I have been in Forgotten Valley for over a week now, and since then, I have been living like a recluse.

Almost as though I had a big sign on my head that said 'Don't talk or look at me ' whenever I went, people avoided me and treated me like I was just in their way.

I felt like someone was playing a cruel trick on me, and whilst I tried to keep it together, it was starting to get to me after last week, in the bathhouse.

I had tried to make friends, but I had failed every time, as each time I sat down next to the other servants, they moved away like I had bugs coming out of my eyes.

I had wondered if this was Keial's doing, the Kings... but after our last 'talk' I hardly doubt it, as he made it very clear that he did not like me, and that I was selfish and below him in every way possible.

It destroyed me, after all, I had somewhat come to admire Keial, he did after all offer me protection, but now I'm thinking, 'at what cost'?

Nobody has taken to me in over a week.

Not even Keial, when he came back to his room and I still hadn't finished cleaning it, he just sat behind his desk and paid me no mind, almost like I wasn't there in the room with him and he was alone.

I must've been crazy to think he liked me, even just a tiny bit.

He was the actual devil in disguise, and all his small words that I felt were a small kindness, were nothing but a foul way to trap me and catch me in the twisted net I had built myself.

I should've known he could somehow sense my thoughts, after all, he was an Alpha as much as he was King, and even though it's not all the time they can hear their pack's thoughts, it wasn't uncommon to pick up on things within the proper distance.

In my messed up mind, I thought there was something between us.

I swear I felt that attraction on his end, which probably made the link to my mind easier for him to read, but then again, I seem to be getting everything wrong since arriving here.

I just wanted this day to be over, so I could go back to bed, and pretend that I didn't exist...

"Felix!" I hear my name from somewhere in the garden, a somewhat familiar voice.

I stopped what I was doing, weeding the flowers, and stood up, and once I got to my feet, I instantly recognized the girl coming towards me with a big grin on her face, and red blushed cheeks.

It was Zeri.

I never thought I'd see her again, not after how she and her dog left me for dead.

"I'm so glad I found you, I was worried I never would see you again." She huffed out, catching her breath as she stood and looked at me with shy eyes.

She reached out and held both my hands in hers, with a look of relief on her face.

"How have you been? I'm so glad you're alive, I was worried about you and searched all over the city, but then I heard that the King had given you a job from one of the servants here, I just had to come and find you and see if you were alrigh-"

I pulled my hands away from hers and took a step back. "Sorry." I bent back down and then looked away from her and focused back on my job.

"I have to work so please go away, I have nothing more to say to you."

She remained silent, and whilst I hoped she would just go away, she stood a few steps from me and didn't move for the longest time, not until I heard another familiar voice.

A voice I had soon wished to never hear again.

"Zeri!" An angry voice called out, as heavy footsteps headed our way.

"Oh, Gregor." Zeri sweetly said, as I turned around and locked eyes with a furious dog.

"Look, it's Felix, I told you he made i-"

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused me!" Gregor snapped out, with a red face and clenched fists.

"I had to leave an audience with Keial early because I had word you had slipped past your guard, again!" He huffed out, looking as though he had aged a few years.

"And you!" He snapped his eyes from Zeri to me.

"Me?" I dumbly pointed to myself, which somehow made him even angrier.

"Stay away from my mate, or I will see to it that you will never walk again." He threateningly stepped closer as he stood in front of me.

"You already had a chance to die for something, mutt, the next time you find your gaze on Zeri, I'll end your worthless life, once and for all!"

With that being said, Gregor had reached out and grabbed Zeri's hand and pulled her away, each stomp from his feet left a dent in the grass as he walked away, like a wild animal losing its battle to stay calm.

I sit and stare and watch them go, not missing the way Zeri rolled her eyes and mouthed 'see you later' to me as her furious, overprotective, and infuriating mate dragged her away.

What the hell just happened?

So Gregor is Zeri's mate? Well, that explained some things, especially how protective and threatened he seemed around me, an unmated wolf.

I wonder if that's why Keial had asked if I was mated.

Now it's all starting to make sense, but still... it's not just that, Gregor didn't like me, and the feelings were very much mutual.

Asshole, Zeri deserved someone better than that raging dog.

As I got back to work, I heard more footsteps coming my way, which made me sigh and turn around to see three wolf servants coming my way, all with a glint of mischievousness in their eyes.

"You're still here, Niff?" One said, who I learned was called Vicrim from overhearing other servants talk about him.

"Aren't you tired of getting in everyone's way, why don't you just realize that nobody wants you here, or better yet, you should just leave and never come back."

I couldn't help but smile, as I sighed and pressed my hands to my knees as I rose to my feet to turn and look at all three of them, snickering and laughing at me.

I expected this, after all this was still a place for outcasts, unwanted and those who nobody else wanted, why wouldn't they try to scare me away?

"You'd miss me too much, especially our interesting and charming conversations, just like we're having now." I faked ignorance and smiled, making Vicrim turn red.

"You think you're so fucking clever, just because the King appointed you his personal servant." He stepped forward and spat in my face.

"Well, I doubt you'll be here much longer, considering what happened to the last guy who held that position." He smirked, as I glared back at him and I wiped the spit from my cheek.

"If you're jealous, just say so, there's no need to act like a child in the playground at your age." I smirked, looking at him pitifully.

"You jealous bitch." I hit back at him, shoving him away from me.

"You dare insult and... TOUCH ME?" He screamed in my face before the two other servants stopped him from falling.

"I will fucking kill you!"

No other words were said, as he raised his fist and collided it with my face, and then jumped on top of me as the two other guys that were with him began kicking me in the side of my stomach, as Vicrim kept hitting my face.

I didn't have the strength to push him off me or hit him back from the angle I was laid, so I held my arms up to protect my face as much as I could.

A loud and terrifying roar erupted within the garden and scared all the birds in the trees surrounding the trees close to me, but most of all, the roar had made Vicrim and his goons stop what they were doing, and back away from me before I could see why.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?"

When I opened my eyes and looked and what- or who the voice belonged to, I felt the color drain from my face as I witnessed the King, Keial come our way, with a face that I had never seen before on any creature.

His eyes were black, and he no longer looked remotely sane as I watched him come closer, with every step he took made it impossible to breathe as the authority, and power radiating from him was too much.

"Now... what were you doing?" He said deadly silent, in a voice that even made me want to cower in fear as he asked the three servants, who had bowed their heads so low I thought they would touch the ground.

Fuck... For the entire week, I had tried to stay out of trouble, and not piss him off since the bath incident, but it looks like my luck had finally run out, as his eyes met mine.

This wasn't going to end well.