Chapter 7

• Alexandra: Obligation To The Alpha
• The moment the door closed behind me, I sprinted down the stairs like I was running away from a gruesome scene chasing me in a dream. I rushed past a couple pack members at the bottom of the stairs, both of them gasping when they saw the disheveled state I was in. I pushed into the kitchen, hopeful to seek refuge from the lingering eyes in the pack house.
• I looked down and realized that I forgot my brown servant dress in the Alpha’s bedroom. The two shifters from the pack had seen me bare, exposed to the Alpha’s liking. I was embarrassed, torturing myself in my own shame while I rushed to the corner of the kitchen and near a small space beside the stove. I gripped my knees to my body trying to shield myself. It was the first place I could think to hide, I knew that the kitchen staff had left for the night. I couldn’t help the uncontrollable sobs now taking over me, tears pouring out of my eyes and glistening against my knees.
• I couldn’t bear to live this miserable life anymore, I debated reaching for a kitchen knife in the drawer nearby and setting myself free with one clean cut from the hold of Alpha Axton. I didn’t want to belong to him. I couldn’t take it anymore.
• I didn’t notice that anyone had entered the kitchen, my head still firmly buried against my knees. A small panicked gulp pulled me out of my trance and my eyes met with Marilyn’s kind honey eyes. She closed her eyes and crouched down in front of me, pulling my body against hers in a warm embrace. “Alexandra…,” she whispered.
• Her words held no judgment and no pity which I appreciated in the moment, all she wanted to do was comfort me from the real life nightmare I had just lived. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” she said softly, standing up and closing the kitchen door to make it appear that all of the omegas were gone for the night. She let out a long sigh trying to decide where to start first.
• She turned and reached in the bottom cupboard, I could hear the joints in her knees cracking as she pulled what appeared to be a white dress made from an old tablecloth that I recognized. “Here, let’s get you dressed sweetheart,” she suggested in a warm motherly voice and pulled it over my head to cover the exposed parts of my body like she could see how ashamed I was. She pulled me towards a cracked wooden stool to sit on, the only chair we were permitted to have in the kitchen.
• Marilyn retrieved the medical kit that was hung on the wall, directly beside the door. It was low in stock, there were only a few bandages and loose alcohol pads left in the box but it was helpful whenever someone accidently cut themselves in the kitchen. We tried to hide the cuts if they happened, there was no doubt that we would be punished for being careless and clumsy. The shifters in the pack didn’t want drips of our blood in their food after all so we already strived to be careful.
• Marilyn examined the angry wounds on my face, the look on her face warned me that they were bad. I couldn’t stifle the cough from my chest, pulling up my hand over my mouth. Beads of blood were mixed within the phlegm on my palm. Marilyn reached for a paper towel and wiped the blood off. “Looks like he isn’t in a very forgiving mood, is he?”, she finally asked in a sigh.
• I nodded, watching her unwrap the wet alcohol pad and dab it around my eye that was swollen shut. I flinched when the wet alcohol pad made contact with my wound, the burning sensation making me gasp for air. “He’s been drinking excessively. I don’t think Charlotte’s going to be leaving his room at any point tonight. She’ll have her own battle wounds after to tend, I’m sure,” she continued. I know she was trying to be supportive but the tears wouldn’t stop pouring down my face, it was becoming excruciating to continue this life destiny had chosen for me.
• I sat up a little bit straighter when Marilyn moved behind me, the tender touch of her fingertips against my skin warmed my cold body. She unclipped the bright red collar around my neck, allowing air to flow easier into my lungs and revealing the dark purple mark now bruising my throat.
• I knew I wouldn’t last much longer as the abuse worsened, he would eventually kill me or my own agony would drive me to do it myself. “Please, help me. I’ll do it,” I finally blurted, surprising Marilyn and also myself. She ran her gentle fingers across the fingerprints Alpha Axton had left on my cheeks. They were slowly healing but since I was nearly wolfless, I didn’t have the same healing powers that other shifters had.
• She didn’t say a word, a long silence drifting between us. She nodded, “I need you to go to bed like you usually would, when the clock hits two, meet me in front of the slave chambers. I’ll be there waiting for you. I’ll need to reach Luna Sarah but I don’t think that’ll be a problem. Just please, don’t make a sound. You have to disappear undetected if you want to live,” she quietly explained. I worried that I made the wrong decision, the sudden fear in her eyes made me uneasy that I would even set foot on Broken Ridge territory.
• Marilyn finished tending to my wounds and bruises, placing a glass of water in front of me to ease the blood that I kept coughing up. She reached into the refrigerator and pulled out the leftovers of the slave meals from dinner earlier. It was the same as every night, bread drenched in milk but I was thankful that there were any leftovers for me. Second servings were prohibited as Alpha Axton didn’t want to spoil the slaves.
• I devoured the dinner she had given me, it filled my stomach just enough to seize the growling. The kitchen door flew open behind me, a barely standing Charlotte stood in the doorway. She was nearly unrecognizable, her wounds resembling mine but much more angry. Marilyn shrieked when her eyes landed on Charlotte’s body, rushing to steady her in her arms. Charlotte whipped my brown ragged dress at me, “you fucking forgot this and it cost me a beating,” she spit out.
• My heart fell into the pit of my stomach, I couldn’t handle the guilt that I had cost her. It was such a brutal and merciless punishment for my mistakes. “I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“, I stuttered. “Save it. You almost just got me killed,” she said, cutting me off before I could continue.
• My eyes shifted to the floor, grief flooding my chest. Alpha Axton almost killed Charlotte because of me. It didn’t matter how hard I tried, I was always failing myself and those around me. “Alexandra, I should get Charlotte cleaned up. I think it’s time you head to bed, tomorrow will be an even longer day until you learn how to please Alpha Axton,” Marilyn interrupted. She bit her lip like she was deep in thought and nodded at me.
• I stood up from the wooden stool, the crack on the seat engraving it’s mark on my skin underneath the white dress Marilyn had given me. “I didn’t mean to, I’ll do better,” I whispered in Charlotte’s direction and gripped the gold doorknob, pulling the door open and quietly dreading my footsteps so they wouldn’t be heard through the pack house and into the slave chambers.