Ch. 6

The room was deadly silent.

My heart was beating wildly in my chest.

The King was going to kill me now, I was sure of it. After that magic, there was no chance of me walking out of here alive.

I didn’t have even the slightest clue what had just happened either. I only knew that I was about to be punished greatly for it.

“How did you just do that?” King Ambrose repeated, his voice thick with tension.

I couldn’t find my voice. My throat felt like it was going to close and leave me gasping for air at any moment.

“How did you just do that?” It didn’t sound like a question anymore. The King’s power radiated off of him as he stood next to me, so close that his breath fanned over my cheek.

I couldn’t find the strength to tear my eyes away from the magic flame still flickering atop the melting white candle on the bedside table.

Would the flame do it again? Would it show the same thing? Would it be different?

The questions rolled around inside my mind, dancing around until they filled up every single spare inch of my mind.

All of the wonder and excitement that I had felt holding King Ambrose’s magic in my very own hands just minutes ago was all gone. That wonderful feeling, whatever it may have been, was now replaced by pure and utter dread.

I was going to die.

But, the little voice in the back of my mind started to speak. King Ambrose has been so nice to you tonight, maybe he doesn’t want to hurt you.

Madam Olympia had told me time and time again how evil and awful magic was, that it was never of any use and only brought death and harm wherever it went.

I should have been a good girl and listened to her.

Now Gamma Thomas was going to punish me greatly when the King told him about what I had done.

This was the first time that I had ever seen magic with my own eyes, and it would be the last.

I silently vowed to myself, if the Goddess was kind enough to let me live tonight, then I would never even so much as look at magic again.

“How did you manage to just do that, Little One?” King Ambrose sunk closer to me on the bed, his words much softer and lighter than they had been just seconds ago. “How?”

King Ambrose ghosted the tips of his fingers—the same ones that he had used to conjure that flame mere moments ago—over my t-shirt-clad shoulder. A trail of warmth followed his movements, seeping through the thin barrier between us.

Just moments ago, even though I knew it was wrong, I wanted nothing more than to soak up the way the King’s touch made me feel. But now those small sparks only served to remind me about what I had just done.

“How were you able to make that flame change into those,” the King paused as he searched for the right word. “Those scenes, Little One?”

“I…”

What words could I even use to explain myself?

“I don’t know…” I said so softly that I wasn’t even sure with the King’s advanced, supernatural hearing he’d be able to hear me. “I don’t know, Your Highness.”

What had those ‘scenes’ as the King had called them, even been? Why did they appear when I touched the flame?

My limbs were heavy.

My hand, which had been holding the magical fire moments ago, now felt hot, like the flame had burned straight through to the bone.

Was this how it would feel when I died? Would I feel like I was burning from the inside out?

“What did it feel like? When you held the flame, what did it feel like in your hand, Little One?” King Ambrose’s question was not what I expected him to ask me next.

“It felt… warm.” Like freshly baked bread or my cot in the morning—the flame felt like it knew me.

The King nodded his head out of the corner of my eye, his dark brown hair shining under the candlelight.

The flame on the bedside table didn’t flicker.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before.” His words fanned across my cheek. “In all my years, across all the packs and lands I’ve travelled, of all the Alphas, and Betas, and Gammas I’ve met— I’ve never seen anything like this before, Little One.”

And now the King has seen me, a lowly Omega, do whatever had just happened. Me.

“I’m sorry.” It felt like the only thing that I could say right now that was even remotely alright. “I’m sorry.”

King Ambrose sat up straight on the bed, his hand dropping from my shoulder. “Little one, you have no reason to be apologizing right now.”

He gently grabbed my chin between his thumb and forefinger, ripping my gaze away from the flame. The King’s eyes were light green, and there was no hint of his wolf trying to break past the surface right now.

“I may not know what just happened, or how you did it, little one, but I do know that you have nothing to be sorry about,” the King said firmly, staring deep into my eyes. “Ok? Once we get back to the Kingdom, we’ll figure this out.”

I knew that the King had mentioned me coming back to the Royal Kingdom to his Beta earlier, but still, I wasn’t sure what to think. I had never been outside the Blood Moon Pack before.

“Silas is already making arrangements for your arrival back home,” he went on. “I’ll have him reach out to some elders in the pack and see what they know.”

None of this made any sense.

What kind of arrangements was the King having his Beta make for me? Was I to be a servant in the Royal Pack now? Was this my punishment? To switch packs?

I could only imagine how servants in the Royal Pack were treated.

“Will I… Will my punishment take place in the Royal Pack?” It felt foolish to ask, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“Your punishment?” King Ambrose wrinkled his nose at my question, tightening his grip ever so slightly on my chin. “What punishment, Little One? I thought I made it clear earlier that no one would ever punish you again.”

Like I believed that. I deserved to be punished for my mistakes and errors.

“For the…the magic and what I made it do…” I trailed off my words, my voice dropping to below a whisper as the King’s eyes became darker.

“Little one,” he practically growled out the nickname. “When I say that no one will ever punish or hurt you again, I mean it. Not your sorry excuse for a Gamma, not Madam Olympia, not any wolf in your pack, and certainly not me.”

He doesn’t mean it, that voice in the back of my mind kept reminding me anytime King Ambrose said something kind to me. He’s only trying to gain your trust so that he can hurt you even deeper. You’re just an Omega and he’s the Alpha King.

“Little one.” King Ambrose’s voice was rich and deep as he purred out his words. “I promise to protect you from harm and have never even thought about hurting you for a single second since we met.”

“But—” My bottom lip started to quiver from nerves.

This was the most that I had spoken to someone in my whole life. Madam Olympia constantly reminded us omegas that we were to never be seen or heard. Speaking back always resulted in punishment from either her or Gamma Thomas.

“But what about the poison you put on my injury?” I asked.

“Poison?” King Ambrose raised an eyebrow. “What poison are you talking about, little one?”

“The gooey, pink poison that you put on my wound.” I lightly ran the tips of my fingers over the cloth.

The King’s expression softened until all the lines on his forehead were smoothed out. “That was to help you heal, my Little Mate. I told you, I’ll never hurt you.”

The King didn’t poison me? Was this true?

If King Ambrose didn’t poison me, and he kept saying that he didn’t wish to punish or hurt me, then why? Why was I here? Why?

The question tumbled from my lips before I could stop it.

“Why? Why am I here?”

The corner of King Ambrose’s lips turned up and his eyes bore into mine.

“Maybe Silas and Jasper were right when they said that I need to be more obvious. You’re my mate, Little One. Of that, I am absolutely sure. You’re the other perfect half of my soul.”

That same little voice as before was practically jumping for joy in my mind. I told you! I told you that King Ambrose would never hurt us.

And something inside of me started to spark and come alive.