Agnes POV
Cyrus did not return until hours later. At first, I had been bored to death and roamed around the palace, trying to explore places of my own. I had initially considered escaping from this place but it was not worth it. We had spent two days on the road and I was sure it was not a journey I could make on my own if I intended to return home.
From what I had speculated, there was no safer place here than the palace. The neighboring city belonged to the Southern Wolves and that zone was not human friendly. Stepping one foot in there meant I was going to die and never see my siblings again. They were the only family I wanted to return to.
Midway into my wandering, I stumbled upon a large building that happened to be the library and I had picked up a book that told the story of how werewolves came to be. I had been so intrigued by reading about their history, culture, and ceremonies that I did not notice how much time had gone by. One thing that intrigued me the most about the wolves was how most of them had a soulmate also known as 'mates'. They were not like us humans who had to search far and wide to find the perfect match. Theirs was sent straight from their goddess which I found beautiful.
At some point during my reading, I wished I was a werewolf.
When I looked out of the window and saw how pitch dark it was outside, that was when I came to my senses and ran back to Alpha Cyrus quarters. I exhaled in relief when I saw that he was not yet back and prepared a bath for him.
Just as I was done, he waltzed into the room. He regarded me with emotionless eyes as he took off his shirt and I swallowed hard, looking away.
"Has my bath been prepared?" He asked in a cold voice.
I nodded, unable to speak for some reason.
"Good."
I stood in the middle of the room, waiting to hear his call of complaint from the bathroom about the water either being too hot or too cold but there was none. He came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, still drenched in water and a towel hanging lazily on his waist; exposing a dangerous v-line.
He sat in front of his vanity table and after more minutes of silence, he finally broke it. "Do I have to tell you that you are meant to get me ready for bed? I need my hair toweled dry and my skincare routine prepared."
I wanted to be smart with him and tell him I was not briefed about anything here so he could not just assume what I was supposed to do but I kept quiet, seeing that he was in a bad mood.
A part of me wanted to know what caused the sudden soreness in his mood. It was not as though he was particularly jovial before now, but there was an obvious change in his mood.
The curious part of me could not resist asking. "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" He asked with a sigh.
"Your mood—"
"Is none of your business," he snapped. "The things you need are in that drawer."
"Right," I muttered, opening the drawer. I pulled out a towel and wrapped it around his head, gently massaging his scalp and allowing the fabric to soak up the water from his hair. Then when most of it had been soaked up, I took a comb and went through the strands of hair. When that was done, I dropped the comb and wrapped his hair in another towel.
"What next?" I asked him.
"I feel tense, help me with a shoulder massage."
"Okay," I answered. I was not sure how to give one but I decided to try. Gingerly, I placed my fingers on his shoulders and applied a little bit of pressure, moving in a circular motion.
He placed his hand on my shoulders suddenly and I froze. There seemed to be a strange crackle of great intensity as his hands touched mine. I looked at him through the mirror, and I could feel something strange moving in my tummy.
There was a strange voice inside me, whispering something I could not particularly hear. It seemed as though something was blocking the voice from speaking up.
His hands traveled up my arm slowly, sending an oddly delicious feeling between my legs as he slowly brought my fingers down to his bare chest. My heart throbbed and I could feel as though there was a form of connection between the two of us. Like something was binding us.
I watched him through the mirror and as if under a spell, he stood up and faced me. Spinning me around, I found myself being carried and gently placed on the vanity table. He stood between my legs, sending heat waves through my thighs and his right thumb parted my lips slowly. His hands dropped to my neck and drew slowly as he painfully seduced circles with them. He leaned in closer, our noses rubbing each other and his lips only mere inches away from mine. His left hand was on my thigh, inching upwards very slowly.
Something within me whispered again but I could not decipher what it was saying.
"You're human." His hot breath fanned my face. It was a statement but it seemed more like a question to me.
"Yes," I answered shakily, wanting more. I needed to satisfy that hunger that he had awakened in me.
"And my slave..."
"As of three days ago, yes." My voice had become a breathy whisper.
"This can't be." A look of confusion appeared on his face as he looked at me. With a sigh, and in a strangled voice, Alpha Cyrus said. "I can't accept you as my mate.”
Agnes POV I was taken aback at first but it did not take me long to recover. Mate. But that was not possible. That much I knew he was right about or at least from the books I’d read in the library, we could not be mates. That only happened between werewolves of which I was not. I looked at him and I could see that his confusion was genuine. He could feel something deeply that I felt only vaguely. “Leave, Agnes, Leave!” He barked but I could not bring myself to. Everything around me felt like a haze. It was as though my body was not mine and it refused to believe that I had just been rejected by an Alpha. “I I want to… I can't…” I struggled to say. He looked at me alarmed, cleared his throat and I saw him try to stand up from the bath but he could not either. It was as though a force stronger than us was pinning us down. Whatever it was, we were powerless against it. “You're a witch. That is the only explanation and I swear…” but he could not talk and in panic, I rushed forwar
Cyrus POV I could not comprehend what had happened to me just last night. There was no explanation for it. I could not even get one because I was the Alpha. I was supposed to know everything. The only people I could confide in were perhaps the priest and Theo but even at that they were still my subordinates and my ego could not suffer injury. However, I had never read in any literature that the moon goddess would gift a werewolf, especially an Alpha, a human as a mate. I was in a fix. The only explanation I could think of was that Agnes was a witch; she had to be. But still admitting that a witch could cloud my senses and pretend to be my mate would be exposing a weakness and I could not let that happen. “Your Majesty? You are very distracted about something, do you mind sharing?” It was Theo at our daily meetings in the morning. I had ruminated about the possibility of Agnes being my mate or a witch all night and I still had no answers. “What? I… I am alright Theo. I think
“And why should that cause problems?” I asked with a raise of my brows. “Well… he is the son of Lord—”“I heard you clearly the first time,” I told Theo in a cool voice. “Are you trying to tell me to pardon him because he is a Lord's son?”“Not at all I—”“You know what this tells me? His father needs to be investigated too,” I said, cutting him off. “After all, the apple never falls far from the tree.”“I understand your point Cyrus but what I was trying to convey is that the people love Lord Salmon, doing that to his son—”“Conduct an investigation on the Lord and prepare a trial. It should be held by this evening. Make sure you have secured all evidence against the governor.”“Which one should be held this evening? The trial only right?” Theo asked to be sure. "Yes!" I said in an exasperated tone. "If you'll excuse me, I have things to do.""We have other matters to discuss—""Save it for later!" I snapped, striding away towards my study. From just a few meters away, I could perc
Agnes' POV"What the hell have you done to me? What dark powers are you using on me?" Cyrus' eyes no longer held a burning desire for me. I could see unveiled hatred and rage in his eyes. They had become a violent storm of green gradually changing into a bright orange colour."What the hell have you done?" He roared, grabbing me by my throat. "I-i" I began to stammer, too flustered by what went on minutes ago and too stunned by his sudden change in attitude. "I shan't repeat myself! Answer me!""I don't know what you're talking about," I finally managed to say. He stares at me in a deadpan manner and suddenly grabs my wrist, dragging me away from the table and towards the door. It didn't take long before I found myself being led through a musty corridor that had moldy walls which was dimly lit by torches. I could hear screams of anguish in every direction making fear to grip my heart. "Where are you taking me?" I managed to ask. He ignored me and he finally stopped in front of a
My heart skipped at those words.branded, I could not let that happen. Slaves who were branded were bound to their masters forever such that even if they escaped they would always be captured and brought back to their owner. The only time they could be free of such a bond was if a higher creature or someone from a nobler status was interested in the person. In that case, the brand will be transferred and the person will still not be free only to belong to a different person. “Why? The word seems to frighten you, huh?” Alpha Cyrus gave a wicked smile which made me swallow. In spite of my fear I matched his cold gaze with a fierce one. “Do your worst, it will only prove how much of a sick twisted monster you are,” my words were followed by a slap across my face while the slap stung and tears cascaded my cheeks. I held my gaze with Cyrus. He was the first to break the gaze we held. He paced round the room until he stopped suddenly and cursed under his breath. He returned to where I s
Agnes POV “I do not like them tamed. Things are too boring that way,” said Cyrus, then turning to me he said, “do keep your head down, you are disrespecting my subjects by looking at them.” Before I dropped my head down in compliance I was satisfied to see Adrianna's features falter at being referred to as a subject. “Having your scarf around her neck makes it look like she's your woman and not your slave,” I heard her say. “Is there a problem with that?” Cyrus quizzed. “It misrepresents the court, a mere human slave is not worthy of your scarf,” she said. “Is there anyone who is?” he asked with a sarcastic tone; it was mild but it was still there. “Your Luna would be,” she said.“Agatha is dead; there is no other woman worthy.” A strange silence fell on the court after this. It was as though Cyrus had mentioned a forbidden name or rather Adrianna had steered the conversation into unpleasant territory. “Agatha is dead and the throne sits without a heir.”“Adrianna don't…” it
I put my hand over my eyes immediately as soon as I saw the beast sink its claws and teeth into the flesh of its prey. Violently, Theo removed my hands from my eyes and pinned them at my back. Watching in terror made the insides of my stomach churn. "Please, I don't want to see this," I cried, trying to pry my hands away from him. The beast had taken a huge chunk of flesh from him and his blood spurted everywhere. His cries of anguish reverberated round the arena. "Please stop!" I yelled but he was unrelenting."Theo what the hell!", a beastly roar came from behind us. Theo's hands were ripped away from mine with so much force. I whipped my head around to see Cyrus with blazing red eyes. "You sent me to the throne room to torture my slave mentally with this?"Theo met his gaze without faltering. He gave a hard stare and snatched his hands away. "She is obviously messing with you and I had to show her what would happen if I find out anything dark about her.""Messing with me, how?"
I said nothing and turned away, looking out the window while trying to enjoy the scenery. Theo's presence had disrupted my mood even more; disgust and fear settled in the pit of my stomach. The images of the arena flashed through my head repeatedly. Closing my eyes, I prayed that I could forget about it but it only made matters worse. The images became clearer."What did you tell Theo about us?" I snapped my head in Cyrus' direction but I could not open my mouth to say anything. My lips trembled and my fingers were shaking as well, the only thing I wanted to do at that moment was scream. As I recollected events that I had forgotten moments ago, my skin began to crawl and I could feel as though the beast was tearing through my flesh and cracking my bones. "Damn you!" Cyrus roared, sending shivers down my spine. His roar reminded me of the best in the arena. "You didn't tell him we were intimate, did you?" "I-i-i," that was the only thing that managed to come out of my mouth. He st