Amara: The Alpha's slave mate

Chapter 8

July 16

“What do you mean? What does he want you to do?” The elderly woman asked, closing the door behind her and taking a seat on the bed beside me.

‘We’re beyond keeping secrets now, tell her, tell her everything. We need help.’ My wolf urged and I let out the deepest of sighs, dropping the lace onto the bed beside me and turned saddened eyes to the woman that had raised me.

“The visiting Alpha, Alpha Williams. He’s my fated mate.” I stated, and watched as her jaw dropped, opened and closed before finally snapping shut. Under any other circumstance, I would have laughed aloud. Mrs H always had something to say, she was demure and conducted herself with proper decorum, she was never speechless.

“I found out the night he arrived. Alpha Westley gave me Grace and Tara to the visitors, to use as they saw fit, but none of them touched us. I showed him to a room and he spent an hour asking me questions. Then when I was out in the gardens with Kyle and he requested my presence. My side was bleeding. He healed me.” I filled her in on the interactions while she sat staring like she had never seen me before, a reaction that was slowly increasing my nervousness.

“I didn’t tell anyone, but his Beta knows at least. He called me his Luna, and the Alpha said that I was his, and that if anyone hurt me, I needed to tell him. He hasn’t hurt me, hasn’t really touched me. He did kiss me, but he asked permission first. I’m probably living in one of Layla’s fairy tales, but he seems like a nice man, even if he looks angry a lot.” The words tumbled, like I had taken the cork from a bottle and couldn’t put it back.

“The Alpha wants me to keep him busy tonight, by any means necessary, said that he would kill me if Alpha Williams left his room during the night, but that he would make sure I am rewarded if I succeed. He wants me to seduce him. What do I do Mrs H?” I asked, tears threatening to spill.

I felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Oh, my sweet girl. Why didn’t you say anything?” Mrs H asked, grabbing my hand and squeezing lightly.

“My wolf didn’t think it was a good idea to tell anyone.” I mumbled feasibly, I was glad that the Alpha didn’t know about the connection, but I hated seeing the hurt on Mrs H’s face.

“Sweetheart, you have only ever known what life is like here, in this pack. But there is a whole wide world out there, wonderous places filled with kind people. I grew up in a pack, similar in size to this one. But so different, it’s hard to count the ways. Our Alpha was a kind man, he didn’t keep slaves, or control the pack members, he simply looked out for us. That’s what a good Alpha does. Alpha Westley isn’t the only one of his kind, but there are a lot of good ones out there Amara, and the hopeful look on your face tells me that your Alpha is probably one of the good ones. Tell him the truth Amara.”

“But what if I’m wrong, what if he’s just as bad as Alpha Westley?”

“Then what’s he going to do to you for telling the truth? What’s the worst that could happen here Amara?” She asked and I considered that for a minute.

“Alpha Westley kills me.” I uttered. Thinking that out of all the possible outcomes, that was actually the only one that worried me.

“If your Alpha is as good as you seem to believe then he won’t allow that to happen.” She smiled kindly and I bit my lip. So, it would come down to if I trusted my instincts or not, if I trusted him or not.

“How long do you have?”

“I’m supposed to go up after dinner.” I mumbled.

“Well then you better go feed the pack members and get yourself ready.” She stated and this time it was my mouth that dropped. “You didn’t actually think that I didn’t know, did you?” She winked. “I’m proud of you Amara, and I really hope you find your happily ever after. Once in a while fairy tales do come true.” Mrs H stated before standing and leaving the room, a soft smile on her lips.

A giddy excitement coursed through me along with the anxiety that seemed to be a permanent emotion at the minute. Maybe, just maybe, there really was more out there for me than this life. For entirely too long I let my mind wonder to the hopeful dreams the history books had created, of a life in pack where I could walk freely, interact with pack members, visit friends, have a mate who loved me, not controlled me.

I was getting ahead of myself. I had to survive the night first.

I operated on autopilot for the rest of the day, I dropped off the tubs of food to the waiting pack member, showered, scrubbed every inch of my skin and dried with a hard towel then dressed in the lacy contraption that took way too long to figure out, before pulling the dress on and slipping my feet into new shoes. I left my long hair down in natural soft waves that normally got in my way, then stood in front of the only mirror in the basement, in the hallway outside the bedroom doors.

The girls were all finishing off their dinner, and for the first time in my life I couldn’t stomach even the thought of food. My hands shook with nerves, as I scrutinised my appearance. The bruises had finally vanished from my face, a small line on my lip where the skin had split was the only indication that I had suffered a beating at all.

My skin had the lightest of tans from my time in the gardens and was soft and sooth after the extra-long scrub in the shower. But my green eyes were too bright, too wide, too scared. Not that I could do anything about it. I was scared. I was stuck in a loop of what if’s. What if my trust was misplaced. What if he was a bad man, what if telling him got me killed. What if it all worked out?

I wasn’t entirely sure what was the worst outcome. If it turned out that Alpha Williams was a good man, then I honestly had no idea how to handle that, I had only ever known control and punishments, orders and suffering, how exactly would a kind man act?

“Amara?” Mrs H’s voice called down the hallway, her voice echoing off the stone walls in the mostly empty corridor before she stepped into the space and eyed me from top to toe. “You look beautiful.” She smiled softly, her eyes were glossy again, but she didn’t look sad this time. Content maybe. My eyes found the mirror again. It was amazing what a dress could do, it fit like a glove, highlighting curves I hadn’t known I possessed and flaring out from my hips.

“Have you made a decision on what you’re going to do?” The older woman asked, stepping up behind me and looking into the mirror over my shoulder. I lifted a shoulder before dropping it with an exhale.

“Not really.” I muttered. Truth be told, I knew what I needed to do, I was just terrified of taking the leap that it would require. Never had I put so much faith in one person, and I was scared shitless that he would let me down. I wasn’t sure I had the courage to take the leap, and I don’t think I would know until I was stood before him.

“It’s time to go.” She whispered, both hands on my shoulders squeezed reassuringly before she stepped back, with a deep breath to steady myself I turned in my new shoes and walked along the hallway.

“Did you tell the girls?” I asked as the thought crossed my mind, I was about to walk out into the group of fourteen girls, all of whom would no doubt have questions about my appearance.

“No, it’s not my place. It’s your choice what you tell them, but don’t worry about that tonight. You just focus on you.” She smiled, pushing open the door between the storeroom and the kitchen and leading the way inside the noisy room. That very quickly fell quiet as all eyes turned to me.

“Amara?” Tara questioned her eyes wide with worry, and I forget that she knew Amelia, Tara was the only girl here who was here at the time and was old enough to know what it all meant, and Amelia was the only girl that was ever allowed to dress in clothes other than the slaves uniform.

As much as I wished I could alleviate her fears I could barely manage to swallow, I was really going to do this. I was going to betray my own Alpha, for a man I hadn’t had more than two conversations with. I shook my head and lowered my eyes. If this didn’t work, if Mrs H was wrong, if I was wrong, I would never see these girls again, I would be dead before morning.

With one last silent glance around the room, at the amazed and worried expressions on the faces of the girls that were like sisters I bit my lip and left the kitchen.

Thankfully the house was quiet, not that I really expected much else this time of the day but still, I wasn’t sure I would be able to do this if I came face to face with one of the pack members, because while I didn’t seem to have many issues betraying my Alpha, I was worried about the knock-on effect it would have.

Would he take it out on those around him? On the girls or the pack?

I took the stairs one at a time, and slowly at that. Part of me felt like I was walking toward the guillotine, the part of me that couldn’t help but think the worst of people, because that was what my life had taught me to do and yet I couldn’t stop my feet from moving.

Before I knew it, before I knew what I was going to do, how I was going to tell him. I was stood in front of the carved wooden door and my fist was raised and knocking.

I must have looked like a deer in the headlights, an animal about to flee, and I had no doubt that the Alpha would be able to hear my knocking heart from inside his room, it was pounding loud enough in my ears to drown out the words my wolf spoke, not that I would be able to focus on them even if I could hear them.

The low murmur of words from beyond the door stopped, he wasn’t alone. I swallowed hard at that thought, at the faces that swam behind my closed eyes, his beta and Gamma. It was going to be hard enough trusting this man, without having to do so in front of the other leaders of his pack. I just wished I knew him better, I wished I understood why he was here in the first place.

Alpha Westley, conduced business with packs all across the lands, but it was never honest, too often the words were spoken in the quiet of the night, when not even us slaves could overhear, and the effects of those meetings were far reaching and lasting.

Kyle and the pack members I met in secret had no qualms in telling me the truth of what was happing outside of these walls, but even their knowledge was limited. It was frowned upon for pack members to leave the land, and even if it wasn’t, no one that lived here had the resources to go far, the Alpha made sure of that.

Footsteps sounded beyond the closed door and I forced my eyes open and my back straight, even as I wrung my hands and swallowed hard. My stomach rolled and I fought against the urge to be sick as one face after another flitted through my mind. Mrs H, the girls, Grace, Keira, Carly, Mia, Hannah, Pearl, Macy, Layla, Tara, Beth, Adalynn, Janie and Summer. Kyle and his family. The pack members, Marcus, Brent, James, Aiden and Johnny, all the people that had been kind, the people that were just trying to survive here in Red Mist. Would they still survive if I was no longer here?

Who would take food to the pack members? Who would teach the girls math and how to read and write? Love it or hate it this place, this house, was my home, and these people were my family.

I was never going to be here forever, I always knew that this life was temporary, but I had had no time to prepare, no time to say goodbye. I wasn’t ready to die. But I couldn’t lie to Alpha Williams either. My fate was sealed, in the hands of my fated mate, which I guess was always going to be the case.

The door swung open on smooth hinges, revealing the face that had stared equally in my dreams and nightmares over the last couple of days. His expression quickly turning to surprise as his eyes took me in.

“Amara?” The word was a breath, a quiet exhale that had bumps raising on my arms and tingles racing through me as my wolf whimpered at just the sight of him. I swallowed passed the lump in my throat, this was going to be harder than I thought.