005: Welcome Gift

Welcome Gift

Talia’s POV

The slap was still burning on my cheek when I raised my face.

I refused to look down. My jaw ached from where Valik had grabbed me on the road, my body was cold from standing in the basin, and every single thing that had happened since those doors burst open at my wedding was pressing down on me like a heavy stone. But I would not look down.

Monica stood close enough that I could see the contempt in her eyes without needing a fortune teller.

“A dirty… disgusting slave,” she said, letting each word land slowly, “bathing like she is a noble born.” She looked around at the other women with a short, humorless laugh. “In my own fortress.”

One of the she-wolves beside her crossed her arms. “That is precisely why we are here. Someone has to teach her what she actually is and keep her in her place.”

I turned my gaze to Monica. My voice came out steadier than I expected. “Who are you? And what gives you the right to put your hand on my face?”

The woman to Monica’s left took a sharp step forward. “How dare you… “

“I have the right to know.” I held her stare and didn’t move.

Monica raised her hand slightly, and the woman stopped. Then Monica looked at me with the slow, measured calm of someone who had never once felt threatened by anything smaller than her.

“I am Alpha Valik’s betrothed,” she said. “We were to be wed… the arrangement is still ongoing.”

My fist tightened at my side. The cold water still dripping from my hair, the rough cloth barely covering me, the humiliation of standing here like this… all of it was heating into something I didn’t have the luxury of releasing. I held it and kept it buckled inside me.

“And what does that have to do with me?” I asked. My tone came out sharper than I planned, but I didn’t take it back. “You called me weak and fragile. You came in here and slapped me over a man?” I let my eyes move over her once. “If you’re that afraid of me, then keep him. Valik is entirely yours.”

Something shifted in her expression. Not quite anger but surprise. Like she had walked in expecting a mouse and found something that at least knew how to show its teeth.

She recovered quickly. Her chin lifted, and the smile returned, colder this time.

“What gave you the right to speak to me like that?” She stepped closer. “You think that ring means something? You think wearing it puts you anywhere near my level?” She paused, letting the silence do some of her work. “He will never mark you. Do you understand what that means? You will never truly be his. You are a placeholder… a temporary embarrassment this pack will correct in time.”

I didn’t know what marking meant. My face must have shown it for half a second… that small blank pause before I could change my expression. I didn’t ask. I didn’t want another word from her mouth directed at me.

“Get out you all,” I said.

Monica blinked.

“Get out of this room,” I said again, “and take your welcome speech with you. I have heard enough.”

The temperature in the room dropped. Monica’s hand rose again fast but I caught it.

My fingers wrapped around her wrist midair, and I held it there. I felt her surprise move through her arm before she could hide it.

“Don’t… Don’t you dare touch me again.” I said quietly.

For a moment, they all stood still.

Then Monica pulled her wrist back slowly, and the look she gave me was no longer dismissive. It was the kind of look that meant a decision had been made.

“I will deal with you,” she said, soft and certain… in ways you cannot imagine.” She turned, and the others followed her out without another word.

The door clicked shut.

I stood in the basin alone, water cold around my ankles, and let out a breath that had been living in my chest for the last several minutes. My hand was shaking now. I pressed it flat against my thigh until it stopped.

I went back to the room when I was done. I sat on the edge of the bed in silence and stared at the floor.

I had been in this fortress for only a few hours and already I had been stared at like prey, called livestock, mocked in front of a full room, and slapped by a woman who walked in like she owned the air. And Valik… the man who had promised me protection… had watched his mother speak about me like I was something dragged in off the road, he only gave one small frown that meant nothing, and then walked away.

That was the part that hurts the most. Not his mother’s statement, Monica’s slap or the servants who murmured loud enough to make sure I heard. It was him standing right there and doing nothing.

I changed into the cloth that had been left on the bed, lay down, and stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t Sleep. The room was too quiet and my mind was too loud and every time I closed my eyes I saw the incident that happened ten years ago.

Suddenly, a knock came at the door.

I sat up.

I stayed still and waited, half expecting the handle to turn without permission the way it had when I was in the bathing chamber. The knock came again, two soft taps.

I thought about it and realized that those women wouldn’t knock if they were the ones. That wasn’t the kind of entrance they made. I moved out of bed slowly, walked to the door and pulled the door open. I looked out.

The corridor was empty.

I looked left and right, but no one was there.

Then I looked down.

A basket sat on the floor just outside the door, covered with a folded cloth, a small square of paper tucked underneath the edge. I picked it up, brought it inside, and closed the door.

I unfolded the paper.

‘Have your dinner, sent by Valik’

I let out a long breath. I hadn’t eaten since morning, and I didn’t even notice that, with everything that has happened in one day, how can I have the appetite to eat.

I set the basket on the bed and stood there looking at it.

A part of me wanted to throw the whole thing across the room.

Another part of me was too tired to be stubborn about food.

I sat down, smoothed the cloth, and opened the basket.

“Aaaghhh!!!” I screamed out.

Curled inside the basket, stiff and grey, was a dead rat with blood all over its body.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​