Chapter 4 Helpless and Broken

Ashley's Pov

I watched Victoria raise the glass of juice, turning it around as if she were examining its contents. Then, with anger, she slammed it back on the table.

Slowly, darkness swallowed everything around me.

I could still hear voices, but they were not human voices. They echoed loudly inside my head, drumming against my skull until the noise suddenly faded into complete silence.

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in the pack hospital.

The first person I saw was Victoria. She sat beside my bed with my bag clutched tightly against her chest.

“She’s awake, Ashley,” she called out to the pack doctor ,Daven.

He entered almost immediately. Victoria reached for my hand and intertwined her fingers with mine.

I pulled my hand away at once and sat upright.

The pain was gone, but I could not hide the hatred that had suddenly built up inside me toward Victoria.

“It was merely a reaction to something you had not tasted before,” Daven said as he walked over and stopped in front of me. “You’re free to go now.”

I looked at the wall clock opposite the bed. It was past 5 p.m. in the evening.

That meant I was unconscious for more than six hours, and he wanted me to believe it was a mere reaction to the food I ate?

Fruit juice?

That was the only thing I knew I had not tasted for as long as I could remember.

I grabbed my bag from Victoria and jumped down from the bed. Her eyes were swollen and red.

She had obviously been crying for a long time, but I still did not care to look at her.

I believed she knew what happened to me was darker than a mere reaction to food. But then I knew, she would never tell the truth.

I walked across the ground toward the pack house. As I approached the entrance, I saw the three brothers leaning against their car.

They were still waiting for me.

How important was I to these men?

“Blood of wolfbane?” I heard Bryant ask, his eyes darting from Kyle to Ronan.

“She’d be dead now if that was it,” Ronan replied, his voice cold and flat. “You saw the glass, didn’t you?”

His question was directed at Kyle.

“Nothing suspicious was found. Whoever did it was careful,” Kyle shook his head. “But I suspect some kind of dark magical poison.”

His eyes suddenly lifted and met mine.

They stopped talking and turned to me. I tried to move my leg further toward them, but my leg refused to move. My strength was leaving me again.

My body was growing weak like a candle wax melting under heat, and my legs felt numb. My eyelids opened and closed as though I were slowly drifting back to sleep.

I felt my knees give out, but before I reached the ground, Kyle's arms wrapped around me, pulling me against his warm, broad chest.

“You need some rest,” he whispered as he lifted me into his hands like I weighed nothing.

He carried me into the car and helped me settle into the back seat.

He sat beside me and pulled me closer until my head rested on his shoulder.

I pulled away to the other side, creating some space between us.

He was my sister’s mate.

I would not let her see me resting my head on him.

Ronan was behind the wheel while Bryant sat beside him. Crystal was nowhere in the car.

“Where… is my sis…” Kyle did not let me finish before pointing toward a car in front of us.

Crystal was in another car, driven by their driver, while they sat with me here.

I felt terrible. I hoped my sister did not think I was trying to take her mates from her.

She would kill me without a second thought.

I was not ready to die yet until I took my revenge on everyone who had hurt me, including Crystal.

I never knew how possible that would be or how I would accomplish it, but I believed I would eventually achieve it.

The journey to Blackthorn took three long hours and a few extra minutes.

When we finally arrived, I was stunned by the size of the place.

Blackthorn house and the entire pack itself were twice the size of Deathveil.

“You all left me alone all day?” A female voice chirped in the hallway as we walked into the pack house.

“Something came up. I linked you. Meet Crystal and Ashley,” Ronan replied, stepping aside so she could see us. “Ashley, Crystal, meet Heaven, our baby sister.”

“You’re welcome, Crystal, and…”

“Alpha Crystal,” Crystal corrected, cutting the young girl off. “I need to rest. Where is my room?”

Heaven pulled back and grimaced, her expression twisting with obvious disgust as she shot Crystal a deadly glare.

Crystal moved past her and turned to the brothers, who simply stood there, staring at her silently.

“Are you going to stand there all day staring at my beautiful face?” she asked, gathering her hair and pushing it behind her shoulder.

“I’ll show you your room,” Bryant said as he led her up the stairs.

“Ashley, bring my luggage and come help me have my bath!” Crystal shouted from the stairs.

“What a silly mess,” Heaven hissed, her eyes widening at what Crystal said.

I just stood there quietly, clutching my bag. I was still feeling weak, so I leaned against the wall.

Heaven came to me and gently brushed my dirty auburn hair away from my face and behind my shoulders before placing a palm on my forehead.

“You’re not okay. You need to see the pack doctor,” Heaven said sweetly, her eyes filled with worry.

Her touch was surprisingly soothing.

Just like her name, her palm felt like heaven against my skin. It was cool, soft, and comforting.

“I told you, she got treatment already. She just needs some food and rest,” Ronan explained to Heaven.

“Ashley, you’re not serving Crystal in my pack. We have enough maids to attend to her needs. You’re royalty. Live it out,” Kyle’s deep voice echoed through the hallway.

The authority in that voice made it clear he expected me to obey without arguing.

I nodded my head.

“Alpha, we have a problem,” I heard a voice announce behind me.

Ronan and Kyle rushed out with the man.

Heaven led me to a large room that was three times bigger than the one at home.

She gave me new clothes to manage for the night.

“I will take you shopping tomorrow,” Heaven said as she placed the clothes on the bed.

“Always keep your door locked. Our enemies have a habit of taking us by surprise,” she warned.

My heart skipped at her words.

How would a weak wolf like me survive in a pack surrounded by enemies like that?

Deathveil had enemies, too, but attacks hardly happened more than three or four times a year.

Heaven seemed to notice my concern.

“And when there are no enemies, there are hungry tiger wolves inside the mansion. They are mostly active at night, searching for someone they can tear apart.”

Tiger wolves?

I had never heard of anything like that.

Why would they keep such dangerous creatures inside the mansion?

I wanted to ask more questions, but I was too tired and weak to speak.

She waited and made sure I was strong enough to be alone before she left.

I climbed into the large bed, which was big enough to fit three adults, and cuddled the pillow against my chest.

I did not know how long I slept before a loud female voice cut through my room from outside.

It was 2 a.m. at night. I wanted to ignore the voice and go back to sleep, but something about it would not let me.

I jumped out of bed and stepped outside into the hallway.

The voice was coming from a room in a different hallway from mine.

The mansion was completely dark, but curiosity pulled me through the darkness into the next hallway, leading me toward where the sound was coming from.

The closer I got, the louder the voice became.

My leg came to a halt in front of the room, and the voice suddenly became silent, as if it had sensed my presence.

The door was slightly open. Inside the room was dimly lit, but I could see the person inside.

I could not tell whether she could see me.

I wanted to turn back to my room, but my legs refused to move.

“Get me out! It’s just five minutes!” Crystal's voice shattered the silence in the hallway.

She sounded like she was helpless and broken.