Elysia’s POV:
“You’re too slow Elysia, if I come back here and you’re still on that vegetable we’re going to have a problem.” I heard Tanya’s voice from behind me and I forced my hands to go faster, ignoring the blister that was starting to form from holding on to the knife for so long.Tanya knew I didn’t do very well in the kitchen, I got hurt easily and the aromas always choked me, but she always insisted on assigning me to the kitchen. I blinked rapidly to ease the burning in my eyes but it only seemed to worsen it and salty tears rolled down my cheeks making the mess on my face even worse. I dabbed at the sweat that was forming on my forehead before continuing to work on the vegetables in front of me.“Can you try to not drown the vegetables in front of you? Why is there so much liquid coming out of you? You’re just dicing some carrots!” Caren, one of the other girls said as she passed by me but I ignored her and only continued to focus on my work.Thankfully the next time Tanya came back to the kitchen I was done with the vegetables and breakfast was done soon after.“Hey Elysia, I’m going for a swim with some of the other girls. Do you want to come along?” Lucy asked, appearing seemingly out of nowhere in front of me as I made my way to the room.“I’m not exactly in the mood to swim. I think I’m just going to rest in the room till I'm needed in the kitchen again.” I said politely. I wasn’t in the mood to be around other people at the moment. I just wanted to be on my own.“You’re coming with me. You just want to be miserable by yourself all day and I’m not going to let you.” Lucy said, pulling me gently out of the house while ignoring my weak protests.“How does it feel to be United with your wolf Elysia? Can you hear her already? Do you feel like a different person?” Jorja, one of the girls asked as we made our way to the lake and the attention of the whole group turned towards me, making silently pray that the ground opened up and swallowed me whole.“Not really. I haven’t connected with my wolf and it d-doesn’t really feel a-any different. There’s just the feeling of another presence at the back of my mind. That's all.” I answered truthfully, hoping that it would satisfy the girls and take the attention off me.But it didn’t.The girls asked question after question and I cursed myself for not fighting Lucy harder and staying back. Thankfully after answering some more questions, the attention did move from me to another girl in the group who had recently come of age too, and eventually, it moved on to some gossip as was expected from the girls.“I heard the Alpha King is visiting our pack soon though. I’m not sure how true it is or how soon he would be here but it is pretty exciting. It’s been a while anything fun happened in this pack so I’m looking forward to his arrival.” Jorja said and my heart stuttered to a stop.He was coming back here.The man who had ruined my life.Before his visit five years before, I had the perfect life or as perfect as could be. I was the center of my parent's world and I had everything a girl could ever wish for, but he had taken them brutally from me, and to date, no one had ever cared how that had affected me and now he was coming back?All the noise around me seized to exist and it felt like all the air in my lungs was suddenly sucked out. The name "Alpha King" echoed in my mind, sending a shiver down my spine. He was coming back here? Why? The last time he had been here, he had left a trail of destruction in his path and I had lost my parents. Why was he coming back here? Our pack was one of the smallest ones in existence and Jorja was right, nothing exciting ever happened here for the most part.We arrived at the lake and the other girls began swimming and talking, laughing loudly. I settled in a corner while trying to control my breathing and prevent a panic attack.I didn’t realize that I had stayed in the same position for hours until I heard Lucy calling out for me. The sun was starting to set and most of the girls had begun heading back home.“Are you okay? You sat in the corner throughout and didn’t say a word to anyone else.” She asked as we made our way back to Tanya’s home. I gave a small nod but didn’t say anything else.The truth was, I couldn't shake off the clouds of fear that loomed over me ever since I found out about his imminent return and there was no one that I could express my fear to.Dinner was a blur and so was my nightly routine. It felt like I was going through the motions, but my mind was elsewhere, consumed by an impending sense of dread. As I settled into the thin bed for the night, I said a silent prayer to the Goddess, I really hoped that it was only a rumor but if he really was visiting the pack then I hoped that we never crossed paths during his stay.I had just begun falling asleep when I heard the familiar footsteps of Tanya down the hallway. I knew she was coming to put out the lights and scold the rest of the girls still trying to get through their night routine and so I only pulled the sheets higher up my frame and shut my eyes. The moment the door was pushed open, the silence that bathed the room immediately was almost comical. I heard Tanya walk into the room and go through the rows of beds, as she did every night.She stopped when she got to my bed though and although my eyes were shut tight I could still feel her burning stare on my frame and it caused my heart to pound faster within it’s cage.“Elysia, stand up and come with me.” She instructed and I felt my heart stutter to a stop.Elysia’s POV: I followed Tanya out of the room without question and we walked in silence until we reached the small living area that we barely ever occupied. It was reserved for Tanya and her friends when they visited and the only time I had ever really stayed in the space was whenever I had been assigned to clean it. In the living space was another girl, I didn’t remember a time where I had ever seen her so my guess was that she wasn’t one of Tanya’s girls. She was beautiful, extremely so, with beautiful curves, flawless skin, red flowing hair that dropped to her waist, and hauntingly captivating eyes. As I approached her, I couldn't help but feel a pang of envy mixed with curiosity settle in my stomach, especially since she had an air of confidence that I could only dream of achieving. She watched me with eyes that seemed to penetrate deep into my soul and the intensity made me almost stumble. Thankfully, Tanya was speaking so I had an excuse to look away from the girl in front
Asher’s POV: I let out an agonizing scream as the pain tore through my frame once more, my senses were on fire and I shuddered as the overwhelming desire to kill and destroy overtook my frame. I knew it was only a matter of time before my Lycan was taking over completely and when that happened there was no telling what would happen as I had no control over that part of me. I had been hoping that I wouldn’t have another episode in a long while especially since my last one had gone on for so long but it seemed like I was nearing the end of the rope. It was miraculous how I had managed to survive the curse for so long but it didn’t seem like I could hold on for much longer. The growing intensity of the pain and the overwhelming urges were becoming too much to bear and I was losing control of my Lycan faster than was safe for myself and everyone around me. I had made many mistakes in my lifetime, one of which had happened in my earlier rule as Alpha King, I had felt above the world and
Elysia’s POV: The next time I opened my eyes, I could still hear and feel the truck in motion. There were now soft whispers around me and although we were still bath in darkness, it felt a little easier to see. A sign that it was probably brighter outside now. “Are you awake?” I heard a soft whisper beside me and it forced me to pull myself into a sitting position. I winced as my muscles screamed from the sudden movement.“Yeah,” I responded, trying to focus so I could get the features of the girl beside me. “I’m Seraphina. What’s your name?” “Elysia.” Came my response and she hummed in acknowledgment but remained silent. It felt like hours passed between us but it couldn’t have been more than a couple minutes when I spoke again. “A-are y-ou a white o-omega wolf?” I asked the question that had been on my mind since the moment I had entered the truck to meet all the girls. “We all are.” Came her response and my heart broke a little more. This could not mean anything good. “Do yo
Elysia’s POV: I had lost track of time since my time in the scarlet room as there were no windows or clocks in the room but somehow I had been able to establish a routine. Every couple of hours different people came into the room and I was now familiar with the faces. There was the guard who did routine checks and took us to take a bath or use the toilet when we needed to, the older lady who brought us food and then there was Michelle. She didn’t come as frequently as the guards or the food lady but whenever she came, you could feel the tension in the room as everyone held their breath while her intense eyes scanned the room. Every time that she came into the room she took four girls out with her and that was it. The girls never came back, there was no way to know what happened to them as no one ever answered our questions but we just knew that being picked by Michelle was bad luck and so the woman’s presence never failed to get my heart beating fast within my chest. After myself
Elysia’s POV: “Come with me please.” One of the girls said to me the moment Michelle was out of the room and I did as she said, following as she led me into a spacious bathroom. It was bigger than anything I ever saw and had a bath in the middle of it that looked like it could fit five people. The bath had already been filled and once I got close enough, the sweet smelling mixtures that had been put into the water tickled my nose in the most pleasant way. “Take off your clothes and get in.” The girl said again and I did. Living with girls and sharing bathroom spaces with them for five years took away the urge to be decent around girls and so I had no problem completely stripping off in front of the girl. Although we were allowed to take our bath during the time in the scarlet room, we weren’t given any change of clothes and I had been in the night wear that I had been wearing on the night I had been taken away for all this time and it felt good to shed it off. The water felt warm
Asher’s POV: I hated paperwork. Everything about it felt like it was set to frustrate me. From the tiny fonts of the documents to the never-ending stack of papers that seemed to multiply on my desk every day. It annoyed the shit out of me, but it was still my responsibility and I powered through it knowing that, I would only be coming back to it tomorrow if I decided to pack up and call it a day right now. A knock came on my door once, before it was pushed open and I knew who it was without having to raise my head from my position. There was only one person I knew that would have the audacity to do it. “I didn’t say you could come in,” I said, as I scribbled furiously into the sheets.“I didn’t ask.” Nikolai’s annoying voice filled the space and I raised my head to shoot a glare at him.It didn’t faze him like I expected and instead he moved to settle into the seat opposite me. “It’s almost time for dinner, Asher.” He called and I hummed in response but that was all he got from m
Elysia’s POV:I was never much of a fighter. In truth, I was the opposite of one, but the events of the last couple of days had somehow managed to make me see myself in a different light. I could still remember Michelle’s words from her visit at some point. “I didn’t know you were this foolish, I would have never even brought you with me. You asked to replace your friend! Do you remember? And now you’ve been chosen and you don’t want it? How foolish are you? Many will kill to be in your position!” She had said and the venom in her tone had scared me but I was too angry to hold my tongue. “Then let them take my position.” I spat out and she tsked“That’s the fucking problem! For some reason, the Alpha insists on you which complicates this situation even more. Here’s a piece of advice for you; this is not a game. There’s no price for being stubborn. You don’t get to have a choice in this situation. He’s your king and he has chosen you and you only get two options. Have his heir or
Asher’s POV:I watched the girl in front of me with a frown painting my face. I didn’t understand, was having a child for me that terrible of an idea that she would choose death over it? I knew that I was far from an angel and thanks to my Lycan many people knew me as a demon, but I was sure that I had never met this girl before so I couldn’t understand the hatred that she had for me. I pulled open the door and stepped out of the dungeon room, running into someone the moment that I did.“Really Asher? It’s been one week! One whole week of starving the girl and having her locked up. How far will you go and for how long?” Nikolai said, his eyes glowing with an anger that matched his toneI pushed past him, deciding to ignore him since I didn’t really have an answer for him.“She’s going to die if you continue to leave her there Asher.” He called after me as I made my way down the hall but I continued to ignore him.I gave her an option. She made her choice and there was nothing that I c