Chapter 62
Dylan POV
I'd never actually seen the pack house before, so the fact that I was sat, basically at the head of the table next to the king was insane. I was relatively quiet, as I ate my soup, only talking whenever someone asked me a question.
It was an awkward atmosphere for me as I glanced around the table.
As usual I was only permitted a bowl of soup, which absolutely sucked because everyone else was tucking into a lovely lasagna, with a garlic baguette on the side. The alpha twins seemed horrified at the size of my excessively small portion.
Physical torture evidently wasn't working, and so the king had began to try the starvation approach. As soon as I allow him to mark me I'd be allowed whatever food or drink I desired. At the minute I was given the bare minimum, basically the essentials to ensure my survival, but nothing else.
"Your grace, are you sure queen Dylan can't at least have some salad with her meal? That soup hardly seems substantial, and I assure you she had no lunch today either." Adrian spoke while looking at the king.
"We are trying to watch her weight at the minute." That's a laugh, even I knew I was severely underweight for my height and age. I think my weight resembled that of a 7 year old.
"That's a joke right?" Huh? Erin had spoken so quietly I didn't quite hear what she said, but I knew it was bad because the kings look turned deadly as his head turned to stare her directly in her now terrified orbs.
"Is My mate's appearance a joke to you, scum?" My eyes widened at the kings tone, he was unhinged at the best of times, but he was displaying an eerily calm rage as his eyes flashed bloody murder at the girl I once called friend.
"N...n...no, y...your g...grace. I..." I watched tears pool her eyes, as her mate Beta Monroe gently took her hand and squeezed it in comfort, although he looked about ready to jump into a fight with King Josh. Why couldn't I have had a caring mate? If my fate was to be forced to be with a wolf why not a nice one? Why did I get the fucking king of all people?
"She meant nothing by it, your grace. It's just the queen..." the king stood up slowly and spoke from him now stood position.
"You shouldn't be looking at my queen, nor should you be getting involved in something that clearly concerns your disobedient mate. Who shall be publicly punished for her disrespect." I heard a few gasps and looked at Erin who had drastically paled in color and her tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Your grace she's..." Again, beta Monroe was cut off by king josh who still held a calm rage.
"Disrespected me, and my queen." Erin had never been punished before. She's always followed the rules. There were a handful of humans who simply folded to the ways of the lycans when they first took over, and Erin and her family were some of them. Wait... she was one of them.
"She's clean!" I stated as I stood up causing the wolves to look at me instead of the building tension between the packs beta and the king. Clearly I was trying to help her, why no one agreed instantly or clicked on to what I was trying to say was beyond me. "She's clean. She's never been punished, your grace. You don't want to do it now, not after 5 years of compliance."
"You do not get to tell me what I do or don't want. Sit back down or..." at this rate I was going to end up with whatever punishment he was concocting. Most likely a lashing, I couldn't take another lashing.
"Just listen to me." I think everyone sat around the packs table was shocked at my words. I didn't care, I'm terrified of what the king would do to me, but if he was going to do it I'd prefer for him to at least have a reason. "The rebellion in the west is growing, I know it and so do you. You need humans to pacify this, which means you need as many clean humans as you can get."
"And how exactly can we trust you? All I see is one human sticking up for another." The newly appointed Gamma was quick to question my motives. I had to be smart about my answer.
"There's no way in hell I'd help her willing. I don't particularly go around aiding traitors to our kind." Gasps we're heard around, and my sight briefly met Nicks, he too looked on edge, but smiled nonetheless knowing what I was doing.
"She's telling the truth, your grace." Nick quickly began to intervene as well which actually helped for once. He did know me well. "Erin was one of the first people to accept the new world. Queen Dylan has hated her since she was claimed." It wasn't a lie, I did used to hate her, now though now I felt sorry for her. She was drowning almost as much as I was in this new world, but instead she decided to combat things in a different way, at the end of the day, we were both surviving so neither approach was wrong.
"You can check if you'd like!" I shrugged but sat back down, trying to act as nonchalant as I could. I know when to push and when not too. "Check her back for scars or something, I don't care."
"Fine!" He spoke to me then turned back to Erin and her mate. "You heard your queen, show your traitors back to the room." All the wolves around the table looked at her in anticipation, but she didn't make any movement to fulfill the kings command. Instead she just froze in her place, trembling and sobbing quietly.
You could see the king getting impatient and his hands curled menacingly into fists as she still hadn't moved. I stole a glance to beta Monroe and frowned slightly, I darted my eyes to Erin and back to the beta who finally got my silent message.
He grabbed Erin gently but firmly and turned her back to the room before pulling her dress apart and showing her back to the entire pack. There it was, completely unscathed, not a single mark or blemish on her perfect dark skin.
"Well, I have to admit I am rather surprised, my mate was right for once." The king chuckled before fiddling with his crown slightly. "You may sit down." Monroe nodded his head and quickly took his jacket off to drape over Erin's shoulders, she clutched the seems tightly together before sitting down still trembling, her terrified eyes met mine and she nodded in thanks.
"Well now... shall we have desert brought out?" Aria stated suddenly mustering up the courage to speak. The atmosphere was tense, and extremely silent. You could probably have cut the tension with a blunt butter knife, the smallest bit of resistance would have completely snapped the tension in two. The king chuckled at the female alpha twins words which seemed to ease everyone slightly.
"Of course, right after I punish my mate for speaking out of turn." Huh, my head turned to the king, but he was so quick with his movements that I didn't fully comprehend what he had done at first, as my hand quickly erupted in pain. In fact he hadn't given anyone time to comprehend his words before my wrist was grabbed, my left hand was slammed flat onto the table and the kings fork was stabbed full force, directly into the back of my palm.
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