Chapter Eight

Third Person Pov

Lydia nervously followed behind the guards that were leading her to what she believed was the Alpha's office. 

She was discharged from the hospital only a few hours ago, but before she could even get the chance to leave, two guards showed up out of nowhere and instructed her to follow them. She questioned them about where they were taking her and at first, they did not tell her anything, simply ignoring her but when she persisted repeatedly, they finally answered her and told her the alpha had summoned her. 

She was extremely nervous, but she tried to calm herself by only thinking of positive thoughts even though she knew there was a higher chance that nothing positive was going to come out of meeting with him. 

 After what felt like forever, they finally arrived in front of a large door that looked exactly how she had pictured. 

She unconsciously rubbed her palms together, as she stood behind the large guard in front of her to hide her smaller frame. 

 “She's here, Sire,” one of the guards announced, and Lydia's breath hitched when she heard the Alpha's voice instruct them to let her in. 

Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead and she felt like she was going to stop breathing any second now. The guards in front of her stepped aside to give her room to pass and after letting out a deep breath, she moved forward towards the door and turned the doorknob open before proceeding to walk in.

She had her head faced down because she wasn't ready to look into the eyes of the Alpha. She was afraid that looking at him would only confirm to her that he had something horrible planned for her, and she just didn't think she had it in her to not react. 

 “You're finally here!” Nicholas's voice boomed in an overly excited way that made Lydia even more skeptical. 

“Good afternoon, Alpha,” she greeted, with her head still facing the ground. 

“Hello Lydia,” she heard another voice in the room, and she immediately looked up to identify who the voice belonged to. 

To her surprise, Liam, the pack Beta, was also in the room and unlike Nicholas, who had a sinister look on his face, Liam looked a lot calmer and Lydia could have sworn that she saw a glimpse of worry in his eyes. 

 “Good afternoon, Beta,” she greeted, with her eyes now fixated on Liam. His warmer gaze made her feel a strong sense of relief, so she made up her mind that looking at him was notably better than looking at the floor. 

“How're you feeling now?” Liam asked. 

He knew he wasn't supposed to be here, but he couldn't allow Nicholas to be alone with her because something told him Nicholas had something crazy in mind, and he didn't want a situation where his friend would allow his anger to get the best of him and hurt her. 

He still couldn't understand the reason Nicholas was so fixated on hurting her when she hadn't done anything extremely wrong but since he could not question the Alpha, he had no other choice but to play along, but he also had to make sure that things don't go too far. 

Nicholas noticed that Lydia was trying everything possible to avert his gaze, and he mentally scoffed when he saw her staring at Liam instead. He wasn't surprised that she didn't want to look at him, but he was slightly offended that she chose to stare at his Beta instead of just bowing her head in respect to him. 

 “I'm better, Sir, thank you for asking,” Lydia responded. 

Nicholas cleared his throat loudly, causing Lydia's body to jolt a little. She still made sure not to look anywhere near him.

“You know, kid, none of this would be happening if you just decide to say the truth instead of lying to me and making me look like the crazy one for punishing you accordingly. You should…,” Nicholas stated, but paused suddenly. 

“Look at me,” he demanded in a low growl, hating the fact that he was speaking to her and yet, she dared to look at someone else in front of him. 

Lydia's eyes fearfully met his, and when she saw the furious look in his eyes, she panicked. 

 “Shouldn't you be on your knees as well? Has it skipped your mind that you're an offender, or do you perhaps think that I'm going to let you off easily just because you just came out of a hospital?” Nicholas added, with a baleful look in his eyes.

“F… forgive me, Sir,” Lydia stuttered, before getting down on her knees. She avoided his eyes again, this time staring down at her fingers while pinching herself with her sharp fingernails. 

Liam did nothing but watch Nicholas, and he immediately knew that there was something I was between them that Nicholas hadn't told him.  

The Nicholas that he knew wasn't someone that would concern himself with a mere cook for any reason whatsoever, but the way he was reacting to her now, made Liam understand that there was something else that he had against the poor girl, and he intended on figuring out what it was.  

 “As I was saying, you are hiding something from me, something very important and until you tell me the truth and let me know exactly why you trespassed into my place despite knowing that it's forbidden, I won't be letting you off so easily. I already gave you a chance the last time, but I'm giving you one last chance again. Confess your real reason for coming here that day, and I won't proceed with the punishment I have in mind,” Nicholas demanded. 

He was hell-bent on getting her to confess because he strongly believed that she was sent here by his stepmother and he wasn't going to let her be until she confessed to that. 

He already had an idea of how to punish her should she not confess to him like he wanted her to and even though he knew that everyone else would think he was crazy for going that far, he didn't care. 

He also didn't care for the fact that she was his mate and that gave him even more reason to hurt her, cause the best thing for him would be for her to disappear and never show up in front of him ever again. 

 Lydia was extremely frustrated with the situation because she didn't even know how she was supposed to respond to him. She had no ulterior motives, and it was simply a mistake that she walked a bit too far and got caught.

 She already mentioned that to him the last time he asked but seeing how he was still questioning her over the same thing, she registered that he was never going to believe anything that she said except if she lied by confessing to an allegation that was far from the truth. 

“I honestly don't know what else to tell you, Sir. Like I said the last time, I got overly excited and just kept walking without thinking, and that was how I ended up trespassing into your place. I'm deeply apologetic for breaking the rules on my first day, but it was an honest mistake and I had no ulterior motives,” she said, trying to sound as confident and as honest as she could.

 “Are you very certain that it was nothing but a mistake? An investigation will be carried out and if it turns out you're lying, your punishment would be a lot worse than you can imagine, Lydia,” Liam chimed in. 

“I can assure you, Beta, I didn't have any motive at all. I simply crossed the line in a moment of excitement, and I deeply regret my actions,” Lydia responded, looking up at Liam with the most desperate expression her face could express. 

“Okay then. What do you think, Sir?” Liam asked, turning away from Lydia to face Nicholas. 

“Do you believe her?” Nicholas questioned, responding to Liam, who said nothing in response because he knew Nicholas's question was a trick question. 

“I only follow orders, Alpha,” Liam answered, struggling not to lash out at Nicholas for being so unnecessarily stiff. 

Nicholas chuckled dryly before turning back to Lydia. 

 “He may have fallen for your lies and trusted that pretentious gaze of yours, but I still don't believe you, Lydia. You are nothing but a filthy criminal, and I'll make you regret not taking the chance to confess when you had it,” he said, and Lydia's heart dropped. 

“I'm not going to lie about something that isn't true just because that's what you want to hear from me, Sir. If you've made up your mind that you're not going to believe me until I say what you would like to hear, then I'm ready to accept whatever punishment you have for me,” Lydia responded. 

Her response only made Nicholas even more furious, and he wished so much that he could just snap her neck with his bare hands. Unfortunately for him, he was bound to her by their stupid mate bond, so there was very little he could do to hurt her personally on his own, without feeling heartbroken. 

“Then prepare yourself. You're going to be put on trial and if you want to survive, then it's either you kill or get killed,” Nicholas announced and both Lydia and Liam stare back at him with shocked looks on their faces. 

 “Sir…,” Liam tried to chime in, but Nicholas hushed him. 

“My decision is final. The details will be announced later and until then, you'll be sent back to prison. Guards!” he called, and the two guards that had escorted Lydia earlier rushed in at his command. 

“Take her to the isolation room,” he instructed, and Lydia could only watch herself get dragged out of the room by both men. She wanted to scream and plead for mercy, but she suddenly felt too weak to speak and the only thing she could think of was how unlucky she was to be born.