Chapter Two: Protecting?

Where… where was she?

Ayla groaned, blinking slowly. The scent of damp stone filled her nose. Her head felt heavy, her limbs weak. Cold bit into her skin, and the silence around her was thick—too thick.

“W-What… happened?” she whispered, her voice raw.

She tried to sit up and gasped at the pain in her side.

The last thing she remembered was… Sylvia shouting, the glass falling, a familiar voice, his voice…

Her eyes flew open.

She wasn’t in the maid quarters. She wasn’t in her tiny bed.

Darkness surrounded her. There was only one flickering torch on the wall, casting long shadows across the stone room.

Chains hung from the corner.

She was in the dungeon.

Panic hit her chest.

“No… no… why am I here?” she said, trembling.

A sound echoed, a soft footstep.

A shadow moved.

“Who’s there?” Ayla’s voice broke. “Please…”

The figure stepped into the light slowly. Her heart stopped.

She knew that face.

Strong jaw, sharp eyes, broad shoulders.

It was really him.

The man from that night.

The Alpha.

“Alpha Caius,” Ayla breathed, tears rising in her eyes. “No… no, please…”

The Alpha said nothing.

He stared at her with unreadable eyes.

She backed away, hitting the wall. “Why am I here?” Her voice cracked. “Are you going to kill me now? ”

He took a slow step forward.

Her voice grew louder. “No one will believe me! I’m just an omega! No one would care even if I screamed!, so please Alpha let me go.”

Still, he said nothing.

Her hands curled into fists. “I didn’t poison Sylvia! I didn’t do anything! You know I didn’t!”

“You’re scared,” Alpha Caius finally spoke, voice low.

Ayla laughed bitterly through her tears. “Of course I am! You—” She stopped herself, her breath shaking.

“You raped me,” she whispered. “You–hurt me. Then now I'm being thrown into a dungeon accused of trying to poison Her Royal Sylvia .”

Silence.

Then the Alpha said, “I know you feel it.”

“What?”

“The pull,” he said, stepping even closer. “Your wolf is awake now, isn’t she?”

Ayla’s eyes widened. Her chest felt… tight. Her skin buzzed. Her wolf—who had been silent all her life—was now moving, stirring, whispering faint words she couldn’t understand.

“What… what is this?” she whispered.

“You’re my mate,” Alpha Caius said simply.

Ayla’s breath hitched.

“The moon goddess would never.”

“Well she did.”

“But, you knew?” she cried out. “You knew and you still–still did that to me?!”

“I lost control,” he said, voice steady.

“You call that losing control? You raped me”

“I didn’t plan for it to happen like that, and we both know no one would believe that.”

And he was right

Her mind remembered those same familiar words. No one will believe you. No one will listen. You’re nothing.

She remembered her mother’s voice. Soft. Tired.

“You’ll have to be silent to survive, Ayla. Omegas like us don’t get heard. Just stay quiet and obey.”

Her parents had been omegas too.

Her father worked the fields from dawn to dusk. Her mother cooked in the Alpha’s kitchens until her hands blistered.

One winter, when the wolves ran out of food, her parents gave up their meals so Ayla could eat.

They both died that winter.

Starved. Forgotten.

No one mourned them.

No one cared.

Ayla had survived, barely, serving like her mother did—silent, obedient, unnoticed.

Until now.

Now the Alpha had noticed her.

And she was ruined.

A tense silence passed, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of her tears.

Then suddenly, A guard came and whispered into the Alpha's ear that an important meeting came up and he needed to attend.

Alpha Caius nodded, turned to the guard who had been there before

“Take her.” he said as he walked out with the guard who just spoken to him

Ayla's eyes widened in horror. “Wait—where are you sending me?, where are you going to.”

The Alpha didn’t answer.

The guard grabbed her arm.

“No! Let go of me!” she screamed. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?! That’s it, right?! Just do it yourself then!”

The Alpha said nothing as Ayla shouted after him

“I hope the Moon Goddess sees what you’ve done!” Ayla cried as the guard dragged her out. “I hope she judges you!”

She kept screaming until her throat burned.

She was dragged through dark halls, past guards who looked away, past wolves who sneered. Everyone believed the lie—that she tried to poison Sylvia.

They all believed she deserved this.

So did Ayla.

She thought she was going to die.

But she didn’t.

Instead of death, Ayla found herself dumped in the familiar, dusty corridor of the maids’ quarters. Her body still ached from the night before. Her mind was a storm of confusion, terror, and shame.

No one said anything when she returned.

No one looked her in the eye.

They’d all heard the same story — that Ayla had been sent away to be punished for what she’d done to Sylvia. But now she was back, bruised, broken, and silent.

Why?

She didn’t know.

All she knew was that the Alpha had left.

Ayla couldn’t even feel relief at his absence.

She was too tired.

Too hollow.

She moved like a ghost through the halls, completing her tasks, her head down, her lips pressed shut. Every step hurt. Every breath reminded her of what had happened.

She scrubbed the floors with shaking hands.

She washed linens until her fingers bled.

She didn’t speak.

Because what could she say?

No one would believe her. She was an omega. A maid. A nobody.

And the man who had destroyed her, taken her virginity was the Alpha, her supposed mate.

Ayla was folding towels in the storage room when she heard the door slam open.

The sound made her jump.

Sylvia.

Her scent hit first, roses and poison.

She stepped in with two guards behind her and a furious glint in her eyes.

“There you are,” she spat. “Pretending like nothing happened. Like you didn’t humiliate me.”

Ayla’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.