CHAPTER 5

Punished 🔥🔥🔥

“What in the world is going on here?” I heard a voice yell out from the kitchen doorway, but I was in no way intimidated or scared enough to even consider leaving my stance on the maid I was mercilessly hitting. Just hearing the sound of being called a slave was already bad enough, but for someone to go as far as calling me a sex slave, that I just could not handle. As I continued hitting the maid who was already down on the ground, receiving every slap and hit I threw at her, I could already feel a couple of hands hitting my back. The people around me were all trying to get me off her, but I was still not going to stop just yet. Ignoring the pain inflicted on me by the others around, I instead channeled all my frustration and anger into the maid I was beating up on the ground.

This continued for a while, with every lash on my back being more painful than the last. However, I still wasn't going to stop, not until a loud and authoritative voice came from behind.

“And what the heck is going on here?” I froze on the spot upon hearing the sound of Lucas’ voice. The anger emitting from his voice alone was enough to make the room pin-drop silent, and the atmosphere extremely tense. Not only did I stop what I was doing, but the other maids who had been hitting me on the back also stopped at the sound of Lucas' voice.

“I believe I did not stutter when I asked what in the world was going on here!” he thundered, and I jumped up very quickly to stand properly, my head bowed in fear. He looked at everyone in the room, and when his gaze landed on me, I immediately looked back down to avoid my eyes meeting his. I was just about to speak up on my side of the story when Madam Mortica quickly stepped forward to speak.

“Greetings, Alpha Lucas, I am really sorry you had to walk into such unruly behavior, but Ashley actually started this whole thing.” I frantically shook my head when I saw Lucas instantly turn to face me with a questioning look on his face, but Madam Mortica was obviously far from being done with what she had to say.

“I had asked her to get started on cleaning a few places, but she kept giving me an attitude and was just being so rude to me. Everyone here can definitely attest to that.”

“Yes,” “That's right, Alpha,” “Exactly,” they all responded, and I gasped in disbelief, as the majority of them talking were not even in the kitchen when Madam Mortica assigned the work to me. Not having anything to say in my defense, coupled with the fact that I had absolutely no one on my side, I then bowed my head back down, ready to accept whatever fate had in store for me at that point. There was silence in the room for a while, one too eerie that I knew I'd definitely have to look up to find out just what was going on. However, when I ended up raising my head to see what was happening, I was met with a cold and unreadable look from Lucas, prompting me to instantly look back down.

“You may all return to work,” he said, finally breaking the pin-drop silence in the room. A little bit of relief came over me, and I was about to make my way back to where I was cleaning when his voice came on again.

“Not you! Stay back right now.” I gulped nervously, standing back to avoid getting into even more trouble with him, as it was quite obvious he wasn't pleased by what had happened at all. The maid I had beaten up happened to be called Mira, and this was something I found out when a few of the other maids called out to help her get up from the floor where she was still laying. Together, they all helped her get to the maid's quarters, and it was soon just Lucas and I left in the room. The atmosphere was still very tense, and the fact that his face had no specific emotion written on it made it way harder for me to tell what to say and what not to at that moment.

“Come with me.” Before I could process a complete thought on this, he instantly held my hand and dragged me upstairs to my bedroom. When we got in, he locked the door behind him, and I felt my heart beating terribly fast as I didn't know what was going to happen next. He turned to face me with his face still holding no emotion on it, and I continued looking everywhere else but at him.

“Why do you keep doing that?” he finally said, but I obviously couldn't understand what exactly he was referring to.

“Huh?”

“Why do you keep looking at the ground like your eyes have actually been glued down? Look up when I am talking to you.” Taking a quick glimpse at him, I couldn't help but to return my gaze back to the ground, and he held my face in his hand. Raising my head up, he looked me straight in the eye, and this happened to be the very first time I had actually looked into the eyes of an Alpha, my late father inclusive.

“What did you do?”

“Huh? What?”

"Did I stutter? I just asked you what you did back there."

"I... I don't understand."

"Everyone downstairs attested to the accusation Mortica made towards you. So now I am asking you, what happened?" he responded, finally letting go of my face.

"I actually didn't do anything like that. She had informed me about Princess Veronica's visit today…"

"Hold on a minute, a visit? Nobody told me Veronica would be coming over."

"Oh, well she said the princess would be coming over alongside her family members, and so the house was to be cleaned, arranged, and well decorated to meet their taste. I made no objections or resistance to her instructions, and went straight to doing what she asked me to. But while I was working, a couple of maids came closer to where I was, and they were all talking badly about me. Mira in particular just kept saying that I seduced you, and that I had come into this house as nothing but a dirty sex slave. I couldn't bear being called something like that, so I kind of lost my cool and didn't think twice about what I was doing anymore.”

“So you thought fighting was going to be the solution to that accusation?”

“No, I'm sorry, I just…”

“You just did nothing! I didn't expect such bad behavior from you.”

“I am really sorry, Alpha. That won't happen again.”

“Oh yes, it better not! As a matter of fact, you are not to lay even a single finger on anyone in the palace under any circumstance, because the punishment would be very strict. You will be getting off with a warning this time, but next time you might not be so lucky.”

“Thank you very much. I will just go back to work.”

“And where do you think you're going?”

“Oh, I just wanted to go down to—”

“I said you won't be getting a strict punishment, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished at all. For exhibiting such unruly behavior, you are to remain in this room for 24 hours, with nothing being brought to you during that time.” He looked at me to see if an expression of panic or worry appeared on my face, but there was obviously nothing, since I found it to be a very lenient punishment. Comparing all I had gone through over the past couple of months, I found the punishment he gave to be much easier and convenient in every way possible. After all, I had gone through starvation for days; 24 hours was obviously going to be too easy for me at that point.

“Bye,” he quietly made his way out, and I heard the door get locked from the outside. I listened to his retreating footsteps till I could hear them no more, before making my way to the bed to sit. Although I didn't quite like the idea of being confined to the bedroom, at least I was going to be free from the workload outside aimed at preparing for Veronica's visit. I had seen her during the event the previous day, and even though it pains me to admit it, she actually happened to be an extremely gorgeous lady. Her skin glowed like the morning sun, her lips were plump and succulent-looking, not to mention how alluring her perfume was. Everything about her screamed opulence, while I was a striking contrast to her. It bothered me a lot that Simon already approved of her, and it was only going to be a matter of time before Lucas also grew to accept her. All in all, I knew I had to do something, and quickly, else I would lose my mates and have nothing to myself but the pain and embarrassment that comes with rejection.

After wearing myself out with activities like reading, singing, and cleaning just to pass the time, I finally grew tired, and sleep soon overtook me. I slept for a couple of hours before waking to the sound of music emanating from downstairs.

Getting up from bed, I frowned at the thought of what might be happening. Both Lucas and Simon, the Lycan kings, were evidently celebrating with Veronica and her family. I tried to eavesdrop for any useful information I could use to my advantage, but the music was too distracting. All I could hear were faint sounds of laughter and the clinking of cutlery against plates and trays.

"Ugh! I can't believe I'm stuck up here while that woman gets to spend time with my mates," I exclaimed angrily, flinging items from my dressing table. The anger I felt stemmed from Simon's rejection and it brought with it the familiar heartache. I tried to listen in once more, this time lying flat with my ear pressed directly against the ground. Annoyingly, I still couldn't discern anything, which only served to infuriate me further, knowing I wouldn't be allowed out until the 24 hours were up.