Chapter 72

Dylan POV

I only found out this morning that the king never returned to the pack house after last night and that he had in fact, left the district entirely. Why he left me here alone was beyond me, however I was hardly complaining.

I sat curled up on an armchair in the sitting room, waiting for the alphas children to head off to school with their mates, I was exhausted. For most of the night I was laying awake, just waiting for his grace to return to continue my misery, my speech playing on my mind far too much for me to get any respite. I'm surprised the pack even kept me in the room, I thought I'd be marched straight to the dungeons. So I was awake, but at least I was left in comfort.

"You ready?" My head met that of Adrian and Jana, a frown quickly took over my features as I looked at them. I had washed up, and was dressed, but I honestly didn't think I'd be going to school today.

"Am I going to school?" He raised his eyebrow at my question before looking around at the plethora of wolves darting backwards and forwards, and in and out of rooms.

"Well, if you want to stay here then..." Nope! I cut him off quickly and stood up before he could even get his sentence completely out.

"I'm ready!" I heard a chuckle and looked at nick who had his hand firmly wrapped around Aryas. My sight quickly met Adrian again and I blurted out the question that was playing on my mind. "What about the king?"

"The king has left the district!" I froze in place at the alphas voice as he entered the room. "You, your grace, had better keep your head down today, after last nights events I imagine you'd want to stay away from trouble." My left eyebrow lifted slightly in amusement and a mumble of words came out, I did keep forgetting that I was in a house full of wolves though, wolves that had super hearing.

"Clearly you don't know me very well." I raised my head in a wince after allowing my lips to fold over my teeth in panic. A few sniggers met my ears from the people my age and I gave a cocky yet nervous smile as to play off my fear.

"Just Get to class... Adrian!?" The alpha turned to his son and made sure his order was known, I even saw the glow of his eyes reflected in Adrian's own orbs. "Make sure her grace returns directly back here!" He gave me one last glance before going off to do whatever it is an alpha does.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Nick chuckled m at me while I just shrugged. I suppose in a strange way, I did wish for death to find me, quickly and painlessly.

Going to school was going pretty smoothly, in fact the entire day pretty much had no incidents which I found to be very odd. I thought I'd face some sort of repercussions for my words and actions at the announcement yesterday, but there was absolutely nothing.

We did return rather quickly to the pack house after school, and my longing to see my family only grew. I missed them more than anything, I needed to tell my mum that I was sorry for yelling at her when I was first taken. She didn't deserve what I had said.

"Hey, Dylan!" I turned in my chair to see Nick shoving a hologram in my face, an unknown 3D man stood in front of me wearing a navy blue suit and a cream colored tie. "Do you think this would suit me?" What? I moved my head towards my friend, was he actually asking me about his stupid wedding?

Education for all humans was about to be ended come September, his dad almost got lashed by the tyrant king himself, I was trapped in a very physically and mentally abusive situation, and he was going on about his fucking wedding suit.

"Yeah, it's nice!" I really couldn't care less at the minute what he decided to wear, I had much bigger things on my mind.

"I thought you'd be more excited for me." He quickly shut off the projection and cleared his throat. Taking a seat in front of me. Arya and Adrian were currently at their training along with the rest of the wolves, while me, Nick and the rest of the teenage humans were left in a room to converse with each other.

"I was going to wear yellow." Erin piped in while sitting down next to Nick who looked at that stupid holographic device flipping through the different colored suits. "Oh, that one is just lovely."

I could feel jealousy cloud me every time they would both get excited over something. I didn't mean to let myself get envious, I just couldn't for the life of me stop myself from comparing our situations.

"Do you think? Arya is adamant on having purple as the main color scheme, so I'm not sure." He turned to me sheepishly, obviously wanting my input on all the things he thinks matter. "What do you think?"

"What?" Oh right he was now showing me some brown suit. I really didn't care about his stupid wedding. There was loads of time to plan it, but no time at all for me to plan my self protection. The king wouldn't be gone forever, and I was mentally preparing myself for the inevitable punishment that would be coming my way. "Oh yeah it's nice."

"Come on Dylan, your best friend is planning his wedding, aren't you at least a little bit excited for him." Erin tried to get a reaction out of me, but she only made me a little bit more annoyed, could they not see everything I had been through thanks to these wolves? Of course I was excited for him, but I was also quite numb to the joyous occasion.

"I thought you'd be a bit more supportive." What? Is he serious right now.

"I've been nothing but supportive to you! What more do you want from me, Nick?" I was really annoyed now as I stared at the boy I used to know. I just don't know when he became so selfish.

"I'm sorry that you don't like your situation, but some of us are actually happy, I don't think it's fair of you to bring me down, just because you are." Is that truly what I have been doing? Have I been projecting my feelings on to other people? Am I truly turning into that person who can't let anyone else feel happy?

Wait, I'm in limbo at the minute because of him, I stood up to the king, on live television to stop his dad from receiving punishment. Maybe it's not me who can't let other people feel things. Maybe it's him, he's happy and doesn't want anything to taint his precious life.

"I'm sorry, I really am but picking your wedding suit isn't exactly high on the list of priorities. Imagine if you were me? How would you feel if you were being tortured every single day, by the one person who is supposed to cherish you? You have everything Nick, you have the pack, you have your dad, and you have Arya. I barely even remember my dad, I haven't seen my mom in months and the one person I might actually have feelings for had to leave me or he would have been killed. Not to mention the fact that I've just put everything on the line for you and your father, so please, don't you dare stand there and say I don't support you." I stood up half way through my little melt down and began pacing the sitting room. All the humans sight was steadily tracing my every step while they remained silent, reeling in the frustration emitting from me.

"I didn't know you'd met someone you liked." Erin spoke softly as she was clearly affected by my words. I'd only told the truth. Had they seriously been under the impression that I've been absolutely fine, a few punishments here and there, but nothing I couldn't handle. Did they think I'd be back by Christmas? Celebrating with a smile on my face and presents surrounding me?

"It doesn't matter, as long as the king is around, it will never happen." I shrugged nonchalantly, well trying to make it as nonchalant as I could. I think my attitude fell in deaf ears. As my rant still reeled in everyone's head.

"So You did have feelings for him?!" My blood quickly ran cold as king Josh's voice trailed over the dozen heads that sat in the room. I turned to his grace slowly, already wincing at my words as I just know how they would have made him feel. Only I stopped completely still when I looked at him. He stood naked except for a single pair of shorts hanging low on his well defined hips, the disturbing part was that he was covered with blood.

Splatters lay on his legs and bare feet, his arms were coated in it too, along with his torso. I felt bile rise in me as I swallowed thickly.

"What the fuck happened?!" Last time I saw him, it was me who had triggered the man's rage, last time I saw him, I saw the challenge in his eyes, the look that screamed I wouldn't get off lightly. "What did you do?" I asked in a quiet whisper, I knew deep down I knew I wasn't going to like the answer. But he just shrugged and remained still, staring at me in the room full of human mates. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"You disrespected me again, on live television, you didn't think you'd get away with it did you?" Again I stopped in my tracks as my eye widened drastically, had he done something to prove a point? "You belong to me, Dylan, in time you will see that I had to show you that! Now, come and give me a hug, I have missed you!"

"Josh, what did you do?" My voice was barely audible by this point as I felt something in me snapping and I knew as soon as he confirmed my suspicions I'd be a completely broken girl. I hadn't even bothered using his title, the very sight of him made me look at him in a whole new light, he wasn't a king, he wasn't a ruler, he was a narcissist in need of control. He sighed not liking my attitude, but rolled his eyes as he explained.

"You stopped me from performing my duties as king, because that man was your mothers partner. Did you not?" He was acting as if being covered in blood was normal, as if he had done something that wasn't too bad but if I was right then I would never, ever forgive him. "Your mother, raised a rebellious girl who threatened the crown and so action had to be taken."

How many lashings had he given her? I needed to go and look after her, she wasn't very strong when it came to pain.

"Your grace, the coroner has just arrived at the scene." The Coroner? Warren just looked at me while a smug smile played on face. Why did some people just love seeing people unhappy?

No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

"Tell me you didn't?!" My legs shook underneath me as I stared at the bloodied man. My feet moved towards the door only to be caught by the king who simply held my wrist.

"She's with your father, Dylan. You are mine and mine alone now, the way the moon goddess intended."

One simple sentence made my entire world crash before me.