You Did This

**BLANCA**
I'm frozen while I stare at them, my breath coming in quick gasps as I feel myself shrinking in. I *can't* do this. I *can't* stay here. First it was stones, next they'll have pitchforks and a rope. Last night would have been a quick death. Living here promises a slow one.
I'm just about to turn around and run from this place when someone snatches my arm and sparks light a path up my elbow.
*Max.*
The moment I look up at him, he yanks me out of the room and down a narrow hallway. "I told you to follow me, not stand around like an idiot."
We pass several doors on the right side before coming to a set of stairs that lead half a floor down and then into a long dark hallway. We stop at the very first door and Max opens it to shove me inside. He flips a switch on the wall and the room is suddenly bathed in bright white light.
"This is your room," he says, closing the door and throwing the deadbolt.
*Why did he lock the door? Is he mad about Cyrus?*
"Oh," I reply, fighting the fear that finds me as I glance around.
It's small, which actually *doesn't* really bother me. However, I had hoped there would be a window, but there's not. The only thing in here is a dirty, twin sized mattress that sits in the corner along the white wall. *Ha! That thing looks suspiciously like the one I had back at the dungeon.*
"Is that my bed?" I can't help but ask, stepping toward it and seeing the dark, yet faded, bloodstain from two years ago when Frank first forced himself on me. "It is," I say, closing my eyes while my stomach roils on itself. *Is it too much to ask, Goddess, that I not be reminded of that time so much?*
"I suppose it is," Max says in a bored voice. "I told them to put a bed in here, but I didn't tell them where to get it from. Interesting that they chose the one from your cell."
*Interesting?* Working to control my disappointment, I remind myself that at least this is a step above where I was before. I mean, what did I expect? A balcony and queen sized feather top? I am a slave.
*At least there aren't any silver bars.*
I turn around to face Max and say in as grateful a voice as I can muster, "Thank you, Alpha."
He doesn't seem to hear me though. He's staring at the mattress with the strangest look on his face. Racing toward it, he kneels down and begins to sniff the entire damn thing. At first, I'm appalled. I don't even know what to say. *What on Goddess' good earth is he doing?*
"Alpha?" I call out carefully. "Are you okay? Are you really sniffing my old mattress?"
He doesn't answer, instead, he begins to growl and for a moment I'm scared. The memory of how he grabbed me last night and tossed me against the wall is still so fresh in my mind that I can almost feel the back of my head ache.
Suddenly he stands to face me and his eyes are so cold I nearly shiver. "I have a very important meeting in a few minutes. You will need to wait in my private chambers until I'm done."
"What?" I ask quizzically. "Wh-why? I-"
"Stop arguing, damn it. I am your Alpha, or have you already forgotten?" He snaps. "Now, come with me. I can't be late for my appointment."
Max takes me up a private stairwell at the back of the packhouse that he uses a key to access. By the time we reach the top I'm completely out of breath just from trying to keep up with him. Not that I really needed to. It's not like there were any other doors along the way.
"This is the back entrance to my suite. No one is ever allowed to come this way except for me and sometimes Jared. Don't mention it to anyone. Not ever." Unlocking the single door landing, Max ushers me inside and I gasp.
"Wow," I whisper, turning in a circle as I admire the space. *It's like a little house in a house.* There's a living room, kitchen, a dining room, what looks like a little hallway leading to a bedroom. The entire place smells like coffee and Max. It must be nice to have *two* places to call your own. *How often does he sleep here, I wonder?*
"You will stay here, Blanca, until I come for you. Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator. There should be some fruit and leftover sandwiches. Don't touch the oven, don't answer the door and *do not* go into my bedroom. The guest bathroom is down the hall to the right. I will be back as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
Tearing my eyes away from all the modern furnishings, I gaze toward him and nod. "Yes Alpha."
Max's jaw is clenched as he watches me, but he makes no move to leave. Instead, he steps toward me and I instinctively step back. For every step closer he gets, I retreat until my back is against the wall and I have nowhere else to go.
He glares down at me. "Are you sure there isn't anything you want to say to me, before I leave?"
"I-I don't know," I say honestly. "Is there something I'm *supposed* to do when you leave? Some kind of greeting or - um - farewell, that I've yet to learn? Like a... bow?"
Max shakes his head at me incredulously. "I just thought maybe you'd like to tell me his name before I find out for myself, and then have you punished for lying to me."
I flinched. *Wait. What?* "His name? Who's name?"
Max chuckles, caging me in against the wall with one hand on each side of my head. I should probably be trembling with fear right now, and *I am* shaking a little, but not because I'm afraid. My eyes are glued to the grooves of his muscles, my gaze tracing over every bulge and ripple of his arms. It's hard for me to breathe when he's this close.
His right hand edges closer, coming up off the wall to trace the skin of my collarbone. He does it so gently that I can't help but gasp. The glow of his eyes is fading again and his gaze locks on the pulse point of my neck. My breath hitches as his pupils dilate, expanding until there’s not a stitch of gold left. The fingers of his right hand trace the plunge of my dress, skating over the tops of my swollen breasts. Up and down and back and forth. My core begins to throb, my sex pulsing with that strange, nearly painful ache, as I keep waiting for his hand to dive lower, to dip inside of the dress. *I want him to. I want him to touch me so badly I almost ask for it.*
"Alpha," I whisper, but it comes out sounding more like a moan.
Max tenses, his finger freezing on my chest. Then his gaze lifts to mine and he steps away to release a practiced breath. He's glaring at me again, that quickly. "Fine. Have it your way, Blanca. When I return, I'll have you whipped for lying to me."
"What?' I shake my head, anger boiling in my gut. "I've already told you that I do not have a lover!"
"You'll receive a lash for every letter in his name," Max says cruelly, heading for the door on the opposite side of the room. "Remember *you* did this."
"Max!" I shout, scrambling after him. "Wait! It's not what you think! Please-"
But the door slams and a moment later it locks, so I fall to my knees on the polished wood floor beneath my feet. "They forced me," I say in my weakest voice, to absolutely no one.
*What's the use? He wouldn't believe me anyway. He'd probably just accuse me of being a slut, the way he did my sister.*
I've never been whipped before, but I have seen it done on the Rim. It only takes three good lashes to break the flesh. Then I'll have to heal and I very much doubt he'll allow me to do so in bed.
He's just angry. *Maybe, he won't really do it.*
But why is he angry? What does he care who I have or haven't been with? He doesn't even want me.
I am just his slave.