Bound By The Alpha’s Curse

Chapter2

MIRA

The sun hadn't even come up when the head maid kicked the door to my small room. I sat up quickly, my heart beating so fast, and she threw a pile of grey linens at my feet. Her name was Mrs. Gable, and she had worked in the palace since I was a child, but she didn't look at me with any recognition. She looked at me like I was a stain on the floor that she couldn't quite scrub away.

"Get up," she said, and her voice was cold. "The Alpha didn't bring you back here to sleep. You start in the kitchens, then the laundry, and I want the floors in the east wing scrubbed by noon. If I see you sitting down once, I’ll tell the Alpha you’re refusing to work."

I didn't argue with her. I knew Lucian wasn't bluffing about wanting a reason to kill me, and I wasn't going to give it to him. I got dressed in the plain clothes they provided and spent the next four hours hauling heavy crates of meat and vegetables. The other maids wouldn't look at me.

When I walked into a room, they stopped talking and moved to the other side, whispering and pointing. They made sure I got the hardest jobs. They sent me to the laundry to scrub the heavy training gear by hand, and the caustic soap made the skin on my knuckles raw and red, but I kept my head down.

I was carrying a bucket of dirty water toward the back exit when I saw a familiar face. Kara was standing near the herb garden, and she was wearing the light green tunic of a pack healer. She looked older, her curly hair tied back in a practical knot, but her eyes were just as warm as I remembered. When she saw me, she dropped the basket she was holding and ran over.

"Mira!" she cried out, and she pulled me into a hug before I could even set the bucket down. "I couldn't believe it when I heard you were back. I thought they were lying."

I hugged her back, and for the first time since I crossed the border, I felt like I could actually breathe. "I missed you, Kara."

She pulled away and looked me over, her eyes landing on my red, stinging hands. She frowned and immediately reached for my wrists. "You’re working in the laundry? Already? Mrs. Gable is a nightmare, Mira. She’s trying to test you."

"Let her try," I said, and I tried to smile. "I’ve survived worse than a head maid with a grudge."

"I'm working in the palace infirmary now," Kara said, and she leaned in closer so the guards wouldn't hear.

"I'll be by your side, no matter what happens. If you need anything, or if someone gives you trouble, you come find me. I won't let them treat you like a prisoner."

"I have to go," I said, seeing Mrs. Gable watching us from a window. "If I'm late with these floors, she'll have my head."

"Go," Kara whispered. "But find me later."

I spent the rest of the afternoon on my hands and knees in the east wing. My back was aching, and every muscle in my body felt like it was on fire. I was scrubbing the last stretch of the hallway when a pair of heavy black boots stopped right in front of my bucket. I looked up and saw Ronan Blake. He was Lucian’s second-in-command and his closest friend, and he looked like he wanted to wrap his hands around my throat.

"You missed a spot," he said, and his tone was flat.

I didn't move. "I'll get to it, Ronan."

"You shouldn't be here," he said, and he leaned down so he was closer to my level. "The Alpha is blinded by some old sentiment, but I'm not. I know you're up to something. You didn't just show up because you missed the rain in Seattle. You're going to try something funny, and when you do, I won't hesitate to deal with you myself. I don't care about your past with him. To me, you’re just a threat to my pack."

"I understand your worries," I said, and I looked him straight in the eyes. "You're his bodyguard. It’s your job to hate me. But I'm not here to hurt him."

"We'll see," Ronan said, and he kicked my bucket, splashing dirty water across the floor I had just finished cleaning. "Start over."

He walked away, and I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. I didn't cry. I just grabbed the rag and started scrubbing the floor again. By the time I was finished, the palace was quiet. The sun had gone down, and my body was screaming in pain. I dumped the water and started walking back toward the servants' quarters, my legs feeling like lead.

I turned a corner near the Alpha’s private study and ran right into a solid chest. I stumbled back, my boots slipping on the polished wood, and I saw Lucian. He was dressed in a dark sweater and jeans, looking less like an Alpha and more like the man I used to know.

He looked at me for a split second, his eyes scanning my tired face and my ruined hands, and then he tried to walk past me like I wasn't even there.

"Lucian, wait," I said, and I reached out and grabbed his arm.

He stopped instantly, and the air around him felt cold. He looked down at my hand on his sleeve, and then he looked at me. "Don't touch me, Mira."

"Please," I said, and I didn't let go. "Give me a chance to prove myself to you. I'm not just here to scrub floors and be a target for the council. I want to show you that I can be an asset to this pack again."

He let out a short, harsh laugh. "An asset? You're a liability. Every minute you're here, my people question my judgment. What could you possibly do to prove anything to me?"

"Let me train with the warriors," I said, and my voice was steady despite how nervous I felt. "Let me train by your side. You know how I fight. You know I was one of the best before you sent me away. If I can hold my own against your men, maybe they’ll start to respect me."

"No," he said bluntly.

"Why not?" I pushed, and I stepped into his path when he tried to move again. "Are you afraid I'll beat them? Or are you afraid of being near me?"

Lucian moved so fast I didn't even see it coming. He grabbed my shoulders and pinned me against the wall, his body pressing into mine. He was so close I could see the flecks of silver in his green eyes and the way his jaw was clenched tight. He didn't look angry; he looked exhausted and bitter.

"Why did you come back, Mira?" he asked, and his voice was a low, dangerous rumble. "Why after ten years? You could have stayed where you were. You could have lived a normal life away from all of this.

Why come back to a place that wants you dead?"

"Because this is my home," I whispered. "And because I couldn't leave things the way they were between us."

I reached up, my fingers trembling slightly, and I tried to touch his face. I wanted to see if his skin was still as warm as I remembered. But the moment my

fingertips brushed his cheek, he jerked away as if I had burned him.

He looked at me with a look of pure repulsion, and he dropped his hands from my shoulders like I was something filthy.