Chapter 10

Aurora

After a few brushes of makeup, I slip into the gown pulled for me by the mute maids. They are young, like me, watching me be dressed and made up to be a princess with eyes of envy. I would let them have this life if they wanted it, considering how much I don’t want it. No matter my wishes, I am sewn into a long ivy white dress that mirrors the color of my silver hair, now pinned in a long ponytail down my back with extensive, loopy curls.

They ignore their wounds and tend to my exterior, trying to make me beautiful, but I can’t stand the sight of being looked after by girls like Callie, girls I grew up knowing and being friends with who don’t deserve this treatment. I turn away from the sight of me in this dress, feeling sick at my reflection.

The dress wraps over my shoulders, crossing over my breasts and leaving a lot of skin seen, not leaving much unseen. The fabric tears down over my legs, showing my thighs through the many slits while someone works to place me in a set of clear, tall heels. I straighten out my appearance, my hands trembling as I run them over the expensive, soft fabric of my dress.

The door creaks open, the maids scurrying out of the room while Jaxson waltzes in, his eyes hungry as they drink down the sight of my appearance. He is wearing something more formal as well, a red suit with black hems and black shoulder pads that offset the sight of his many metals still tagged to his chest.

I can’t help but find the man attractive, no matter how hard I try.

“You look beautiful, sweetheart,” he hums, holding a hand forward for me to take, in which he twirls me with his fingers, watching my dress ripple and dance around the slits that expose my legs. “You look amazing.”

My cheeks flush bright pink and my mouth runs dry.

He notices my flustered reaction and laughs. “Relax, sweetheart. Don’t worry. My father is more understanding than most people assume.”

I let my head fall, taking the semi-compliment with a quick pulse. My new pet brushes against his leg, breaking the tension, and I smile at her need for affection even as I haven’t let her out of my hands for most of today. I reach down to pick her up, holding her to my chest while she purrs in my grasp.

“Little Snowflake,” I hum, kissing her small head.

“Ah, so she’s got a name. It’s nice to see you and her growing closer. Snowflake,” he says, patting the kitten on the head with a heavy hand, “let’s leave her behind and head to the dining hall, sweetheart. My father and Vivian are already there waiting for us to join.”

I grimace as I lay my new kitten on the bed, watching her pounce on the covers while the prince takes my hand and leads me to the dining hall. I struggle down the tower steps in my heels, feeling weak with fear, only to be led into a massive room with one single table in the center of the grand marble floor, lit under a dozen or so glass chandeliers.

Sitting at the center is a long, narrow table, the king Alpha sitting at the head of the table while a thin, marvelous looking woman sits to his left near the head of the table. They both stand at our entrance, and it feels like a millennium until we reach the table where Jaxson pulls me into his side like he wants to keep me beside him for my safety.

The king is larger than anything I’ve ever seen, and I stare up at him with awe and in sheer terror. “Hello, Aurora. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I nod, swallowing my anxiety, though it may make me choke. “Hello, Alpha.”

“Please, call me Kennedy,” he says, his hard, gray exterior of a fierce man something out of my nightmares. He’s huge in stature, his black hair salted with gray streaks, his skin clean but exposing his age with a few deep wrinkles. He motions to the female next to him, the Luna. “This is Vivian, my Luna. She isn’t Jaxson’s mother, but she is Xander’s.”

I give her a brief nod. The ordeal of the king Alpha losing his true mate so early on in their marriage was a huge talking point through the packs for many years. He was fated to Lily, a gorgeous she-wolf who was the most charitable royal this land has ever known. But she got ill one day, passing on shortly after the birth of their son, Jaxson.

When the king Alpha had remarried, no one could disparage the fact that Vivian’s long brown hair and deep hazel eyes were a stark resemblance of his late wife, Lily.

I don’t dare mention that tonight, in order to keep my head on my neck, but instead let Jaxson move me to sit in a chair, his father cutting in before I have the chance to sit down.

“Let her sit beside me, son,” he says, ushering Jaxson and I to trade spots so I sit at his right hand. “I want to keep this one close so we can talk over dinner.”

Jaxson is happy to oblige.

I’m definitely not.

I shouldn’t be at the same table as a royal, let alone next to the Alpha.

We talk through the first few appetizers that are set out on the table, Kennedy asking about my family, my upbringing, and how Jaxson and I had met. He speaks of the mating pull with such curiosity, such yearning, that I can tell he misses the mating pull with his first wife, Jaxson’s mother. I steal a glance at Vivian who doesn’t mind his words being so gushing over his first wife, something I would feel a bit uncomfortable over. He is the king, the Alpha, so I doubt she has a say in what he says out loud to guests, anyways.

I speak about my life, my friends, and feel my stomachache intensify while I yearn for those old stories to be current again. Jaxson holds my leg under the table, a constant reminder that my life isn’t like that anymore. Everything is different now. It will always be different.

Soon, Xander joins the dinner table, sitting beside his mother, his slithering gaze still making me so uneasy. I feel far too exposed in this dress with him looking hard at the gaps where the fabric lets my skin poke through. I look away from him for most of the night and try to pretend he isn’t here.

The main course is served, Kennedy raising his brow as I pick at my plate, feeling so out of place at this table. I close my eyes for just a second and hear the ravishing screams again.

I grit my teeth, wanting to scream or cry, perhaps both.

Everyone meanders over conversation and sips wine, but I grab at my side, feeling sick. I look at Jaxson, my hand trembling on his arm as I briefly touch his skin and plead to be let free of his hold on my leg.

“I need to excuse myself,” I mumble, my body thumbing with heat all over. “I don’t feel well, Jaxson. I’ll run to the bathroom and come back soon.” He nods, laying his napkin on the table by his plate. “Of course, sweetheart, there’s a washroom just across the courtyard. I can take you.”

“I’ll go,” Xander cuts in, his voice rough. “I need to go myself, anyway, so I can show her the way.” He stands, pushing in his chair with an expectant look on his face. “Come on, Aurora. I’ll escort you there. Make sure you’re safe.”

He offers a wink, the notion making my pain worse.

I stand, hesitant, following the second prince into the courtyard and then through the dead garden before he opens another door and lets us back inside the extensive palace, leading me to a washroom. It’s just far enough from the dinner with the Alpha and my future mate to make me feel safe enough to breathe.

Pushing into the washroom, I hold onto the sink counter, swaying, my body aching all over in utter terror. I don’t know if I can keep this facade going, faking the fact that I am something, anything, like those royals. But I stand here in a skimpy, glamorous dress, unsure how I will ever go back to that common life of mine.

The door opens, making me jump, Xander strolling into the washroom without a care of him realizing he is in the lady’s room. I open my mouth to ask him what he is doing, if the mistake has been mine, but he pushes toward me, his chest pressing into my body while his arms cage me in his hold, gripping the edge of the counter to keep me pinned.

He stares down at me with hungry, starving eyes. My wolf cowers at his power.

“Shh,” he growls, his voice stern and overwhelming with power. “Let’s get one thing straight, princess,” he says, sneering at the nickname he gives me. “You might be in that dress, hanging off the king’s side, but we all know you are a peasant at that table. You don’t fit in, and something tells me you know that.”

I only nod, tears streaming down my face and catching in my eyelashes. He grins at my misery. It fills me with dread to see him enjoy me being so weak, so helpless at his mercy. His hand lifts to my neck, grabbing my throat tight enough to snap my neck in pieces.

“You will never be Luna, so this will never be a crime,” he gusts, hauling his hand around my neck back, throwing me into the counter and against the mirror. It shatters, glass raining down over my back while I try to shield my face.

He gusts a laugh, the sound sinister and making me shake. I feel him grab at my ankle, yanking me back towards him, letting me fall to the floor at his freshly polished boots. He lifts one, pressing it down to my shoulder, pinning me on the ground at his will.

“Filthy commoner,” he grumbles, lifting his boot long enough to reach down and yank me upright, one hand back around my neck, the other placed strategically against my ass. I gasp, feeling his fingers climb through the rips of my dress, feeling for my sex and once he finds it, I yelp.

His hand on my neck shifts up, covering my mouth while a smile forms on his lips. I’d beg, but it would be useless. He kicks my leg aside, forcing his stance between my weak knees while his fingers threaten to slide into my thrumming, frightened core.

“You’re useless in every way but one,” he snarls, speaking right into my ear. I gasp under his hand over my mouth, wanting to vomit or scream, maybe both. “I’ll make sure you get to feel the real future alpha between your legs before I satisfy everyone and have you killed.”

His hands releases at the same time and I fall, little cuts of blood covering my body from the broken mirror but I catch my breath, watching Xander straighten out his jacket and his uniform in the shard left on the wall where the mirror was before simply leaving the washroom without a second thought.