Mated To The Ruthless Alpha King

When Sarah woke up the next morning, she was confused to see that she was not on the floor, but laying across a comfy, huge bed, a pillow under her head and a blue duvet stretching from her mid waist down to her feet. For the first time in a very long while, her body wasn’t cramping everywhere and her back didn't feel as if it was against rows of spikes. She didn’t even stir awake during the night like she always did whenever she slept in her cell.

Slowly, she sat up, slipping her palm across the crinkled sheets. It had been years since she was blessed with a bed, years since she felt the soft matress under her.

She definitely slept well, but now it was time for her mind to be riddled with worry. How exactly had she gotten inside the bed, anyway? She was certain she fell asleep on the floor, which meant someone had to have moved her. It couldn’t have been ‘him’, could it?

She shook her head at the thought. It wasn’t. He would have probably killed her in her sleep instead.

Speaking of Damon, he hadn’t quite ‘dealt’ with her like he promised yet. What if he came bursting through the door with shackles in one hand and a baton in the other?

Mr. Knack tended to creep up when you least expected it, delivering each powerful blow with that excited glint in his eyes. She was sure the same would happen. She was so very certain.

But… Damon never came.

Sarah's mind was blank. She had no idea what he was thinking, so it was confusing. Was he going to let her live? Or was he just waiting to punish her?

As noon came upon her and the gentle sunlight bathed the room, Sarah finally stopped her waiting and headed into the attached sparkly clean bathroom. She brushed her teeth, then slipped off her ragged clothes, hesitantly lowering herself into the huge bathtub. The clear, warm water felt foreign to her, but scared that this might be her only chance to have this experience, she found herself soaking for over an hour. She sat there staring up at the ceiling until the skin on her fingers began to shrivel inside the now lukewarm water.

Getting out reluctantly, she dressed herself with a set of clothes she found in the closet and slipped on the flip-flops by the bed, then sat on the mat on the floor, staring at the door. Having nothing else to do, her torturous wait for Damon’s arrival started again.

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But as dusk arrived, the prisoner who obediently awaited her master, was growing weak with hunger. Perhaps this hunger was her punishment?

Sarah inched over to the door, sticking her head out hesitantly. She hadn’t heard a sound since morning, not even footsteps crossing the hall. Was Damon actually not home?

Pushing the door open wider, she stepped out and into the hall, staring down the dim path. She stayed stiff, without even a breath as she waited, but when no one came, her tense shoulders settled and she began to tiptoe down the stairs. But being as clumsy as she was, she managed to stumble. This time, she was lucky to catch her balance before she could fall. She grabbed the banister tightly and rubbed her thumping chest.

Then…that was when her eyes managed to spot it, the speck of red sitting eerily on staircase.

“B-Blood?” Her voice shook, feet recoiling to the right. “...or something e-else?”

As a slave, one of the first commandments she was taught was to be blind, deaf and dumb to things that did not concern her...these kinds of things.

She had to ignore it. She had to pretend it wasn’t there.

She scrambled down the stairs without looking back and finally took a breath of fresh air once she was on the level floor. Whether it was blood or not, she didn’t want to know!

Pushing her damp hair behind her ear, she grasped her composure and turned into the dining area. But her feet came to an abrupt halt the second she was around the corner.

Trixie and Haguy were sitting opposite to each other, whispering over the table while Damon sat at the far end of the huge table, secluded to himself as they ate quietly.

Surely she just walked into her doom, but neither of them lifted their heads, even the girls who had been whispering became silent. What was this? The invisible treatment or the silent treatment? Had Damon forgotten he owed her a beating?

Thinking back, it had happened a lot with Mr Knack, though the culprit for his crappy memory was most likely his old age. But with Damon, she couldn’t be so sure.

Still, even now, he hadn’t spared her a glance. This was it, wasn't it? Her chance to swoop back into the shadows as if she was never there...

Food could wait. She’d lasted longer than this on water alone dozens of times.

Biting her lip, Sarah drew one feet backwards, then the other, and again. Her worry deteriorated at every move as she slowly eased out of harm’s way, but just as she was about to take the last step that would land her out of their sight completely, a booming voice rooted her feet to the ground.

“Don’t you dare take another step back.”

And then BAM! It dawned on her…she was going to feel Damon’s wrath!