Chapter 6

Violet’s POV

“I’m sorry?” I asked, hoping I had heard properly.

“You heard me properly,” he said, rolling his eyes and sighing like he was tired of me already.

“Then where will you sleep? I really don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“It’s my palace.” With that, he was out of the room.

Okay, he was rude. But it didn’t really matter to me. It was honestly none of my business.

I looked around, trying to take in the décor of the room. Everything was in black and white. Simple, but obviously expensive. I headed to the bathroom, eager to get some water on my skin after all these days.

I allowed the hot water to touch every part, ignoring how it stung the whip marks on my back. I found the soap that Ares uses. It smelt exactly like him. I used it, hoping he wouldn’t mind.

By the time I was done, there was a dress on the bed. It was nothing expensive, but it looked and smelt clean. I quickly put it on, ignoring the fact that it was nothing like my size.

It was too big, and the shoulders were coming off too much. I didn’t mind that either. My eyes were droopy and I was hungry. But I didn’t want to complain. I was used to hunger.

I crept on the bed and lay in a foetal position as I drifted off once again, unable to get the feeling of the knife on my throat out of my head. It’s all going to be over soon, something whispered in my head.

I smiled and closed my eyes one more time.

It was all going to be over.

~~~~

There was a knock on the door later in the evening. I managed to drag myself to the door. It was one of the maids. Her eyes did an assessment of my clothes and my body, and she wrinkled her nose in disapproval.

I hunched my shoulders, hoping to look smaller than I already did. The Alpha calls for you,” she said and left the room before I could even ask her where he was. I walked around the palace, looking for him. I ended up spotting him at the dining table.

There were countless dishes in front of him. All that made my mouth water. He looked up at me like he could sense my presence. He looked away in disgust. I swallowed hard and wondered if he really called for me in the first place.

“You called for me, Alpha,” I said, bending my head in respect. I hated the fact that I had to talk to my mate in this manner. We were supposed to be best friends. This man obviously hated me.

But he hadn’t rejected me yet, had he? Meaning there was still a little bit of hope. “Sit,” he ordered, and gestured to the table farthest away from him. With the snap of a finger, there was a maid that had come to serve me.

I waited for her to start dishing the food that was on the table. Instead, she brought a bowl of chicken noodle soup for me. I looked up at Ares, waiting for him to say something. He ate and sipped on his juice like I was barely there.

I took a deep breath and ate the food in front of me. It was the kind of thing I was used to. Ydidn’t matter if I was being treated the same way at Alpha Damien and Jackie would treat me. At least I was away from them.

I stood up, curtsied, and started heading out of the dining hall when Ares called me back. I hurried back to where he was standing. “Do you know why you were served that kind of food?” he asked, and I shook my head, thankful that he was going to provide me with answers.

“Because that’s what maids eat.” I was very sure that the maids in his pack ate better. That didn’t stop the tears from flowing. Every single drop that I had been keeping to myself.

“But I’m not your maid,” I cried out. “I’m your mate. And if you’re not going to treat me that way, then why don’t you reject me?” He froze at my last statement, but his face was expressionless as usual.

“Prepare. You will be introduced to the pack in an hour.”

“As what?” I asked, shocked by how I was challenging him. Even his own eyebrows perked up. “Prepare,” he simply said again before he went back to chewing on his chicken.

It felt like every single muscle was drained out of me. All I wanted to do was sleep again, but he had asked me to prepare. I simply did my hair in a rough bun at the top of my hair and waited for someone to come and pick me.

The door swung open, and the maid who had wrinkled her nose at the sight of me was there again. “The Alpha calls for you again in the hall.” I could see the curiosity on her face. She didn’t know who I was yet. So why was the Alpha calling for me repeatedly?

I wrung my hands together as I let her lead me to the hall. The other pack members were in attendance, with their necks craned to see the person that was about to be introduced to the pack.

Every single eye was on me as I walked over to where the Alpha was standing. He looked at my hair and said nothing else. It all felt surreal. Being introduced to a pack, it didn’t matter what I was going to be introduced as—having my hair out there for the world to see without a scarf over it.

I curtsied in front of Alpha Ares just as I had seen the people at Alpha Damien’s pack do. He didn’t complain, so I knew I was doing the right thing.

“I would like to introduce the newest member of the pack,” Alpha Ares said, now addressing every other person in the hall.

“Violet, our newest addition to the maids.”

I snapped my head to look at him immediately. I didn’t know what I should have expected anyway. The elders of the pack were looking at me with their beady eyes.

And so were the ones with ranks that were more than mine. I was a simple Omega now. And Omegas knew not to complain. They knew their place. Icurtsied and plastered a fake smile on my face. It broke my heart that my own mate was treating me this way.

But who was I to complain? My mother’s death had marked the end of any kind of enjoyment.

But Ares wasn’t done talking. “She is my personal maid and would serve only me.”

“Anybody that is seen using her will result in punishment.” What did he mean by his personal maid? If he was making me a maid, he should have allowed everybody to use me as well.

Something told me there was a catch with this position he gave me. “She will be living in the dungeon.” Why was he imposing all these rules on me? I swallowed hard. It was useless saying anything in front of the whole pack.

“Why would you need a personal maid?” one of the elders asked. He shot them a look. “Her stay here won't be affecting any of you, would it? She’s my business.”

With that, he walked out, leaving all of us standing there while they looked at me awkwardly. I did a quick scan, checking if it could see the woman that had abducted me. There was no one of her build in the whole gathering.

I bent my head as the guards grabbed my arms and pushed me into the dungeon. “You really do not have to keep me here,” I begged them.

“The Alpha asked you to stay here. You should be grateful that he has not shown his ruthless side.” One of the guards said in a low but deep voice. I shuddered at the thought of what he might do if he was being ruthless to me.

“You are only allowed to come out when the Alpha calls for you.” Without a word more, they shut the door, leaving me to the dim light that was provided by a single bulb just above my head.

I tried to reach around, looking for anything like a bed. There was none. There was a single fridge, with three bottles of water in it. Then, my hands touched a bed of hay.

Was this what I was supposed to sleep on? There were also two buckets that were obviously for peeing. As I stared at my “bed,” thinking of what to do with it and get rid of the smell of sweat in the room, the door to the dungeon slowly opened.

“Hello, sister,” a shrill voice said, making me jump.

“Jackie, what are you doing here?” I asked, wondering how she got in, in the first place.