Chapter 11 His Warning

**Valerie**

I was mopping the first floor when Samantha rushed downstairs excitedly to tell me something this morning. Samantha was the second slave friend I’ve made in this castle. She was an energetic girl who always seemed to be cheerful, and sometimes, the way she talked or laughed reminded me of Ava.

But she was quite different from Ava. Or it would be more specific to say that she was distinct from any of us here, because she was a werewolf. That was not a secret in this castle and everyone else knew about it.

So the first time I asked her about this, Samantha was not surprised at all. She told me that she was an Omega, which was considered to be the lowest rank in her wolf pack. The fate was determined since her birth, that she would either be banished or enslaved. She was actually contented with being a maid slave here, rather than being punished with banishment.

And when I asked about the reason, she laughed.

“Dear Val, don’t be silly! I love here! Banished wolves will never be able to make a living like this. Werewolves are social. And if you were expelled by your own pack, you shall never be accepted by others. So it’s highly possible that you’ll be killed for being considered as a rogue.” Samantha said in a cavalier tone, though her countenance seemed to be serious.

She had mentioned only once about her family, which was shunned as a shame in Red Moon Pack, that they would give birth to an Omega on each generation. It was believed by all pack members that their family had a cursed lineage. And in case that the whole family was thrown out, their leader decided to sacrifice the Omegas.

Samantha’s aunt was banished for being an Omega and forced apart from her lover. Samantha had never known if her aunt was still alive, because they were not allowed to talk about her. It was a ban in her family to discuss on deprived Omegas.

She said when she’s still a child, she always felt a pity for her aunt’s fate but she had never for a second expected herself to be an Omega.

“I was lucky, Val.” Samantha would fail to control the smiling while talking about her respectable master, “Alpha Xavier is such a good master! And so Master Lang is! He’s a true gentleman. I’m just happy to serve them as a slave!”

Though I was always puzzled by her exaggerated praise on the masters, I knew it’s unfair and rude to judge someone when you had no idea what they had been through.

Samantha had lived in the castle since 14 years old. She was brought here 2 years ago with the command of newly crowned Alpha, as she told me so, Alpha Xavier canceled the banishment and saved her live.

When they first arrived here, it was a deserted building. There were rumors around the place saying it was haunted. Some believed that the previous owner was a traitor who had been punished to death by the former Alpha.

The former Alpha, obviously, was Xavier’s father. Samantha didn’t like him. She said he was the cruelest leader ever in Red Moon’s history.

“He was a devil!” Samantha told me this last week when we were alone in the pantry, and in case of being eavesdropped, she lowered her voice to a whisper, “He killed Alpha Xavier’s grandpa and forced her mother to commit suicide!”

“Poor Alpha Xavier!” She sighed after the utterance. And as if annoyed by my numbness to this pathetic story, she frowned at me then, “don’t you feel bad for Alpha Xavier?”

I didn’t know how to reply. Honestly, if what she said was true, the backstory of that young Alpha was indeed very sorrowful. I might even be moved to shed some tears if I heard it in childhood, before my family being killed by the wolves.

Now, I just couldn’t feel touched at all. I took no sadness nor pleasure in this tragic story of an enemy.

Perhaps my constant ignorance of her praise on the Alpha eventually bored Samantha, she hadn’t mentioned his name in front of me for weeks now.

So when she trotted to me with full energy from upstairs, I didn’t expect what she was going to tell me.

I thought she might have switched her interest to Mr. Lang as she had been talking about him since last week. Although she told me she liked Alpha Xavier the best, she considered Mr. Lang to be perfect.

Well, I knew how ridiculous her delusion was about that vampire but I made no commentary on her talk. I did not want to show my attitudes to the masters. Part of the reason was that I just hardly thought about them, not mention to fantasize them. And the other part, which was crucial to this decision, was that I had never told anyone about what happened between Mr. Lang and me that night.

When Mr. Lang put out the question, I was completely at a lost. I had no idea why he misunderstood that I liked Alpha Xavier and why he kept saying words that I could hardly perceive, such as “marks” or “to be mine”.

Though I didn’t want to irritate him, I made another rather bold move that night, for my answer to his question.

I took a deep breath before looking into his eyes, doing my utmost to steady the voice, “Master Lang, I’m afraid that there might be a few misunderstanding here. I don’t have any bias for Master Xavier and my service shall never differ from masters. I’m just a maid slave. My job is to serve you with perfect obedience. So if it’s your request, I’ll just take it, but…”

“But what?” He raised a brow.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and plucked up my courage, “But you gave me a generous choice, Master Lang. I really appreciate that.”

His countenance became serious but he didn’t interrupt, so I just continued, “And to show my full respect to the generosity, I shall answer with no lies…

“Master Lang, I’m afraid I don’t want to be yours.” My body tensed up as I saw the clear anger blazing in his eyes. But he didn’t do anything.

I expected that he might cup his hand tightly over my mouth or grip my throat to stifle my daring expression.

But he didn’t. He exhaled deeply before asking with a smoky voice, “Tell me the reason.”

His request sounded meaningless in this hieratical society. But he stared at me in such a sincerity that I had the impulse to tell him my real feelings. And I did so before my sensibility was able to stop me.

“I don’t want to be anyone’s. And if there’s someone I wish to belong to, it would be myself.”

I said it like I was uttering a statement with justification. Although I was afraid of vexing him again, I didn’t regret my frankness.

Mr. Lang, to my surprise, didn’t seemed to be offended at all. He was amused.

With a light smile on his face, he touched my cheek gently and mumbled, “…you are just like her…”

I wasn’t sure if I heard it correct as I believed he wasn’t actually talking to me then. He seemed to be lost in something far beyond my knowledge. Without questioning anything else, Mr. Lang released his grip on me and took a few steps back.

I gasped faintly when a great relief stroke my heart and said in appreciation, “Thank you, Master Lang.”

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Valerie, Master. Valerie Davis.”

“It’s a lovely name, Valerie.”

“Thank you Master.”

He strolled to the door before raising his right hand to touch the knob. I thought he was just going to leave me alone then, but he suddenly stopped.

“Valerie, it’s your choice to either accept or reject me.” He said in a severe deep voice without even taking a look at me, “but it’s my determinations to make you mine. Don’t attempt to escape. I’ll find you no matter where you go.”

The clear possessiveness and firmness in his warning stunned me.

It was until he stepped out of the pantry that I realized my forehead was perspiring. I panted in panic, my lips trembling. Clenching my fist, I tried to pull myself together and left there in total silence.

For the next few days, I did my best to avoid meeting with Mr. Lang. Fortunately, He hadn’t being present in the castle since that night. And the situation was same with Master Xavier.

Though Samantha complained that Mrs. Manson was even bossier without any of the masters here, I was consoled by my anticipation on their prolonged absence, that Mr. Lang and the Alpha might just forget me after such a long time, that I would be able to steal some peaceful time.

But it quickly turned out to be my stupid delusion.

Like I said, I wasn’t expecting the news when Samantha told it to me this morning at all. That was, she exclaimed, all of the masters would come back next week for an important celebration in this castle.

A celebration for their victory against human beings.