Chapter 10

Lynda chuckled. “It’s a right of passage, darling. If you don’t piss him off next time, he won’t lay a finger on you, except to fuck, of course.”
I winced. This cannot be my life now. I can’t keep letting myself get used by different men when I am already married and pregnant.
I had to find a way to get out of the Highlands as soon as possible but first, I had to get my necklace back.
“How soon can I see him again?” I asked.
“Only when he sends for you and that may not be any time soon, considering how battered you still look. Alpha Jaxon likes his pets pretty.”
“Pets?”
“That’s what he calls us when he’s in a good mood. Anyway, I’ll suggest you concentrate on healing properly first and then we can let Tarik know that you’re well and ready to serve the master.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. The thought of being in the same room with Jaxon again disgusted me but I had no choice.
I must get back my necklace and reconnect with my mates. What has happened to them? Were they still alive or did Antonio and my uncle succeed in murdering them?
Oh, how I longed to be back in the cottage, sitting at the table with my mates and laughing over some silly jokes while we ate heartily. What wouldn’t I give right now to be in their arms again?
“Dominic, Damian, Darius, my loves. I am coming,” I whispered. “I’m coming.”

**********************

After three weeks passed and Alpha Jaxon hadn’t sent for me, I became restless. All twenty-seven women in the harem including Lynda had warmed his bed during that period but he never requested to see me.
“Is he punishing me?” I asked her finally when Tarik came to call one of the girls tonight while obviously ignoring me.
Lynda laughed. “Are you kidding? You should be happy. Alpha Jaxon is not a gentle lover as you may have already suspected, so any day you don’t have to entertain him is a good day. Trust me.”
I sighed. “You know the only reason why I want to see him is so that I can get back my necklace. I don’t care about anything else.”
“Be careful, Jade,” Lynda warned me.
“If he smells your desperation, he’ll make you miserable and probably never give you the necklace. Want some free advice? Forget about it. Your mates are probably already dead by now.”
“No!” I said sharply. “Please, don’t say that. Please.”
“Sorry. Excuse me, I’ve got to use the bathroom.”
When Lynda left, I started thinking. I cannot keep waiting forever to be summoned by the Alpha when I can simply take courage and go to him instead.
What if I snuck out of the room right now and went to the Alpha’s lair? Would I be punished for it?
We were not allowed to leave the harem unless with Tarik but the door was never locked and nobody had ever ventured outside the suite alone.
I scanned the room with my eyes and saw that the other ladies were either in small groups talking and laughing or relaxing alone on the chaise lounges but they were all absorbed in their own worlds.
I stood up and inched toward the door, watching to see if anyone noticed my movement but they didn’t. With a quick and gentle motion, I opened the door and slid out of the harem unnoticed.
My heart was racing in my chest but there was no going back now. I ran on tiptoes, following the same route that Tarik took me through the last time and as I passed the gallery garden with a fountain, I heard a voice that stopped me in my tracks.
“Where are you going?”
I was frozen on the spot and only my head turned to see who had spoken. She was a tall, full-figured woman with tawny skin and waist-length auburn hair that glowed in the heavily lit room.
She wore a see-through dress with a deep V-neckline and long slits on both sides reaching her hips. Her hazel eyes ran over me from head to toe before she spoke again.
“You are Jaxon’s latest whore, aren’t you?”
I winced. How I hated that word!
“I am not a whore. I was brought to the Highlands by a strange man who sold me to your master.”
She snorted. “Jaxon is not my master, he’s my mate.”
I gasped in surprise. “I apologise, Luna…”
“Elena,” she said. “And you haven’t answered my question. Where are you going?”
“I was on my way to Alpha Jaxon’s suite,” I replied honestly.
“But I saw Tarik taking someone to him earlier. Why isn’t he escorting you now?”
“Well, the truth is, Alpha Jaxon didn’t send for me,” I admitted.
Elena laughed. “You must have a death wish. That’s the only reason you would go to Jaxon’s lair without an invitation. Didn’t Tarik tell you that you harlots are forbidden from leaving the harem without him?”
The name-calling was starting to annoy me but I pushed down my anger and answered her as calmly as I could manage.
“I know that we’re not supposed to leave the harem, but there’s an important reason why I am going to see the Alpha uninvited. He has my necklace. It’s a gift and I want it back.”
The Luna laughed again, this time, clutching her stomach as she double over. “You naïve fool,” she said in-between laughs.
“Do you really think that Jaxon will hand over your necklace to you when you ask him nicely? Have you ever seen a bully granting his victim’s earnest request?”
She was right, of course. Alpha Jaxon was a bully who would not return my necklace if I asked sweetly but that wasn’t my plan.
I had intended to search his quarters after he was done sleeping with me but Elena’s reaction was giving me second thoughts.
“Go ahead then,” she said with a grin. “Go on, and let him beat you to death. That is if Tarik doesn’t get to you first.”
I became afraid. “I should probably head back to the harem.”
Just then, we heard footsteps descending from the stairs leading to the Alpha’s den. I glanced back at where I was coming from to calculate the distance and how long it would take me to reach it before whoever was coming saw me, and I wasn’t sure I’d make it.
“Come in here, quick,” Elena said, stepping aside for me to enter the garden behind her. I didn’t think about it twice, I ran in and crouched behind the fountain.
“My Luna, what are you still doing here? I thought you would have retired for the night,” said Tarik.
“Is there a law that forbids me from staying here all night if I want?” She asked him.
He chuckled. “Of course, not. I was just… are you entertaining here?”
I couldn’t see him from my hideout and I know he couldn’t see me either but I could tell that he was suspicious of Elena’s presence in the garden.
“Aren’t you full of questions tonight, dear Tarik,” she said. “Did Jaxon send you here to spy on me?”
“Absolutely not,” he said and cleared his throat. “I thought I smelled someone else just now.”
“Must be the smell of that boy I saw you taking inside your bedroom earlier,” she replied.
“Now, sho’s spying on who?”
“Run along, Tarik. Don’t keep the poor boy waiting any longer. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Luna,” he said after a brief silence and then walked away.
Elena waited a few minutes before coming to find me behind the fountain. “You’re coming with me,” she said.
“I think Tarik suspects that you’re here and I’m sure he’ll be hanging around the other stairs to see who passes. I wouldn’t go back to the harem tonight if I were you.”
“What am I going to do now?” I asked fearfully.
“Come with me and stop whining,” she snapped. “I deserve a reward for saving your life and I want it now.”
I rose to my feet, uncertain of what I could possibly give to the Luna as payment for saving me from the Alpha’s henchman. “I don’t have anything to give you, Luna.”
“Of course, you do, darling,” she said with a smile. “Now, come with me. Let’s go to my room.”