Chapter six

Mellisa

I spent an hour constructing the request in my head before dinner. I kept my voice low and my eyes down as I framed what I was thinking as modestly as I could.

I had already begun learning that the angle of approach mattered to him. The exhaustion from standing behind his chair all day had settled into my bones and the thought of food made my stomach turn, but I knew better than to skip dinner without permission.

"Alpha Draven," I began quietly as I looked down at my untouched plate. "May I be excused to rest? I'm not feeling well."

Draven put his glass on the table and the room went quiet in that specific way it always did when he shifted from eating to paying attention. I felt the change in the air before I saw him stand and my heart began to pound in my chest.

He came around the table and grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled until my face was pointed at the ceiling and my neck was stretched so tight I thought it might snap.

"Not feeling well?" he repeated in a voice that was low enough that only I could hear. "You think you can dictate when you eat and when you sleep in my castle?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered as tears pooled in the corners of my eyes from the pain. "I didn't mean..."

"You didn't mean what?" he hissed as he pulled harder. "You didn't mean to disrespect me at my own table?"

"Father, you've been pulling her hair since morning," Briston interrupted as he set his fork down with a deliberate clink. "Give the girl a break."

The room froze and I felt Draven's grip tighten even more before he released me with a forward push that sent me crashing into the table edge. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs and I grabbed the table to keep from falling to the floor.

Draven turned to face his son with a rage that seemed to fill the entire room and his eyes began to glow with the gold of his wolf.

"What did you just say to me?" Draven demanded as he took a step toward Briston.

"I said give her a break," Briston repeated as he stood up and met his father's eyes without flinching. "She's exhausted and you've been treating her like a dog all day."

Draven moved faster than I could track and backhanded Briston across the face with enough force to send him stumbling backward into his chair. The sound of the impact echoed through the dining room and I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.

"You dare defend her?" Draven shouted as he grabbed Briston by the collar and lifted him slightly off the ground. "You dare question how I treat my property in my own home?"

"She's not property," Briston shot back as blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. "She's a person."

Draven threw him back into the chair and the wood cracked under the impact. He stood there breathing heavily while his fists clenched and unclenched at his sides and I could see his wolf fighting to break free.

"Get out of my sight before I do something I regret," Draven growled.

Briston stood up slowly and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand before he looked at me with something that might have been pity. He walked out of the dining room without another word and slammed the door behind him.

Draven turned back to me and I flinched and took a step backward.

"Sit down and finish your meal," he ordered as he pointed to my chair. "You will eat every single bite on that plate and you will thank me for feeding you when you're done."

I sat down with trembling hands and picked up my fork while my stomach churned with nausea. I forced myself to take a bite of the cold food and swallowed even though it felt like glass going down my throat.

Draven sat back down and resumed eating as if nothing had happened while I choked down my dinner one painful bite at a time. When I finally finished he stood up and dropped his napkin on the table.

"Guard," he called out.

A man appeared in the doorway immediately.

"Take her to her room and lock the door," Draven commanded. "She needs rest."

The guard nodded and gestured for me to follow him. I walked through the corridors in silence while my body ached and my mind raced with everything that had just happened. When we reached my room the guard opened the door and waited for me to enter before he closed it behind me and I heard the lock engage from outside.

I stood in the middle of the room and breathed. I was not going to cry. I noted what had failed in my approach and I revised it and I filed the revision away for next time and I went to bed knowing that tomorrow would bring new horrors.