VALERIE~~
I had been sleeping for an eternity. Or so it seemed.My consciousness was stuck somewhere between light and darkness. I was floating around in a deep, dark abyss, punctuated only by unrecognizable sounds and flashes of light.Voices swam in and out of my consciousness, and within those voices, I recognized the voice who had chased the rogue wolves away from me.My dreams were every bit as riotous as the life I'd left behind. In them I saw Adam in every stage of his life since I'd known him, and the dreams always ended with him sneering and rejecting me.I knew, even then, that the only way I could escape from those painful dreams was to wake up, but waking up was more difficult than I'd thought.Then something sparked in my head, kick-starting my consciousness, and I woke up with a gasp.Tears stabbed at my eyes the moment I opened it, and a sob escaped my lips. The trauma and pain from the past hours— or days, or weeks, I couldn't even tell— poured over me in one overwhelming torrent, and soon I was openly weeping.My hands reached out to grasp something solid, get some bearing of my surroundings, and warm hands reached out for mine and held on."It's alright, you're safe now." A voice murmured. The voice was oddly familiar, and my mind flashed back to the dingy alleyway, the broken glass shard, the baseballs.The rogue wolf I'd killed."I killed someone..." I whimpered, and the warm hands pulled me into an even warmer embrace."They were going to kill you first." He murmured."You were very brave, Valerie."Wait.How did he know my name?I leaned away from the embrace, even though my trauma-stricken body was screaming in objection, and I looked into the eyes of my savior.It was a striking, interesting shade of chocolate, somewhere between a deep ochre and light brown. The sun seemed to catch his irises at an angle I could not explain. The irises were ringed with black, speckles of gold caught within them.My eyes traveled up the man's face and took in his deep brown hair that had been swept back, and the friendly expression on his face.He was a very cheerful-looking man, a stark contrast to Adam. Where Adam was all blacks and dark shadows, this man was all soft brown and friendly sable. It felt relieving staring at him, as though I was stepping into a gently-flowing river and it was washing away all my pain and fears. He chuckled as I scrutinized him."You're looking at me as though you're expecting something worse.""I'm definitely not." I whispered. "How long was I out?" I croaked, rubbing my head as a splitting headache attacked it."About four weeks. That baseball bat really did knock you out. In fact, the doctor was certain you were slipping into a coma."Four weeks?!My eyes widened in realization. "The rogue wolves...the...glass shard—" I stuttered, trying to make sense of it all, but he shushed me."There's no need to worry about that now," he said, then gently pushed me downward."You need to take a rest while I fetch the doctor."I resisted him, instead letting my eyes roam around, taking in every inch of my surroundings. I'd been kept in a bleak-looking room, its walls painted a depressing white, and strapped to a bed, which was starting to feel uncomfortably warm. An IV had been strapped to my left hand, infusing water into my body."Am I in a human hospital?" I croaked."Yes. You're in Seattle now, as far away from that small town as we can be." The man before me answered. Then he smiled again. "Pardon me. My name is Kenneth."I ignored the hand he stretched towards me and instead swung my feet down from the bed. Seattle was too far away for me, too bleak and unpredictable. What would I do in this thriving metropolis? Where would I start from?"I'm getting out of here," I mumbled, slipping my feet into the hospital-issued slippers by the bed. The man lunged forward and grabbed my arm before I could make any further move. "You won't want to do that.""And why is that?" I snapped. "You saved me from those rogue wolves and I thank you for that, but I think I'll find my own way now.""You were speaking a lot in your sleep," the man said suddenly, raising his voice. He came closer to me, his impressive brown eyes boring into mine. "I heard and learned a lot from your mumblings."I eyed him warily. "What are you talking about?""Who's Adam?" He asked instead, deflecting my question. "Is he the father of your child?" I frowned, extremely overwhelmed and gripping my head as the headache threatened to overcome me. "Wh...what are you talking about?"The air was fraught with tension as we stared at each other. My heart was hammering against my chest, my mouth tasting like ash. "I'm talking about the life that's growing inside of you." He said in a quiet voice."You're pregnant, Valerie."Pregnant? Who? I asked as confusion and realization hit me at once.I had a one night with Adam but that doesn't mean I'm pregnant now, does it? "I'm not pregnant...no, I can't be" I said gently as the back of my eyes burned with tears."It is confirmed, Valerie. You're four weeks pregnant" Kenneth muttered. I shook my head as I walked out to nowhere in particular.My head was spinning, I couldn't think straight."No it's not possible, I.. I can't be pregnant" I cried as my pushed myself out of the room.The strange looking guy was behind me, I could hear his footsteps as I struggled to snap out of this freaking nightmare.I tripped on my gown and lost my balance but he was quick to stop me from falling hard to the ground."You're not strong enough for this, Valerie. You just need to accept it and we can overcome this together" he said gently and I gave in to the tears that had been threatening to fall.I never imagined becoming a single mother, not in my nineteen years of living had I imagined being a single mother after getting rejected by the guy I had loved all my life...Valerie's POVI was done today and was ready to call it a night. In conclusion, the next time my mind wasn't feeling so sure about a particular place or location, I wouldn't touch that place with a ten foot pole. I couldn't stand by and watch the guards feed her the poison even though she planned on doing it to me. My mind wouldn't have been at rest if I had let her be poisoned by Adam's guards. After Adam dismissed everyone and cancelled the rest of the dinner, I just stood unmoving. It was still a lot to take in but I was going to get over it. I knew it, though I felt like my life was ending and I was constantly getting betrayed by the people around me, I could tell it was going to get better soon. After everyone had left Adam reached for my hand and pulled me towards the house. I could hear him talking to me and trying to reassure me but it felt like an out of body experience.I could feel him pulling my body but it felt like the contents of my body were temporarily gone. My feet
Valerie's POVI've always disliked abuse whether it was physical, emotional or mental. Whatever form it came in was an instant no for me. So when Adam kicked the maid, I screamed out so loud I was sure I scared away the birds that were on the neighboring trees. I had expected him to shout at her, to maybe humiliate her but the last thing he would do was to kick her. The moment his foot landed against her stomach, I pushed my way to the front of the crowd and made my way towards him.“Adam stop kicking her, she's a person. You don't do such things to people regardless of how you feel about them.” I said pulling him off her but being stronger than I was he wouldn't budge.“She wanted to kill you,” he said, kicking her once more. I knew he was trying to defend me but he was going about it the wrong way. I meant nothing to the pack, he shouldn't be doing this for me.“Exactly she wanted but she didn't, I'm still here and I'm okay you don't have to hurt her.” I said, still urging him and t
Valerie's POV“I almost got killed again.” It was a hard pill to swallow but it was the truth and I had no choice but to accept it.At this point I didn't know if it was just bad luck or I had a death warrant on me that others could see but I couldn't because I was beyond tired of getting ridiculed, of being attacked, of all the near death experiences I was having and tired of basically everything. I was just tired, we had all watched in awe as she cried and begged over and over again to be forgiven. She did it like she had no idea what she was doing when she had put the poison in the food but I just couldn't be moved to say anything. I was still in a state of shock from everything that had happened this evening. Her cries and wails filled the room but no one dared to move, Adam features were filled with disgust and contempt as he watched her putting on a show. I couldn't blame him, she had gone from defiant to sorry in the blink of an eye. Her cries seemed forced and fake.The murm
Valerie's POVThe heated back and forth between Adam and the maid had been going on for quite a while and I was sure as hell that aside from myself every other person seated on this table was getting irritated by it. Adam had been insisting she take a bite of the steak but she kept on refusing everytime he asked. The smile that spread across Adam's features everytime she told him the word ‘No’ was calm but had a menacing look to it. The smile not getting to his eyes was a telltale sign of how fake it was.“I know that the helpers are not allowed to eat the food of Royals but as your Alpha, I'm ordering you to eat from it. Plus it's not like you're finishing the entire plate, you're only taking a bite from it.” He said still adamant that she eat from the plate.Adam's gaze snapped to the maid, his eyes glinting with a cold intensity. "Eat a piece of the mutton," he commanded, his voice low and menacing when he noticed she wasn't moving when he asked.The maid's eyes widened in terror,
Valerie's POVSo much for not wanting to be the center of attention, the whole room was still in shock from how loud the timbre of Adam's voice was, the once lively table which was filled with laughs and chatters of guests had now become as silent as a graveyard. The table was now filled with surprised gazes, wide eyes and hushed tones but no one dared to move or question his order. Most of the eyes on the table had thrown their attention my way trying to deduce his reason for raising an alarm and scaring everyone. The weight of their gazes felt uncomfortable against my skin, I could feel myself turning a bright shade of crimson with how embarrassed I was.The entire room had instantly turned quiet, if you dropped a pin on the floor you would probably hear it echo inside the house. My mind was currently in turmoil, why had Adam reacted like that, he knew I didn't want people's eyes on me and he literally threw me to the wolves.“Why don't you want me to eat it, is something wrong?”
Valerie's POV“I thought I was done with these stupid panic attacks.” I thought to myself as I fought to keep my tears at bay.I had to take a minute to calm down, and reduce the pace of my breathing. I was scared out of my mind, the only thing that kept echoing in my head was how I got beat-up and kidnapped a while ago. I tried to convince myself that it was a thing of the past and I was safe but my body wasn't accepting the fact. I thought I was over the attack but I guess it took being put in a similar position to show that my healing journey was far from over.I could still feel my pulse pounding in my temples, and my hands were shaking slightly. I closed my eyes, focusing on the sound of my own breathing. I tried to slow down my heart rate, to calm my frazzled nerves. But my mind kept replaying the sensation of the hand over my mouth, the feeling of being trapped and helpless. I ran my hands along the length of my arms trying to warm myself up but my efforts were futile as I k
Valerie's POVI could finally confirm it now, Analisse didn't have a heart, matter of fact where her heart was supposed to be, there was a fist sized boulder there and instead of blood, it pumped poison through her veins. I had stood at the same spot for about five minutes watching her facial expressions to see if her stoic mask would crack and she would feel some empathy for her brother before gathering him in her arms and taking him inside but it was the exact opposite and in some crooked way I knew that was going to be her reaction. All she did was stare at him with contempt and irritation in her eyes.I didn't know how possible it was that every time I saw Rendall he managed to look worse than the previous time I had seen him. This evening had taken the crown, his clothes were torn, the sole of his shoe had finally burst open, he looked like he was covered with several layers of sweat and grime. His hair was matted together by lumps of dirt. He had several cuts and bruises l
Valerie’s POV“This was a bad idea” I thought, as I placed my palm on my temple, groaning to myself. I should have done something else for Adam, instead of coming to this party. I could have pretended I was sick, he would have believed me regardless of what I came up with after all we had spent most of our day in a body of water, it wouldn't sound weird if I came down with a fever or a cold. I felt so out of place and uncomfortable, the cocktail event for the dinner had started a few minutes before I stepped onto the terrace and so far I've hated each and every moment of it. The invited wolves around me were moving from place to place with a drink in hand, talking, laughing and socializing with each other but here I was tucked in a dark corner of the room regretting my decision of even coming outside. It wasn't like the party was bad, actually it was the exact opposite, the drinks were good, the appetizers were delicious but it was the company of people in the party that made me f
Valerie's POVI walked gingerly across the garden path towards the staff door, making sure to survey the vicinity with each and every step I took to avoid bumping into anyone who would ask pressing questions. I couldn't afford for anyone to find me outside and inquire on where I had been. The staff door led straight to the kitchen. I didn't want to meet so many people but I knew that was inevitable whether or not I used that door or the main garden entrance,aside from that it was the entrance that came with the least prying eyes and suspicious glances. The memory of what happened the last time I was in the kitchen played itself in my head and it was the warning I needed, to come up with a good plan before entering the kitchen, as a precaution this time around in case I bumped into anyone and especially to prevent a repeat of what happened the last time with Analisse or one of her cohorts. I pushed the door as gently as I could to prevent it from squeaking before quietly stepping insi