When my mother complained about father’s involvement in activities that would destroy our pack, I had got concerned. I spoke to him about it and he told him to trust him. He had a way of ensuring no one would find out it was him until we were all millions of miles away from the pack.
I trusted him. Look where that got me and my family. Maybe the rest of us would have been spared if I had reported him.
It seemed I had not learnt my lesson. I had gone and trusted a woman I knew nothing about. Now I was trapped.
Grace was not going to choose me over her granddaughter.
“If she’s your granddaughter, why are you working like a slave?”
“Because I did something terrible. Jane convinced alpha Ridian to be lenient to me. She defended me when no one would, and that’s why I’ll fight anyone in the world for her. You are not going to come between Jane and what she loves most.”
“What does Jane love most?”
“Being the queen,” she said. “The Luna of the greatest pack in this region. Now you see why having the alpha’s mate is quite inconvenient for her.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
Grace laughed out loud. “No. That’s too risky. The alpha hasn’t rejected you yet so I can’t risk doing that yet. There are things I can do to make him reject and banish. I will do those things if you don’t reject him.”
She stood up. “I can ruin your life so you better think of a time to reject him. I’m going to speak to my girl and see how best we can tackle this.” She leaned over. “I can promise you that no one other than Jane will be the queen of this pack. She has worked too damn hard for some insignificant insect to take the reward from her.”
The pain had gone, leaving a dull ache in place. After hearing those words, I didn’t feel like being in bed anymore. I needed some air so I went outside to think.
I went around the building and sat behind where I could be alone in peace. Grace’s kind demeanor had disappeared and I knew I was not going to be seeing it any time soon. Now that I had revealed myself as a danger to her dearest Jane, I was going to have to be very careful though.
She may have been scary but I had no intention of rejecting my mate yet. If he wanted to reject me, that was fine. My wolf wanted him too damn much to think about rejecting.
The only thing that would make me reject him was the pain. If I reached a point where I couldn’t bear his infidelity anymore, I would have no choice but to do it. It was better to reject and feel pain for a while than dying slowly, suffering until the day I breathed my last.
When supper time reached, I went to the kitchen to collect the food. Grace smirked as she gave me orders. I obeyed and took the steaming dishes to the dining area.
Just like the day before, people lined up to serve themselves. The food we were served was not very appetizing but was palatable. That day we were having rice, black beans and salad. The food was quite bland but it was all we had.
Scanning the room, I was overjoyed to see an empty table near the door. I sat there and started stuffing food into my mouth. A young man stood up from the next table, returned his plate to the serving table and came to sit accross from me. I ignored him and continued to eat.
“Hey,” he began.
“What do you want?”
“Are you feeling better now?” he inquired. “I noticed you weren’t feeling better earlier.”
I glanced at him. His face showed genuine concern.
“I’m okay, thanks.”
“That’s great. I’m Kyle.”
“Cilla.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” he remarked. “I like that.”
I continued to eat.
“You don’t talk much, do you?”
“Not in a very good mood.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you to it. Hope you’ll feel better soon.”
“Thanks.”
I watched as he walked away, feeling much better. He was the only person who had been nice to me with no obligation since I arrived.
The more I thought about him, the more I realized I needed him. A wicked plan was forming in my head, and I needed a man to put it into action.
I resolved to ask him if he had yet met his mate. If he hadn’t, I would use him get the attention of the alpha king. He knew that what he was doing was causing me pain, but went ahead with it anyway.
Using another man, I would make him feel the way i had felt. Surely that would get his attention and would trigger him to make a choice. To accept or reject me. It was until that choice was made that I would move on. As long as it was still pending, I would suffer greatly.
By the time I finished eating, I was in a better mood. Maryanne was shocked.
“Why are you so happy?” she asked. “Are you getting your freedom or something?”
I smiled further. “No, I’m getting revenge.”
Maryanne paused and stared blankly at me. “Revenge on who? Did Grace give you drugs? You sound delirious.”
“I can’t say much.”
“If they’re drugs, I need them too.”
I chose to stay silent. If I talked more, I would end up spilling too much information which was dangerous. If Maryanne wanted drugs, she could go and ask Grace. Grace wouldn’t be too happy but that was not my problem.
My problem was a being in the palace, one who had not yet decided what to do with me. I was going to push him to make that decision.
I had stayed in the shadows, being the good girl all my life but life had given me lemons as a reward.
I was going to make sweet juice out of them.