Chapter 4

My feet were fixated on the floor and I stood in front of Nicholas Weston, stunned and unable to move to react.

This was it. He would definitely have my head at this point. He would kill me.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nicholas demanded in a deep, angry voice. His face was contorted in a scowl.

"I... Tessa... Punishment.... The library..." I stuttered like a dumb fool.

"Are you unable to form a coherent sentence?? I asked, "what the hell are you doing here?!" He yelled at me this time.

I flinched and my palm became sweaty, of course I wouldn't be able to form a proper sentence when his 6'2 tall figure was hovering over me, so I bent my head.

"I'm sorry." I apologized in a small, defeated voice. I knew there was no escaping whatever punishment Nicholas had for me, I don't know whatever luck I had but I'm sure I already ran out of it.

"Sorry for yourself, you filthy lowlife. Didn't you get the memo that this part of the library is off limits for anybody other than the Alpha? How dare you make your way to this place and interrupt my sweet time with the Alpha?!" The girl Nicholas was making out with spat,

My head was still bent as I had no words to justify myself, I was asked to clean the library in exchange of being poisoned to death like the fate of other slaves like me who had tried to escape but I just had to trespass into the territory of the vile and ruthless Alpha, Nicholas, and ruin his make out session.

"Diana, step back." Nicholas said casually to his fling. But she didn't listen, she moved closer to me and hit me hard across my face, making me stumble back.

"Are you fucking deaf?! Don't you have anything to say?! Like an apology to me!"

"Diana, I said step back now!" Nicholas roared in anger and grabbed her arm, "How dare you lay your hands on her?! Did I give you the permission to do that?? Nobody, and I mean, absolutely nobody touches what is mine without my permission, especially not a slut like you. Now get out of my sight before I lock you up."

Diana quickly scampered away in fear and disappeared out of view.

Of course, I belonged to Nicholas, he bought me from that bitch Brenda, and he must be more vile than I thought for him to hate it so much that another person other than him made his slaves suffer. What a narcissist.

Now it was time to face the music.

But before Nicholas could say a word, which would definitely be an order to throw me into a solitary cell and feed me wolfsbane until I'm dead, Tessa walked in frantically.

"Oh my god. Alpha, please forgive me. I wasn't aware that you'd be visiting the library today, so I told her to avoid this area. Please forgive me." Tessa was apologizing with her head bent low. When she glanced at me, she widened her eyes and kicked the back of my knees, making me fall to the ground on my knees in front of Nicholas.

"You troublemaker, you should be forever grateful to the Alpha for giving you the library to clean as a punishment for trying to escape instead of killing you, why are you still causing trouble?! Are you that eager for death?!" Tessa scolded me.

What??

It was Nicholas's idea to make me clean instead of executing me??

That was impossible. I'm sure Tessa must be mistaken.

"You can go, Tessa. I will deal with this myself." Nicholas said in his usual authoritative voice.

"Are you sure? I can discipline---"

"I said go." He said again, when she hesitated and she hurried away, but not before giving me a hateful glare.

Yeah, I'm well conversant with that look. I receive it all the time.

"Stand up." I heard Nicholas order.

When I didn't obey immediately, he said in a warning tone, "I won't repeat myself, Aubrey."

I immediately stood up on my feet but still unable to meet his eyes, I bent my head and dared to ask him the question bugging my mind.

"Why didn't you kill me? Why did you make me clean your library instead?" I asked in a shaky voice.

Nicholas moved closer to me, his musky cologne hitting my nostrils and almost overwhelming my senses.

"Who says I don't have it in mind? Who says I still wouldn't kill you for trying to run away from me?" He said in a groggy voice, his minty, warm breath fanning my face as he spoke.

Right. I shouldn't have fucking asked. Now I think I just made him even more pissed for underestimating him.

"I'm... sorry..." I whispered, and swallowed hard.

He stepped away from me and said, "I didn't kill you because I remember you and I know you remember me too."

This made me snap my head up and my eyes widened in surprise. I never expected him to acknowledge me as his former mate.

"Finish your work and leave my library when you're done." He ordered and started leaving, "And don't think I'm done with you yet." Was his final statement before he left.

I released a heavy sigh that I had been holding and my legs almost gave out, I had to hold on to a shelf.

This is torture. Not only have I been sold off to a vicious pack, I just had to go and piss off their ruthless Alpha who happens to hate me enough to reject me as his mate.

I finished cleaning the library and reported to Tessa who sent me back to the cell.

"You're back." River said to me with a small smile which I returned.

"Miraculously, yes." I replied and sat on the floor, sighing heavily. I didn't bother to tell her that I met Nicholas in the library.

"You look so out of it, like you saw or heard something shocking." River commented.

I gave her a look of surprise, wondering how she knew because hearing that it was Nicholas who gave me a much more lesser punishment, was beyond shocking.

I opened my mouth to give her a reply but the heavy footsteps approaching the cell stopped me and River and I stood up at the same time in curiosity.

"Where is that low life thief?!" Tessa's very angry looking face showed up in front of us. She was glaring hard and when her gaze fell on me, her glare changed into a scowl.

"Open it!" She ordered one of the guards and he did just that in a haste. She stepped inside and dragged me out, grabbing me harshly by the arm.

"Come out, you filthy thief!" She dragged me and threw me on the floor outside the jail area. When I looked around me, several people were already gathered, watching curiously.

I was utterly confused and astonished.

What the hell did I do and why was Tessa calling me a thief??