I was shown to a bedroom by one of the servants, a petite red haired girl who looked about a few years younger than me and with an attitude.
The room was no bigger than my servant room in Ravenwood. It was only decorated with the bare minimum, a single bed, a little portrait of lilacs and a reading table. There was a little cubicle by the side and the redhead pointed at it and said. "You can keep your things in there"
I looked around the godforsaken place and muttered under my breath "I have nothing to keep"
"The Alpha will send for you later. You should try and get some rest…" and then she moved closer to me to whisper
"There is a backdoor down the hall in case you can't control yourself and need to scratch. The pack warriors are training in the Alpha's arena and they are more than willing to take turns on you. No need to waste that juice pouring out of you" she said with a wicked smirk like she was enjoying herself at my expense.
"What's your name?" I asked her in a calm voice. Her words didn't penetrate the armor I have constructed around me.
"Malia" She answered, corners of her mouth pulling into a smile.
I came closer to her. I was taller and older and my silver fur wolf was considerably stronger than her beta wolf.
"I bet the pack warriors are really good in bed, how many times have they gone down on you? Six? Seven times…or is it more?"
"What?!" She screamed bloody murder "I'm a virgin"
"No" I said firmly "You are a servant. Servants like slaves are nice for a reason. You can either be bitchy and of a high-class blood or a servant and nice. You can't be a bitchy servant, Malia. No one likes that"
I watched her scurry away from the little room. I sat down on the bed. It made a sneaky sound that echoed in the near empty room and it reminded me once again how totally screwed I was.
I grabbed the little portrait and I flung it across the room and it shattered on impact.
I crawled under the covers of the squeaky bed and I went right to sleep.
***
Six years earlier.
We ran. I could feel his presence behind me, calling after me. I ran faster than I ever have.
"Kai! Slow down!" Ryder screamed, his footsteps barely keeping up.
"Catch me if you can!" I yelled at him.
"Oh baby!" He cursed in his usual tone that told me just how much he wanted to catch me
Ryder picked up the pace. He was seventeen years old and going as far as any seventeen years old werewolf could go but I was sixteen and faster than anyone we knew.
This was our happy place, running wild in the forest tethering dangerously close to moonrise pack land…and having brunch afterwards in our childhood tree house courtesy of a prepacked lunch by Joshua's Mom.
"Josh, a little help here, buddy" He asked our best friend, who was following behind in his dirt bike.
"You know, you should have just taken a bike like me, Ry. But someone had something to prove. Look where that got that someone" Joshua teased.
"Is that a no?" Ryder asked.
"Yep. Keep up grandpa!" Joshua laughed and drove past him.
"Damn it!"
Soon, I stopped at our happy place…a tree house Joshua built for us at thirteen and waited for my boys to catch up.
Joshua arrived first in his dirt bike, he was grinning from ear to ear, this was his happy place too. He was always this free spirit, it was one of the things that made him Joshua McNeily, his ability to find happiness in simple things.
"Good to see you here, slowmo!" I teased him and as a response to my taunts, he drove around the mud ground and he used his dirt bike to kick up some muddy water. I was drenched in seconds.
"Ryder, help!" I screamed and just like that, he appeared out of nowhere and picked me up from the ground and placed me over his shoulders and took off, climbing the tree house. Josh chased us down in his dirt bike, spraying more mud on us.
"Stop it! I'm gonna get you!" I giggled while Ryder tried to evade him.
"Who's the slowmo now?" He yelled me. Teenage Joshua was a bit of a rascal "I'm the king of dirt bike!"
"Easy, tiger. Better not lose our lunch in your theatrics or you will be the king of fending yourself from a hungry Kai"
"Oh fuck!" this look of dread appeared on his face as he stopped the dirt bike "I forgot the food"
We both stopped climbing the tree house. We all knew what was going to happen next.
"You better run, buddy"
Ryder barely got his warning out, when I jumped from his back on Joshua, knocking him off the bike, we both fell on the muddy ground.
I was ready to eat him for lunch.
"A little help here" He asked from Ryder as he tried to save his right eye from my pointy finger.
Ryder jumped down and took out a chocolate chip bar from his pocket and wavered it in the air.
"Hey, Kitty-Kai"
I stopped and got off Joshua and snatched it from him.
I took a bite from it and moaned.
"This is better than sex" I commented. I was practically making love to it.
"What do you know? You are a virgin" Ryder said and helped Joshua up from the ground.
"Joshua is a virgin too. I guess, we all can't be Ryder Steele. All hot and steamy, with a billion girl falling into our laps everyday" I made a face and took another bite.
It bothered me a little…, maybe more than a little that he got around with so many girls knowing fully well that he was destined to be my husband.
I tried to shrug it off, because like Luna Ainsley keeps telling me, he was Ryder Steele…he was not going to dim his shine and not experience everything boys his age gets to experience because of someone like me. I was here to serve him, not the other way around.
And so, I shrug it off like I usually do even though I have been in love with him since I was twelve years old.
"Well, sex is overrated, Sunshine" Joshua blurted out.
Ryder and I stopped and looked at him. "Says the virgin" We both teased him.
I stopped and looked at Joshua. "I know why I am still virgin but what's your excuse?"
He laughed awkwardly. "i just haven't gotten around to it. Get off my butt, would ya?"
I laughed. Maybe he was just like me, waiting for the person he loves to notice and love him back.
"Or maybe, you haven't found the right girl" I told him. "That's okay, you know"
"I have" he blurted out but it looked like he regretted it instantly.
"Who?" I was eager to know.
He looked so uncomfortable.
"Come on Joshua. Tell us"
"It's no one you know. Forget I said anything" he murmured and hide his true emotions behind his easy going smile.
I hated it when he did that.
"Josh-"
"Leave him be, love." It was Ryder. "He will tell us when he's ready. Come on, we should get home. We have some chores to do" Ryder said and took my hand.
"I think you mean I have some chores to do. You are the Alpha's son and I am the slave"
"Jeez, don't say that!" He murmured. I knew how much he hated it when I said it. "Come on"
We started walking away but Joshua stayed put.
"Are you coming?" I asked him.
"Nah. I have errands. I will catch up with you later"