Chapter 9

I was too shaken by her reaction to say anything. I just stared at her blazing eyes, knowing that she was saying the truth.
If I want me and my baby to make it out of this place eventually alive, I may have to put off my escape plan and go with the flow for now.
“Answer me, Jade, do you want to die tonight?” Lynda asked me again.
“No,” I said, shaking my head slowly.
“Good. Now keep quiet and let me dress you up. The Alpha must not be kept waiting.”
“Sure,” I replied in a daze and let her dress me in a scanty outfit that comprised of a bedazzled bralette and a matching floor-length skirt with two thigh-high slits in the front.
She styled my hair into a high ponytail, leaving tendrils to frame my face, then she painted my lips with a generous amount of red lipstick and lined my eyes with kohl, highlighting my green eyes beautifully.
Even I was blown away by my image when Lynda stepped aside from the full-length mirror in the closet to allow me to have a look at myself.
“You look fantastic,” she gushed proudly.
“I look like someone else,” I said.
“Then be someone else, Jade. If that’s what it’s going to take for you to get through tonight.”
I sighed.
“Ready?”
“No.”
Lynda giggled. “Come on, darling. We mustn't – “
“Keep Alpha Jaxon waiting. I know,” I said and smiled at her. “Thanks for being so nice to me, Lynda. I don’t know how I would’ve coped today without you.”
She smiled. “Everyone needs a friend sometimes, especially when in a place like this. Now, run along. The master is waiting for you.”

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

Tarik was waiting outside the door when I stepped out. When he saw me, he raised an eyebrow in surprise and his lips curved slightly in what looked like a half smile.
“Lynda did a fabulous job cleaning you up nicely,” he said. “My Alpha will be impressed.”
“I didn’t realize he belonged to you alone,” I joked but his little smile disappeared and his face became hard.
“Let’s go,” he said and walked away.
I hurried after him, kicking myself mentally for not keeping my mouth shut. I don’t want to make enemies here on my first night in the palace. Instead of making stupid jokes, I needed to focus my mind on planning my escape.
The Highland palace was more lavishly decorated than the one I grew up in at Apex Woods. Everything here was over-the-top, making it look like a museum.
I followed Tarik down a flight of stairs, across a large hall, past an indoor gallery garden with a fountain, and then up another flight of stairs, and finally down a carpeted corridor that ended in front of huge double doors with intricate carvings on them.
Tarik knocked on the door twice and waited for an answer from inside. When there was no response, he opened the doors anyway, nodding to me to go inside.
I hesitated, unsure if I was supposed to go inside alone. When Tarik gave me a hard look, I got the message loud and clear and entered the room. He shut the door behind me as soon as I was inside.
“Were you waiting for a fanfare and drum rolls before coming in?” A male voice asked and I jumped.
The man who spoke was standing by a window behind me, holding a goblet and watching me like a cat observing a mouse. He was tall, shirtless and dark.
He had short black wavy hair, a full beard and a hairy torso. His piercing grey eyes were at odds with his dark features, giving him a scary look. Alpha Jaxon was the complete opposite of my mates and his predatory vibes gave me chills.
“What’s your name?” He asked, still watching me through hooded eyes.
I licked my lips nervously and said, “Jade.”
“What’s that thing on your neck?”
My hand instinctively clutched the pendant of my necklace. “It’s a gift from my… mate. He gave it to me on the night we were mated.”
That answer seemed to displease him because he frowned darkly. “You have a mate?”
“Y-yes,” I stuttered.
“And yet, you wish to be a whore?”
I was shocked. “No!”
He dropped his goblet to the ground, spilling red wine on the lush rug covering the floor. “Did you just talk back to me?”
His anger confused me. What was he mad about? Hadn’t he just wrongly accused me of wanting to be a whore without even knowing my story? Was I supposed to just accept his accusations without trying to defend myself?
“You asked if I wished to be your whore and I said no because the truth is –“
He left his spot by the window in a flash and whacked me across the face, sending me to the ground.
Before I could recover from the assault, he grabbed my hair and dragged me across the room and flung me on the large ottoman near his four-poster bed. It was big enough to conveniently contain five people.
He slapped me again and pain shot through my head. I tasted blood and knew that my lip was split.
“Please, stop,” I begged him. “I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, I see,” he said with an evil grin. “You came here to bear your mate’s child under my roof, eh?”
“No,” I cried, shaking my head vigorously. “I was sold. I didn’t choose to come here.”
“That’s what they all say,” he sneered and punched me in the stomach.
My world turned black and I fainted for the third time in one day.

************
“She’s awake!” Lynda screamed happily.
I blinked and looked at her smiling brightly with her hands clasped in front of her like an excited child. Her joy for me was infectious and I couldn’t help but smile at her.
“Where am I?” I asked weakly.
“The pack hospital,” she replied and pointed at a man standing beside my bed. “This good doctor here worked tirelessly to save your life.”
A thought occurred to me then and I gasped in terror. “My baby! What about my baby?”
The man smiled patiently. “Your baby is a champ. It survived whatever happened to you.”
I sighed and sank back against my pillow with relief. “Thank you,” I said to the doctor.
He nodded and said, “Just doing my job. I’ll leave you two alone now but don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any complaints or need anything, ok?”
“Sure,” I said and smiled back at him, grateful for his kindness.
When we were alone, I turned to Lynda. “Who brought me here?”
“Tarik and Banjo. They’re Alpha Jaxon’s right-hand men, or rather, Tarik is. Banjo is like the left-hand man, I guess,” she said and giggled.
I knew she was trying to put me at ease with that joke but I still felt uneasy. Suddenly, I noticed that my neck was bare.
“My necklace! Where is it?”
Lynda shrugged. “You weren’t wearing it when they brought you here two nights ago.”
“Wait, what? I’ve been here for two days?”
“Yes. We thought you were dead but the doctor said you were in a coma and that you might come out of it or not, so we were just hopeful that you would. Now, here you are.”
“Lynda, I need that necklace back,” I told her desperately.
“Honey, I can’t help with that,” she said with sympathy. “Since you had it on when you were with Alpha Jaxon, then it’s probably with him.”
My blood ran cold as I remembered my abuser and how he had taken so much pleasure in beating me to a pulp for an invented offence.
“I have to get that necklace back, Lynda. It’s my only connection to my mates and the father of my child. As long as I have it on, I feel connected to them and I experience whatever they go through. I need it back.”
“Then you’ll have to go back to Alpha Jaxon.”
“No!”
“It’s the only way to get it back. Besides, you’ll have to see him again at some point because he owns you and the rest of us.”
“I don’t want to be in the same room with that beast again!”
“Shush! Are you crazy? Someone might hear you,” she said, placing a hand over my mouth.
“Alpha Jaxon is a god here, Jade. You can’t say nasty things about him in public because someone might overhear you and run off to tell him. People outdo themselves to snitch on each other and win the Alpha’s favour. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of his fury again, do you?”
I could see that she too was afraid of him and why not? The Alpha was a bully who enjoyed hurting everyone around him for the fun of it.
“Did he beat you too?”