Cursed And Crowned

chapter Five

Ophelia's POV

Nobody came.

Not a single soul stepped forward to help me, a tear slipped from the corner of my eye and Eric snickered.

“Are you finally ready to give in? Playing hard to get it doesn't look good on you.”

“No…” I maintained stubbornly, a flash of fury crossed his eyes before his iron grip tightened even more as his fingers sunk deeper into my soft flesh.

He growled, “Has becoming a stray wiped away any sense of self-preservation inside of you? I could kill you right now–No, I will if you keep testing me!” he said the veins in his forehead popping out as my mind gradually grew cloudy and the surroundings began to spin.

I choked out with much struggle, “You can't…kill me…you just said you need me so…”

He clenched his jaw, then swung me to the side finally releasing my neck. I gasped as my lungs cried out for air, as I was restoring my breath through ragged inhalation, he stepped forward.

“You're right, I can't kill you. That's the only way you could be more useless than you are now,” he said cockingly, ignoring the glaring fact that he had indirectly proven himself to be a useless Alpha by seeking out a banished Luna.

“What about your stray friends?”

My entire body tightened.

“This has nothing to do with them, don't get them involved Eric,” I said, as I stood up to my feet the bruises he had left on my neck stinging.

He smiled in satisfaction, knowing that he had hit a bullseye on my weakness.

“Who’s saying anything about getting them involved? They took care of my former mate all this time. I think they deserve my show of gratitude,”

It felt like my throat was closing up again even though his fingers were no longer wrapped around it.

Eric only sent a couple of his minions and that had been enough to overwhelm them, if he chose to attack them with full offensive force then.

I gritted my teeth imagining the unavoidable bloodshed, my body felt cold as an image of Ryker surrounded by the corpse of his friends–no, found family.

After everything he's done for me, I couldn't let that happen. I would protect him no matter what.

“Fine, I'll do what you want. But I need your word as alpha that you will stay as far away from them as possible,”

Eric contemplated my compromise for far too long.

“Are they really worth that much to you? I guess it makes sense since all of you are nothing more than rejects licking each other's wounds.”

“Sure, call us whatever you want, but do I have your word?” I insisted, my voice beginning to rise.

“Us? Since when did… never mind, you have my word, are you happy now?”

There was a tinge of mockery in his voice, but I didn't mind. How he saw me now made little to no difference.

He snapped his fingers and one of the guards came forward.

“Show her to her new living quarters,” he gave me a look from the corner of his eyes, expecting me to throw a fuss. But I didn't. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me getting riled up over his words.

Disappointed, he snapped at me; “I'm feeling generous, so you'll have the rest of today to rest. But you'll begin your work tomorrow morning without fail,”

“Ok.” I agreed mechanically.

He scoffed, then brushed past me, almost knocking me down to the ground again.

Jerk. It wasn't bad enough that he had me forcefully dragged here against my will. The b*stard had hoped I was crying alone in some corner of the woods, waiting for him.

“Let's go,” the guard nudged me roughly.

“You don't have to push, I can walk fine on my own two feet!” I hissed at the guard.

“Then move, I have to return to my duty post soon.” He said begrudgingly.

I wasn't taken aback when Eric announced I would be moved to a new room, in fact I was relieved, the farther away I was from him the better for me.

But when I saw my new ‘room’ I couldn't help but spin my head in that instant, staring at the guard from head to toe, quietly demanding an explanation with my eyes.

It was the abandoned storage room, just by the door being pushed open I was attacked by the sheer amount of dust that struck my face. The were several forgotten cardboard boxes, spider webs stringing in every imaginable corner, and a bed that looked like it was going to collapse if I stared at it too much.

“This is your room,” the guard announced emotionlessly, he was about to leave when I called out, “Hey!” He stopped but didn't turn around.

“What else do you want?” He grumbled inconsiderately.

“Are you sure that this is the room Alpha Eric wants me to use? It's filthy and disgusting–”

“If you don't like it then you can sleep in the hallway, I'm going back to my duty post!” the guard yelled at me dismissively and marched off.

I wanted to collapse, but I also wanted to scream. I walked back to the door and sighed. My pathetic reality slowly sank in like cold needles.

I knew he wasn't being kind when he told me to rest till tomorrow, he knew I would come to see a mess like this and end up having to deal with it.

Angrily, I stomped around searching for a maid. I found two and approached them asking politely if they could help me clean the storage room.

Both of the maids exchanged looks, and then one of them burst out into laughter the other didn't look so amused.

They must have recognized me.

“I can point you to where you'll find the cleaning supplies,” She said disdainfully.

Just when I thought my humiliation couldn't sink any deeper, I would be proven wrong.

“Where–”

“Now, now. What are both of you doing that's not the way to treat an honored guest?”

A sophisticated yet delicate looking lady approached and the maids bowed saying three words that completely shattered me.

“Greetings, Luna Gianna!”