Ava's povEveryone let out a breath around me. Heather quickly collected the skewed meat from me and helped me stand up, she washed my hands then gave me my crutches.“Quickly.” She said ushering me out of the kitchen. Thankfully the king had stopped to speak to a guard in the hallway and I noticed that the beta was with him as well.I quickly walked over to him, he casted a glance at me as I got close to him then his gaze drifted to my crutches and lingered for a second before he turned back to the guard who gave him a nod then returned to his duty post.I felt eyes on me and I turned to see that the beta was looking at me with something like curiosity in his eyes.Beta Magnus Kane, I have heard about him. He is quiet and reserved due to something that happened in his childhood, he is also ruthless when need be. Other than the alpha king, he is someone that I do not want to cross.The king began walking and I followed behind him and the beta. They got to the grand staircase and bega
Ava's pov“I'll take you to the infirmary now.” The princess said to me.“No don't, your highness.” With the little bit of strength I had left, I freed myself from her grasp and fell to the floor.She reached out to help me but I held out a hand stopping her, “Don’t. I need to clean the king's study before he gets back.”“You need to see a healer!” She screamed.“Please.” I pleaded, tears welled up in my eyes. I was disgusted at my weakness, less than a week after being selected I had become weak.“You can't work in thi—” I cut her off, “yes I can!”I picked up my crutches and hauled myself up with great difficulty, then I remembered who I was talking to. “I'm sorry for my outburst, your highness.”I carried my bloody body to the storage closet to get some supplies. I stood for a moment wondering how I was going to hold them and walk not to talk more of going up a flight of stairs.“Please, let me help. It's the least I can do.” I heard the princess say from behind me.“Okay.” I repli
Ava's pov“Invisible ink.” I whispered under my breath as hidden details began to show up on the paper.My brother had taught me some things about invisible ink before he went missing. I knew that water could reveal it but it wasn't the best choice as it could damage the paper.I tried my best to dry the water as my hand was more damp than wet when it touched the paper. Luckily, it dried in no time.I angled the paper in a way that the sunlight from the window behind the desk was directly on it, and more details came to light. Hidden alcoves and catacombs that I planned to explore came to light.I searched his office for invisible ink, I knew what it looked like. I was about to give up when I found it hidden deep inside his drawer.I placed my linen on the map and gently began to trace the details onto it. I made sure to hold the feather lightly so as not to transfer more invisible ink onto the alpha's map.“Alpha.” I heard someone say outside the study, my head snapped up and I becam
Ava's pov)The morning of my eighteenth birthday arrived far too quickly than I would have liked. The early morning sun filtered into my room from my window as I stared up at the cracked ceiling above my bed.The selection was today. Right on my birthday. Every year the werewolves go to the few remaining human settlements scattered around the continent to take humans who have just turned 18 to work as their servants until they are 50 or if you are lucky enough to have a good ‘master’ — as they love to refer to themselves, who would let you start a family in a settlement close to the pack but you'd still come to their houses every day to work.Centuries ago, humans and werewolves lived together in peaceful harmony but that was until we became greedy, power-hungry. We wanted to have supreme reign over the werewolves. A war broke out and the werewolves in their great strength and numbers defeated us, the majority of the human population was lost. To stop the werewolves from completely an
Ava's pov Whilst I had been observing my house the warrior had called out my name twice and I didn't hear him. All the villagers were looking at me eyes wide, whispers could be heard as they all feared for her safely Turning I locked eyes with the warrior, his gaze was piercing. His eyes were cold, expression unreadable but promised trouble. “I called your name twice,” he said, bearing his fangs. I stepped forward, steps slow and unhurried. I refuse to be intimidated. I held his gaze, no remorse or apology, if something bad was going to happen it would happen on my own terms. “Ava Sinclair, I said I called your name twice.” He repeated, his voice low as if he was daring me to challenge him. “And now I've heard it.” I retorted, keeping my voice steady even though my heart was pounding. I will never be weak before them. Collective gasp could be heard. The warrior took a step towards me and I heard the villagers behind me take a step back. I will not be intimidated, I will not
Ava's pov)The trip from silver claw pack to Blackthorn was expected to take three days. I have never left the pack's boundary as it wasn't particularly safe for humans to travel.The trip was a bumpy one, we were all cramped in so I occasionally got an elbow to the side or a stomp on my feet. Sleeping was difficult, I'd place my head on one of Sylvia's shoulders to sleep and she'd do the same with me.We weren't let out of the carriage all through the trip. During the three days we spent on the road, a warrior would come to open our door three times a day to give us meals. At least they didn't starve us…I thought.They would also bring us out twice a day to do our business, although we were blindfolded.As I woke up today the ride was silent, I didn't hear the usual chatter of the warriors. The air was warm, meaning that we were far from the north.The warmth, body heat and the heavy layers of winter clothing we all had on made inside the carriage a burning furnace. My clothes are d
Xander's pov I sat in my office going over some documents with my beta,Magnus Kane, and younger brother, Rowan Blackthorn. There are 10 packs in Lycara — the werewolf continent. Blackthorn pack in the center, this is my pack, directly run by me. Silverclaw pack in the north, Stormfang pack in the east, nightshade pack in the west, blood moon in the southwest, iron claw pack in the south east, wildheart pack right next to us her in the central region, Ashville pack in the northwest, thornspike pack in the northeast and lastly rainville pack in the far east. Each pack has their own unique specialty. Silverclaw pack has elite warriors and high endurance to cold weather, stormfang are known for their agility and naval navigation, nightshade are known for their impeccable stealth and mastery of poison, bloodmoon for warfare, iron claw for blacksmith and weapon forgery, wildheart animal taming and archery, ashville explosive making, thorn spike traps and ambush, rainville healing and h
Xander's povStepping out of the office with Rowan and Magnus flanking my sides, I'm greeted by warriors stationed in the hallway, omegas and human servants alike going about their daily task.Looking out one of the windows in the hallway I spot the carriages that have brought the humans. The humans were being led out by warriors from each carriage.I spot a flash of silver hair belonging to one of the humans from the silverclaw pack. A female. Something about her drew me in, I couldn't see her face yet as she seemed to be shielding her eyes from the sun.A throat cleared, it was Magnus signaling that we should keep moving. Pulling myself away from the window we continued on our journey down.Upon getting to the ground floor where the throne room was situated, my ears picked up the sound of something or someone being dragged, there was some sort of struggle.Magnus, Rowan and I all shared a look. Could it be a human? That was impossible, they all feared us and dared not to even breath
Ava's pov“Invisible ink.” I whispered under my breath as hidden details began to show up on the paper.My brother had taught me some things about invisible ink before he went missing. I knew that water could reveal it but it wasn't the best choice as it could damage the paper.I tried my best to dry the water as my hand was more damp than wet when it touched the paper. Luckily, it dried in no time.I angled the paper in a way that the sunlight from the window behind the desk was directly on it, and more details came to light. Hidden alcoves and catacombs that I planned to explore came to light.I searched his office for invisible ink, I knew what it looked like. I was about to give up when I found it hidden deep inside his drawer.I placed my linen on the map and gently began to trace the details onto it. I made sure to hold the feather lightly so as not to transfer more invisible ink onto the alpha's map.“Alpha.” I heard someone say outside the study, my head snapped up and I becam
Ava's pov“I'll take you to the infirmary now.” The princess said to me.“No don't, your highness.” With the little bit of strength I had left, I freed myself from her grasp and fell to the floor.She reached out to help me but I held out a hand stopping her, “Don’t. I need to clean the king's study before he gets back.”“You need to see a healer!” She screamed.“Please.” I pleaded, tears welled up in my eyes. I was disgusted at my weakness, less than a week after being selected I had become weak.“You can't work in thi—” I cut her off, “yes I can!”I picked up my crutches and hauled myself up with great difficulty, then I remembered who I was talking to. “I'm sorry for my outburst, your highness.”I carried my bloody body to the storage closet to get some supplies. I stood for a moment wondering how I was going to hold them and walk not to talk more of going up a flight of stairs.“Please, let me help. It's the least I can do.” I heard the princess say from behind me.“Okay.” I repli
Ava's povEveryone let out a breath around me. Heather quickly collected the skewed meat from me and helped me stand up, she washed my hands then gave me my crutches.“Quickly.” She said ushering me out of the kitchen. Thankfully the king had stopped to speak to a guard in the hallway and I noticed that the beta was with him as well.I quickly walked over to him, he casted a glance at me as I got close to him then his gaze drifted to my crutches and lingered for a second before he turned back to the guard who gave him a nod then returned to his duty post.I felt eyes on me and I turned to see that the beta was looking at me with something like curiosity in his eyes.Beta Magnus Kane, I have heard about him. He is quiet and reserved due to something that happened in his childhood, he is also ruthless when need be. Other than the alpha king, he is someone that I do not want to cross.The king began walking and I followed behind him and the beta. They got to the grand staircase and bega
Ava's povI watched as Heather applied an ointment to my leg, it burned but not that much. Then she crushed the herbs in her palm and sprinkled it.The herbs brought a cool relief to me and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.“It feels nice, right?” She asked.I could only nod, the door opened and Thomas walked in with some sticks in hand. He knelt beside Heather and handed the sticks to her, she lifted my leg and placed it on her thigh.The movement caused me a great deal of pain but I sucked it in.“Hold this.” She said to Thomas as she placed the sticks on either side of my leg then began wrapping it with a cloth.Tears spilled out of my eyes and I cursed the day the alpha king was born, it would have been best if he wasn't born.“All done.” Heather said then gently placed my leg on the floor.She crushed some herbs, “open your mouth.”I did as she instructed then she poured the herbs in my mouth, they were bitter and slightly minty. I chewed against my disgust then swall
Ava's povI felt a burning sensation in my chest, something weird, I don't know. What is wrong with me? I simply bowed my head. Maybe if I hadn't been so defiant I wouldn't be here suffering this much.I gathered the alpha's dishes in my arms and began limping to the kitchen leaving a trail of blood in my wake, other servants began to pack up the rest.I was almost at the servant's entrance to the kitchen when I heard, “wait.”It was the alpha, again. I had barely been a day since I had been chosen as his personal entertainer and I was about to kill myself.With great difficulty I turned to him, his gaze wasn't on me but on Vanessa. “Who is she?” He asked.Everyone paused to watch, confused at what was going on. “What do you mean, Alpha?” Vanessa asked.“I don't like to repeat myself.” He replied.“She's your personal entertainer.” Vanessa replied.“That she is. Don't ever make the mistake of telling her what to do ever again, Vanessa.” He told her, his tone was calm and low but carr
Ava's povI cursed him with everything in me, I hated him. The flesh in my leg that had started to heal ripped opened as I knelt down next to him.I knew he could smell my blood, they all did. I was in excruciating pain, my mind kept wondering back to the night of the incident. He looked like he regretted what he did before I blacked out but I guess that was just my mind playing tricks with me because the man before me didn't even have an ounce of regret.I bit my lip to hold back my cry of pain, tears welled in my eyes but I refused to let a single one fall. My belly rumbles in hunger as I hadn't eaten since I woke up because the alpha had requested my presence.They were talking and laughing as though a girl wasn't bleeding onto the floor right now, they were really disgusting. I tried my best to tune them out, it wasn't even hard because I had the excruciating pain to focus on.“Ava.” I heard him call out, I had hoped he'd choke on his food and die.I didn't look up as Madam Mary h
Xander's povIt was the next day and I was in a study trying to finish up some work that I couldn't do the previous night due to the constant pull to go check up on Ava.After giving her the vial the tug and pain in my chest stopped and I could finally think. A knock sounded at my door breaking my train of thoughts.“Come in.” I ordered without looking up from the documents on my desk.There was a good shortage in silverclaw pack due to the harsh winter so I needed to get more food for them.“Good morning, your majesty.” The person said to make me look up and I saw that it was Mary. “Go ahead?” I calmly said, shifting my gaze to what I was doing. “The servant, Ava, miraculously survived through the night and some of her injuries are gone. Although, the major ones like her leg aren't completely healed.” She said,“Good, have her meet me in the dining hall.” I said in a dismissive tone and went back to my task.I paused when I realized that she was still in my office and hadn't moved
Xander's povWait, what am I doing?... I wondered.Why do I suddenly care if a human gets hurt due to her own words? She knows not to test me, this should serve as an example to the others.“Magnus, Kane.” I called out through the pack link.“We're on our way.” Magnus replied.“Don't bother, it's nothing to fret over. I simply overreacted.” I told them.“Are you sure? You sounded desperate, alpha.” This time it was Draven who spoke.“Don't question my decision!” I yelled at them growing irritated at their hesitance. “When I give an order you follow, it's as simple as that.”I stood up and dropped the girl on the floor and watched as she bled, something tugged inside me but I chose to ignore it. I am not going to fall for whatever witchcraft these petty humans have dabbled in.I grabbed her hand then dragged her limp body out of the room back to the throne room. I felt eyes on me, the human servants.I turned to face them and watched as their faces paled in horror, their eyes widened a
Ava’s pov“This will be your quarter.” The king said behind me.Turning, I glanced up at him then asked. “Why?”He understood what I was asking. Usually servants live together in shared quarters, so having my own room in a different wing in the castle was rather strange.“You're my personal entertainer, meaning you are under my care and protection now. You will serve me alone, no one else. Hence, you require a certain accommodation.” He said with an unreadable expression. “You are a royal entertainer, not a common one, so you will have some things differently.”“Royal entertainer, not a common one” is that supposed to make me feel better? Me being a slut for the king… I thought in disgust.“Care and protection?” I repeated in disbelief. “Is that what you and your people call this? Taking us away from our families, forcing us to be your servant, forcing me to be your—” I couldn't even bring myself to say it.His jaw tightened, expression turning deadly at the disrespect. He took a step