CHAPTER THREE
CATHERINE’S POV
Suddenly, he pounced on me with a wild kiss which caused me to fall on the bed. His aggressiveness caused the dress to tear, leaving me bare-chested.
“Please don't do this to me”, I pleaded.
He looked at me once more and pressed his lips against mine, this time, in a gentle manner. I tried pushing him away but he was too strong for me. All my pleas fell on deaf ears, he pinned me on the bed with one hand while he used the other to get his pants off. I let out a loud painful moan when he forced his cork inside me.
I lied still, powerlessly as he had his way with me. This nightmare seemed to have come to an end when he groaned and rolled over the other side of the bed.
I hurriedly sat up and wrapped myself in the tattered dress and ran off to my room. As the door slammed shut behind me, my heart sank and the tears I had kept in, rolled down my cheeks uncontrollably.
Never in my life did I think I'd be subjected to this inhumane treatment. I closed my eyes to sleep, to escape the realities of the world I live in.
A stinging slap across my cheeks woke me up the next day.
“What are you still doing in bed, you stinky little rat?”
“I'm sorry Ma, no one came to wake me up”.
“Do you expect someone to wake you up? Don't you know the reason why you're here? Get out of my sight before I hit you again”.
By this, I hurriedly dressed up and stormed out. At the palace compound stood several servants like myself who were in queue patiently waiting for their turn to be assigned a chore.
I joined and soon it was my turn. “You're cleaning Princess Petra's quarters today, do it well and avoid trouble, the head maid instructed with disdain”.
I grabbed my cleaning tools and headed to Petras quarters. “Let's do this carefully and get out of here”, I whispered to my inner Wolf.
Her room was vast and had beautiful paintings on the wall. The beautiful chandeliers hanging on the ceilings gave the room a warm orange glow.
I started from the bedroom.
Moments later, Petra came in with someone, a man. I guess I'm invisible as neither of them looked my way.
From how he's dressed I could guess he's one of the palace guards. I wrapped up the cleaning of the bedroom quickly as the two sat on her bed.
I was almost done when the man came to pass again, this time alone. As he banged the door closed, the sound of a falling object caught my attention and I stuck my neck out to see what it was.
Wow”, I gasped
It was a beautiful gold ring.
I assumed it was for the man so I hurried after him to give it to him.
“Hello! Hello Sir!” I called out repeatedly but he was far gone to have heard me. I returned to my post,
“Ma’am, please your visitor left this behind”, I said, opening up my palm for her to see. “Keep it, he might come back for it.
“Yes, ma'am”. With this, I threw it into a small pocket on my apron and continued to work.
It was sunset and I was munching on some leftover rice balls. I couldn't make it to the kitchen on time and no one remembered to serve my plate.
I was untying my apron after staining it when suddenly, “All maids are to converge at the Alpha's yard!”, someone thundered.
His tone had some seriousness in it and I wondered what the meeting would be about. I threw my apron on my shoulder and hurried off to the yard.
Within the blink of an eye, the yard was filled with over 95 maids. I was wondering how swiftly the maids responded when murmurings from the crowd interrupted me.
It seemed the front man had announced something but I didn't hear.
“The Alpha….., Alpha’s…., treasure…” I stood there confused as people around continued to murmur incoherent words.
“What's going on?” I managed to ask a smallish maid standing beside me.
“Something from the Alpha's quarters is missing”. She relayed with a loud thin voice causing my ear to itch.
“What is it?”
“How would I know?”, she answered back.
The guards started the search, it was an aggressive one. They were touching any part they laid their hands on. Some were asked to take their dresses off while some were lucky to have only their underwears taken off. Soon it was my turn.
“Take off your underwear”, one guard instructed.
“Please go easy on me”, I pleaded.
I guess this annoyed him. He pulled it off forcefully causing it to tear. He moved his hands in between my thighs up to my tummy and under my breast. He then searched the two pockets on my shirt but he found nothing.
When he turned to leave, I immediately took the apron that had fallen during the rift and wrapped it around my waist.
He caught sight of it and quickly turned towards me. He forcefully grabbed it and started searching through it. He stretched his hand to give it back but he withdrew his hands instantly. He seemed to have touched something.
He gazed straight into my eyes and pulled up something.
The Gold Ring!
I had even forgotten about it.
“What is this?”, he asked.
He didn’t allow me to talk when he started dragging me. He threw me to the ground in front of the Alpha.
I looked around and saw Princess Petra standing by a pillar. When our gaze met, an evil gin formed on her face but I shunned it as she was my only hope out of this. I quickly ran up to her with tears tempting to fall.
“Ma’am….Ma’am, I held onto her legs. Please tell them, this isn't for the Alpha… The other man you..., I barely finished my statement when I felt a stinging pain across my cheeks.
“What are you blabbing about? Get out of my way, you thief!”. She feigned ignorance and made her way out of the yard, leaving me with my fate on the cold iced floor.
At this, the Alpha rose up, took a couple of steps towards me, and aggressively, held me by the hair.
“You must have eaten the heart of a lion to dare to steal from me?”. He grumbled. At this, I looked him in the eye with tears tirelessly rolling down my cheeks. My lips trembled and I couldn't find the right words to defend myself.
“Throw her into the dungeons. Torment her till she gets sense!” He ordered.