Chapter4
1265 Words
Amelia's POV.
I didn't trust it. The silence and the space. The way they let me have my own freedom.
It felt wrong. Too wrong to witness.
I stood in the middle of the room Alpha Kaden had left me in, my fingers wrapped tightly around the edge of my bag.
No one had shouted at me yet. No one even raised a hand to my face or bothered to hit me. I saw people walking around the packhouse but no one told me what to do.
My chest tightened, this had to be a test. Logan had done something like this to me.
Yes, it was a test to see if I was smart.
What should I do?
+
The room was too big when I walked in. Too clean and also too soft. The bed alone looked like something meant for an Alpha, I was scared to move towards it.
Instead, I steadied where I was, near the door and close to the exit, it was safer that way.
Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours, I couldn't tell. Every sound made me flinch, every movement made my heart pump blood faster. I heard footsteps in the hallway and voices in the distance, the faint clatter of something in the kitchen caught me off guard, I flinched so much my heart ached.
Time passed by and My heart wouldn't slow down.
A knock came later. It was soft and friendly but I froze.
“Come in.” I whispered automatically then immediately regretted it. The door opened. A woman stepped in, carrying folded clothes. She paused when she saw me standing in the same spot.
“You haven't moved.” She said gently. I didn't respond. Her eyes softened.
“I'm Mara.” She added, “I handle most of the household here.”
Still, I said nothing, I watched her carefully. People who sounded kind were usually the worst.
“These are for you,” she said, placing the clothes on the bed. I glanced at them. They were new and clean. Too clean.
“I… I don't need them.” I murmured. She blinked, “Alpha Kaden asked for them.”
That made my stomach twist. If course he did. There were always orders.
“Try them on,” she said softly. My grip tightened on my bag.
“I'll wear what I have.”
Her expression shifted slightly, the lines on her forehead deep but not with anger. She just looked… lost.
“You don't have to earn basic things here.” She said. I looked at her then, really looked.
“That's not how it works,” I whispered.
Silence stretched between us, then—
Footsteps. They were heavy and familiar, my body tensed instantly. Mara stepped back just as the door opened again.
Alpha Kaden.
His presence filled the room immediately. It was heavy, commanding but yet not fearful. His eyes landed on me first, of course they did, they had to. I was his property now.
“You're still standing.”
It wasn't a question. I swallowed hard.
“Yes.”
His gaze flicked briefly to the untouched clothes and then back to me.
“You also haven't eaten.” Another statement. I lowered my eyes to the tray and then to my feet.
“I'm not hungry.”
A lie. My stomach twisted painfully. He didn't respond immediately, he just watched, like he was trying to figure something out.
“Leave,” he told Mara. She hesitated for a second and then nodded before she slipped out quietly.
The door closed behind her, now it was just us. My pulse spiked.
“Sit.”
The word was calm but firm. I didn't move. “I—-”
“Sit, Amelia.”
Stranger this time. My legs moved before I could stop them. I sat on the edge of the bed, stiff and ready to stand again if needed. He walked closer. Slow but measured. With every step he made, my chest grew tighter.
He stopped in front of me, a little too close. “You're waiting.” He said.
I frowned slightly, “For what?”
“For permission to exist.”
My breath caught. I didn't answer because he wasn't wrong.
“You don't need that here, “ he continued. I almost laughed. A small, broken, sound caught in my throat instead.
“Everyone needs permission,”I said quietly.
“Not in my house.”
My eyes lifted slightly. Just enough to see him. “You'll learn the difference.”
Silence fell again, but this one was different. Heavier, focused.
“Eat.” He said.
“I'm fine.” wrong answer. I realized it too late. His jaw tightened.
“Don't lie to me.”
My fingers curled into the favor of my dress.
“I'm not–”
“You're starving.”
The words hit me harder than any slap because they were true.
“I don't—” I started, then stopped, because I didn't know how to explain it. That food wasn't just food.
It was control. It was reward. It was something that could be taken away at any second. His voice dropped. Quieter. But more dangerous.
“Who decides when you eat?”
My chest tightened.
“I—”
“Your father?”
Silence. “Your brother?”
My throat closed. He exhaled slowly. Like he already had his answer.
“That ends now.”
My eyes snapped to his. I shouldn't have looked, but I did.
“You eat when you're hungry,” he said. “You rest when you're tired.”
It sounded simple. Too simple. Like something from a world I didn't belong.
“I don't know how.” I admitted before I could stop myself. The words slipped out. Soft.
Broken and real. Something in his expression shifted. Not pity, never that.
Something else. Something I couldn't name.
“Then you'll learn.”
A knock interrupted us. Sharp this time. Kaden didn't turn. “Come in.”
The door opened. Ethan.
His eyes landed on me immediately. Warm. Curious.
“So this is her.” he said lightly. My stomach dropped. Kaden's presence shifted instantly. Colder. Sharper. “Get out.”
Ethan raised a brow. “Already? I just got here “
“I said. Get out.”
The room went still.
Ethan's smile didn't fully fade. But something behind it did.
“Relax.” He said, “I just wanted to meet her.”
Kaden stepped slightly in front of me, blocking me from view. He was… protective.
Or was it possessive? The way he would treat a slave if they were about to be re-bought?
“You've seen her,” he said, “No, leave.”
A beat passed. Then Ethan chuckled softly.
“Interesting.” He muttered. His gaze flicked past Kaden straight to me.
For a second, something felt wrong but before understanding settled in me, he turned and left.
The door shut. Silence returned and it wasn't calm anymore. It was warning.
-
Kaden didn't move for a moment. Then—
“Stay away from him.”
My heart skipped. “What?”
“Ethan,” he said. “You don't speak to him. You don't follow him and you definitely do not trust him.”
Confusion flick
ered through me. “But he—”
“Amelia.”
My name. Sharp and final.
“Stay away from him.”
This time I didn't argue because something in his voice told me–
This was not a suggestion.
- Writer
