Karen coughed, her hand coming off stained with blood. Her chest ached badly. She stared at her blood stained palm, her mind reeling.
For the past few days, she had been noticing strange chances in her body. At first it was bruises appearing on her skin that disappears the next morning. Then it was weakness, she could barely do half the work she normally did in a day. Inez scolded her about it and Karen pleaded with her to give her time.
Now she was coughing up blood.
She wiped her hand on her gown and pretended like she hasn’t seen anything. She grabbed the mop stick and continued mopping the halls.
“I’m fine,” She said softly to herself. “It’s just stress. The bad kind of stress.”
“Now she’s going mad.” Karen heard Verena’s mocking voice chirp.
“I’m not mad.” Karen replied coolly. “Not all of us are.”
Verena scoffed. “You should be grateful I’m not allowed to hit you. I would have give you something to he chipper about.”
Karen sighed. “Praise the goddess, I am saved.” She said mockingly.
Verena appeared in front of her. She kicked the bucket of dirty water, laying hours of work to ruin. A smug smile was on her face as she folded her arms across her chest.
“How are you feeling? Slave?” She asked.
Karen sighed, watching the murky water ruin her hardwork. It had taken her three hours to get this place clean enough. She would have done it in half the time if her health was optimum.
But wait … Verena was asking about her health?! Karen felt a bold of fear hit her.
“What do you mean?” Karen asked quietly, “why would you ask me that?”
Verena shrugged. “I just saw you coughing, and you know, so I thought maybe you’re about to croak.”
Karen didn’t like the look on Verena’s face. She didn’t like the wicked smile she had on. “What did you do to me?” Karen whispered.
“Don’t delude yourself. Why would I ..”
Karen grabbed her by the collar and pulled her close to her face. “What did you do to me?!” She screamed pure fear in her voice.
Verena pushed her away. She lost her footing and fell to the wet ground. “Know your place, slave. ” She hissed, brushing off the place Karen had touched. Her gold eyes were full of rage. “I hope you burn in hell with your monstrous father.” She turned and left, her heels clicking on the floors.
“What did you do to me?!” Karen screamed after her.
“Absolutely nothing.” Verena replied as she walked away. “Karma is a bitch, isn’t it?”
Karen sat on the floor, her mind reeling. So many thoughts crossed her mind. Was she being poisoned? Or was she just stressed? Had Kai forgotten about her? It has been a week and she hadn’t so much as crossed paths with him.
Did Verena have a hand in this?
It didn’t seem to her like Verena did. What did she stand to gain by poisoning her?
Karen slowly got to her feet and picked up the mop stick. She had to start all over again.
****
“What do you mean humans are encroaching into our sacred lands?!”
“That’s exactly what I said, Alpha Rasmus. We caught two of them, and by the goddess they were revolting. Kept talking about how excited they were to meet werewolves. Can you all imagine?!”
“Well we have to put a stop to it! We built this sacred enclosure to stay away from them!”
“Or we could send them back.”
All conversation stopped and all eyes turned to Kai.
“Alpha Kai, that was a joke right?”
Kai shook his head. “I meant it.” He looked around the round table, in attendence were seven of the most powerful Alpha kings in the rejoin. Rasmus, Leon, Ronan, Gray, Adrian, Keith and Kai. It was their bi annual peace meeting, where they converged and discussed politics. Today’s topic of discussion was humans.
Alpha Rasmus laughed. He was the oldest alpha in the group, about to hand over to his son on the next blood moon. Rasmus was all about tradition and keeping the old ways. Kai found him very annoying.
“We cannot be friends with humans!”
“I never said that. I simply said we should send them back.”
“And have them bring more of their friends?! No.” Alpha Leon spoke up.
Kai could feel their animosity towards him. Being the youngest alpha in the region, they saw him as a kid who had no idea what he was doing, even though his pack was bigger than theirs. Even though he had rebuilt his pack after his parents died and he was captured. They could never seem to see him as an equal.
“We are stronger than the humans.” Kai said. “Why should we be afraid of them?”
There were murmurs rising from the alphas. Behind them their betas sat and watched silently.
“You’ve changed, Kai.” Rasmus said, his eyes narrowed. “I see it in your eyes. Something has happened with you.”
“You seem…. very different.” Ronan said. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad one.”
“Now that you mentioned it Alpha Rasmus, I had been meaning to talk about it.” Keith said.
Kai tensed up. His mind instantly drifted to Karen and her sleeping in his bed. He felt anger flash through his body. For these men to notice it, she had definitely done something to him. He narrowed his eyes and glared at them.
“You want me to order their execution?” He snapped. “How about you strengthen your defenses to make sure that they don’t find their way in in the first place?”
Murmurs of agreement rose from the party.
“Now you’re talking.” Adrian said.
Kai wanted nothing more than to leave this stupid meeting. These men would never change, no matter how much he tried. They would execute innocent humans for their mistake of a weak defense.
“As the next blood moon is upcoming , I’m organizing a crowning party for my eldest son. I humbly invite all of you.” Rasmus announced.
Kai decided there and then that he wouldn’t attend it. Rasmus could go fuck himself for all he cared.
***
“The alpha has summoned you.”
Those words made Karen’s face light up in a bright smile. She jumped out of her bed. “Really?!”
Inez rolled her eyes. “Duh, I’m not you secretary.” She hissed. “Seriously it would be better if you had your own mind link with him.” She grumbled under her breath. “Well hurry it up!”
Karen nodded. “Right away!” She said. She quickly changed out of her nightgown and hurried out of the shared room.
Finally! Finally he had called her! After so many days of waiting in painful anticipation. Karen was more than joyed, wanting nothing more than to see him and have him touch her and…
She shook her head to clear her lustful thoughts. She focused ahead of her as she headed down the hallway to his suite.
She got to his door and knocked. She waited for him to reply, but got nothing.
“My master,” She said. “I’m coming in.”
She should have waited for him to call her in. She really should have waited. Or maybe turned back when she didn’t hear his voice. Because what she saw next shattered her heart.
Verena turned and looked at her, a haughty expression on her flushed face.
“What are you looking at?” She asked.
Karen glanced at Kai. He was glaring at her. “Did I allow you to enter?” He asked, his voice portraying his anger.
Karen bowed. “My apologies.” She said her voice shaking. She turned and left the suite as quickly as her legs would allow her.
She walked hurriedly, tears misting up her eyes and making it hard for her to see where she was going. Her heart felt like it had been ripped in half.
Inside her her wolf howled in pain.
She grabbed her heart, biting her lip till it bled.
She felt stupid. She felt like a big fool. How had she forgotten her position in his life? How did she dare think that she meant anything more to him than the daughter of the very man who ruined his life. Why did she think that he actually cared for her?
Why did she think that he would discard his fiance for her?
Karen burst out of the back doors and walked to the garden. Once outside the dam broke and she burst into tears. She cried her heart out, raising her head to the sky. She wished Kai had killed her when he did her father. She wished she hasn’t started seeing him in a new life, thinking that maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
“What’s the matter?” She heard a familiar voice ask.
She turned to see the man with the golden eyes. She turned away quickly, wiping her eyes. “It’s nothing. ” She said. “I’m fine. Thank you”
“You don’t seem so fine.” He said. She heard him come and sit beside her. She moved away from him, putting distance between them.
“I just feel like a fool for doing something I shouldn’t have.” She said with a bitter laugh. “I just got a very harsh reality check. For a moment there I had forgotten that I was a slave. Just a mere slave.”
The man was silent. Karen could feel his eyes on her. “I’m sorry,” He said at last.
Karen shrugged. “It’s my fault. I was delusional. And now I’m paying for it ” she rose to her feet and brushed up her clothes. “I’ll be taking my leave. Have a goodnight.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” The man said. “Soon everything will be better.”
Karen didn’t believe him. But she nodded.