Guests

Sabrina’s POV

A pained moan escaped my throat as my back collided with the wall, his grip around my neck tightening.

“Wh—what are you…” I choked out, my voice barely escaping as I was overwhelmed with the powerful aura radiating from him.

I looked into his dark eyes, and my words were stuck in my throat, my mind blank, my entire being filled with fear.

“Shh. Don’t speak,” he whispered, leaning his face close to mine. “Just look at me.” He tightened his grip around my neck, not enough to suffocate me, but enough for me to stay still and get lost in his eyes.

This strength, this power that he has, his aura. He’s the Alpha, isn’t he?

“A-Alpha Damon?” I stammered, quivering under his piercing gaze. I had forgotten the reason Anne came to my room this morning. She had told me Alpha Damon had asked for me. My mind didn’t register that information.

He suddenly smiled, noticing that I recognized him, and released my neck.

“Took you a moment,” he chuckled deeply and opened the door to my room.

I had heard rumors. Chilling stories about this maniac Alpha cursed by the moon goddess. I thought he was a tale, an Alpha going savage every full moon, ruthlessly killing Alphas and claiming their packs.

Nothing prepared me for meeting him in this manner. I stuck to the wall, too shocked to move an inch.

The sun seeped through the little window, casting light on him and revealing his brooding figure, blood smeared across his body, his clothes torn and tattered from battle.

His gaze found mine lingering on his body. “Ah… this,” he said with a sinister smile, gesturing to his disheveled state. “One of my many battle testaments.”

I peeled my gaze away from his figure, but I couldn’t find where to place it. My eyes darted everywhere, looking for an escape, but they found none.

“Why did you ask for me in exchange for my pack?” I finally found my voice, although shaky.

“Hmm,” he hummed, moving majestically across my room. I wondered what was so interesting about this basement room that he looked around it with such a sickening smile.

“Who said I asked for you?” He turned around, facing me. “From what I remember, I asked Alpha Gerald to give me one of his daughters, and in exchange, I’d refrain from claiming his pack.” He scoffed and resumed his tour around my room. “Clearly, you’re not loved, seeing as they delivered you into my arms without a second thought.”

I felt so seen the moment those words escaped his lips.

It still felt like yesterday when Ian, Alpha Damon’s beta, stormed in with his men to deliver the news of Alpha Damon’s intentions of claiming our pack, and the condition for him not to take that action. Ian had even offered to stay three days to help my uncle, Alpha Gerald, make a decision.

But my uncle and my pack members gave me away in a heartbeat, even though they knew they were pushing me to my death.

“Take the wolfless princess!” they chanted in unison.

I snapped my head to Damon.

“A-Are you going to kill me?” I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper. I had lived a shitty life since the death of my parents, and I’d wished for death countless times. But now that I was truly faced with a threat to my life, I discovered a newfound realization.

I did not want to die. My life may be hell, but I wanted to live.

My heart pounded as I watched Alpha Damon walk towards me. He drew nearer and nearer, and although my back was already glued to the wall, I still tried to move back in fear.

His face was just inches from mine as he delicately traced the contours of my chin, sending a ticklish sensation through my skin with each gentle glide of his fingers.

“That is an option I’m considering. But,” he moved his hand away from my chin, and his fingers traveled down to my lips, “I can’t. Even if I wanted to,” he whispered.

He then turned to leave. “See you around, little mouse.”

I plopped to the ground, still in shock as I watched his back disappear from my sight.

What just happened?

Just then Anne came and stumbled on me sitting on the floor.

“What other expression did I expect you to have after an encounter with Alpha Damon?” she scoffed, bending down to level with me. “Tch tch, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I was too numb to react to her taunts and just sat there, staring blankly into space.

“Get up! Get up!” Anne clapped her hands. “Get your lazy ass up and come with me to the kitchen. We have guests tonight, there’s so much work to be done.”

I was still in a daze, Anne’s voice blurring with the wind.

“Aren’t you listening to me, or have you suddenly turned deaf?!” Anne yelled, and I finally reacted to something.

“I heard you the first time.” I would have rolled my eyes if I had the strength, but for now, I kept a blank face. I got up and headed to the kitchen, bumping shoulders with Anne in the process.

“Argh!” I heard Anne grunt. “I’ll surely teach you a lesson,” she spat before following after me.

“You’re here, my princess,” the head maid, a wrinkly old woman whose skin was floating from her bones, regarded me as I entered the kitchen. She looked like she was in her late eighties, but her strength and agility could pass for a young one.

“I’ve told you to stop calling me that, Nanny Tessa.” I smiled and walked around the kitchen counter. “I’m no longer a princess, but a slave.”

“Alpha Damon never branded you one, and as such, you’re still a princess,” Nanny Tessa said, her figure moving up and down the kitchen.

“But he bought me, remember? It’s only a matter of time before he announces me as his slave.”

“Damon won’t do that,” Nanny Tessa said with all surety. “Give no ears to the rumors Anne spreads. She’s just a… child.”

“But…”

“No buts, my princess. Go ahead and chop those vegetables. If Anne hasn’t informed you, we’ll be having guests tonight.”

It was nighttime already by the time we were done in the kitchen. I was already sore from standing and assisting all day.

“When will the guests arrive?” I asked, my eyes red from trying to keep them open.

“Quit whining and wait. You’re no different from us who have been working since morning. You think you’re still a princess,” Anne scoffed, rolling her eyes in disdain.

“Anne!” Nanny Tessa warned.

I was still tired from the events of today, starting from my moment with the Alpha. I had no time to spare for Anne.

Just then a guard walked in. “The guests have arrived, and you can start bringing the food to the dining,” he announced before his eyes rested on me. “The Alpha has also requested your presence in the dining.”

I glanced at Nanny Tessa, fear evident in my eyes. Nanny Tessa gave me a reassuring smile, placing her frail hands on my shoulders.

“Go on. You don’t want to keep the Alpha waiting.”

I nodded and left with the guard. I held my hands together in front of me with my head lowered as I approached the dining.

“Oh Sab, look at you!”

That voice. I couldn’t mistake the voice that had tormented me for the twenty years of my existence. I looked up to see my cousin seated in the dining, with my ex-mate next to her.

The very one who rejected me and chose my cousin instead.