Chapter 2 Forced acceptance

Emberlyn's account

I writhed in pain; every fiber of my being screamed in protest, but the fear of another beating made me freeze, not daring to move. "I revoke my rejection!" I rasped, my throat raw from the effort, but Thane only tightened his grip on my hair.

"Say it the proper fucking way, you little worm," he barked, his voice dripping with fury.

Right. I hadn't said it correctly; my revocation was invalid. If the names of the parties involved weren't mentioned, it was considered void by the goddess. I didn't know who made the rules, but it had been that way for eons.

"I, Emberlyn Nyktoria , slave of Alpha King Thane Valtor , revoke my rejection of him as my mate." Tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision. The metallic taste of blood lingered in my mouth, a sickening reminder of the beating.

Satisfied, Thane released my hair with a shove. Stars exploded in my vision as my ribs screamed in protest. "Get your worthless self out of my presence before I break your neck!"

Not wanting to see his threats manifest into reality, I stumbled out of the grand hall. It wasn't until I was leaning against the walls at the entrance of the maids' quarters that I noticed I had left my cane behind. Hunger gnawed at my stomach, but the only thing I had tasted today was the coppery tang of my own blood. I was only allowed to eat the king's leftovers, which often amounted to almost nothing.

A sudden flicker of heat at the edge of my senses startled me. My ears, still ringing from the slaps, didn't register the footsteps approaching. "Emberlyn ? What in the goddess' name happened to you?" Gaipa, an omega slave captured by Thane's men, gasped.

He was one of the few people who interacted with me in this hellhole, but I didn't want to talk to him right now. I didn't want anyone to see me like this, so I bolted into the quarters, knowing he couldn't follow. My room, cramped and barely big enough for my cot, felt suffocating. I looked around-no heat signatures, meaning my bedmate, Lyra, wasn't in. My shoulders slumped as I crashed to the ground, sobs wracking my body. I didn't know how long I cried, but every second felt like hours. Finally, when I began to feel light-headed, I had to stop.

Sniffling, I wiped my face with the sleeves of my sack dress, which was already stained from my bleeding nose and cut lips. Never in all the years I'd been here had I bled this much-at least, not from Thane's hand. He'd never laid a finger on me before today. Yes, he constantly rained insults on me, but he had never been provoked to violence.

I guess being rejected by a lowborn maid bruised his ego, so he decided to leave me in bruises. Unlike his clan and my half-clan, the werewolves, I couldn't heal quickly. I was just like a regular human in terms of healing-slow and painful.

I was used to pain, always the subject of bullying even among my fellow slaves. They saw me as an outcast, and worse, I was a hybrid, a misfit of the supernatural race. Surprisingly, Thane was also a hybrid, but his people never judged him like they did me.

Sometimes, I wished he'd killed me the day his brutal warriors murdered my mother. But no, he kept me alive. Now I finally understood what he meant all those years ago.

"I'm keeping her because I have no choice," I'd overheard him tell his beta while I was being handed to a guard wolf. Yes, he had no choice because the goddess tied our fates together. Sigma Alphas like Thane rarely find their mates, but when they do, they keep them close because they are stronger together. They mostly cherish and care for their mates because losing them would leave them forever broken. But my situation was different; my mate wanted me dead, probably why he made me the royal food taster, knowing how dangerous the job was.

Sighing, I pulled myself up, ready to move when a sudden knock on the door startled me. Knowing Lyra, she wouldn't knock before entering, so it couldn't be her. Forcing a polite expression, I opened the door. "Yes?"

"The king requires your presence in his chambers," a lycan guard wolf announced. I recognized him by his scent; all guard lycans smelled like pine, while warrior lycans always reeked of blood.

I wasn't allowed to ask any questions before the guard started walking away. He abruptly stopped and pointed at my feet. "He said you should be done in that dress and smell nice."

"What?!"

The guard didn't wait to see my shocked face; he just left me standing there. I looked down and saw a neatly folded silk dress and other ornaments on a tray, which I identified by touch. My heart pounded as I imagined the infinite possibilities of what this meant...

I couldn't tell how I looked since I was blind, but Lyra assured me I looked heavenly. I'd never been in Thane's chambers before, and I had no idea why he was summoning me. But strangely, all this excited my foolish wolf; she'd completely forgotten what we went through just hours ago. The sight of a broad-shouldered man sitting alone at a large table welcomed me.

"Why are you staring at me?" Thane growled, slamming his cutlery onto the table. "Come and taste this food and get out!"

Hurriedly, I rushed to the table and stumbled but didn't let myself fall. I bowed and let my cane drop as I picked up a saucer to begin my dangerous duty. However, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, I could feel Thane's eyes on me... focused on the upper part of my body. My blood ran cold. No, it couldn't be. He wasn't staring at my cleavage, was he?

No, I was wrong. He was staring at my cleavage. My breath caught in my throat when his big, scorching hand grasped my breast in a twisting motion.

"Who would have known that you were this ripe under all those rags?" he muttered.