Chapter 4 - The great escape!

The guard gripped my arm and dragged me back to my basin. His whip came down over my back for good measure as he laughed. Walking away, he spat in my direction.

“Precious little princess rejected by the king!” He laughed and I was again reminded of what had just happened. Down here as a slave we weren’t allowed to have feelings. I wasn’t allowed to mourn for the mate who didn’t want me. I had to carry on with my work as if nothing had just happened, and I did. My mind and heart were fighting over whether I should be angry or totally devastated while my body just kept on working.

At lunchtime we were given barely enough time to eat the dry bread and drink our water, but at least the bread was fairly fresh and the water tasted sweet compared to what we got on the boat. What was supposed to be the best day of my life, had not even turned into the worst. It had become just another day as I got back to my station and finished the washing.

That was that then, I guess. My chance for my mate to save me had come and gone and I would be left to my own devices to save myself. I should have known that I wouldn’t be that lucky. I had never been that lucky. My luck had simply gone from bad to worse and it was proven over and over again that I could only depend on myself.

I caught a glimpse of our supervisor and I could have sworn I saw sadness in her eyes, but she looked away and when her eyes returned to me, they were cold. I guess I could understand why she was like that. She didn’t seem to have a mate and not that a mate would make a difference, it would be nice in here to have someone who loved you.

I sighed as I realized yet again that it would be me and my wolf against the world from now on. Second-chance mates were completely unheard of and the ones I had heard about over the years were given to ranked wolves. I wasn’t even ranked. I was lower than the lowest rank. I was property. Well, this property was going to do everything in her power to get out of there and build a new life for herself!

With that, I had made up my mind to find a way out. I wasn’t going to hang around in a place that clearly didn’t care for its people. No wonder the slave traders caught so many damn wolves! Even the king bought from them. He was such a damn spineless cockroach that he had to buy people! It was no wonder people all over the kingdom were talking about him!

I went to bed that night with a clear plan in mind. I was going to escape even if it killed me! In the morning, I made sure to take in every detail of the guards. What they wore and especially what weapons they carried. I figured that if I could grab one of their weapons, I could fight my way out of there. Shifting wouldn’t be possible. I was just too weak and damaged. Sure, my wolf healed my wounds as best as she could, but we were too thin to shift.

Yeah, once I had my hand on a weapon, I was sure I would be able to escape. I can still remember which way we went. If I could just get back there, I could run into the city and they would never find me again. I might even board a ship. I could stow away in one of the boats and travel far away from this dreadful place!

My plans were giving me more confidence and I started to study each guard. Every morning, I would make a mental note of who opened for us and I would do the same with the ones who locked us up at night. I decided that I would have to escape during the day when the city was at its busiest. It might be more logical to run at night when it was dark and I could hide in the shadows, but my scent would soon give me away. At least, during the day there would be so many people that their scents would probably hide mine.

“It’s never going to work, you know?” My cellmate laughed as she handed me a piece of her bread. We had just been locked in for the night. We had become friends of sorts, but I didn’t tell her about my plan. I couldn’t afford for anybody to run to the guards and tell on me.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” I sighed, but I didn’t look at her. My eyes were on the guard who was locking our door and where he put the keys when he was done.

“Don’t you think many people have tried to escape?” Her words drew my attention instantly and I frowned.

“What makes you think I want to escape?” I huffed, trying my best to hide the fact that I had just been caught out … How the hell did she figure it out, and more importantly, had anybody else noticed?!

“Oh, honey, you aren’t the type to hang around and be mistreated. I could see it in you on the first day you arrived. Now that your mate has rejected you, I imagine it is all you can think about, isn’t it?” She shrugged. “Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that many have tried and they paid dearly when they were caught. It’s your choice.” She curled up on the ground and closed her eyes, leaving me to wonder how many others had noticed that I was thinking of escaping.

I thought about what she said as I tried to find a comfortable spot on the cold floor. I had started to imagine sleeping in a bed again and now she had gone and upset my plans. If she saw what I was thinking, maybe others had as well and then I would really be in danger. I sighed and decided that I just had to be more careful. There was no way I was going to spend the rest of my life sleeping on this damn cold floor. If that meant dying while I tried to escape, well then that would be my damn fate!

Lorenzo

IT HAD BEEN THE TOUGHEST couple of days I had ever had in my entire life! I didn’t just have my wolf begging me to go downstairs and beg for forgiveness, but I had my mother waiting around every single corner to tell me of the advantages of taking a destined mate.

The only ally I had in this entire damn thing was my father. He saw what I was trying to do. Of course, I punished myself more than anybody else when I cancelled all the events where I was meant to look for a mate since they were the events that kept my mother out of my hair! Now that she didn’t have those events to take care of, she had more than enough time on her damn hands to bug me!

It wasn’t just breakfast, lunch, and dinner, of which I spent most of them in my office, I might add! She would wake me up in the morning with a reminder that my swimmers weren’t getting any younger! What the hell?!!! Luc was having the time of his life with the entire situation because, for once, the entire castle was discussing the fact that I had rejected my destined mate and not one of his little indiscretions.

I swear, if I wanted an heir, I could just take one of his bastard children and nobody would be the wiser. The man had so many that I had lost count! To top all of this off, my wolf was fighting me every step of the way. Physically trying to take control over our body so that he could go back downstairs and claim our mate. The first couple of days, he was in too much physical pain after the rejection to do much, but that was slowly dissipating and now he was on a mission to try and claim her without my permission.

I was so scared he might break free finally that I avoided the lower levels of the castle at all costs at the moment. I had to keep working to keep my mind off her fragile body. I had no idea how long I would be able to keep this up and I was slowly losing my strength, but I had rejected the slave girl. My mind knew that there was no way she could ever be my queen. It was done. Now I just had to keep fighting until everyone around me realized it.

“Son …” I sighed, rolling my eyes at the sound of my mother’s voice.

“Mother … If it’s not official business, I told you I didn’t want to hear about it.” I don’t know what I was thinking when I banned her from talking about the girl! My mother never listened to anything I had to say, even if I was the damn king!

“Well, if you listened to reason, then I wouldn’t have to keep bugging you about it, but it is actually to do with official business and not the girl.” She clamped her hands tightly together in front of her like she always did when she was unhappy with me.

“Well, go on then.” I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

“The ambassador of the dark forest will be visiting us soon and he is bringing his daughter …” Her eyes started to dart back and forth as I jumped out of my chair and growled at my mother. Why couldn’t she just give it a rest already?!!

“MOTHER!” I felt my canines protrude and instantly regretted it when she flinched back.

“Don’t worry. The girl is only fourteen. I would never suggest such a thing! But I was going to suggest that Luc’s younger brother pay the girl some attention! Nothing that would bring any of us shame, but just to make her feel special while she’s here!” My mother quickly explained and I felt like an idiot for screaming at her in the first place, but she had been testing my patience all damn week!

“Yes, yes, of course. I will speak to Luc and make the necessary arrangements. When is the ambassador arriving?” Sitting down again, I paged through my phone and opened the appointment I had scheduled with the ambassador. My mother gave me the details and left without another word. Pulling my fingers through my hair, I leaned back in my chair and sighed.

I needed to get out of here. I needed fresh air.

“Luc, I’m going for a run.” I mind-linked my Beta and we arranged to meet outside. He was waiting near the gate as I strode out and we shifted. It felt so damn good as my paws dug into the dirt and I made for the forest. This was exactly what I needed. I had tried my best to forget about her, but for some reason, her scent just kept hanging around me.

In the forest, it seemed as though her scent was even stronger. I saw a shadow in the distance disappearing behind some forest brush and I twitched my ears. I could hear the heartbeat of someone that was either really scared or had run very far … Deciding to investigate, I made my way to where I saw the shadow and I was just about to pounce when Ariana jumped out from behind a bush and screamed bloody murder!

Within seconds, I could hear the guards’ approach and I felt trapped! She had clearly escaped. If I let her go, then I wouldn’t have to listen to any more of my mother’s idiotic ideas, but I would also have to deal with others trying to escape because she got away! The choice was made for me when a guard shouted for her to halt and I knew that was it.

I couldn’t defend her and fought the urge to rip the guard apart as his whip came down on Ariana.