Chapter 3 Centre of Our contract

Ashley's Pov

Crystal stomped into the office, pushing me out of the way. I lost my balance and fell. But I quickly pushed myself back to my feet.

“I am your mate, Alpha Kyle!” Crystal stopped in front of the two-colored-eyed man, Alpha Kyle.

She had changed into another dress, but her long blonde hair was still damp from the fight in the bathtub. It hung loosely around her face, soaking the fresh dress she had on.

Her makeup was also a complete mess.

I guessed she had been too furious to look in the mirror before leaving the bathroom.

“I am the Alpha of Deathveil Pack! I am the cure to the curses the Moon Goddess placed on all three of you!” Crystal continued bitterly.

“Yet you are standing here, making my weak wolf, dirty servant, the center of our contract?”

Alpha Kyle, the crowned king of Blackthorn Pack, was making me the centre of a contract?

A contract between two strong, powerful packs, and I was the only soul required for that contract to be signed?

I was shocked to my very core.

What did he see in the life of a servant to make her the centre of his contract with a pack where he had found his mate?

A mate who was the cure to the cursed beast living inside him and his brothers.

Alpha Kyle rose from his seat and calmly adjusted his suit.

His two brothers joined him.

“You'll agree she comes with us, or we'll all reject you as our mate,” Ronan said coldly.

I was also the condition for Crystal to be accepted as their mate? I could not believe my ears.

“Reject me? How ridiculous.”

Crystal folded her arms across her chest and let out a dry laugh, the sound full of pain.

“You can't reject the cure to the darkness you've been struggling to heal from for years. It took you years to find me! You want to reject me for a maid? A weak wolf?”

“We're not rejecting you because of her, Crystal.”

The brother with the fiery amber-red eyes stepped forward.

“Kyle wants Ashley to stay around you in our home. She's royalty, the first daughter of the Deathveil…”

“Bryant,” Kyle's cold voice cut him off.

“Bryant, you're supporting this too?” Crystal asked, but he did not reply.

“Fine, we agree,” My mother's voice suddenly cut through the room, turning everyone's attention toward her.

My mother's sudden change of mind made my stomach twist in knots that almost felt like they were cutting through my intestines.

My mother would never allow me to sit next to my sister in the same place except to serve her. Let alone allow me to move in with her to her mates' pack.

For her to agree to this without much argument meant she had a plan I would surely regret.

“No, I don't want to come with you,” the words escaped my mouth before I could think twice.

Kyle walked over to where I stood, slipping one finger beneath my chin and lifting my face until I was forced to look directly into his strange, mismatched eyes.

“It's not optional.”

His voice left no room for argument.

He looked like a man who was not accustomed to hearing the word no, especially when he had already made up his mind.

“Go pack your things, Ashley. You're going with them,” My mother's expression remained blank as she nodded toward me.

I could not tell whether she was angry or simply hiding her feelings.

But one thing was obvious, she was not pleased about this contract.

“Mother, you too!” Crystal turned to her angrily.

My mother only nodded, her brows drawn together. It was almost as if she was silently telling Crystal that she had a plan.

“Fine, Kyle. I agree, Ashley can come with us,” Crystal turned to Kyle, smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.

I never understood why a contract was necessary to form an agreement between Deathveil and Blackthorn.

I had always thought being their mate was enough.

Crystal picked up the contract, signed it without reading a single word, and shoved it against Kyle's broad chest.

“I'd advise you to read the contract,” Kyle said, stretching the document back to her, but she refused to take it.

“Fuck whatever it is you wrote there!”

She stormed out, shoving me as she passed, but this time, I was prepared for it, so I held myself balanced.

Kyle turned to my mother. “You don't want to read the contract either?”

“We agree to all your terms. Isn't that enough?” My mother replied, showing no interest in even looking at the document.

“Fine,” The corner of Kyle's lips lifted slightly, almost forming a smile, but it disappeared instantly before it could fully form. “I like it that way.”

I went back to my room and sat on my bed, thinking my life through.

I truly did not want to be around Crystal. I had already been excited about today since I heard she would be leaving for her mates' pack.

Since I clocked sixteen, when Crystal started shifting, I'd never been at peace.

Whenever she was angry, wounded, broken, or shifting, my whole body would go wild.

Faint voices would echo inside my head, followed by unbearable migraines that eventually left me collapsing helplessly to the floor.

Sometimes, it felt like my bones were being stretched apart from within.

The pain could become so severe that I barely move my feet.

My mother said it was because Crystal donated her blood to save my life when I was seven years old.

A part of her was inside me, so I could feel her Alpha emotions, but I could not use them.

The pack doctor claimed it would stop once Crystal was far away. And that was why I was excited she was leaving, but now…

A faint voice behind my window pulled me out of my thoughts.

I climbed on to my bed and looked out to see who it was.

I saw my mother standing with a man dressed in a long black hood, making it impossible to see his face.

“How long will this last?” my mother asked as he dropped a tiny bottle containing a black substance into her palm.

“Long enough until we find the original that will help us permanently seal the faint fire in her,” the man replied. His voice was cracked with age, but I still recognized it.

I was not sure where I had heard it, but I remembered I heard that voice once as a child.

That voice and its owner I suspected as Ashbourne, had attacked me when I was a kid and left me breathing helplessly, almost to the point of death, before my mother found me.

How on earth was my mother having a calm conversation with him like he was an old good friend? Or did she not recognize him?

Or was I mistaken?

I quietly climbed down and packed my clothes inside a small bag that still looked empty with all my things inside.

I changed out of my wet nightgown and put on something more decent that covered my cleavage completely.

I picked up my bag and was about to leave when a loud knock came from the door.

Before I could answer, the door swung open.

Victoria walked in carrying a tray with three roasted chicken drumsticks and a glass of fruit juice.

“Where the hell did you get that from?” I whispered, glancing nervously toward the doorway and hoping no one had caught her sneaking food for me.

Chicken in my father's house was meant for people with strong wolves who could fight enemies that came to attack the pack.

I was never meant to taste it. My food was nothing but dried bread and a few leftovers I could secretly get my hands on.

Sometimes Victoria stole better meals for me.

“I'm going to miss you,” she said as she placed the tray on the small wooden table in the middle of my room.

“I got this from Chef Hazel. She said she'd miss you so she made this for you. You haven't eaten since yesterday morning.”

Hazel was the head chef in the palace. She had never liked me enough to give me anything, not once throughout all the years I had known her.

All of a sudden, she'd miss me? And she was giving me food and juice?

“Hazel doesn't like me, Victoria. Why would she suddenly miss me and…”

Victoria cut in sharply. “No, she was always afraid of Beta Selene, you know.”

Yes, she was always afraid of my mother, so what changed today?

I refused to eat, but Victoria kept insisting until I gave in.

I trusted her words, not Hazel's food. And since she served it, I believed it was safe.

I ate as quickly as I could and emptied the glass of juice in one gulp.

Then I sat back on the bed, waiting for the food to settle before leaving.

A few moments later, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, like something was moving and biting aggressively inside me.

I crutched my stomach, my eyes filled with tears, and I fell from the bed.

“What did you do to me, Victoria?”

The room began to spin, and everything around me grew distant.

Victoria was saying something, but I could no longer hear her clearly.

I saw her crying as she tried to pull me back to the bed.

My vision blurred, and slowly, my strength disappeared.

“You…” I struggled to breathe. “You poisoned… me?”