Chapter 4

Luka

I bustled down to the laundry room as quickly as I could without drawing attention to myself or doubling over from my injuries.

I kept replaying the conversation with that man. Who was he? What pack was he from? I had never met anyone like that before or heard anything so kind.

Actually, I don’t think anyone had ever said anything kind to me in my life, period.

“Nothing about you seems ordinary,” it echoed. Usually when someone said something like that to me, it was not a compliment.

“But you…there’s more to you.”

I had trouble believing it. But this man seeing something in me gave me hope that life could be better.

His face was burned into my brain like an enigma that I needed to solve. What was it behind those eyes?

A hail of dirty clothes fell onto my head in the laundry room, and I remembered where I was.

“You!” Sofia shouted at me, throwing more dirty clothes. “Where have you been, mongrel?”

Well, that good mood didn’t last long. “I’ve been running around, my noble lady. Preparing for the festivities, getting things ready. Did you need me?”

I picked up the clothes from the floor, and she deliberately stomped on my badly injured hand. I cried out in pain, and she laughed.

“No one needs you. However, I want you to know, I know your secret.” For a second, I thought Sofia meant she knew I’d talked to that man outside, but no. “I know you’re Alpha Declan’s mate. That changes nothing, so don’t get any ideas. You’re a slave, you’re a whore, you’re a piece of shit. You’re still nothing. Only now you’re less than nothing, because you’re in my way. You have to put yourself in the proper position, which is at the very bottom. He’s mine.”

I could barely talk from the pain in my pulsating hands. I felt a little optimistic, oddly enough, because maybe this meant I could shake this curse.

“Yes, he was originally your mate…” I start.

“As he still should be,” Sofia finishes.

Declan, as the pack alpha, and Sofia, as daughter of the beta, were the default mates for unmatched pack members. Meaning they could choose whoever they’d like, and they were always considered a perfect match.

But unfortunately for everyone involved, fate had other plans.

“Couldn’t he still be your mate?” I ask genuinely.

Sofia’s face contorts in revulsion. “No. Because of you. The mate bond, it’s an illness. He’s always looking at you, like some drug with terrible side effects. He doesn’t want this. And yet. The pain of it on him, it’s horrible.”

I assume an innocent tone again. “You’re much better for him.”

“Obviously,” Sofia spits back.

“Right, it’s more than obvious.” I pause. “Couldn’t you persuade Declan to reject me officially? You could have your happily ever after and be his mate.”

The clomping toward the laundry room told me we weren’t alone for long. “There you are, you scum,” Declan barked. “What did I hear you say?”

I started to answer, but he waved his hand away.

“Shut up. Don’t dream about an official rejection, don’t you even think about it. If I hear that word from your lips one more time…I will make you suffer. From the mate bond, and in every other way, you will suffer in new and awful ways.”

I nod, fearful of saying more.

“What are you doing here anyway, slave? Didn’t I tell you to stay in the utility room?”

“Well, that and you said to prep—”

“I don’t want your excuses,” Declan yelled. “I looked to make sure you were where you were supposed to be, and I find you here. The ceremony is imminent, so get back to your hole and don’t leave. If you do, you’ll be sorry.”

I stood in silence, afraid to upset him. But that made him angrier.

He pushed me down and kicked repeatedly. I could feel the wounds in my hands reopening and the ribs cracking again. If he kept beating me this way, I would die, if not from the injuries, then infection and malnourishment.

I have to get away from this monster. That was the only thought I could hold while consumed by unimaginable physical pain. If I don’t get out, I’ll die.

Just as Declan and Sofia were preparing to walk away, formal boots clacked on the laundry room floor.

“Master Declan, and my darling Sofia.” It was Julian, beta of the pack and Sofia’s father. “The Alpha King is here, my lord. His beta sent for you to have an earlier audience, so you’re needed posthaste.”

“Thank you, Julian,” Declan said.

“You look beautiful, sweetie.” Julian kissed his daughter on the head. “And you…” Julian slammed my ribs with his foot, sending spikes of pain to my torso. “You look like garbage.”

“I was going to tell her that myself, Daddy.” Sofia turned to me with a kick before kneeling and looking into my eyes. “And you, you keep your ugly mouth shut. You know what the penalty is for…fabricating certain pack improprieties. The pack comes first. You come last..”

It was illegal for packs to physically abuse their members, especially mates of alphas. Repercussions of such treatment were supposed to be worse for alphas, given their status, but of course alphas never actually were accused, much less prosecuted.

Yeah, right, like I’d have put myself at greater risk by calling attention to Declan’s sadism. I just wanted to leave and never think of them again.

Declan piled on with graver threats. “Once you’ve stopped being lazy on the floor, get back to the utility room and stay, like the dog you are. You are to behave, or else.”

Declan took Sofia’s arm, and Sofia turned her head to look back, smug smile on her painted lips. She topped it off by sticking out her tongue.

I was too weak and afraid to retaliate, and it wasn’t worthwhile. I needed to save my energy for leaving. I had the rest of my life to imagine how I could have humiliated her back.

I picked myself up slowly, aching beyond anything I’d ever felt, emotionally and physically. The entire mansion was empty as I dragged myself to the utility room. I was grateful to be alone, but the quiet was eerie. I felt like I could be caught roaming at any moment, so I tried to look both anonymous and purposeful, so no one would question my presence.

I packed more quickly than I had done anything in my life, putting everything into the thin blanket that had been my bed for so many years. “You cannot get caught, Luka. Your life is at stake.”

Oddly enough, the only thing that made me want to stay a little longer was to find out who that man in the slightly-too-big clothing was. But it wasn’t worth my freedom.

I took one look back at the utility room and shut the door on the past. I was ready for the future. I just had to get through the circus out front first.

I had memorized my drawings of the front plaza area. I followed the course I plotted, hoping I could pass for an assistant or servant from another pack. Because of my lowly status, I hung back, not wanting to get anywhere near the hubbub in the central plaza. There were a number of trees and small buildings here and there to hide behind, which I had taken stock of before

All eyes were on the car coming up the circular driveway. Everyone wanted a glimpse at the new alpha king. No one paid me any mind, thank the gods, although I was overly cautious enyway.

I was mildly interested in seeing the new alpha king the way you can’t help but look away from a car crash. But gawking at a celebrity was not a good reason to risk getting caught.

The road in was also the road out, winding its way through the square, so I had to be very careful to stay as far away as possible.

I was at the exterior edge of the plaza, where there were blind spots in the guard posts. It would be even easier once everyone had followed the alpha king after he said his hellos in the square. I was almost out of the danger zone.

The door to the limousine opened and I couldn’t help but look, as much as I hated myself for it. The only thing worse than Alpha Declan beaming with self-importance was an Alpha King joining him in the same self-congratulation. It was gross.

“I introduce to you his royal highness and my honored guest, Alpha King Caleb Archer!” Declan announced, although it echoed from a distance.

I prepared myself to see someone similar to Declan. I assumed the king would just be a version of him that was more extreme, more arrogant, and more cruel…

…And more handsome?

I realized I had seen him before. In fact, very recently. He was the elegant man who took my breath away earlier on the grounds. My jaw dropped, and I felt weak. The blue-eyed man in shabby clothes who gave me the ointment was the alpha king.

My jaw dropped to the ground, and at the same time, so did my bundle of provisions with a loud sound. Apples and potatoes rolled around the cobblestones, hitting people’s feet. I was in the back, away from the people, but the mistake gave me away.

The entire crowd looked back at me, including Declan and the new alpha king. I didn’t know if I was more embarrassed of making a spectacle or more fearful of the punishment Declan would give me, and maybe the alpha king himself to make an example.

The alpha king looked puzzled and unsettled as he stared at me, trying to figure out what was happening.

“Who is this woman?” he asked.