*****CHAPTER 17

MAE'S POV

"I coveted something that belonged to him." My confession made Oliver's eyes snap wide open in disbelief, and my family cursed and gasped behind me. My mother ran to me and stood in between Oliver and I, her weak hands spread open in a bid to protect me.
 
"Tell me.  "Did the heartless Alpha order that you kill my daughter because of a small crime?"
 
"That is not a small crime, mother." Snow joined us now, and she eyed me badly as she stood beside us. "She had the nerve to steal from the Alpha of all people. The nerves.  "If you get to lose just an arm, then you are one lucky girl, Mae."
 
"Are you insane?" Mother blasts at Snow. "How can you wish that for your own sister?"
 
Snow flipped her hair over her shoulder and snuck her nose into the air. Pearl creeped behind us and held me gently by the hand. I could feel how tense and frightful her body was, and I blamed myself for causing Pearl and my mother such discomforts.
 
"Don't tell me that was how you got the money to buy a fancy shoe for your little sister yesterday." My father laughed sarcastically behind us. "Well, I guess the day has come for you to pay for your sins, daughter."
 
I set my jaw and clenched my fist in a tight ball. I had to control my emotions, lest I lynch my father in front of everyone else. And letting Oliver witness such unruly behavior in my family wasn't what I intended to do.
 
"Mae…" Oliver stares at me pitifully, but I cut him off in time. I had had enough of the long talks already. If he was here to take me to the castle, then we should get to business already rather than placing me in another tight spot.
 
"Did he send you here to fetch me?" I repeated my question to Oliver, and he nodded at me.
 
"Yes, he did." Then, he stretched his hand and collected a small scroll from one of the guards behind him. Unscrolling the pamphlet, he read from it.
 
"That as a punishment for stealing from the Alpha, Mae Barrow would have to give up her life as a commoner and come serve in the castle as a servant for a year."
 
"No. No, please." My mother cried as Oliver read the content of the scroll, and Pearl rushed to her and comforted her with her arms wrapped around her. All I could do was stand and listen to my fate. My punishment.
 
"As for her family, as a compensation for letting their daughter go, they would be rewarded once every thirty days till her service in the castle is done and she finally regains her freedom." As such, this order shall become effective, starting from the first strike of noon. Signed, Alpha of the Black Wolf pack, and Lycan King of Wolfiville Country. Alpha Alcot Elord."
 
Oliver's eyes lifted from the scroll, and he watched me intently. In those eyes, I can see judgment and pity, but I did not allow myself to succumb to my pathetic situation. I still kept my head held high, and I ignored my mother's cries of protest.
 
"Please, good sir. "Let my daughter go." My mother rushed to Oliver and held him by the cloak in a plea. I could see how he tried to shift uncomfortably, but she still held on. "Please, forgive her foolishness." Talk to the Alpha. Tell her she has repented. Please!"
 
"Mother.  Please, stop." This time, I was fed up with her pathetic acts, and I tried to pull her off Oliver's body. "You are embarrassing me."
 
But my mother pushed me away. She looked angry at me in a way I have not seen her in many years.
 
"You ignorant child! Allow me to atone for your sins. "Do you want to die at the hands of the Alpha?"
 
"No one is dying, mother." I defended myself. "I am only serving in the castle for a year."
 
"You are only serving in the castle for a year!" Snow mimicked me, and just like her mother, she looked angry at me. "You should at least show remorse, you crazy thing!" "Do you know what these people could do to you in the castle within the next 365 days?"
 
I bit my tongue to stop myself from replying to Snow. Instead, I looked back to Oliver, and with the faux confidence left in me, I spoke to him.
 
"Give me a moment while I pack a few things."
 
Oliver gave me a go-ahead nod, and I hurried to my room before any of my sisters or my mother tried to stop me from doing so. When I got to my room, I quickly shoved a few important belongings into a small old sack, including the strangers' letters. For the first time, I wondered if I would be allowed to visit the bridge if I started to work in the castle. I would go insane if they didn't. I continued to pack again, too engrossed in what I was doing to almost not notice Pearl walk into the room and sit on the bed while watching me pack.
 
"Why aren't you running away, Mae?" Her soft tone filled my ears. "Why are you going with them?"
 
"Because if I don't, you would all be in danger." "The Alpha is not a man who goes against his words." As I told her, I refused to look her in the eyes. I don't want to see those emphatic eyes that would fill me with so much guilt and regret. Or that would make me decide to stay back and put everyone's lives at risk.
 
 
"What is going to happen to me now?" What is going to happen to Mother? "Hell, what is going to happen to all of us after you leave?" She raised her tone this time, and I could hear the strong emotions present in her tone.
 
Instead of replying to her, I scooted to the ground close to my bed and dipped my hand into the space under our bed frame. I felt something rigid, and I pulled it out immediately. It was a piggy bank that I had used to save up petty funds for months. I had long thought of several ways I could spend the little cash there, but now I do not doubt there is a better way to spend the cash than this way. I searched into my pocket for the remaining coins from the ones the Alpha had given me yesterday, and when I found them, I dipped them into the piggy vest too.
 
"Have this.  Use some of it for your mother's medications. Keep an eye on how Snow makes use of the money for food. "She can be extravagant sometimes." I forced the piggy bank into Pearl's hands, and I then proceeded to pick up my bag and get ready to leave the house.
 
"Please, don't leave, Mae." Please."  Pearl was crying now as she clutched the piggy bank in her hand. This time, I raised my eyes to see my little sister's face bathed in tears. Pearl wasn't one of those girls who cried easily. She would swallow it all in, and sometimes, I feared she was messing up her mental health that way. And now, seeing her cry after a really long time just because of me was a sickening feeling. I felt like the most awful sister, and guilt washed through me again. I couldn't imagine the kind of pain I was making my family go through right now. Just like Pearl, I feared for the way my family would fare after I left. But again, I remembered that Oliver mentioned that the Alpha would compensate my family monthly for my service in the castle. I only wished he would keep to his words like the man he is known to be.
 
"Pearl."  I brought my weight to the bed and sat beside my sister again. "I am sorry. I really am. It is my fault that I am leaving this way. I don't want you crying or getting worried over me."
 
"Don't leave, then." She reached for my hands and pressed them softly. "Stay. Please."
 
"I wish I could." I sniffed back tears that threatened to spill on my face now. "I will write to you when I get to the castle. "And if they'd allow me to have guests, I shall have you invited to spend some time with me at the castle."
 
"Promise?"  She had a little ray of hope in her voice now.
 
"I promise."
 
"Mae."  Oliver's voice came from behind us, and we turned our heads to see Oliver and the guards now standing by the doorway of our room. "It's time.  Let's go."
 
And that was the moment my old life ended and a new chapter of life started for me. This was when the chapter between me and him started.