Chapter 8

Panic stabbed me in the stomach when I realized that my little speech hadn’t helped me at all.
“Wait, didn’t you hear what I just said? I am Alpha Barry’s niece, I’m not a slave and I won’t let you buy me like some kind of commodity. I’m a Luna and I have three mates who are looking for me right now!”
I was completely ignored while the Delta on the right counted out fifty gold coins from the pouch on his lap and gave them to Scout who was beside himself with joy.
The one on the left stood up and came around the table to stand in front of me. He shook off his embroidered jacket and draped it over my shoulders to cover my nakedness.
“Let’s go,” he said softly.
“No!” I screamed and tried to run away but he was too fast for me, grabbing me and flipping me over his shoulders like a sack of grains.
“This is the only one we’ll be buying today,” I heard their leader telling Scout while I kicked and screamed as I was being carried out of the tent.
“She’s worth the money, I tell you. She is worth it!” Scout replied gleefully.
“Stop!” I screamed but my cries fell on deaf ears as the palace staff continued to carry me away to my next destination.

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

I was carried into the palace through a back entrance and whisked to the harem through a stairway hidden behind a bookshelf.
When we got there, I was too tired and hungry to keep fighting with my carrier.
One of the Alpha’s concubines was ordered to take care of me. She was a dark-skinned sexy beauty with a head full of bouncy curls.
She took me to the huge bathroom and cleaned me up, bathed me and dressed me in a soft silk robe.
“Beautiful necklace,” she said as she tied the sash of my robe.
“Thank you,” I whispered and then my chin began to wobble as feelings of despair descended on me.
“Now, dear, don’t cry,” my carer cooed softly. “Believe me, it’s not so bad here. Do you know how awful it would’ve been if you had been sent to the fields or underground mines to work? You’re lucky.”
“No, I’m not. I’m doomed! I shouldn’t be here. My mates – “
I gasped and clutched my sides as a sharp pain pierced through me. My heart began to race and I felt adrenalin shooting through me. I was afraid, determined and angry at the same time.
My arms burned as if I was carrying something heavy and I felt an unusual strain in my legs as if I was running.
It took me a while to figure out that what I was experiencing wasn’t my emotions. I slipped my hand into my robe and brought out the wolf head pendant, and sure enough, it was glowing.
“What is it?” The lady with me asked. “Are you ok? How are you feeling?”
“My mates!” I said. “They are being attacked. I can feel it!”
“Your mates? Do you mean, mate?”
“No, there’s three of them; Dominic, Damian and Darius.”
As I mentioned their names, I felt pain stabbing my heart, my body quivered and I felt light-headed.
“I have to go. I have to save them!” I panted and ran out of the bathroom.
“No, you can’t leave. Come back!”
I ran through the grand bedroom where some of the occupants were lounging. They were startled by my sudden burst into the room, followed by my carer.
I ran past them to the equally beautiful living room, searching for a way out of the harem. I didn’t know where I was going but I kept running until I found myself on a balcony. We were on the third floor of the palace building, way above the ground.
I turned to run back inside and bumped into my carer who grabbed me by the shoulders, yelling at me to calm down and stop running.
I tried to break free from her hold but suddenly, someone punched me and I fainted.

**********

“Looks like she’s more trouble than she’s worth,” I heard someone say as I slowly regained consciousness.
“Alpha Jaxon should probably send her to the mines because that’s a more fitting environment for a lunatic like her.”
“That’s enough, Sasha. Nobody asked your opinion,” my carer replied.
I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on a soft bed in the harem bedroom. I was surrounded by a dozen beautiful women who were staring at me with curious expressions except for the striking redhead who was glaring at me with open hostility. I instantly figured that she was the one calling me a lunatic.
“Well, there you have it, Lynda. Your ward is awake,” she said to my carer who fired a warning look at her.
“How are you?” Lynda asked me softly.
“I’m starving,” I announced and my stomach growled as if on cue.
“Ew, so classless,” Sasha complained with a look of disgust spoiling her pretty face.
“Tone it down, Sasha. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous of the newcomer,” a tall blonde said.
“Jealous? Of what?” She snorted and walked away.
“I’ll get you something to eat,” said Lynda, ignoring Sasha. One by one, the others too walked away and settled down in different corners of the room.
Alone, I quietly wondered about what had happened that led to me passing out. Were my mates still ok? Did they survive Antonio’s attack on them? Were they dead? Was that why I fainted?
“Here you go, dear,” said Lynda, setting a food tray on my lap. The aroma of the food sent my stomach growling again. I grabbed the chunky piece of perfectly seasoned fried chicken and bit into it.
“Do you like it?” Lynda asked.
“Mm-hmm,” I replied, nodding as I chewed the delicious meat.
She watched me eat in silence and when I was done, she carried the tray away and came back to sit at the edge of my bed.
“Do you feel better?” She asked.
“Yes,” I answered. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied with a smile. “Do you have a name?”
“Jade.”
“I should have known. It’s the colour of your eyes.”
I smiled. “Everyone says it’s my best feature,” I said,
“I don’t think so. I’m sure there’s more to you than just a pair of pretty eyes.”
“How would you know?”
She shrugged. “I just know. It’s my thing.”
We were silent for a while before she spoke again. “Are you ready to talk about it?”
I sighed. “I don’t even know where to begin but all I know is that I shouldn’t be here. My uncle ordered his future son-in-law to kill me and my mates, my cousin betrayed me and sold me into slavery and I am probably going to give birth to my child inside a harem.”
Lynda gasped. “You’re pregnant?”
“Yes,” I said and tears gathered in my eyes. “I shouldn’t have left home in anger. If I’d stayed back in the mountains with my mates, none of this would have happened.”
“Why do you keep saying, mates? Do you have more than one?”
I smiled. “Yes, a set of identical triplets.”
Lynda was amazed. “And you are mated to the three of them?”
I nodded.
“Wow… I’ve never heard of that before. So, which of them is the father of your baby?”
I sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Well… You’re in a pickle, aren’t you?”
“I guess you could say that,” I replied, feeling slightly embarrassed.
“What are you going to do then?”
“I need to get out of here and return to my mates. They need me and I need them,” I said desperately while Lynda watched me with a sad expression on her face.
“You can’t leave here, Jade,” she said softly. “This palace is a fortress. You can’t leave without Alpha Jaxon’s permission.”
“I don’t care about Alpha Jaxon!” I wailed, drawing everyone’s attention. “I just want to go home!”
The harem door swung open and the Delta who bought me marched in like a soldier. “Lynda, get the new girl ready. The Alpha wants her in his chamber in fifteen minutes,” he said curtly. “Don’t keep him waiting.”
After he left, Lynda said to me, “Get up, it’s time to get you ready.”
“For what?”
“To entertain Alpha Jaxon, of course. You heard what Tarik said, didn’t you?”
“And haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been saying? I have to go back home.”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me off the bed, dragging me to an adjoining room which served as the walk-in closet with several fancy clothes displayed in it.
“Listen to me, Jade,” she said through gritted teeth. “I know you don’t want to be here and if I’m being honest, none of us does. But this is the hand that life has dealt us and we must learn to roll with the punches and keep going.
"Alpha Jaxon is a mean werewolf and he is brutal to anyone who disobeys him. If you want to survive here, you have to do as he says or you might end up dead tonight. Is that what you want?”