Chapter 2: Nothing more than a slave.

Tears run freely down my cheeks and I try to calm down but my mind is in shambles. 

My sister…. I have to think of Raven.

I could take her away from here and go to another hospital, but there’s no healer like David. He’s the only one who knows the full details of her medical reports. Nikolai knows all of this and yet he took him away.

“Emery.”

My heart jumps at the sound of a voice. A part of me hopes for it to be Nikolai’s. It prays for it to be him and I look up expecting to see him, but his voice has never been so soft.

Doug’s relief ripples through the room as he exclaims, “Thank the goddess, you’re here.” Doug immediately goes over to hug Lyla. 

Lyla is an emergency doctor and for her to have come on such short notice… i stare at her like a paralyzed mute as tears fill my eyes again.

Doug doesn’t sound worried anymore as he consoles me, “It’s okay, Emery. Lyla’s here now. Raven will be fine.” 

I choke out words through the haze of tears clouding my eyes, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Cleaning my tears and the thin line running down my nose with my hands, I get up and pull at the sides of my dress to calm myself before asking, “Should I get coffee for anyone? Do you need any food, Lyla? I…. I don’t know how I'll ever thank you for this.”

Lyla looks up from where she’s bent over Raven and her hazel brown eyes mirror calm as she responds “If anyone should be getting us coffee, then it should be Doug over there, and none of this is your fault Emery.” She holds my gaze as i feel tears filling my eyes again, “Rest for a while. You look exhausted. We don’t need you getting sick too.”

I hold back my tears this time though they smart my eyes like lime juice. 

It should have been me on that bed.

The arrow was meant for me, but it hit Raven, and if it had hit me my blood would have reacted the same way it’s making Raven react. It would have kept me terribly sick. 

The doctor says the poisoned arrow was specially made to weaken the wolves of my family’s bloodline. It was coated with a special poison, for special wolves.

David was the strongest healer the pack had, and when Nikolai told me he would always be on standby to look after my sister, I believed there was no way he didn’t love me….. I never doubted from that moment that he would ever stop.

I sit down to watch Lyla treat Raven. Hours pass. 

Raven becomes stabilized but it takes a lot out of Lyla so she and Doug head home together. I smile with tears in my eyes as I watch them go.

I can’t sleep for the rest of the night so I do what I did in the early days after the attack. I stare at the ceiling for hours on end, and I wait for the sun to peek through the curtains.

I’m still staring at the ceiling when it does. 

Voices start coming from beneath the door. 

The hospital comes alive with people. Doctors, nurses, patients and those who love them. I only stir when I hear a child’s thin yet clear voice, “You’re staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping again, Emery. 

Is something wrong with you and the Alpha King?”

Raven is an obvious copy of our mum. 

She’s blunt, and she seems to always know exactly what’s on my mind without me saying it.

I get up and go to her bedside, staring into her buttercup blue eyes as I ask, “How are you feeling, my love?”

Raven smiles at me and I see myself mirrored in her eyes.

I have ebony dark hair, just like hers. Small round face and a button nose, but where her looks are fresh, my looks have developed into one that gains me a fair amount of staring in pubic. 

I look bad today though. Eye bags sit heavy under my eyes and tired lines are scattered around my face. The only difference between me and my sister lies in the color of our eyes.

Mum had Raven’s buttercup blue eyes. Dad had eyes the blue of an icy glacier and both of them had coal dark hair, like a raven’s feathers. I do too, but I have watery yellow eyes, eyes that look like they came from a painting.

“You’re locked in your head again.”

A smile spreads on my face as I tune back in. 

Raven bursts into a giggle. She’s bright, like sunshine. We talk tirelessly until Doug comes back and then Raven pouts. She grabs my hand and refuses to leave it, “Promise you’ll come see me more often, Emery.” 

With a pat on her cheek and a kiss on her forehead, I promise, “I’ll come see you every day after this. Even if it’s just for five minutes.”

Raven nods and smiles eagerly as Doug begins speaking to her about options for breakfast. I open my phone to see seventeen text messages and four missed calls.

It’s almost 9am and everyone will have risen in the packhouse. 

I have to coordinate breakfast for at least forty people. More if Nikolai and Nadia came home with guests last night. I make my way back to the packhouse and return three out of the seventeen missed calls.

One is so the cooks know what to make. The second is for the seating arrangements.

A call to one of the maids lets me know who and who the new additions to the packhouse are and i give an order i’ve known i’ll have to give for a while now, “Change the seat beside Alpha Nikolai’s…. Put the Luna’s chair there.” 

My heart is heavy as I give the new order but Nikolai never let me sit in that chair.

He always told me I won't ever be fit to be his Luna because I can't shift. The pack members would never accept a wolfless Luna. I make it back to the packhouse while the changes are still being made. I’m about to head up to our room when I see Nikolai and Nadia coming down the stairs.

Nikolai looks imposing as he makes his descent. 

His height puts him at a staggering six feet and added inches. His classically handsome features make his face drool worthy. People often feel the need to stare instead of bow when he walks by, and it’s no different this morning. His scent - lavender and driftwood, washes into the room as if on a soft wind.

All movement has stopped. When I look up, I see Nadia coming down behind him.

In a vibrant red gown, she looks like a princess.

Her hair sits on her shoulders in soft, firm, curls.  Her face is a collection of sharp angles and rosy cheeks. Her ruby-red eyes, mark her as a member of the ruling class of the Redstone pack. The lands that form her pack’s territory have an abundance of precious gems. 

People say you can stumble on diamonds if you dig any random spot in their forests, and rubies are so common that in their pack… they call them red stones.

Nikolai nods and ignores me as he walks past. Activity resumes and as he does every morning, Nikolai makes his way to the bar.

I follow on instinct, not thinking twice. I need to talk to him.

I need to know what happened with David yesterday won’t happen again because I can't go through that. Raven is the only one I have left in the world.

I stop a few feet away from him as he pours a drink for himself and I ask, “Can we talk?”

He doesn’t even look at me. Nikolai simply shakes his head and orders coldly, “Let that be after you make a room for the new Luna. I don’t care about anything you have to say before you do that.”

The tone of his voice stabs deeply into me.

Nadia’s voice floats over, “Nikolai, I don’t think you’ve introduced me to everyone just yet.” She wraps an arm around Nikolai’s chest as she hugs him from behind.

I bow, because she’s the new Luna and her tone bears excitement as she asks, “Isn’t that Emery? I’ve heard so much about her.”

I make to bow even lower but Nadia drifts over to me and places a hand on my back, “Oh, there’s no need for that. I’ll be your Luna now and I need to have a good relationship with everyone. 

I hear you had quite the relationship with Niko these past few years, and I'm not mad. I’m sure we’ll have loads to talk about.”

Nadia sounds sweeter than I ever could, but there’s something about the way she looks at me that makes me not believe a single word she says. I can’t hide my immediate feelings from my voice so I know faking nice will fail. I keep quiet, nod, and bow again instead.

“There’s no need to be so good to her, Nadia.” Nikolai’s words are filled with disdain.

I look up and see him smile at his new Luna yet when he regards me, he’s emotionless, “Regardless of our relationship in the past, you’re here now. Emery is nothing more than someone who has to satisfy you, so there’s nothing you can share with her.”

A slave. 

I’m nothing more than a slave.

Nadia smiles back at Nikolai like he’s just given her a present. And I guess he has.

Her tone changes immediately as she speaks to me this time, “Don’t bother with preparing a guest room. I’ll be moving into the Alpha’s room. I spent so much time here during the holidays when we were younger, do you remember that, Niko? 

I hated the views in the guest room so much, but I've always loved those in the main bedroom.”

Nikolai grins as she kisses his cheek and he mutters without looking at me, “You heard her.”

I nod and take a deep shuddering breath to calm myself. I’ll have my things moved immediately after I see everything else is going as it’s supposed to. This is the latest breakfast that has ever been served in the packhouse.

From the dining room, I watch Nadia discussing with some of the maids as i set the table.

Most of them fawn over her. She’s important, and for someone like her to pay attention to the workers of the packhouse… she’ll be a perfect Luna. I can’t even resent her because she’s done nothing to me.

Yet when I look back again, my jaw locks in fear and a paralyzed feeling overcomes me. 

Flashes of blood flash through my eyes. My blood.

Nadia’s aura retreats as fast as it came but I still collapse to the floor, gasping for air as my heart hammers rapidly in my chest.

When I look back, Nadia holds my gaze for two seconds before walking away.