Chapter 9

Danica's POV

I had no idea what Anabel said to my father but leaving home this morning didn't earn me millions of questions or mockery of being useless.

Even Joey was unusually calm and I suspected that she had no idea I was leaving to meet the same Alpha she worked so hard to make me defy.

"Alexander is ruthless even to his closest allies. He spares no one any form of disobedience or disrespect but be optimistic, he must really need you to have asked you to come over, I doubt he would kill you right away" Anabel said with a tiny smile on her face and I nodded once as we approached the guards at the palace grand entrance.

I half expected them to stop us and do a thorough investigation about who I am but as soon as they saw Anabel, they simply bowed and let us through.

"Don't worry, she's with me. The Alpha specially asked to meet her" Anabel countered when she noticed their glares on me.

They bowed in response and returned to stand in their positions.

"That was... Fast" I murmured, surprised and she shrugged.

"I'm not a new face... And if my brother has the legal right to be here, I do as well. Unless Alexander doesn't want me here anymore, of course" she explained as she led me through two more entrances.

We kept walking and my agitation kept growing by the second. I would stop walking a few times to catch my breath without Anabel noticing. And eventually we stopped walking.

"I can only walk you this far. You don't have an official invitation and Alexander and I aren't close. I think it's best you go find him yourself from here" she muttered, patting my shoulder reassuringly before turning to leave but I quickly held her hand.

What desperation can do.

"Can you wait here while I find him? Maybe he won't plunge a sword through my heart if he sees you standing here?" I asked, blinking cutely and she mirrored my expression with a cute smile.

"I'm your friend, Danica but I'm also Bianca's friend you know?. Who will stay with Bianca if both of us die here today? She'll be so lonely without any of us. Be considerate" she whispered in a convincing voice and she immediately ran off the moment my grip on her hand loosened a bit.

"Anabel! You traitor!"

"Who are you?" A voice spoke behind her, stern and displeased and I immediately felt my heart jump in my throat. I turned to face whoever it was slowly with a tiny smile gracing my face to make me look even more harmless than I already did.

"I'm Danica... Grayson" I said to the mean looking scarred faced man and his face contoured into a deeper frown, if it was even possible at all.

"So? What are you doing roaming around here? A maid without a uniform?" He asked and I shook my head quickly.

"No..."

"It doesn't matter. I want you to get out of my sight now and particularly out of the Alpha's sight if you value the useless life you were given. Do your job properly, would you?" He said in a condescending voice that strangely unnerved me.

He turned to leave but the words that rumbled in my chest escaped me before I could stop them.

"What you think doesn't matter as well! I'm going to see the Alpha and you CANNOT stop me..." I said sternly, matching his dangerous glare that trained on me unwavering.

"What did you just say?"

He took a threatening step towards me and I saw his grip tightening on the sword he was holding but I wasn't going to let some stupidly scarred faced yet handsome swordman kill me before I meet the person I owed my life to now, would I?

"You're a coward if you try to hurt a lady half your size! I didn't see you as someone to do that" I added and he stopped, glaring at me like I'd been possessed by some evil spirits. Then the threatening steps continued towards me.

"Just as you've said, 'What you think doesn't matter as well here young lady. I will not only kill you, I will feed your flesh to the poisonous snakes underground and you'll watch them have a party all over your body until. Your. Last. Breath!" He said effortlessly like he was just talking about squeezing up a disposable bottle and throwing it in a trash can. "Then we'll see what you think about that when you cross the distance between life and death to the latter" he added and I kept moving back with each step he took until I stumbled at the edge of the long staircase, ready to roll down and crack my head open. Instead, I landed against a hard surface, much more warmer and a bit softer than a surface that could crack my head open.

A sharp sigh of relief escaped me until I felt a strong arm wrap around my middle from behind, a familiar intoxicating scent filling my senses to the brink and I stopped breathing.

Alexander!

"Should I have let you split your head open at that far end, Dani? Seeing how you defied my orders and left my wound untreated?" His thick, annoyingly sexy voice rumbled in his chest and against my back that was trapped smoothly to his body. My ears and neck turned tomato red from his soft and calm breath that fanned them and I felt my knees weaken beneath me.

"No... I... I didn't mean to, I promise" I whispered shakily, not even aware it was from fear or something else entirely.

"Really, Doc? What excuse could you possibly have?" He asked in the distracting low voice and I swallowed nothing, trying to escape his hold on me but he wouldn't budge.

"Alpha, she's just an intruder, pay no attention to her" the scarred man suddenly blurted, his glare still fixed on me and I instinctively shifted back into Alexander's arms.

"Don't you think you're looking for solace in the wrong place, little Doc?" Alexander whispered against my ear, sounding amused and I bit my lower lip, looking down at my fingers as I shook my head slowly. "I could punish you in more brutal ways than what he has in mind" he added and I swallowed the lump that grew in my throat.

"I don't like him! Besides, I disobeyed you not him. I won't be punished by someone else unjustly just because I'm weaker than him" I muttered silently but he said nothing else to me before gesturing at scarred-faced.

"Don't mind me, Killian. Go and do what you need to do, I'll deal with the Doc myself" Alexander said and he bowed, throwing me a knowing look of mockery before walking away.

'Scarred faced chicken!' I giggled inwardly at the name I've made up my mind to call him if I managed to escape death today.

"Let's go talk about your punishment now, shall we Danica?" Alexander muttered sternly, finally letting me go as he climbed the first two staircases and proceeded to where I would probably be executed to teach everyone else one more life lessons.