There was only one probable explanation.
I was living in a dream, a funny and terrifying one. "N-n-northern wolves?"
"Yes," Cyrus said, then acknowledged the man in front. "Theo, has the crisis been averted?"
"Considerably so. We reached a compromise."
"They should know better than to mess with us," snarled Cyrus. "Greedy pests," he hissed.
"Who is she?"
"Ah, my new slave. I paid a fine price for her."
"Again? A fine price? For a human? Those lowly backstabbing creatures?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes."
"You have an obsession." The man named Theo gave a tight smile and let out an exasperated breath. "Let's hope this one survives," he whistled then turned to me. "And you are?"
"Agnes." I ignored the hand he had out to shake me. "What do you mean by your statement?"
"What statement?" He asked, his hands still hanging out, waiting for a handshake that was never going to come.
"Let's hope this one survives?"
"Oh, it was nothing," he responded airily. "And it is not polite to leave someone's hand hanging."
"Who am I to shake your hand?" I asked with a smile. "I, a lowly backstabbing creature. A human, shake the hand of someone as powerful and upright as you?"
Cyrus grinned but the grin was wiped away almost immediately and he shot me a look that would have frozen a furnace. "You are to regard everyone with respect," he hissed.
I raised my brows at him. "I was being respectful. Who am I to shake his hand?"
"That was very sarcastic," Cyrus hissed. "Apologize right away."
"I did not do anything wrong," I said defiantly, raising my chin. "I will not apologize."
His grip around my wrist tightened and in a voice that left no room for disobedience, he said. "Apologize, now."
*+*+*+*+*+*+*
"What the hell is this?" Cyrus spat out the seventh tea I had made for him. He had complained of the first one being too bitter, and then the second being too sweet. Then the third had a tangy taste. He kept on finding faults in the tea I had made for him. "Do you not know how to make tea?"
"Maybe if I was prepared for slavehood or I had one of your former slaves teach me the recipe for your tea this wouldn't be happening!" I snapped at him angrily.
It had not been up to an hour since I arrived here that I was being subjected to a lot of work. He had not even given me time to settle down at all. My bags had been carried to only the heavens know where.
"Do not speak to me in such a rude tone," he said in a cold voice that sent chills down my spine. "Control your smart mouth," he hissed.
I pursed my lips and gave the politest smile I could muster. "I apologize, Master. I shall learn to speak appropriately."
"You did not mean it."
Rolling my eyes, I let out a sigh. "Why should it matter if I mean my words or not?" I asked. "After all, I am following your instructions."
"You should serve me as though you want to."
"News flash, I don't want to! I was sold into becoming your slave, so my behavior should not surprise you."
"I was under the impression you were well-mannered."
Snorting, I picked up the tray that contained the teacup. "I shall make you another one your majesty."
Then something occurred to me. With the way everyone seemed to cower in fear around him and lower their heads as he passed, was he a king? I have only called him 'Your Majesty' sarcastically. "Are you the king here?"
Cyrus gave me an evil side eye before he responded. "I am the Alpha of this pack. So yes, you can say I am a king."
"Kings are usually old," I shrugged. "You are pretty young."
"Get me another tea."
"Of course," I walked away, rolling my eyes. When I got to the massive kitchen, I poured the contents of the tea into a waste pot and sighed.
"Do you need help with that?" A girl smiled walking into the kitchen. She did not seem to be a maid based on the aura she gave off. "Cyrus can be difficult and picky when it comes to what he consumes."
"Who are you?" I asked, intrigued by her. It was also strange that she had called him Cyrus.
"No one of importance," she grinned. "Let me teach you."
I watched as she gathered the leaves and mashed them in a pestle together with honey. Then she added a squeeze of lemon into it and transferred the content to a bowl of hot water. After this, she stirred it well and strained it into a cup. "I'm sure you just boiled the leaves in hot water, added lemon and honey and that was it."
"Yes," I answered. "But what difference does it make?"
"Quite a lot." She placed the cup on a tray and handed it to me. "Go ahead. Cyrus hates to be kept waiting."
I smiled at her and walked as quickly as I could back to the study where Cyrus sat. He observed the tray in his front with a raised eyebrow and picked up the cup.
He scrutinized it slowly as he had done before and sniffed it twice, before placing it on his lips and taking a sip. "Adequate," he mumbled and drank the rest of it with a satisfied smile.
I smiled back, relieved that he had not sent me to make another one and also internally grateful for the strange girl who had helped me out.
His expression of satisfaction was soon replaced by an unreadable look. "You were not the one who made this tea, were you?"
"Should it matter?" I asked. "It was drinkable."
"If there's one thing I dislike, it is when I assign a duty to someone and they reassign it to another person.”
"Oh please," I scoffed. "The job was done. You had your tea the way you liked it. Why should it matter who made the tea?""I am telling you that in future, I will not tolerate such." It was when he said this, that I noticed he had taken off his tailcoat and his shirt was unbuttoned. I looked away quickly. "Oh, how nice!" I exclaimed, my voice laced with sarcasm. "Maybe in the future, you should get someone to train me to do certain tasks that I am not used to doing.""What have I told you about respect?" He stood up coolly and walked to my front. I took a step back and he moved forward. "I am the Alpha of this pack. Your master," he hissed. With shaky legs, I moved backward until I was against the wall. Previously, I had a comeback for everything he had to say but suddenly, his aura felt too intimidating and I could not respond. He leaned against me, his angry eyes boring deep into my soul, daring me to defy him. I whimpered slightly, trying to shrink into the wall behind me. His
Agnes POVCyrus 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 w
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