Chapter Five

Adeline

The guard had placed my head on the wood, I closed my eyes tightly as I made peace with death and waited patiently for when the cold metal would touch my skin. The guard asked me to say my last words; I looked at the crowd to where Helen Whitlock, Ella and Caleb’s mother, was holding a wailing Ella. A single tear dropped out of my eye and I closed them finally.

When I heard the order, at first, it sounded so far away, but when the axe landed beside me, my eyes flew open to see the Alpha standing in the crowd, and we just stared at each other.

I felt a pull, so strong in my chest toward him. The air between us was so charged that though he stood a few meters away from where I was kneeling, I felt him so close to me. My mind was blank while we continued to just stare at each other.

The expression on his face was so intense like he wanted to possess me, as if I was the long-lost treasure he had been looking for. I tried to break the stare, but I couldn't; it was as if a greater force bigger than the two of us was pulling us to each other.

“Hey, get up,” the guard who had held the axe said, forcing me to break the eye contact. He began to unlock my feet and hands, “seems like you are in big luck; you won’t be dying today,” he said, flashing a crooked smile my way to reveal a broken tooth, making the smile grim.

I didn't return the smile. I knew he wanted to lighten the air, but I couldn’t get over the fact that a few minutes ago, he was with an axe ready to chop my head off and the next thing he was smiling at me and making jokes.

I got up to massage my jaw and the back of my head where tension had formed from keeping my head on the board.

I looked toward the direction I had seen the Alpha, only to discover he had disappeared.

“Adeline!!” Ella called as she ran toward me, her arms wide open and her brown hair flailing about widely. I smiled back at the look of pure joy on her face.

She threw her arm around me in an embrace. “Oh my God!” she screamed, “ I’m so happy you are safe; I don’t know what I would have done if the execution had happened.”

“Thank God you are safe, my dear,” Helen said, as she walked toward me accompanied by her husband Joseph Whitlock and her son Caleb.

“Thank you so much, Helen,” I said as she embraced me, my eyes got glossy, and I exhaled. It felt good not to die, I thought to myself.

“So what next?” Joseph asked, and almost immediately, the guards from before took my arms and began to lead me away.

“Where are you taking her to?” Ella asked, trying to remove the guard's hands from mine. The guard pushed her, and she fell; Helen rushed to her side immediately.

“Ella!” I screamed as Panic set in; the guards continued to take me away, and I turned back one more time to see Ella on the floor crying. My heart broke at the sight but I was helpless. I kept looking back until we made a turn, and they were out of sight.

The guards pushed me into an old wagon and we zoomed off back to the palace. I knew it was too good to be true, the King had probably found a worse way to punish me. A part of me wanted to believe that he realised an execution was too gruesome a punishment for a crime as petty as bread theft.

The wagon stopped in front of the palace and the guards pushed me out of the wagon. I fell flat on the ground. I shot them a dirty look, but they were unfazed and just laughed.

I got up quickly before they would see an opportunity to drag me across the granite floor.

They led me in the opposite direction of the slave quarters and even the prison, my eyes widened as I realised we were headed to the Left wing of the palace, which was where the royal family resided.

My thoughts are halted by the beauty and magnificence of the royal wing. We entered the hallway completely adorned with gold. The pillars were painted in white and adorned with mini gold wolf heads.

The majestic hallway had magnificent art and structures that whispered untold stories of the werewolves. I looked down to the floor and nearly gasped at my reflection from the glistening marble. I pictured myself gliding through its smooth floors, laughing without a care.

I was so caught up in the beauty of the palace that I did not realise we were in front of a door. One of the guards rapped his knuckles on the door twice, and just like that, the door opened. Fascinated by how this came to be, I was disappointed when I saw two other guards appear from the back of the door.

The guards nudged me inside and closed the door; I walked into the room, wondering what I was doing there. The room looked like a chamber of sorts; it had a gigantic bed in the middle of the room, and it was also as wonderfully decorated as the rest of the palace I had seen.

The sun shone into the room, and I felt the reflection of something; I turned in the direction of the light and gasped. The structure of a golden wolf was there, its eyes a deep blue shade stared at me, and I felt it looked into my soul, standing in all of its regality and majesty.

Unconsciously, I moved closer to touch it as though connecting to it would reveal depths of myself to me. Suddenly a voice thundered from behind.

“Don’t you dare!”

I shuddered and froze in my steps, the Alpha. I had recognized the voice, the same that had stopped my head from dropping to the ground today.

I could feel his presence from behind me as warmth from him suddenly enveloped me. He moved closer, and the hairs at the back of my neck stood, I swallowed nervously as my heart pounded against my ribcage.

“Turn and look at me,” He commanded his voice a deep baritone that made my insides jelly.

I tried to turn and will myself to obey him but my legs had suddenly disconnected from my brain.

“I said look at me!” he commanded again, this time louder, his voice getting deeper.

There was something in his tone that intimidated me and made me want to cower under the table. Exhaling a nervous breath, I slowly turned to look at him, and immediately I sucked in a breath at the regal beauty in front of me.

The man was fine, I smacked myself mentally for thinking he was a monster with four horns. His jaw was so sharp; I could see he was sporting a 5 o'clock shadow. Which only added to his appeal. He had the most intense eyes and they were scrutinizing me like he didn’t know what to make of me.

“You are the Roosevelt spawn; the child of my enemy is my enemy,” he started with so much disgust; while he walked in circles around me, I felt like a prey waiting to be devoured.

“I halted your execution because I realised, it was such an easy way to make you pay for your father’s sins.”. He sneered, “From today, Adeline Roosevelt, I would become your worst nightmare. You have heard stories about me just like everyone else, but the difference is, you will experience my wrath first-hand.”