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.�