Royals

Chapter Three - Shifting Times

The days passed in a blur. The silver on Rosalie’s wrists burned more by the day as her first shift approached. It had been almost 2 weeks since the fall of the kingdom, and Rosalie had managed to piece together parts of the story from guards stationed outside her door with loose lips. Her hearing as a Royal Lycan was even more finely tuned, thankfully the warriors who guarded her door were too poorly educated to know that and they gave away a lot of information whilst Rosalie was stuck in her bedroom.

A friendly maid came and fed her daily, and she was allowed two highly guarded bathroom breaks per day, but besides that Rosalie spent her entire day chained to the bed. Grimblewald came and visited her several times, their conversations becoming more heated with every exchange. Rosalie was yet to see Grimblewalds mother, Cecilia, no doubt Grimblewald had warned her of Rosalie’s fury.

From what Rosalie could gather, Grimblewald and his mother had planned the attack with the rogues for months. Arming them with the antidote to the kingdom's protective poisonous fog, and giving them details of where the weakness in the kingdom's outer walls lay, Grimblewald had practically handed them the keys to the kingdom. His price? Rosalie. In exchange of all this information, Grimblewald had demanded he and his mother stay in the castle, and a small amount of gold, but his main stipulation was that he was handed Rosalie unharmed, and she was to be his mate. The rogue leader would have simply killed her, so it was a great bargain for him. Rosalie swore that the day she broke free of her chains, she would hunt and kill every single rogue soldier. Over the last two weeks she had heard her people being beaten, r***d, their homes ransacked and destroyed and more often than not, set aflame, killing several families in the process. Rosalie still felt the pack bond with them all, she felt their pain, and it only served to feed her hunger for revenge.

“Hello, my little rose petal” Grimblewald strode into the room. The evil smile on his face turned Rosalie’s stomach, his teeth were beginning to rot. Rose petal was his new nickname for her, along with “little pet”, both of which Rosalie wished to erase from her memory as soon as possible.

“Grimblewald” Rosalie replied, trying to sound as bored as possible. Screaming at him didn’t work, so she hoped pretending he bored her to death may help to turn him away from her. He was becoming more sickly looking by the day though. Perhaps she would get lucky and he’d die before her first shift.

Grimblewald seemed annoyed by her new indifference “Where’s the fire in you today, my little rose petal? Are you not feeling well?”

“I’m feeling fine thank you” Rosalie replied, again trying to sound as disinterested as possible.

“Ah, you must be getting bored in here all alone, my little pet” Grimblewald pulled a chair up next to Rosalie’s bed, his greasy hair falling in strands in front of his face. He sat next to her, his eyes running over her body as she remained tied to her bedposts. Grimblewald reached a shaky hand out towards her, and paused over her chest. He gave her one evil smile, something dark flashing across his eyes before he started fondling her breast. Rosalie’s stomach turned in disgust, thank god she hadn’t had any food yet today. Grimblewalds breathing became faster as he ran his hands down the front of her dress, his eyes looking at her body almost in wonder. His hands were shaking as he felt the top of her thighs.

“Perhaps we need to make today a little more interesting for you, my little rose petal” Grimblewald said, his breathing still hard and fast.

“You disgust me, and your touch does nothing but make my day even worse” Rosalie said, her lip turning up both at the sight and smell of him. “I would rather die than feel your disgusting touch again”.

Grimblewalds expression changed. Darkness flashed across his eyes again, and Rosalie realised his Lycan was fighting to take over. “MINE!” Grimblewald rumbled, and he stood up, stumbling a few steps backwards, knocking down the chair as he moved. Thick black fur started sprouting out of his face and arms. Rosalie watched as he contorted, shifting into his Lycan. When the shift was complete, Grimblewalds Lycan Wilbert took hold. I recognised Wilbert, but he looked extremely unwell. His fur still had the same oily sheen, but the yellow of his eyes had dulled from a bright, acid yellow to a more pale, corn coloured hue. His fur was missing in patches, and as he shook himself out on all fours, I could see more of it falling to the floor. He was extremely thin, and I could smell the faint scent of decay. Wilbert looked at me, breathing deeply, but he looked like he barely recognised me, his eyes flitting from possessiveness to confusion. Wilberts eyes flashed back to Grimblewalds usual brown, as Grimblewald retook control.

Rosalie watched as Grimblewald shifted back into his human form, and he stood in front of her completely naked. Rosalie could see every bone, and his body was littered with bruises. Grimblewalds face had a deep frown, and he strode towards Rosalie’s closet, where he pulled out a large baggy top which he pulled over himself.

“I took the liberty of moving some of my clothes in here already, as we will be mated soon”.

Rosalie simply looked at Grimblewald in horror. She knew he was unwell, she could see that from his pallid skin and rotting teeth, and his drastic weight loss, but she had considered that the stress of his job. Although now she knew Grimblewald was behind the rogue attacks, why was he in such terrible shape?

“What.. What happened to you? What happened to Wilbert?”

Grimblewald held one of the posts of Rosalie’s bed, and sighed deeply. “I didn’t want you to see that, my little pet, but I am losing control more frequently now. I think Wilbert can sense your shift”

“Why would Wilbert be affected by my shift? Why do you both look so.. Terrible?”

Grimblewald chuckled under his breath “Ah Princess, you really have no idea of the sacrifices I have made for you, do you?”. He sat on the end of Rosalie’s bed, and she inspected his face from her tied up position. He ran his hands over her bedding as he spoke “Well Princess, I met my fated some months back, and it turns out rejection has affected my Lycan and I quite badly”. Rosalie blinked at him in shock. He had rejected his mate? That was against all their laws. She knew he was a man of few morals, but surely he knew that was a death sentence?

“Who was she?” Rosalie asked, thoroughly confused.

“A bakers daughter. I think the third or fourth of his spawn. She was young, but a fat little thing, and an omega no less. Of course, someone of my bloodline could not be mated to someone so weak, so ugly. Mother would never stand for it.”

“So you rejected her?? Do you know what they will do to you both!” Rosalie practically shouted, feeling pity for the poor girl Grimblewald had rejected.

“Jealous are you, rose petal? No need. The girl passed less than two weeks after my rejection, of course further proof that a lowly omega was not up to the job. No, she would never do, we need someone of far better blood to carry my bloodline on”.

Rosalie’s mind was racing. How long had they planned this? Grimblewald would die before long, that much was obvious. But why had they chosen her? Cecilia was willing to risk her sons life, rather than risk having an omega for a daughter in law. They were both even more deluded than Rosalie could ever imagine. Moreover, mating to Rosalie would not save Grimblewald from his death, the moon Goddess would still have her payment from him, but it would rob Rosalie of any chance of finding her true fated mate in his life. Tears started rolling down her face before she had the chance to stop them and hide her pain from the evil man staring at her.

Grimblewald crawled up the bed on top of her, and bent forward so he was whispering in her ear “So you see Princess, mating with me isn’t a choice, it’s life or death for me, and I’m not planning on leaving this life anytime soon”.

“You’re crazy! You will still die. The moon Goddess always collects her debts. But you will curse me to a life without finding my true mate too!”

“YOU HAVE NO LIFE WITHOUT ME!” Grimblewald screamed at her, completely losing his cool “You are only alive because of me, you will only live as long as I do. I know our plan will work, Mother has done her research, but even if it doesn’t, if I can’t have you then nobody can, seems a pretty winning situation to me” he hissed at her before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him.