Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Brooke/Jade’s POV

A sudden cold crashes into me and a strangled groan rippled through the air. Shivers ran down my spine, forcing me to straighten my back. A low, strangled groan slipped from my throat and I coughed, pain exploding in my chest.

Breathing felt like swallowing granite and I could feel my head being split into two with the intense pounding in my temples. I brought up a hand to touch my head but it didn’t move. Managing to gather my strength, I tried to lift up the other hand again but it’s also stuck.

Sighing and nearly out of breath from the little struggle, I opened my eyes and the sudden brightness attacks my vision, forcing me to seal them shut again as I winced at the pain. I dragged in a few breaths before slowly peeling them open again, adjusting them to the light.

The empty room stared back at me with hollowness, the light hung from the ceiling illuminating every corner of the room. A throbbing pain attacked my wrists as I tried to lift myself off the chair and I glanced down at it. Both of them are tied to both sides of the chairs and my knees are tightly held back to the chair as well.

I blinked away the haze in my eyes and stared at my new body. It’s so pale and look sickly that I feared that any more pressure on it will break it. The contour of the bones of my body peeks through the bare skin, the tight ropes leaving red, angry marks across the ghostly white of my hands.

I should be scared, panicking and trying to get out of my bounds. But all I felt was anger. Annoyed at seeing myself feeling the pain of another body and being bound to a chair inside a room where I had no clue what was going on.

The smell of cigarette suddenly wafted into my nostrils and I scrunched my face up in disgust, trying to block them with my lips. It didn’t work.

I hated the smell of cigarettes. It reminded me of the one particular memory that I’ve managed to push to the back of my mind for years and I didn’t intend on reliving it. I could feel the presence behind me even though I couldn’t see the face of the person blowing and puffing out smokes like he was trying to damage his lungs before the next day.

At the thoughts of days, I wondered how many hours I’d spent here.

“Jade.”

A dark and deep, sinister voice called out, the dangerous, low tone enough to pull me out of my trance. I stared straight ahead, sucking in a sharp breath as the face of the owner of that voice flashed through my mind.

Memories of the last time I’d been conscious slipped into my mind and my heart raced, my hands balling into fists at my sides.

I pursed my lips together and refused to respond, waiting for his next word.

“Are you awake?”

Chills ran down my spine. It didn’t feel like a question, it was more of a confirmation with a hint of threat in it. Whatever made him brought his wife into an empty room like this, I knew it wasn’t something to be taken lightly and I’d be doing myself a favour by playing along with it so as not to tip him off further.

“Yes.” My voice sounded softer than I’d like and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at it.

There was a bit of silence in the room before I heard him squashing the what I assumed is the cigarette beneath his feet, then, another silence.

“Good. I’ve been waiting for you.” He suddenly said, his footsteps disrupting the eerie silence of the room.

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and ignored the gnawing pang of fear settling in my chest, keeping my hands tightly locked in fists.

Black shoes appeared in my vision but before I could make out the crevices of it, my hair was tugged upwards, forcing my eyes to make contacts with the lights I was avoiding. A whimper escaped my lips and I groan, shutting my eyes tightly. The hold on my hair was gone in a split second and I debated if it was ever there in the first place.

A woodsy scent filled my nostrils and I unknowingly sniffed it in, biting the inside of the cheeks when I realized my mistake. I cleared my throat and spilled myself to open my eyes, coming in contact with dark ones. Black eyes with swirls of green stared back at me, an unreadable expression settled in them. I fought back the sudden urge to cower away, keeping my gaze locked on theirs for a brief moment before glancing down at the rest of his features.

Despite the danger lurking behind his eyes, I couldn’t stop myself from looking at his god-like features. It was as though the Moon goddess had taken out her time to sculpt him into perfection and was unapologetic about it.

“Are you done looking?” He questioned, his tone calmer than his previous question.

I nodded but I didn’t know why I did that. Still biting into the skin of my inner cheek, I removed my gaze from his face and let them settle on his broad chest, taking in the hard muscles of his body that seems to be straining against his t-shirt.

He pulled out another stick of cigarette and pushed the bottom of it into my mouth, pulling out a lighter and then lighting it up before taking it out of my mouth and into his. My body burned from the hotness of his touch and I inched for more as soon as it was gone.

I didn’t like this. I didn’t like that Jade’s body was making me react to the touch of her husband. I thought she hated him. Why is she reacting this way to just a slight graze of his finger on her mouth?

He stepped back until he was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed on his chest and his eyes never leaving mine. They tended to become a bit darker as he stood far from me and although I couldn’t see any emotion in them, I knew for a fact that he was annoyed by the slight tick in his jaw.

“Why did you leave the palace?”

His question snapped me out of my head and I looked away for a second, my body instantly trembling. I frowned.

Why was I trembling? It was neither hot or chilly so there wasn’t any reason for me to be shaking. I moved my hands and winced as the tops dug further into my skin. I’d been so entranced by his presence that I forgot about the binds.

“I, uh, needed to visit the hospital.” My lips moved before I could stop them.

“Why?”

I didn’t expect him to respond immediately seeing as I was mulling over his question. Was the Queen not allowed to leave the palace? What kind of dynamic did the king and queen have that restricted her from leaving—

“Don’t ignore me.” He cut me off and this time, his voice was laced with the anger I’d seen in his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” I apologized, tearing up. I wanted to smack myself in the head for crying.

Every question sent chills through my body and the fear in my chest was growing bigger by the day. It didn’t look like he was going to let his wife go scot free for daring to leave the palace and I wasn’t going to say the exact reason why I, or Jade, was in the hospital.

“I was ill.” I said, keeping my eyes firmly on his chest.

“Is that so? Is the healer aware of this?”

I mentally smacked myself for being careless. Of course the Queen would have been expected to see the pack’s healer if there was something wrong with her. How did I not think about that?

“Or perhaps, was I too unimportant to be informed that my Queen was ill?” He added, a hint of sarcasm hidden behind his question.

His Queen. It didn’t sound like love or even respect. It felt like he was mocking her.

“Your Grace, I—“

“Yes, Jade? Want to tell me why you left the palace without any of your brother and that bastard you call your brother?”

I paused, noticing the growing annoyance when he mentioned Reid. So I wasn’t wrong, he does hate Reid and it seems like Jade knew that well enough. I resisted the urge to smile, wracking my brain on an excuse to give him.

Before I can open my mouth to say anything else, he lunged forward and grabbed my chin so tightly that I feared my teeth would fall out.

“P-please.” I managed to choke out as the pain intensified.

“You like when I teach you lessons, don’t you, Jade?”he lets go of my face and before I can process what’s happening, he pulled my hair to the side to expose my neck.

“Then I’m sure you’ll like this.” He said and a prickle attacked my neck, heat immediately flooding my veins.

“Now, fight me, Jade.”

As my body grows uncontrollably uncomfortable, I realized what was happening, my eyes widening in shocked.

He’d drugged me.