After Luther left, I rested on the bed. The mattress was soft and plush and made staying awake hard.
With all that had gone on in my pack and now this with Luther, my body was spent. Sleep found long before I could even fight it.
The next ti I opened my eyes it was to the sound of light knocking. I groaned and sat up in bed. It took my mind a mont to rember where I was.
The door to my room unlocked and in walked a middle aged woman dressed in a maid’s uniform.
“Good morning, Miss Ciana.” She bowed her head and walked in with a trolly with an assortnt of different foods. “Alpha Luther sent with your breakfast. I will be bringing your clothes shortly.”
She pushed the trolly to my bed where I caught a whiff of the food. It slled heavenly and my stomach responded by grumbling.
“The chef prepared eggs Benedict. Will this suffice for you?”
I nodded looking at the food. As far as prison food went, this wasn’t half bad— honestly, way better than when I was in Theo’s dungeon. If I hadn’t been so hungry I would have denied the tasty breakfast but I needed my strength.
The thought of Theo sotis made question my own judgnt. There definitely had been tis I wished I could strangle the Dark Prince, yet, in a situation like this, he was the only one I’d trust without any reservation.
After we’d been through so much together, I wondered whether he trusted as much as I did him?
“My na is Magnolia and I will be your aid.” She smiled and bowed to before leaving the room.
I pulled the sheets off my body and walked to the trolly.
The food was delicious, I had to admit. Getting myself replenished with energy was a wise choice in a situation like this.
I wondered what Tallis, or should I say Theo, had been up to? Did he know where Luther took ? Was he with in this place? If so, where would he be?
It had been more than 12 hours since I’d arrived and I hadn’t gotten any news from him. Should I be worried that he sohow didn’t make it? After all, the Dark Prince was very busy. Or what if... he got into trouble?
I shook that thought off. No, he was the most fearso person in the world. Anyone could get in trouble with him, but probably not the other way around. However, whatever his situation was, if I didn’t hear from him for another day, I would plan to escape on my own. I didn’t want to be here longer than I had to.
Just then, the door opened again. Speaking of the devil.
However, to my disappointnt, it wasn’t Theo.
Magnolia returned to the room with a movable rack of gowns along with other things.
“Miss, I’m glad that you seem to have enjoyed your food.” Magnolia was happy to see my empty plates. Behind her, a young girl took my plate away and cleaned up the room.
“Yes, it’s delicious. Thank you. Would you be able to take to the kitchen so that I can say thank you to the chef?” I needed to do my best to familiarize myself with the layout of this place. Sitting there and waiting for others to co to rescue was not my way of handling life.
Magnolia nodded to . “Of course, Miss, but we need to prepare for the event first.”
“Now? It’s not until tomorrow evening.”
Magnolia looked up and down. I felt like she was judging even though she didn’t make any comnts. And then she said with a polite smile. “We have a lot of work to do. Not only do we need to get this fitted to your body but I’m afraid that we’ll have to give you a good scrub.”
“I don’t need to be ‘scrubbed’. I am perfectly capable of bathing myself.”
She maintained her emotionless smile and kept the sa even tone. “It’s about grooming, Miss. This event is very important to Alpha and he needs you to be at your very best. We need to do a full beauty treatnt on you today and that could take hours. Tomorrow, we can just focus on styling.”
“Hours?!” I exclaid. “I agreed to go to the party, but I didn’t agree to any of this! Please tell Luther that—”
“Alpha Luther. You cannot call him without his title. You are not of the sa rank as him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Alpha Luther is out of his mind if he thinks I’m going to sit for hours while my body is pruned and pricked two days in a row. I am not so breeding horse that is being put on display.”
“Alpha didn’t an anything bad, Miss,” she said, “There are won here who would scream for being treated special by Alpha. You’re a lucky lady to be favored by him. Look at all those dresses and jewelry he prepared for you.”
“I’m his guest, not part of his harem.”
Magnolia closed her eyes and let out a steady breath. “Miss Ciana, please allow to perform my job, and if you refuse, it will not be you who is in trouble but . My children depend on in order to survive. So please do a favor and cooperate.”
I was heavily against all of this. I was not so little doll that Luther could play dress up with. But at the sa ti I knew I needed to play a part. For my pack, for Theo, and... I probably wouldn’t want to be the cause of her starving children.
“Alright. But no dying or bleaching my hair. And no tweezing.”
“It’s fine. We just need to wax.”
“Wait, what?”
“Just kidding,” she quipped. “Now, let’s get this started.”
***
After two hours of being scrubbed down in the shower and then being forced to sit in a milk bath I was out of the water and being dabbed dry. I had insisted that I could do it on my own but the woman was persistent. She wouldn’t let lift a single finger.
Then I was forced to lay down when she gave a facial and applied other products all over my body.
The process was tedious and boring, and I couldn’t imagine anyone who would voluntarily sit through the process. The only useful information I got from Magnolia was that they called Luther Alpha, but in reality, they were all from different packs originally, and now they gathered under Luther, and called their group “Shadow”.
After she was finally done, she told , “Please take it easy for the rest of the day, and I’ll be back with a stylist. Once you pick out the dress, we’ll need to get it fitted for you before tomorrow’s event.”
I wanted to tell her it really was not necessary, but she probably wouldn’t listen to , so I saved my comnts.
Not long after she left, I heard another knock at the door.
Sighing, I dragged myself to go open it. I really wasn’t looking forward to sitting through another session.
“It’s you.” I exclaid, couldn’t help the happiness in my voice.
“Expecting anyone else?” Tallis cocked an eyebrow.
“No, not really,” I pulled him into my room to make sure that no one saw him. “How did you get in here without anyone knowing?”
“I have my ways. Besides, the security here is flawed. I was able to pick up on their patterns after two hours. You would think a man such as Luther would have better security around his base.”
Having Theo around made breathe a little easier.
“Theo, did you find a way out of here?”
He scowled, “Why do you keep calling Theo?”
I stepped closer to him and pressed my hand over his chest. I felt the lapel pin under the fabric of his shirt. There was no doubt in my mind that this was Theo. I was sure of it now even more than ever.
“Why do you constantly deny it?”
He stepped back so that my hand stopped touching his body. “I’m not him.”
I sighed but didn’t fight him on it. He had his reasons for denying the truth.
He looked at the wide selection of dresses, shoes and jewelry by my bed and then he looked back at . “What’s going on here?”
“Luther has an event tomorrow night. He said that I need to be in attendance.”
“Looks like a costu party,” he frowned at the clothes.
“What?”
“I can’t believe how bad his taste in clothing is. Look at this and this,” he said, picking up an elegant golden gown and a graceful black cocktail dress, “Is he a bumble bee or what?”
I almost spat out the sip of water I just took.
Was the problem with Luther or was that just Theo? I rembered his comnts about the wedding gowns I tried on in the illusionary world. Just how picky was he about clothes? I ant, it wasn’t like he was so stylish either. From what I rembered, the only color he wore was black—or at most, different shades of black, except when he was in his carnival outfit.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s not a bumble bee, but a wolf. A big bad wolf. You know what, let’s focus on the right thing. Have you figured out where we are?”
“It’s a hidden valley. It probably is where the Ortiz pack used to be. All of the roads leading to here are blocked or destroyed, so it’s hard to locate this place without knowing exactly where to go.”
“That makes sense. So, now what’s your plan?”
He didn’t answer . Instead, he asked, “What’s the event for?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know. It seems like there will be guests. Hopefully we can figure out who else Luther is working with. After that, I need to go back to my pack. I’m worried about them and we need to get Warren out as well.”
“Agreed.” He walked to the window and looked outside. “The patrol at the borders of this territory has been enhanced since we arrived. And now that he has you here, I’m sure he is going to beef up security even more. As much as I want to, we can’t fight our way through.”
“So what do we do to get out of here?”
“We go underground. I found a tunnel that leads right out of the territory. I think they built it in for safe passage in case of an attack. We can use that to leave. But there is a problem.”
“What’s the problem?”
“We need Luther’s fur to unlock the entrance of the passageway. Without it we can’t access the tunnel.”
I walked up to him and stared out to the horizon he was looking at. “The fur of his wolf?”
He nodded. “It can’t be his human hair. It has to be his wolf. And you need to get ahold of it.”
“And how do you suppose I do that? I can’t just ask him to shift for .”
“You’re a smart girl, you’ll figure it out.” He turned to . “While you work on that, I’ll look for other alternatives just in case.”
This was a lot of pressure to put on . “I’ll try my best, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be successful.”
“I have faith in you.” He moved away from and made his way to the window. “I’ll try to co back tonight to check on you, but if I can’t make it, then see you at the garden tomorrow night during the party. I need to go now.”
“Why do you need to go now?” I asked, but he had already jumped out of the window and disappeared.
“Miss Ciana, the stylist is here.” Magnolia’s voice traveled through the door.
How did I always forget about his damn good Alpha hearing?
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