Strength

The guard who was still holding my arm closed his fingers with more strength.

“This is none of your business!” He hissed at me and I looked at him. “Sir, please, where should I take her?”

“Take her to the hospital. We need to see how healthy she is.” O’Horan answered as if nothing happened. When I looked up again, the orange eyes vanished and my eyes went to the dirty-blond male again. His expression was unreadable. 

I shook my head as if to clear it and took a deep breath. 

“Sir, I am an Alpha’s daughter and I have no idea what is happening. The way I have been treated is preposterous and…” 

“Preposterous is you talking to me like this, girl. Your father is not an Alpha anymore, having been demoted from the status.” O’Horan said with a sneer. “Now, take her to the hospital. I believe the mines will be a good place for her to start to learn a bit of respect!”

The mines? What the hell? It was something my brain was having a hard time concealing, it was like a bad dream and I think that is the reason why I couldn’t do more, fight more. I was drifting away from myself. My father betrayed the kingdom? How could that be possible?

“But…” This was not fair! 

“Come along!” The rude guard hissed when he dragged me by the arm. “You need to learn when to shut your trap!” 

“I… Please, tell me what is happening. I don’t understand!” 

He stopped and turned to me. 

“Are you joking?” He asked, but I believe he saw in my eyes I was not lying. How could I know anything? He sighed. “Your father tried to kill our King. That is the utmost betrayal and he is going to be killed for that. The rest of the pack will be investigated and whoever is innocent, will have his Majesty’s act of grace. As for you… You are the daughter of a traitor, and as so, you’ll be a slave from now on.” 

His words were not as harsh as before, although the rage was still there. 

Slave. Then, the weight of his words finally hit me. I was, indeed, a slave!

I heard nothing more around me, letting the guard drag me to the mines or to wherever he said I should be going to. 

Two hours later, I guess, I was turned upside down by the doctor of that place. 

“She is healthy, just too skinny and not one for hard work.” The doctor said while writing something down. 

“Too bad for her. She is for the mines, doc.” A she-wolf said. She was a guard, too, but since I was a woman, that later guard could not enter with me. He handed me to her as a piece of something nobody wanted to touch, before I got inside the doctor’s office. 

“She can't go to the mines! She will not last a day there!” 

“As I said, too bad. King’s orders, doc.” She said and made a signal with her head for me to go and change back into my own clothes. I did as she ordered without muttering a word. I hope the doctor would put some sense into her. No, he had to do that to the King, since it was his order.

I didn’t have a wolf, so as much as I had Alpha blood running through my veins, I was still more human like. The wolf would awaken when we reach our 21th birthday. Of course, for Alpha males it was before, on their 18th, so they could be leaders. 

All in all, I was a wolfless werewolf that the father never let go to training and so, I was not strong. Just like the doc said. 

“Where are we going?” I asked the she-wolf, but she said nothing to me. When we were outside the office, the other guard was there, waiting. 

“She is too feeble, the doc said.” The she-wolf said and he shrugged. 

“Take her to the dungeon and we will wait for his Majesty’s orders. I’ll pass the information to Sir O’Horan.”

“Wait! The dungeons?” I asked, without thinking before. I got a slap across the face for that. 

“Don’t harm her!” The werewolf yelled to the she-wolf.

“She is too noisy!” She answered.

The damn slap hurt like hell! I could feel my cheek already getting swollen. I didn’t want to cry in front of those people, but it was hard. 

“I’ll take her myself to the dungeon. Damn it, Lexi!” 

Lexi… I was going to keep her name in my head. 

“Do as you please, Tristan! But don’t even think about getting too close to her. The King will not approve of that.” 

“We will talk later about this offense!” He said and held me by my arm. 

It seemed like I was supposed to be dragged around. 

“T-thank you, Mr. Tristan.” I finally said and he sneered. 

“I was not taking your side, girl! But if the King wants you healthy, to work, nobody should hit you! Not without his approval, anyway.” 

He was just taking care of the King’s best interest. 

“Anyway, thank you.” I said, because that was how I felt. He was unhappy having to deal with me, he probably even hated me, but he did defend me, in some way. 

When we arrived at the dungeon, a place not as bad asI thought it would be, he put me inside of one of the cells and left me alone. 

I looked around. The place was simple, of course, but it was clean, had a mat on the corner, and a small space for the necessities. 

I didn’t want to lay on the floor, so I sat on the mat and waited. Just then I noticed how hungry I was. Before all that happened, Zaila was helping me to get ready so we could go down for breakfast. Thinking about my nanny made my heart clench. What happened to her? How was she?

Time passed, and I had no idea how much, but soon the same man from before, the blond one, appeared. He looked at me from the small window of the door. He was… analyzing me, I could say. 

“Get up!” He ordered and I did as he told me. Asking things to him was the same as nothing. I was hungry and thirsty. Why bother to waste my energy with him? I should save some. Maybe I could escape. 

‘You can’t’, the small voice inside my head told me. 

“You’ll come with me.” He said and the sound of the key turning on the locking made me gulp. Was I going to the mines? Maybe they would feed me there. 

Just then I took a better look at that werewolf. He was a high rank one, I could say by the white clothes he was wearing. Just a small golden brooch was on his chest. He was The Hand. He was like the Beta of the King! 

I walked behind him, through the corridors and I frowned. The place was getting better and better. Wasn't I a slave going to work? That was too luxurious for a mine slave. 

“That is where you’ll be saying.” He said, motioning for a white-golden door. 

“A… A bedchamber?” I asked when he opened the door and then, he frowned. 

“Just get in and stop questioning everything! You are one lucky girl!” 

I could not agree with him in my current situation, but I entered the room after he motioned for me to do so. 

“My child!”