Chapter Three

Valerie

Four years later.

“You are free to go.” For a moment, I couldn't move.

I simply stood there, staring at the prison guard as though I hadn't heard him correctly. Those four words were words I had dreamed about every single day for the past four years. I had imagined this moment countless times. I had imagined walking out of those gates, feeling the fresh air against my face and finally being free.

But now that the moment had finally arrived, I didn't feel happy. I cried, tears  rolled down my cheeks as I lowered my head and looked at my body. My clothes hung loosely against me, and beneath them was a body covered in bruises and scars.

Four years of being beaten almost every single day. I had been told that the Lycan King himself had ordered that I be beaten every day because I was supposed to suffer just as he suffered after losing his fiancée.

Yet, strangely, the physical pain had never been the worst part. The worst part was knowing that my family had completely abandoned me. Not  once in four years had any of them come to see me,  I never received a letter. I had been discarded as though I meant absolutely nothing.

I slowly walked out of the prison facility, when I stepped outside, I stopped and looked around. I was free but where was I supposed to go?

I had no home before leaving prison, I had been informed that I had been banished from my father's pack.  I didn't even have a wolf, no pack would accept me. I was almost worthless in the eyes of most werewolves.

After four years in prison, I had nothing waiting for me outside those gates. I stood there quietly, wondering where I would sleep that night and what I would do with the rest of my life.

Then, a car suddenly stopped beside me. I looked up. My heart immediately dropped when I saw the emblem on the side of the vehicle. I instinctively took a step backward.

The car door opened, and two guards stepped out. I stared at them nervously as they walked toward me. “We have been told to bring you to the Palace, Miss.”

Before I could even process his words, one of the guards grabbed my arm and pushed me toward the car.

I had thought I was finally free after serving my sentence. So why was I being summoned to the palace?

I tried to resist as the guards pushed me into the vehicle, but I was too weak to fight them. They forced me into the back seat before getting in on either side of me. They sat beside me like I was still some dangerous criminal who could escape at any moment.

I stared out of the window as the car drove away from the prison. The journey seemed to last forever. Eventually, we arrived at the Lycan King's territory.

His pack wasn't like any pack I had ever seen before, it  was more than just a pack. It was almost like the headquarters of werewolves from all over the world.

As we passed through the massive entrance, I couldn't stop myself from staring. It looked like an entire state had been built for werewolves. The further we drove, the more shocked I became.

There were supermarkets, huge shopping malls, hospitals, banks, restaurants, offices, schools, and countless other buildings spread throughout the territory. Everything looked modern and wealthy.

We drove for more than an hour before finally reaching the palace and when I saw it, I couldn't help but stare. The palace was enormous. It was so beautiful that for a moment, I forgot where I was and why I had been brought there. The massive building looked almost unreal, like something that belonged in a dream.

The gardens were beautifully maintained, the roads were spotless, and the entire place looked like heaven on earth. I couldn't stop myself from admiring every single thing but  that moment didn't last long.

The car stopped, one of the guards opened the door, grabbed my arm, and pulled me out. I barely had time to look around before they started dragging me toward another part of the palace.

They simply dragged me through one section of the palace and into another. Eventually, we reached a large hall. The moment I stepped inside, I stopped.

The King's Beta was standing there but  he looked completely different from the last time I remembered seeing him.  Beside him stood a woman, she was heavily pregnant.

I stared at her for a moment before my gaze moved back to the Beta. The way he looked at her was impossible to miss, there was so much love and adoration in his eyes as he looked at her.

“Babe, who is she?” the woman asked the Beta.

He didn't even seem bothered by my presence. He stood there beside another woman, looking at her with an expression I had once dreamed of receiving from him. He had moved on.

Something inside my chest tightened, my mate was supposed to love me. He was supposed to protect me, he  was supposed to stand beside me when the entire world turned against me. But mine hadn't even shown me the slightest bit of pity.

He had never tried to find out whether I was truly guilty or innocent. He had simply accepted that I was a murderer and allowed me to suffer for four years. I couldn't help wondering if he hated me because of my weight or  perhaps he truly believed that I had murdered his cousin and couldn't forgive me for it.

“A murderer, who is supposed to rot in jail for killing my cousin,” he said, looking directly into my eyes. 

His words felt like another blow to my already broken heart. He stepped closer to me, his eyes filled with coldness rather than the warmth I had once expected from my mate.

“You should consider yourself fortunate that the King ordered your release. However, do not mistake your release for freedom. From this moment forward, your life belongs to him. You will serve in this palace for the remainder of your life, and I assure you, there will be no possibility of escape,” he said.

I stared at him in pure shock. For the rest of my life? I had just walked out of prison thinking I was finally free, only to discover that I had been brought to another place where I would spend the rest of my life serving people.

The Beta smirked before gesturing toward one of the guards. “Take her to Agnes. Make certain she is assigned the most arduous duties available to her. She is to receive no payment for her service,” he said.

The guard immediately grabbed me, I didn't fight as he dragged me away. My mind was filled with too many emotions. I didn't know whether I should be angry or relieved.

I was angry because I had just been sentenced to another life of suffering. I was going to spend the rest of my life working like a slave, with no payment and no freedom. But at the same time, there was a small part of me that felt relieved. At least I had somewhere to sleep, at  least I wouldn't be completely alone outside the pack.

So, as painful as this new life was, at least I had a roof over my head. But I refused to accept that this was going to be my life forever. I would find a way to get back on my feet and eventually, I would escape this place. But before I left, I needed answers, I needed to find out what had really happened that night.

And when I finally discovered the truth, I would make everyone who had hurt me pay. Especially the king.

Life in the palace was anything but easy. As the Beta had ordered, I was given the hardest jobs. I had to wash almost half of the toilets across the different apartments in the palace. I scrubbed the floors of the halls until my hands hurt, cleaned the huge pack dining halls, and made sure every place assigned to me was left sparkling clean.

There were days when my entire body ached so badly that I could barely move. My prison scars still hadn't completely healed, and the constant physical work made them hurt even more.

I was also given a very small room in one of the farthest quarters of the pack. It was tiny, the walls were plain, the room barely had enough space, and it was located far away from the beautiful parts of the palace. But I didn't complain, it was still better than prison.

For the first time in four years, I could close a door behind me and know that no one was coming inside to beat me.

Two weeks passed after I arrived at the pack. I was cleaning one of the large halls where the king was supposed to hold a meeting when I heard one of the supervisors giving instructions to the servants.

“Hey you, new servant girl, come here.” The moment I heard the voice, I stopped scrubbing. Something about it sounded familiar, I slowly turned around.

Olivia was standing there, I didn't stop to think. The anger that I had buried for four years exploded inside me, I rushed toward her, ready to attack her immediately.