Chapter 14: Grace
I woke up slowly. My brain didn’t seem like it wanted to work right now. I could hear a steady beeping, but I couldn’t make my eyes open. I took a steadying breath and tried not to panic. Had I been drugged? That didn’t make a ton of sense since I was almost definitely in a comfy bed. I remembered I had been with the Alpha King, but it all felt fuzzy.
I wondered if the Alpha King was still with me, and that was enough of a thought to force my eyes open. I scanned the room. It was white with white cabinets, and what looked like medical supplies everywhere. Crap. Was I in the hospital?
My breath caught when I saw him. His dark brown hair looked as though he had worn a path through it by running his hand through it so many times. His eyes held shadows, and his expression was grim.
I frowned, my panic growing a little. I had troubled him. I was the cause of that serious expression on his face.
I grabbed his sleeve. I wanted to apologize for all the trouble I had caused but I had no idea where to even start. I didn’t know what had happened that had even caused me to be here.
Rhys looked at me for the first time since I had woken up, and removed my hand from his sleeve, looking irritated.
“Don’t touch me right now,” The Alpha King snapped.
I pulled back into myself. What did I do that made him so angry?
“That headache you had was a direct result of you having intimate relations with someone who didn’t mark you.”
I looked at him in confusion. I didn’t know that you couldn’t kiss or be sexual without a mate, that didn’t make sense for what was happening back in my old pack. And wouldn’t that be something that the Alpha King knew? I mean, did he also get a headache like I did?
“How could you not have told me that you were marked by your mate when I was going on about how you would be my bride, and I was thinking that you might be my mate?”
I frowned in surprise. What was he talking about? Marked by mate? I didn’t have a mate...
Suddenly I was back in that dungeon cell that I had lived in for so long. I was feeling off that day and was laying in my cot. I was never truly given the day off, but after a lot of mistakes, Kathy, the head of servants had taken pity on me and sent me to lay down for a while.
I heard the door to the dungeon steps open, but I didn’t have the energy to care about who was coming down. That is, until I saw it was Alpha Adrian... Then I wished I would have hid or done literally anything.
I still remember the sound of his voice that day as he told me how long he had waited for this opportunity. How I was a hard woman to catch alone. He complained that I was always busy, even though my workload was well within his control. And then he got closer. I hated the way his fingers trailed my body, and how his mouth eventually found mine. It didn’t matter how many times I pushed him away, he wouldn’t stop. It never went further because I had managed to get out from under him and run. I slept in the forest for 3 days after that, and I tried never to be alone with him ever again, but it didn’t stop him from trying... I wondered if it was during one of those moments that he had managed to mark me... How could he? He was mated to my sister. How could he have taken away my choice?
My stomach sunk. I was not what the Alpha King wanted anymore. I was ruined. He wouldn’t want me anymore. I tried to take a steadying breath, but it came out shaky. There was no point in telling the Alpha what I sort of remembered. I knew it was my fault that I had not been strong enough to fight him.
The anger on Alpha King Rhys’ face was palpable. Oh god...What if he sent me back to them? Would I even survive going back to that place? Just kill me now if that’s the case... I can’t. I can’t go back.
“I will be looking further into this matter, Grace.” He said, his voice scary dark.
I couldn’t help it, my body started shaking. I knew it was all too good to be true. He was going to send me back when he figured out exactly who it is I belonged to because it wasn’t him.
He looked at me for the first time since dropping all of this information, and his face softened just a little.
“No matter what I find out Grace,” He leaned over me, lifting my chin so my eyes met his. “You will not be going back there. I will not allow them to harm another hair on your head. I know that all that has happened to you is not your fault.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded against his hand. I could feel my body connect with my head again, and I realized how much pain I was in.
“Now that you are awake and aware of what’s going on, let’s go back to your room. Can you walk?”
Despite the pain, I nodded. I could be tough, I would find a way to be useful, so he couldn’t get rid of me if he finds something he doesn’t like.
I knew my old wounds had reopened when I stood up, and I felt the usual painful stretch of lingering injuries. I had worked through these many times before, but it usually took some time for me to block the pain from my brain.
We moved slowly as I tried to gather my bearings, but it was harder than I remembered. I had had worse injuries countless times, but this time, I could barely function.
“This is ridiculous,” Alpha King Rhys said after a few minutes before I was swept off my feet and in his arms.
He didn’t say another word the whole way back, and when we got to my room, he sat me on the bed. As soon as I was out of his arms, he was on the phone with who I guessed was his Beta and Gamma. He paced the room for a few minutes before hanging up.
“I have matters to attend to Grace. Get some rest.” He said as soon as he hung up, and before I could even try and stop him, he was gone.
I looked around from my spot on the bed. I felt really small. I didn’t want to be alone at all, but who would I go to? I thought about going to find Alana, but I talked myself out of it. She probably had only hung out with me because it was her job. I let out a sob. Even in all my time in my old pack when I was completely isolated, I had never felt this alone. Another sob escaped my lips, and the tears wouldn’t stop.
Between the pain and the lonliness, I couldn’t seem to function. I was mated to someone who wasn’t the Alpha King. I had been unconsicous because it. I had pain because of it. I didn’t even know who I was anymore. I was nothing. I was used. And I cried myself right into an uneasy sleep.
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