Chapter 9

Penelope’s pov

“Right this way,” Callum, the beta, said as he opened the door and let me in.

I walked in after him as I almost gasped at the sheer size of the room before me. I could only gasp at it as he closed the door behind us and walked into the middle of the room. 

He spread his arms around. “It’s all yours. It’s one of our biggest rooms. Not the biggest, but you’re a special guest of the Alpha, and I clearly know some things about him. Whenever he feels a certain way towards someone, we treat that person like a special guest.”

I looked around the room. “All of this… for me?” I said, as he nodded.

“Yes.”

I slowly walked across the wooden floors and got to the window to look out. It was beautiful here. Far more beautiful than when I was in my former pack. At least here, nobody was treating me like a slave. But I couldn’t conclude yet. Maybe Lucas was pretending. Maybe he was even worse than Dax. Maybe he was going to beat me up the way Dax would beat me up because of Laura.

I turned to Callum. “Does your Alpha have any sister?”

He smiled. “You’d know soon enough about the Alpha. For now, I can’t say much.”

“Why are you protecting him? You’re supposed to tell me the truth.”

He shook his head. “It’s not how this works. Right now, I don’t trust you. But I can feel the bond between the Alpha and you.”

“What bond can you feel?”

“I can’t say,” he exhaled slowly. “But he’s been very protective of you. And his aura seems to extend towards you for some odd reason. I’ve not seen it around any other person in this pack. He has not had that with anybody but you, which makes you special.”

“I’m getting the vibe you don’t like me,” I said, folding my arms while shifting my weight from leg to leg to relieve the pain I was getting.

He shook his head. “I don’t trust anyone. The Alpha is supposed to be the epitome of love, care, patience, and all that virtuous nonsense. But I am supposed to be one of curiosity and one that doesn’t trust much. I’m supposed to be the block between the Alpha and the pack members and any new person that shows up in the pack. But the Alpha has deemed you trustworthy, so I am not going to fight him on this.”

I nodded. “Alright. Fine. No problem. Whatever. Hating me isn’t going to do much anyway. I already have enough self-hatred to do that for me.”

He took two steps towards me and the space between us was gone. His aura wasn’t as strong as Lucas’s own, but he was pretty powerful.

I started to wonder… between him and Dax, who would win? Dax was pretty strong but I started to lean towards this Callum guy. He seemed more brutal. He seemed more experienced. The fierce look in his eyes showed that he had gone through a lot. And Dax… his aura felt like that of a puppy when compared to this beta.

“What happened to you out there?” he asked. “Why were you in bruises? Why did you need to be admitted to the hospital?”

“I… don’t want to talk about it,” I looked to the large bed, admiring the posts around the bed.

“You have to,” he said.

I looked up at him. “If you really want to know more about me, go and ask your Alpha. Don’t stand here and talk to me like you know all the answers.”

“I don’t,” he said. “It’s why I want you to tell me. I need to know what we’re getting into here or how will we defend you?”

“I don’t need your protection you know,” I said as I went around him. But I didn’t get far before his hand gripped my arm.

I looked at it and looked up to him to see the cold look on his face. 

His aura was getting hostile now. He could easily tear me to shreds and the alpha wouldn’t even know.

“Who did this to you? Tell me. The Alpha doesn’t need to know.”

“If the Alpha doesn’t need to know,” I said, turning fully to face him, “then why do you need to know? I have not told the Alpha. What makes you so special?”

“Because,” he said through gritted teeth in a dark manner, “anyone who hurts you seems to hurt the Alpha. And my duty is not only to this pack but to serve my Alpha. He has made enough sacrifices. And if you make him happy, then I will make my Alpha happy by keeping you safe. That also includes hurting those who hurt you.”

I could use this to my advantage. I could easily tell him everything that I needed to tell him… everything he needed to know. I could easily bring down Dax, Laura, everyone in that pack, except Mina. She had done nothing wrong to me. I could easily burn down that pack.

From what I had seen, Dax and the pack were nothing when compared to Lucas. Lucas was the Alpha King. He could do whatever he wanted. And this moron of an Alpha called Dax would pay for it. But the fear I had in me was too much.

What if Lucas wasn’t going to be on my side? What if he would hear the news from Dax? And then he would turn against me. That would be a very shitty situation to be in. And besides, just because I felt some sort of bond with the Alpha didn’t mean anything. I felt the same thing with Dax too. It was tiny, but it was there. Wouldn’t that mean that me feeling something with Lucas could be a fluke as well?

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,” I shrugged my hand away from his grip and rubbed it as he stared at me in anger before nodding.

“Your bath will be ready in a couple of minutes,” he said, changing the subject. “And clothes will be brought to you. When you’re done having your bath and you’re done dressing up, I will bring in the healers who will take care of whatever wounds have not been healed from the hospital visit. Then when we’re done, you’d come down to eat. And the Alpha might want to introduce you himself to the rest of the pack. Or he might want to keep you in here. It all depends on him.”

“Thank you,” I said after a moment of silence.

“Sure,” he said with a cold reply before walking out of the room, leaving me on my own.