Agnes POV

Cyrus did not return until hours later. At first, I had been bored to death and roamed around the palace, trying to explore places of my own. I had initially considered escaping from this place but it was not worth it. We had spent two days on the road and I was sure it was not a journey I could make on my own if I intended to return home. 

From what I had speculated, there was no safer place here than the palace. The neighboring city belonged to the Southern Wolves and that zone was not human friendly. Stepping one foot in there meant I was going to die and never see my siblings again. They were the only family I wanted to return to. 

Midway into my wandering, I stumbled upon a large building that happened to be the library and I had picked up a book that told the story of how werewolves came to be. I had been so intrigued by reading about their history, culture, and ceremonies that I did not notice how much time had gone by. One thing that intrigued me the most about the wolves was how most of them had a soulmate also known as 'mates'. They were not like us humans who had to search far and wide to find the perfect match. Theirs was sent straight from their goddess which I found beautiful. 

At some point during my reading, I wished I was a werewolf.

When I looked out of the window and saw how pitch dark it was outside, that was when I came to my senses and ran back to Alpha Cyrus quarters. I exhaled in relief when I saw that he was not yet back and prepared a bath for him. 

Just as I was done, he waltzed into the room. He regarded me with emotionless eyes as he took off his shirt and I swallowed hard, looking away. 

"Has my bath been prepared?" He asked in a cold voice. 

I nodded, unable to speak for some reason. 

"Good."

I stood in the middle of the room, waiting to hear his call of complaint from the bathroom about the water either being too hot or too cold but there was none. He came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, still drenched in water and a towel hanging lazily on his waist; exposing a dangerous v-line. 

He sat in front of his vanity table and after more minutes of silence, he finally broke it. "Do I have to tell you that you are meant to get me ready for bed? I need my hair toweled dry and my skincare routine prepared."

I wanted to be smart with him and tell him I was not briefed about anything here so he could not just assume what I was supposed to do but I kept quiet, seeing that he was in a bad mood. 

A part of me wanted to know what caused the sudden soreness in his mood. It was not as though he was particularly jovial before now, but there was an obvious change in his mood.

The curious part of me could not resist asking. "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" He asked with a sigh. 

"Your mood—"

"Is none of your business," he snapped. "The things you need are in that drawer."

"Right," I muttered, opening the drawer. I pulled out a towel and wrapped it around his head, gently massaging his scalp and allowing the fabric to soak up the water from his hair. Then when most of it had been soaked up, I took a comb and went through the strands of hair. When that was done, I dropped the comb and wrapped his hair in another towel. 

"What next?" I asked him. 

"I feel tense, help me with a shoulder massage."

"Okay," I answered. I was not sure how to give one but I decided to try. Gingerly, I placed my fingers on his shoulders and applied a little bit of pressure, moving in a circular motion. 

He placed his hand on my shoulders suddenly and I froze. There seemed to be a strange crackle of great intensity as his hands touched mine. I looked at him through the mirror, and I could feel something strange moving in my tummy. 

There was a strange voice inside me, whispering something I could not particularly hear. It seemed as though something was blocking the voice from speaking up.

His hands traveled up my arm slowly, sending an oddly delicious feeling between my legs as he slowly brought my fingers down to his bare chest. My heart throbbed and I could feel as though there was a form of connection between the two of us. Like something was binding us.

I watched him through the mirror and as if under a spell, he stood up and faced me. Spinning me around, I found myself being carried and gently placed on the vanity table. He stood between my legs, sending heat waves through my thighs and his right thumb parted my lips slowly. His hands dropped to my neck and drew slowly as he painfully seduced circles with them. He leaned in closer, our noses rubbing each other and his lips only mere inches away from mine. His left hand was on my thigh, inching upwards very slowly.

Something within me whispered again but I could not decipher what it was saying. 

"You're human." His hot breath fanned my face. It was a statement but it seemed more like a question to me. 

"Yes," I answered shakily, wanting more. I needed to satisfy that hunger that he had awakened in me.

"And my slave..."

"As of three days ago, yes." My voice had become a breathy whisper.

"This can't be." A look of confusion appeared on his face as he looked at me. With a sigh, and in a strangled voice, Alpha Cyrus said. "I can't accept you as my mate.”

Agnes POV

I was taken aback at first but it did not take me long to recover.

Mate.

But that was not possible. That much I knew he was right about or at least from the books I�d read in the library, we could not be mates. That only happened between werewolves of which I was clearly not.

I looked at him and I could see that his confusion was genuine. He could feel something deeply that I felt only vaguely.

�Leave, Agnes, Leave!� He barked but I could not bring myself to.

Everything around me felt like a haze. It was as though my body was not mine and it refused to believe that I had just been rejected by an Alpha.

�I I want to� I can't�� I struggled to say.

He looked at me alarmed, cleared his throat and I saw him try to stand up from the bath but he could not either. It was as though a force stronger than us was pinning us down. Whatever it was, we were powerless against it.

�You're a witch. That is the only explanation and I swear�� but he could not talk and in panic I rushed forward to help but all of a sudden the spell or whatever it was was broken and I was myself once more.

�What was that?� I asked, panting in exhaustion. I was exhausted even though I had only just been standing.

�Leave Agnes,� his voice sounded weak and I could tell he was trying to hide it. I made no comment however and left him.

When I went to bed that night my head felt as though it was submerged in water and I began to cry as though in despair or as though I were mourning someone. This was all very strange to me. Why did I feel this anguish? This ache in my heart when nothing was wrong?

I sighed as I turned for the nth time in my lumpy mattress. It was not exactly true that nothing was wrong because everything had fallen apart for me. Just a few days ago I had everything; I had my family no matter how imperfect and now? I had lost my freedom and the trust of my parents.

My stepfather's betrayal was still fresh in my memory and my mother's laxity and refusal to step up still filled me with bitterness. I knew the slave code; it was only possible if both parents gave their consent. Her refusal to go against Judas� decision had been her consent and it hurt like a stab wound. However painful that was not the cause of the tears streaming down my cheeks.

�Seduce him, might make the job easier. At least you'll get paid extra for that. His last mistress? He bought her a white diamond necklace, can you believe that?� It was Eunice, my roommate. I only looked at her askance when she said this.

�Are you not in tears because your job is hard? He is mean and makes you work non-stop?� she quipped when she saw the blank expression on my face.

�I'm not crying because of the Alpha; my parents sold me into slavery, it is very painful,� I replied although I knew that was not the cause of my tears. I did not know the reason for my tears as well and telling her that would only make me appear insane.

�My husband sold me into slavery; I'm certain your parents told you it was the best decision they could make for the rest of the family. It was what my husband told me, he said he was doing it to give our children a better life but you know what? He married a much younger woman afterwards and sent my children back to my parents. He was meant to love me and protect my dignity and honour but he sold me and betrayed our love. Do you know Laura? No, you don't. Her twin sold her and Caprice? She was sold by her older brothers.�

We fell quiet after this. I needed a moment to process what she had just told me. It would mean then that humans were scary perhaps even more so than these feral creatures we had been sold to serve.

�I'm sorry Eunice, I did not know,� I felt selfish for sharing what I had just been through. It seemed the others had it worse than I did. I suddenly felt as though I had no right to the emotions going through me right now.

�You have nothing to be sorry about, love. It's the way of the world,� she gave me a kind smile and I did my best to return it.

�How do you cope?� I asked.

�I live for each day. I just keep living; hoping for the next minute to be better,� she answered with a bitter smile.

�I'm so sorry about your husband, I��

�No. You are not and you shouldn't be. None of us should. They are the ones who should be sorry Agnes, not us. Now wipe your tears and get some sleep, you have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow,� she said to me.

I shut my eyes but I could not sleep. I had a ringing headache. It was like an alarm had gone off in my head trying to tell me something or warn me of something but I did not know what. The anguish in my heart was still there although it was less painful now.

I started to count like my mother had taught me to do whenever I had a hard time processing my emotions.

When I got to the number 100, an image flashed in my head.

It was the image of a wolf wounded in the middle of a war.

The image was gone before I could make out any more details.

I sat up in a cold sweat trying to figure out why such an image would flash in my mind when I had not imagined it.

Cyrus POV

I could not comprehend what had happened to me just last night. There was no explanation for it. I could not even get one because I was the Alpha. I was supposed to know everything. The only people I could confide in were perhaps the priest and Theo but even at that they were still my subordinates and my ego could not suffer injury. Howbeit, I had never read in any literature that the moon goddess would gift a werewolf, especially an Alpha, a human as a mate.

I was in a fix. The only explanation I could think of was that Agnes was a witch; she had to be. But still admitting that a witch could cloud my senses and pretend to be my mate would be exposing a weakness and I could not let that happen.

�Your Majesty? You are very distracted about something, do you mind sharing?� It was Theo at our daily meetings in the morning. I had ruminated about the possibility of Agnes being my mate or a witch all night and I still had no answers.

�What? I� I am alright Theo. I think I need a mistress,� I said with a devilish smile trying to mask my worry.

�Changing mistresses like your underwear is not going to make Agatha come back or make it hurt less. What you need is a woman that can be your Luna. Alpha Cyrus you need a mate. Your throne is unstable if you have no heir. If you were to die and leave the throne without a heir you would plunge the pack into pandemonium and you know it all too well,� it was the same anthem Theo changed to my ears every morning, I only smiled in return. At the moment I had problems bigger than producing an heir. I had to figure out what the hell Agnes was, what she had done to me and more importantly how to make sure that it never happened again.

�Lord Marshall's daughter, she is very beautiful,� I said as though I had not heard a word he had said.

�She is a noble lady. If you want her you will have to ask her father's consent and more importantly marry her. I will not object if you want her as your mate, she is a decent woman,� said Theo.

�Theo, I am not getting a mate. Let's leave things at that, shall we?�

�I understand your Majesty. We shall table this another time,� he responded.

Sometimes I missed Theo, my best friend. I did not like him as my right hand. He was too stoic, too strict, he was too perfect a right hand but I understood him I knew all too well why he had to change: betrayal. We had been betrayed. I remembered it all too well and it still have me the shivers.

�To more important things. Was my blood enough to pacify the south?�

�You know nothing ever is but for now they'll behave,� he returned.

�We need a permanent solution.�

�Your advisors are brainstorming night and day as I am, we will come up with a strategy but one of the things that would help immensely is��

�If I produce an heir. It is all our conversations ever come to, doesn't it? Do you and the rest of my subjects think of me as a breeding horse?�

�Of course not but it is important that you procreate.�

�That will not happen soon so we need to come up with a better solution to our crisis, okay?�

�Your new slave. Agnes. She is not here. Is she a traitor? Have you killed her already?� I had thought he would not ask but I should have known that nothing ever escaped Theo.

�I did not want to disturb her this morning, I had her run errands for me until very late last night,� I replied off handedly. The thing with Agnes was something I had to deal with myself.

�If you need me to take care of her, you only need to say the word,� replied Theo.

�I don't need you doing anything about her, Theo. She's just a human slave, nothing more,� I replied, getting annoyed.

�You sound as though you want that to be true. What did you discover about her?�

�It is my business, Theo. Whatever it is and there is nothing.�

�Your business is the business of the pack.�

�There is nothing about Agnes that is off or odd.�

�You have never cared enough not to disturb anyone before. Are you sleeping with her?�

�No.�

�So?�

�So?� I echoed.

�Why do you care?�

�Theo please, drop it. I assure you there is nothing odd about her not being here this morning. Shall we discuss something else?� I said with finality in my voice. I could read from his expression that he wanted to dispute this but he kept mum.

�A bacterial outbreak was reported last night in one of the border towns. The situation is under control as we speak. I have ensured that the town is quarantined so it does not spread to other places. Our physicians are still trying to determine the cause of the outbreak,� Theo changed the topic and I could not be more grateful for it.

�Are there suspicions it could be the doing of the South?� I asked. The south was like a bad toothache for me.

�No, it is an impoverished town. I believe the poor living conditions contributed to it. Once we have the disease under control we have to look into the housing conditions there,� replied Theo.

�The governor in charge of that town?�

�He is in prison as we speak. I arrested him much earlier this morning. He was trying to escape, he had been stealing funds meant for the town.�

�Have him tried this afternoon, I want a public execution to serve as a warning to any person who tries to steal from me.�

�An execution might pose some problems. He is a nephew to Lord Salmon.�