Chapter eight

If death was a person, then it would definitely be him. The fun fact is, he was here…in my room.

His icy gaze penetrated through the thin covers, where I lay, pretending to be asleep. He could always go back the same way he came. I would not deliberately ask for death.

“Your lips are quivering, little girl”, his cold hands grazed my thin lips, making me jump in fright.

How did he get so close to me already? My heart flipped over a million times as I wearily stared at him, from the door where my back was glued to.

“Why so scared now?”, his voice sounded as faint as a whisper, which was more dangerous to my ears.

The pressure in the room increased the weight of the silence, crushing me from the inside out. My lips were unable to form a word, so I wisely kept my mouth shut, with my eyes still stuck on his imposing frame.

“So, I learnt of your disappearance throughout the night, until late this morning”, he made himself comfortable, leaning on the half-collapsed table beside my bed. 

“What's it to you?”, My lips hastily retorted with much thought processing, only covering them in shock after the damage had already been done. 

An unexpected chuckle erupted from him which made my empty stomach sink in deep regret. 

“This feistiness wasn't displayed that day, little girl”, his amused tone helped me relax my nerves a little but not completely. 

“What would have happened then?”, My hands slowly fell to my sides, curiously awaiting his response.

“died on the spot”, the words fell from his lips without a moment's pause.

My resigned arms slowly raised themselves back up to my shoulders, with all my guards raised up again.

“Do not make me ask again”, he continued, returning back to his dangerous aura.

“I…I…went to party by myself”, I swallowed hard, not daring to meet his eyes any longer.

“Hmmm…tell me about this little party of yours”, his intrigued tone made me frown in dissatisfaction.

“Just a regular party. I guess I got carried away in the spirit of partying”, even my irritation reflected clearly in my tone, which had slightly risen a pitch higher than normal.

“That party surely took long enough, judging from when you arrived back at the palace”, his scrutinizing gaze did not fail to leave my adamant ones, which seemed to harden at the last second.

“I am truly honored for your monitoring eyes on me. It is reassuring, for such a lowly maid like me”, my sarcastic words rolled out without a tiny flicker of remorse in my eyes.

My heart thumped loudly at his advancing shadow over my tiny frame, but I refused to show any other expression, aside from the defiant look I plastered thickly with several traces of anger on my face.

“You are not worthy”, the cold air from his lips blew on my face with as intense force as the weight of the words, landing in my ears.

“I only hope you did well to properly cover your tracks, else you will wish you never came back”, 

And just like that, he had disappeared in the next blink of my eyes.

This had to be the most terrifying nightmare of my life as I remained frozen on the spot, unable to digest what had just happened.

Sowly, my face began to sour as I recalled his threats from earlier. I wasn't so sure if I would stay here anymore. At least, alive.

—------

A month had passed since the incident, with the palace slowly returning back to its normal life as well as everyone. 

The palace staff like me, but in a higher rank, who had been paired up at the mating ceremony, were granted their leave to fully start their lives with their mates.

After all these years of working in the palace, I suppose it shouldn't come as a shock that I did not feel anything for the ones who left. 

Well, there was Envy. A slight one. 

But sadly, it seemed the moon goddess tied me to the grounds of this palace, with no plans to let me go anytime soon. Except by death, maybe. 

While today was an emotional one for everyone, especially the palace staff, I roamed about the entire palace, carrying out most of their chores as strictly instructed. 

It wasn't a thing to complain about anyways as it could also decide the size of my lunch, depending on my hard work. It was a win-win.

I skipped towards the almost deserted quarters of the palace with my cleaning tools and a blossoming face. 

It had really been a while since I got to see her as I was never assigned here on a normal day. 

“Hello mother Luna”, a grin escaped my lips before I could swallow it in.

“Hmmm look who finally came to visit”, she looked away from me in annoyance, but her grumpy face did not faze me one bit. 

“This was my only chance to see you”, my pouty face moved closer to where she sat in front of her dressing mirror.

“Why are you still here anyways? I thought you would have left the palace by now…the pack, infact”, her tone switched into one of worry, making my cheeks stretch into a wider smile.

In all my years working at the palace, the mother Luna had taken interest in me not long after my arrival here. 

No one knew about our relationship, most especially because I wanted to keep it that way. She has always reminded me of her offer to be her personal maid, but I refused each time.

She was like a true mother I never had. 

“Who's going to take care of you if I leave?”, A mischievous glint shone in my eyes as I spoke, while she laughed at my attempt to tease her.

After soothing her nerves successfully with the little jokes I could tell, deliberately excluding the encounter between her son, Alpha Alexander and I with a guilty heart, I prepared her bath while we caught up on the times we missed.

Once she was inside the tub, I grabbed a stool from the corner, ready to listen to her entertaining stories, which she never hesitated to tell.

“Child, I have watched you grow before my very eyes. Do you not think you need to find a life outside the city of Oceania?”, her gentle motherly voice perfectly suited the atmosphere, could make one spill all you knew, if one wasn't careful.

She had that effect on people, except for me. I might have gotten used to her tricks overtime.

“There is nothing out there for me, mother. I could be killed, nothing less”, my distant eyes lowered in uncertainty of my words as it was a thought that subconsciously floated up my mind recently.

“Do not tell me you're still holding on for the Alpha. He would not even listen to me, his mother”, her expression turned ugly while she set to complain.

“No, I am not. Here is my home regardless, at least, I have protection”, My persuading voice did not seem to be working on her stoic face, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Alpha's.

“I once thought like that too, you know. But they were the very same ones that tried to kill me”, the murderous intent from her words, would have given anybody else goosebumps by now.

“Who are they?”, My curiosity got the better part of me at this point.

“It no longer matters now. You are strong child, and you should be”, her warm hands caressed my cheeks, but the worry in her eyes didn't escape my searching gaze. 

It made me wonder what it was she saw this time. 

I walked past the hallways in deep thoughts, rolling my fingers around the silver pendant on my neck. It had been around my neck since I was born, and no one amongst my uncle and aunt could tell me what it meant. 

Brushing aside the puzzles I couldn't solve yet, I wearily headed towards the guards quarters, scrubbing the walls and floors of every room, drowning my thoughts in the noise that came with it. 

Suddenly, I felt my butt pushed with force from behind, making my head hit the wall directly.

I touched the spot which rushed out blood like a fountain, making me frightened and angry at the same time.

My blood stained face furiously turned to meet the group of guards behind me, dying from laughter at their mischief.

“Why did you do that?”, despite the brim of tears in my eyes, I refused to let them see the pain I felt.

“Because I wanted to”, the one in front arrogantly puffed out his chest towards me.

“It would have been funnier if my dick rammed through you instead”, another mockingly announced to the group, making them burst into laughter again.

A day couldn't just get by without anything like this happening. It made me clench my fists, almost tearing up from the helplessness inside of me. 

My strength was no match for them, so I could only kill them with my eyes, and imagine they died from the lasers I shot through them.

I slowly gathered my tools with pursed lips, only concerned about treating the wound as soon as possible, before it got infected. 

My plain expression had gradually made them lower their guards towards me, as they even made way for me to pass. 

My feet stepped out with a hidden smirk they failed to notice as the long stick of mop in my hand was soon flying in the air, and hitting every one of them in their faces, wherever crucial parts I could reach. 

Their painful screams riled up my excitement, seeing them inflicted with equal amounts of pain they caused me as well. 

They were all werewolves, so they couldn't be down for much longer. Knowing this fully well, I abandoned my tools, sprinting towards the main quarters, with my bleeding head in my hands. 

I wasn't planning to stop until I was locked up in my room, which is why I did not see him coming, and bumped into his hard chest, increasing the bleeding even more.

His neatly polished shoes made my heart skip a beat as I recognized that anywhere. Taking several steps backward, my teary eyes met his black, stern ones.

How could someone's body feel as hard as a rock? What was I even expecting? An apology?

Without a warning, my body involuntarily lunged forward, spilling out my undigested food from my bowels through my mouth. 

There was no movement from him…either of us as I wiped my mouth clean with the back of my hands, only to see his face which had gone several shades darker.

Following his line of sight, I looked down at his black polished shoes, which were now victims of my sudden throw up, exuding a stinking smell, making me scrunch my nose in disgust.

“S…sorry”, I could barely even mutter, but my eyes instantly began to search for any cleaning materials, to fix up my mess.

Alpha Alexander was yet to move his body from the spot, only burning holes through my skin with his piercing eyes, while I panicked harder at the situation. 

“My patience with you is running out, little girl”, his teeth gritted in frustration at the unbearable smell coming from underneath him.

My determined steps towards him, deciding to use my worn out clothes instead, now took another turn as my steps wavered sideways, falling flat to the ground in complete helplessness.

My unconscious lips thinned into a slight smile as I thought, this was finally it. Death was going to separate me from the harsh world, in a constant war between the weak and strong. 

It was all I could remember happening to me, as my heavy lids soon fluttered open to the familiar walls of my room. 

This was the first time I had ever fallen unconscious since my days at the palace. What could have happened to me?

Luckily and more confusing, the royal physician stood at the door frame, hesitantly announcing the Alpha's orders for me to be taken to the courtroom. 

A small troop of the soldiers came into the room, roughly dragging me out, along with their malicious mutterings.

My knee was being pushed to the floor, in front of Alpha Alexander.

My eyes definitely glared at him, wondering if he still held grudges concerning his shoes.

“I warned you not to leave a trace, girl”, his calm eyes peering at me, suddenly made the fear evident in his cold eyes.

My back sat upright in that instant, worried about the threat to my life again.

“I see you

are still clueless, but…you're pregnant”, Alexander's deep voice was perfect to break the bad news as my arms weakened to my knees.

My world stopped at that very moment…