Alpha's Servant: The Finale

SKYLER

The ghastly images wavered before my eyes. They didn’t stay still long enough to see any clear features. All I could tell was that they were ghosts, their faces translucent and dark holes where their eyes would be.

“Could it be?” one of them whispered, the sound sending chills up and down my arms.

The group of ghosts seemed to look at each other and then at me. I felt my skin crawl as they started to float closer toward me.

The air grew chill, and I shivered, frozen to the spot, too afraid to move or make a sound.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What if Ares came downstairs and saw them? Would he get mad at me and accuse me of communing with witches?

“Is she the one?” a figure asked, the voice soft and almost sounding like a hiss.

Was I the one what? I wanted to ask the question, but I couldn’t make my mouth move. Dread filled me as they all turned to look at me again.

The room was getting brighter as they drifted closer to me. Frantically, I looked behind me, but the kitchen was still gone. Only a solid wall was there. There was nowhere to escape unless I wanted to run through them.

The thought sent me into a panic. There was no way I could do that. What if, by touching them, I somehow ended up becoming a ghost too?

It wasn’t a stupid question. I had no idea what would happen if I touched a ghost.

Plus, these looked different from Primrose’s ghost, or the lady in the wood who’d saved me from being raped (unless that was a dream).

The deep, dark holes for eyes made them look even more frightening, more dangerous.

At least the other two ghosts had faces. Were these figures there to harm me? Had they come to steal my soul?

“She is the one,” the ghost in the middle announced, and my hair stood on end. I could feel my face draining of color, and bright spots danced before my eyes.

My body suddenly felt weak, as if my legs would not support me.

“Wh-what do you mean?” I finally managed to say. “What do you want with me?”

The middle ghost, who must have been the group’s leader, floated ahead of the others. “All will be revealed in due time,” it said.

I couldn’t take it anymore. My legs gave out, and I sank to the floor. As the light grew brighter and the ghosts drew nearer, I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in my room at court. I sat up, my breath sawing in my throat, and looked around.

Damn, had that been another dream? Things were getting so fuzzy I was starting to have a hard time telling the difference between dreams and reality.

Had a wolf actually attacked me, or was that a dream? What about going on a picnic with Ares? Or the group of witches?

Rubbing my eyes with my fists, I tried to force my brain to make sense of everything that had happened. It took a minute before I realized I could hear voices coming from the other side of my bedroom door.

I recognized Cyrus immediately, and it took another second to realize he was talking to Frederick. No, they weren’t talking, they were arguing.

My interest was piqued, so I sat up in bed and stared at the door.

“How dare you stand here acting dumb as if one of your men didn’t try raping her last night.” That was Cyrus’s voice.

My eyebrows shot up. So that was true. That really happened. I remembered Cyrus coming into my room and me telling him what had happened. Now he was confronting Frederick about it.

I sucked in a sharp breath. If the attack was real, then that meant the ghost lady who’d saved me was real too.

“That’s not a matter of my concern,” Frederick said. I scowled at the closed door, wishing my eyes could fry the noble wolf where he stood. “What does matter is that I need to speak with her. Right now.”

My heart tripped for a second at his words.

What could he want to talk to me about? He’d made it perfectly clear yesterday that he hated me, didn’t want me at court, and that I should be a slave. He’d found it offensive that I was mated to an alpha.

“The hell you will,” Cyrus snapped. “Just wait until Alpha Ares finds out about this. He’ll turn your face into fucking mosquito repellent.”

The sudden silence from the hall outside my room had me straining to listen. There were a few low mumbles that I couldn’t hear, and then the voices started fading away.

As I heard footsteps leading away from my door, I realized the men were leaving.

Sighing with relief, I leaned back in bed and tried to figure out what to do. I had to accept the fact that I was seeing ghosts—both in real life and in my dreams.

I didn’t know why, and I had no idea what they wanted from me, but I could no longer pretend it wasn’t true.

The question was, what was I going to do about it? What could I do about it? I had no one to talk to about it, either. Scarlette would be the only one, but she was back at the pack house, not here at court.

Chewing on my fingernail, I pushed the covers aside and got out of bed. I was just about to head to the bathroom when I heard a noise.

I froze, afraid if I turned around, I’d see another ghost, but knowing I couldn’t just stand there like an ostrich and bury my head in the sand.

Slowly, I turned toward the sound. My eyes widened when I saw the doorknob slowly turning. I had forgotten to lock it after Cyrus had left last night!

Fear clawed up my throat. Who was trying to sneak into my room? The man who tried to rape me? Frederick? Or some other unpleasant visitor?