her, a baby brother, being read bedtime stories and going to school. And all of it was ripped away at the tender age of six. She hadn’t seen her parents in eight years. I had met her dad, he was one of the pack members that rotated the pickup of food drops I took.

He seemed like a nice man, gentle, caring. Every time I saw him, he cried, asked how his baby girl was doing. It was heart-breaking. I wished some day’s that I could tell her, let her know that her dad loved her, that he always asked after her. But no one could know that I was taking them food, I would be killed and if the Alpha didn’t kill the pack members, then starvation probably would.

Some days I wished I had never started reading the books from the library. No one knew that I did and there were so many books in there that the Alpha would never notice one missing, so I had started taking one book at a time since I was old enough to read, I had read over half of the books in the library at this point. Purposely staying away from the novels. There were enough fantasies in my head, without adding to it. Instead, I stuck to history, pack lore, and the schoolbooks that were added to the shelves once Harley and Juliet were finished with them.

I read everything I could about the world, about economics and science and math. I wanted to understand everything I could, I wanted to understand how the world had gone from a democracy of kind-hearted people to the world we lived in today, where the Alphas rule was final, and it was never kind. But no matter how many books I read, no matter how many wars I studied, I couldn’t find the turning point. That one moment in time that changed it all.

The sound of shoes on the stone steps had me gasping, pulling me from my musings and straightening against the counter with fear running through me. I wasn’t supposed to be out of bed. A quick glance at the girls on shift told me they too were worried for me, their glances going from me to the doorway as they both stood from their seats ready to serve.

“Our visitors have arrived.” The haughty voice of the Luna stated from the open doorway. Her blonde hair perfectly coifed as her blue eyes narrowed on the three of us before letting out a breath. “An extra pair of hands couldn’t hurt.” She stated eventually and I felt the tension leave my body. She wasn’t going to tell the Alpha.

You never really knew what you were going to get with the Luna. Most days she seemed vindictive and malicious, but there was always a look in her eye that made me think she hated her own actions, like she too had no choice but to follow the rule of the Alpha, and once in a while she was kind, just a word or a nod, but it made me think that under the ice and bluster there was a heart that beat just like ours.

With a single confused and worried glance at Grace and Tara the three of us followed the Luna up the narrow staircase to the first floor that was ground level at the front of the house. Having been built on a slope the kitchens and slaves’ quarters in the basement opened onto the ground level at the back of the pack house, to an area of the gardens that was rarely frequented by the Alpha or his family, they tended to stick to using the terrace.

With each step I climbed I felt my energy wanning, I wasn’t in any fit state to be helping visitors settle in. I could barely dress myself. I tried to control my breathing as I ignored the concerned glances thrown my way from Grace and Tara, this was going to be damn painful that was for sure, it still twinged to breathe, carrying luggage and unpacking belongings would be torture but I had no choice at this point.

I couldn’t tell the Luna I wasn’t capable of helping, then she would have no choice but to tell the Alpha I was out of my quarters after hours, and if I couldn’t do my job tonight, the beating I took two days ago would look like a small tumble in comparison.

I grit my teeth and straightened my spine as I focused on breathing in the air around me, but the intake of air caused my encouraging and calming wolf to freeze, suddenly she was no longer chattering away inside my head, I couldn’t feel her anxiety or worry over the night to come, it had all stopped, something that was more concerning than the pain I was about to be in. For the almost full year that she had been a part of me, I had never felt this kind of reaction from her, it was terrifying, all of my attention was now focused on her and I almost tripped on the top step, stumbling to right myself as we started walking through the first floor.

What could possibly have caused this? I took a deep breath again, but I couldn’t smell anything worrisome, it actually smelt nicer than usual. Like sandalwood and vanilla and fresh cut grass, I wondered briefly if Mrs H had started using new room fresheners while I was unconscious, but the thought was fleeting.

‘What is it?’ I asked, feeling myself tense more with each step but I got no answer from my wolf, she remained mute, tensed, worried and I swallowed passed the lump in my throat as I stepped behind the girls into the entry hall where the Alpha was animatedly chatting with the newcomers.

“Ah, and here is my Luna. Lucinda, please come and meet Alpha Abel Williams from the silver lake pack, his beta Greyson and Gamma Anders.” The Alphas voice, as usual brooked no room for argument, he was demanding as he called his mate forwards and she glided elegantly across the room to the Alphas side, ready to do her duty, only my eyes hadn’t left the visitors.

I was aware I was staring, something else I would likely receive a beating for especially since he was staring back but I couldn’t force my gaze away.

The man the Alpha had indicated was Alpha Abel Williams had captured every shred of my attention and my sanity had gone with it, it seemed.

He was maybe an inch shorter than our own Alpha but broader across the shoulders, his face, like it was chiselled from stone stared right back at me, his dark eyes captivating me, his lips shifted and suddenly I was wondering what it would be like to kiss those lips. My eyes trailed down, taking in the tattoos that started on his neck and disappeared under his collar before travelling down his muscular arms, his clothing was expensive and fit him well, showcasing a muscled chest and trim waist, sturdy thick legs and my mouth was actually watering at the sight of him.

What the hell is wrong with me? I have never in all my life felt any kind of attraction to any man that set foot in this house, how could I, when I knew that the Alpha only entertained the company of monsters that were at least his equal. And yet here I was drooling over a man I had never met before, but I had met his type.

My eyes once again found his and I watched as his jaw clenched, his lips firmed his eyes darkened, he was not happy that was for damn sure. So why was I still staring, why couldn’t I pull my eyes away from him.

I felt my wolf shift, her thoughts suddenly clearing, her own horror mingling with mine as realisation struck.

This beast of a man. The monster that stood before me, was my mate.