FIVE: DINNER DISASTER

ELIZABETH MILKHART

“Are you finding your meal agreeable darling?” Cassandra Blackwood’s sweet voice surprised me and I snapped my head up to see that she had been talking to Sarah Sossen.

“Yes, thank you, Your Grace, it's wonderful cuisine,” The bitch whispered, giving me a sly smirk.

The damned thing had won over the Luna before I could! But how? What the hell did she have that I didn't besides crippling good looks and the confidence of Johnny fucking Bravo.

“I bet YOU’VE never tasted anything this good, say, do you even have food where you live or do you have to farm? Miss. Milkhart?” The Luna quipped coldly and the blood drained from my face as chuckles rose at the dinner table.

I risked a glance at the Alpha to see that his thick black lashes were pointed downward, brushing his high cheekbones almost delicately as he picked at his food.

He hadn't eaten anything either, same as me.

“My mother has a small vegetable patch in our backyard, Your Grace, we make do as best as we can,” I whispered with my face red, shifting uncomfortably in my seat as the elite women sitting around me scoffed.

“Pathetic! If she can't even eat well how the hell do you expect someone of her…her… caliber to even begin to BEAR the Royal heir?” The Luna almost screamed, and you could have heard a pin drop as silence descended in the awkward space.

“Enough. Cassandra.” Alpha Blackwood finally spoke, and his voice carried an air of authority that instantly made the Luna bow her head quietly, her lips contorting with disdain for me.

“How do we even know she's a virgin, Your Grace? I heard humans have a penchant for…whoring.” Sarah’s snide remark made me gasp with surprise and hurt.

How could she say that about me when she didn't even know me?!

I could feel the Alpha’s heated gaze as he snapped his head my way before settling back in his chair, masking his reaction.

I felt tears in the back of my throat as I shoved the meat and veggies all around my plate while the wolves crudely discussed my body.

“I say we host an open surrogate mating. It would do Blackwood a whole lot of good if we see exactly what we’re getting, don't you think so Honey?” Cassandra Blackwood chipped icily, her piercing gaze never leaving me as my heart hammered wildly in my chest.

She wanted the entire Castle to watch if Alpha Blackwood had sex with me. It was madness! I would never be able to keep my head up ever again!

The walls in my head closed in as their words turned to static in my ears.

I needed to get out of here, NOW!

“Please excuse me!” I whimpered, clamping a hand to my mouth and sending the chair back with a loud screech as I rushed out of the dining hall.

“My My, Ezra honey, you really do know how to pick them from the dirt, don't you? How disgraceful.” Luna Cassandra’s voice and Sarah’s ass-licking giggle were the last thing I heard before I shot out into the garden, feeling the bile shoot through my throat before I vomited all over the bushy lavender flowers by the corner of the house.

“Oh my god, ungh!-” I cried, dry heaving before wiping maniacally at my mouth and sagging against the big Bonsai tree close to me.

A thousand thoughts raced through my head as shadows played across the beautiful garden before I heard the crunch of footsteps behind me and my eyes widened.

“If you so much as spit at my flowers again, Elizabeth Milkhart, I will EAT you.” Alpha Blackwood’s thunderous voice came from behind me and I stiffened so fast that I might have broken myself in half if I tried harder.

“Y-Your Highness, my apologies, I didn't realize-” I started, trailing off when I noticed the Queen Luna’s wild blue eyes blazing at me as she stormed toward us, almost as if she had followed right behind the Alpha.

“Is everything alright honey? What are you doing talking to the unworthy human?” Cassandra Blackwood spat the words as if they were poison and I shrank back, wrapping my hands around my midriff.

I wanted to go home, nay, I WAS going home! I couldn't stand being treated like an outcast any longer!

And the Alpha? He had stared at me like he WANTED me back at the dinner table, and yet, here he was yelling at me for some stupid bushes!

He didn't even care how I was doing!

How was I ever going to bring myself to sleep with such a powerful man when he could split me open simply by glaring at me?

I risked a glance up to see that he was still watching me heatedly, his face an unreadable mask of beautiful coldness as the Luna chatted off his ear with questions.

“If you would please excuse me, I think. I think I'll retire to my quarters for the night.” I wheezed, my voice was barely above a whisper as I kept my hair down, running past the couple toward the long gothic buildings in the distance.

My body turned back reflexively and my heart ripped a little when I saw the Luna embracing the man and watching his strong hands wrap around her slender waist.

To have him hold ME like that, I closed my eyes for a moment and allowed myself to imagine the bliss, ignoring the way my nipples tingled.

“Of course, he loves his wife, Elizabeth, you fool,” I cursed myself, swallowing the bitter realization that the Alpha was never going to love me. I was nowhere near the Luna for me to ever hold his attention.

“You’re only here for a job Elizabeth,and the sooner it's done, the faster I can get the hell out of here without causing trouble to Ma.” I whispered to myself, firming my chin solemnly.

The last thing I wanted was running away only for the King’s guards to set our house in fire.

No..I had to tough it out…but would I survive long enough to see freedom?

That was the question.

I had a feeling Castle Blackwood held deep, dark secrets beyond the careful glamour of its people and exterior…

And that much, terrified the fuck out of me.

What to do? What to fucking do?