Time at the castle feels like a time warp. My days and weeks bleed into each other. I wake up every day at roughly six in the morning, get ready, and get to work. My days end at around nine at night. My daily chores are often cleaning, organizing, and sometimes cooking with Miss Katherine. Elijah didn't head that mean man's warning, and often is around the group of us. I've made three other friends aside from Elijah. That mean man is known as Carson McKinley. He's one of the main guards and a rude person to everyone.
"Thea," Fiona, my friend, came running up to me. "You won't believe what's going on." She smiled at me, making me concerned. "The King and Queen are reprimanding McKinley in front of other alphas." I scoffed and shook my head.
"I imagine that's a blow to his ego." Casper, my other friend, spoke joking with William, our last friend.
"Yeah, that just means he's going to be a terror for all of us to deal with." William sighed and took a seat near the counter. "Thea," I grunted quietly to tell him to continue. "You think we'd be able to go to the study later with Prince Elijah? I like reading the books in there."
"If Prince Elijah says it's okay, I feel as though we'll be okay," Fiona said quietly, making me nod once. "We'll let you finish. See you for dinner." She smiled before the three of them left me to my organizing. I was walking into the main office to see if the King needed anything when someone fell into me, causing me to fall. When I looked, I saw that it was Anna, the only daughter.
"Sorry, Thea." Her voice sounded broken, her face was red with a handprint. When I looked up, it was some man who was not her family. She tried to keep her tears in, but no one would be able to in this scenario. She's twelve, no one should be hurting a child. There was a commotion around the two of us, yelling, perfume and cologne, growling, the works. I focused on Anna, making sure she was okay. We were both kneeling; I checked her face to see if there was blood. "Sorry," I shook my head and gently covered her eyes for a moment. She held my hand with both of hers as if she were grounding herself. She brought my hand from her eyes when she calmed down, still holding my hand gently. I stood up and brought her to her feet. She smiled at me gently, telling me she was okay. I watched as she went to take her place by her mother when her mother's face contorted into fear. "Anna!" Her mother screamed, but my body was already between the alpha, attempting to mark her without consent. My body moved on its own as if I knew already. The entire room felt still, silence surrounded us.
"Thea," The Queen said quietly in shock. This was the first time I've ever let a rough growl from my throat. I was angry because Anna is twelve and this man is double her age, if not more. Anna turned in my arms to look up at me. I had my left arm around her, bringing her close to my chest and make her nape impossible to get to. My right forearm was between this man's teeth as he tried to bite her nape. I let Anna go when the King retrieved her. The man hadn't let go, as if he were paralyzed with his inner beast, not understanding he could move. There was a lot of pressure on my arm, it felt terrible. There was blood seeping from the puncture wounds on my arm. I was controlling him with my arm at the moment. An alpha's jaw locks after attempting to bite the nape; most don't know there's a twenty-second window to control their movements once they latch on. I watched Anna hugging her mother tightly, her father placing himself between them and anyone else. The man released my arm finally. He stood looking at me in sheer anger before someone grabbed him roughly.
"Marking without consent is illegal, and punishable by death." The King's voice was rough and full of anger. "You also assaulted my servant." I felt my entire body shake as I heard Anna cry into her mother's neck. My heart sped up; I felt it lurch in my chest at the sob she let out. The man was removed from the room. I felt the heat from someone's hand, forcing me to slap the hand before it reached my arm. I met the person's gaze; it was Elijah.
"Come on," He said quietly as he looked at my arm. I grunted and went to leave, but a guard blocked me.
"Thea," The King spoke quietly. "Thank you," He seemed in shock still. "Your reaction tells me you've had to do that more than a few times." His words made me scream internally. "You're quicker than even me. Your reaction and timing were perfect." I felt the blood seep into my sleeve. "Bring the doctor; she needs her arm looked at." I don't need their help. I'm not a damsel in distress; I can handle this on my own.
"Did you really react that quickly?" Fiona said in awe when we were eating dinner.
"She was faster than my dad," Elijah said quietly. "It's honorable, Thea." I nodded once and took care of my dishes before locking myself in my room for the night. As I changed into my nightclothes, I looked at myself in the mirror. Scars wrapped my body from abuse or fighting. Some of the scars were old and white, others were fresh and raised, pink like a flower- disgusting. Shaking my head, I laid down for the night. I don't know how long I'll be able to function here.
The next year dragged. Situations similar to that first one with Anna continued to happen. As we all grew older with time, the more intense situations started to grow. The older the Royal children got, the more protection intensified. At this point, it was growing more impossible to survive here. The evil man hasn't been fired or killed yet, and as some of the female omegas grow older, the more disgusting he's grown.
"Thea," Casper's voice echoed, making me look to him. "You're so meticulous about things; it's refreshing." He leaned against the wall as I organized the study room. "The group of us were going to go into the garden later; you should join us. You haven't really left the castle since you got here a year and a half ago. You're allowed outside." I shrugged and continued to organize and clean. "I'll come to get you in a few hours, then we'll all go into the garden. It'll be good for you."
The hours passed by quickly. I was bombarded by noise when I turned the corner into the main area of the castle. The group of servants and Elijah were standing in wait. Anna and their younger brother Asher appeared from the left.
"They said we could go if Thea goes," Anna said, smiling. "She's going to love the flowers; she's always on the balcony looking out at the garden. She's so precious."
I went to turn the other way when I was stopped by William. He gave me a look with crossed arms. I huffed and walked towards the group of people. I was hesitant to step outside; it's easier to be left alone and not draw attention to things like this. I lost track of time when we were outside. I was listening to everyone having fun, talking, and laughing. I walked quietly and looked at the different types of plants in the garden. I stopped when I saw the red dahlias. They were so pretty, even, and perfect. The garden is always well-kept; I was always envious of those who got to work in the garden. When I stood up, I saw that the group was further along, so I caught up. I again got lost in looking at the flowers and plants that I didn't realize how far into the garden we were.
"Guys, we shouldn't go further," William said, earning their attention. I looked around and saw how far in we actually were, how close we were to the edge. We were told never to go near the woods around the castle.
"Yeah, let's head back," Fiona said, agreeing with the two of us. Elijah waved us off and shook his head.
"We'll be fine. There are men that roam our woods to make sure there aren't stragglers. We're not even at the edge yet." His siblings agreed with him, and we watched them get closer. At this point, we were too far to get help quickly if something happened to one of them. William attempted to get them to listen and go back, but none of them would listen.
My stomach dropped all of a sudden, the scent and sound of something unfamiliar. I ran in front of the Royals and shoved them back. The entire group looked at me, confused. I pointed to the castle with a serious look. My body felt panicked, and nothing had happened. They listened and started our way back to the castle at a quicker pace. I fell behind a little bit; I don't know why. I felt calmer back here than in front of the group or in the group. The scent was getting stronger as we met the half-way point to the castle. We were stopped with the nasty sound of a straggler's snarl. Men were running from the castle to collect the group-the Royals- when they started to panic. We reached halfway to the men when Anna grabbed something from the ground, and my body lurched towards her without thinking. I shoved her towards the group, then turned and was met with a straggler. He was larger than I'm used to seeing, his beady eyes glowing at me with curiosity. He growled in pleasure as I watched him carefully. I heard the yells of guards, the yells of the group fading, meaning they were almost to the castle. Another straggler appeared from my left, making me even more concerned. I can't even shift, what the Hell and I useful for?
When I was presented with three stragglers, I felt a slight panic. All three were larger than I've ever seen, meaning they were hired specifically. The three seemed to start circling me menacingly. When I looked over one of the wolves to the castle, I saw guards shifting. I felt a shift in the air, forcing me to move so one of the wolves jumped over me and into one of the other ones. I gained balance before taking off. I wasn't going towards the castle, I was going towards the edge. If there are more, they'll reveal themselves. They're all about pride, meaning, I just hurt theirs. I could hear three wolves behind me, making me run as fast as I could, but came to a sliding halt when three more emerged as I suspected. It was 100 feet from this point that I felt my stomach drop. They were waiting for us to get far enough that we couldn't get help to attack the Royals. I was now surrounded by six stragglers, and possibly more in the woods. Their nails against the brick on the ground made my chest tighten, their scents making me nauseous, the sounds of their growling making me aware.
I managed to slip away from the group of six again and took off into the woods. I knew they were following me, I knew the guards were going to be here at some point. The woods, the woods are my safe place. I've always known which direction to go, where the best hiding is, and where to go when you're scared and alone. Realization struck me as I weaved in and out of the trees and debris. The realization is that I'm an idiot for thinking an unshifted omega that hasn't experienced a heat had a chance against an unknown number of malicious males. After finding a solid place to stay, I finally realized that I was only alive because I didn't act like a hero. I set myself up for sheer failure, let's hope that someone handles this and I can go back to looking at the garden from inside.