Her father's name would no longer preceed her. Danika's heart pounded as the mere thoughts of it crossed her mind.
"Bernard died a disgraced wolf! How can such a little boy usurp his throne from him? This means that we owe him nothing now!"
She recalled what one of the cabinet members had said after the guard had given the news. Damien had responded but right now, she didn't know where she stood.
"I made a vow to an Alpha. What he became before he died… doesn't change what he was when I gave my word." He had said calmly while Danika had struggled to keep her emotions in check.
Damon had usurped her father's throne, in just a night.
Had her father been aware of the plot? Was that why he had been desperate to give her out to someone? The more she wanted to search her brain for answers, the more they eluded her.
"Walk fast!! Woman!" A man shouted at her, snapping her from her daydream.
She turned as her attention drifted back, at the soldier who had just done so. Back at her father's pack even though none respected her willingly, none of the soldiers dare raise their voices at her.
Her step mother could. Her step sister could. They sometimes commanded soldiers to give her punishments but none had ever dared to raise their voices. Everything was shattering before her eyes. And it had all begun the previous day.
"Isn't she ready yet? What's she still doing inside there? Waiting for new servants to come undress her?" A sharp voice cut through the silence, further terrifying Danika.
I made a vow to an alpha. What he became before he died doesn't change what he was when I gave my words....
Damien's words kept replaying in her head as she undressed herself in the chambers she had been in the previous night.
It appeared that Damien's promise had been to keep her in his pack, he didn't specify as what when he had given the vow.
Danika's chest tightened once more. Not rage or fury. She was no longer in the position to feel these emotions and even as she told herself desperately that she was still free to, she couldn't bring herself to feel them.
Not even aware of what had become of her own father, how was she to feel contempt at Damien who was doing her a favour of allowing her in his pack. With her father out of her way, it wouldn't come as a surprise if her step mother were to call her back to the Crimson Veil.
And the treatments that would be metted out to her this time around wouldn't be funny. Her father's presence no longer there to save her.
Sbe felt a flicker of gratitude towards Damien for atleast taking her in his pack. Lesser of the two evils she was presented with.
A young lady walked in and dragging Danika to face her, gave her a harsh slap on her cheeks.
She paused and stared at her, unsure of what it was for.
"How long will it take you to undress? Don't you know that there are tasks waiting for you to do?" She snorted angrily.
" Tasks?" Danika muttered to herself but badly for her, the lady had heard her.
Another slap sent her sprawling to the floor.
" This is Kairen, the head of the pack workers and slaves. How dare you talk back at her?" Another lady reinterated while staring at Danika who was still on the floor, too numb to begin processing what was currently happening.
She stared at the ladies. She should have known. They were the two who had been sent to help her get dressed in the morning. No wonder they were taking out the grievances of being sent to serve an omega on her now.
"Rip her off the dress if she's too lazy to take them off herself and once you're done, take her to clean the stables before bringing her to the slaves corners." Kairen said rudely. " That's where she'll be staying from now on. Exactly where she belongs!" She added before walking out.
The second walked up to Danika and began to tear the dress off her body. Danika had been struggling to undo the knots before but she didn't even bother about them. She was more keen on getting the expensive dress off of her regardless of how.
Kairen walked back into the room a few minutes after and took her ratchet bag with her without saying anything.
"Why are you staring at her like that?" The second had questioned coldly.
Danika couldn't say anything. Her mouth was awfully quiet, the exact way her throat was dry.
"Or don't you still get what you are now? We servants don't get to wear expensive clothes like that, she's just introducing you to your new life so it wouldn't be hard for you to fit into the lifestyle, wolfless omega" she mocked.
Danika swallowed the words hurled at her. If only she knew that the clothes in the ratchet were below what she expected. Worn out hand-me-downs of her step sister's. If only she knew.
***
The path to the slaves' quarters was narrow. Mud clung to the soles of her feet like a reminder that she no longer walked as her father's daughter.
Cracked walls loomed on either side, streaked with damp patches and claw marks that no one had bothered to clean. A single lantern hung above, its light flickering weakly.
Danika didn't flinch.
She had seen worse at Crimson Veil.
A rat scurried past her foot and no one looked up. No one gasped or stared. The silence wasn't cold but was simply familiar. Some eyes met hers, some were hostile while others were just hollow.
Danika said nothing. She didn't need to.She had known she wasn't walking into a home.
But as the shadows of the slave corners swallowed her whole, she finally accepted the truth.
She was not visiting this place. But now belonged to it.
"Urmaa??" She called out as her eyes stumbled on a familiar figure in one of the houses.
"Danika!" She responded on seeing her. Rushing to take her in her arms. Her son was behind her.
"This is the daughter I was telling you about ma'am" she said to Kairen who seemed to have been showing the room to her before Danika saw them.
"All three of you will be staying in this cot then. I was not even planning on giving her a cot to herself in the first place" she spat before walking out.
The second lady who had been leading Danika to the slave quarters did same too.
"Danika" Urmaa called out to her again, taking in her appearance from the tattered and old dress she wore.
Danika had almost forgotten. The lady took her clothes and after the dress Damien had sent for her this morning was ripped off her body, the lady had given her this.
But she didn't tell Urmaa. Didn't want her to worry. She had other things to speak to her about other than it.
"Why are you sweating this way, Dani? Why do you smell like animal behinds?" she sobbed.
" Urmaa, what are you two doing here? Damon? What did they say that he did?" She asked almost immediately, not allowing Urmaa to land with her questions.
" Where is father? Where did he banish him to?" She stared in anticipation at both Urmaa and her son, Mordred.
"Why are they treating you this way? Don't they know the daughter of who you are? Are those animal faeces on your body? Don't tell me they had you cleaning their animal stables"
Danika couldn't respond. Urmaa seemed to be hiding from answering her own questions as well.
" Mordred. Where is my father? Why are you two here? You two wouldn't be able to convince me that Damon gave you the permission to leave Crimson Veil. You are a soldier Mordred. He will have both you and Urmaa killed" she rushed to Mordred who stood by his mother's side, still sobbing alongside her.
He could not speak. He dared not when his mother didn't give him the permission to.
" The late Alpha Bernard gave us the permission to. He set us free" Urmaa finally responded, cleaning her tears as she brought out a wooden crest.
Danika stared at it hazily, her father's seal carved from blackmoor wood. Engraved on it was the sigil of the Crimson Veil pack: the bloodshot eyes of a wolf with a red veil covering it's body.
"He gave this to me yesterday, after he returned without you. " Urmaa whispered, holding the emblem with reverence. "He told me to take my son and leave for the Raven blood pack. He said you would be here. We only escaped when…"
"Where is he now? Which cell did they imprison him in?"
This was he question that burdened her the most. What she wanted to know. The late Alpha Bernard? She didn't want to believe what Urmaa had called her. No,it couldn't be. His throne was just usurped, that was all it had to be.
"Where is my father, Mordred? Why is no one answering me?" She demanded, pacing from Urmaa back to her son.
" We hadn't gone half when we heard the drums, Danika. The Alpha was killed last night in his sleep" he sobbed as he confessed.
The moment Danika heard that, her breath caught. And before Urmaa nor her son could tell what would happen next, she fell on the floor, deeply unconscious.