Sleep eluded Tatum that night as he tossed and turned in bed. Feeling morose, he finally gave up and got up from his king-sized bed.He walked to his mini freezer and took a bottle of wine. Pouring some in a wine glass for himself, he downed the drink in one go.He poured another and downed it with as much speed. Baka plagued his mind. Everything about her plagued him.He was plagued by her tears, by her sad brown eyes that held untold secrets and lifelong pain. He’d felt an innate urge to console her and hated himself for causing her tears.But she had gone. To meet with her lover. And the headache had returned.His hands balled into fists. More angry at himself than her, he poured himself another drink.Is this what he had been reduced to? The powerful Alpha King feeling jealous over a slave? His laugh held no humor.But he was. Jealous of her tears over him. Jealous over someone he didn't even know. He had wanted to demand her to give him his name and then have him brought over for
The days were long and the nights even longer. Sometimes Baka would cry in her sleep, missing her mother so much that her heart would hurt. Other times she pretended she was in her prison talking to the girls. Her heart ached for them. It ached for companionship too. She felt as though she would go crazy.No one spoke to her. She was treated like a plague. Aja and Emily only spoke to her when needed. Odessa ignored her completely. So Baka restricted herself within her Master’s quarters. He did as he always did; Left early in the morning before she woke and came back late in the night when she was asleep in the servant’s living quarters. She longed for true companionship, and often found herself missing Bekon’s flirtatious advances.But she did as her mom asked; laid low, kept her head down, played dumb, minded her own business. She threw herself into her work and did nothing else.By the eighth day, she had fallen ill. No one noticed. On top of that, she was on her period. Doing w
Odessa held nothing back as she bathed Baka the following morning, scrubbing her skin until they turned red with bruises.“You’re hurting me!” she cried and tried to pull away from her but she was weak from her illness and Odessa was twice her size. She shoved Baka’s head into the bath water and held it in place while Baka thrashed about struggling to breathe.It was a while before Odessa let her up again as she coughed up water, her eyes red and her entire body screaming. Still, Odessa rained a series of punches in her stomach.“You think you’re better than me, is that it?” Odessa sneered as she held Baka’s jaws roughly, digging her nails into the sensitive flesh. “You’re nothing,” Odessa continued, her eyes glinting coldly at Baka. “When the master has had his fun with you, he’ll cast you aside like the trash you are. And I’ll never have to see you again.”She shoved Baka by her jaws and Baka sank into the bath, hitting the cold metal surface with a loud thud.Laughing, Odessa grabb
“You sent for me, my lord.”The Alpha King rose and beckoned her to come closer. Baka kept her eyes trained on him, wondering what game he was playing at this time.“Look at Baka,” he ordered.“My lord?” came Odessa’s insipid reply.“Did I stutter?”Baka saw Odessa’s throat bop and knew the girl was frightened to death. She could summon neither pity nor glee.“Are you looking?” he asked, his tone menacing.“Yes, my lord,” Odessa replied as she stared at Baka, her lips quivering. The look in her eyes told Baka that she had begun to suspect what this was about.“Good. Now tell me what you see.”“My lord?”“Are you deaf as well as dumb? Tell me what you see.”“Nothing, my lord. I see nothing.” The air became brittle as the Alpha King walked slowly towards Odessa. She was visibly shaking.“Look again.”Odessa looked confused. “I see nothing, my lord.”“Is that so? Because I see bruises. Don’t you? On her lip, on her cheeks, on her neck, and even on her belly. Like she was attacked by a wil
“Massey the midwife is your mother?” the Alpha King asked with interest.Baka hadn't wanted to admit to anything, but she hadn't had a choice. He was a human lie detector. Plus, they only knew her as a midwife. Not as the wife of the infamous human rebel leader. “Yes, my lord.”Frankly, she was surprised he knew her mother’s name at all. It also surpised her that he chose to call her by her name when other werewolf masters and mistresses never even bothered to know it. They all chose to refer to her as “girl” or “slave” or—her personal favorite— “filth.”The door opened then as Emily walked in, carrying a tray of food. Her gaze fell on Baka and she quickly looked away. She was a petite black girl with a small oval face, thin eyebrows, and long, voluminous hair that she had braided into two pigtails. Her brown dress— modest and long like Baka’s had been— hugged her small frame. She was beautiful, more beautiful than Odessa whose face bore harsh, hard lines around the eyes and jawline
“I heard you fired my slave,” Takoda announced as he lounged on his couch. “Is that why you summoned me like a slave?” Tatum bit back. He stood a few steps away from the door with his arms crossed.Takoda’s mate, Tania, was sitting on their bed, rubbing her belly. She didn't seem particularly interested in their conversation.“I meant no offence, little brother,” Takoda stated in a tone that made it very clear that he did in fact mean to offend him. As Tatum always did, he refused to rise to the bait.Since his coronation as the Alpha King, Takoda had been looking for ways to set him off. Try hard enough and he might just get his wish.“I simply want to know why I am suddenly without a slave.”Tatum uncrossed his arms, realising that folding it in front of his older brother in that way made it look like a child throwing a tantrum.“You can get another one.”“What if I want to keep that particular one? Hm? Don’t I, as your older brother, have a say in who I want to retain? Or is this a
Long after the Alpha King had left the room, Baka had gone downstairs to the slave’s living quarters.It was a much bigger room than what she was used to at her former prison and unlike it, there was proper ventilation.They each had beds of their own too. Odessa’s bed was cleared out. Baka felt nothing over her departure. Aja and Emily seemed to avoid her gaze altogether. It wasn't from resentment, she realised. They were afraid. They were no doubt aware of why Odessa had been kicked out and were simply keeping their distance. Although she understood their reasoning, the aloofness towards her didn't hurt any less. After twenty minutes of unbearable silence, Baka left the room. She found her way back to the Alpha King’s room and laid down on the couch. She still felt weak from the illness but she was beginning to feel strength returning back into her bones, and her fever was breaking.Unfortunately, her body still ached from the bruises Odessa had left her.Baka’s thoughts unwitti
“Don’t rip his head off, Tatum. I’m right here,” Mother Tina announced as she traipsed through the long corridor decorated with images of their family.Relief flooded through him as he rushed to meet her.“Where have you been?”Mother Tina eyed him. “Am I a child that I should tell you where I’m going?”Tatum stared at her, looking for any signs of dis-ease. She seemed to be doing okay. At least on the surface. “I was concerned.”“How touching.” She was still bitter over their last meeting. Her long blonde hair had been pulled into a ponytail and the long floral dress she wore almost covered her toes which were covered in dirt.“Did you go for a walk?” Tatum asked as they both entered her room, she leading and him following closely after her. Alec remained at the doorpost. Mother Tina’s room was spacious and smelt of heavy incense. The smell had always affected him negatively, so he rarely ever came into her room. Even now, he felt the beckoning of a body-shaking sneeze on the horizo