Chapter 11 Who hurt you?
Chapter 11: Scarlett
Tears filled my eyes and as much as my body wanted Asher to keep touching me, I couldn’t let him continue— not after he destroyed my home.
Summoning courage, I pushed his hands away and walked away without saying a word. I went straight to our room and locked myself in the bathroom. The last thing I needed was for him to return and begin another emotional torture on me.
In the bathroom, I turned on the shower and hugged my knees on the floor as I tried to carefully think about my life. I couldn’t continue defending him.
My wolf was not in her right mind. I couldn’t trust her judgement.
I had to deal with Asher. End his plans before they became unmanageable. I also had to find a way to warn my brother. He had to be ready because if my plans didn’t work, war was going to be the final solution—
“Princess?” Asher’s voice suddenly filtered through the bathroom, and I jumped out of my thoughts. “Are you taking a shower for me?”
My teeth tightened and I turned off the water above me as I glared at the door— and as if on cue, it began to rattle as Asher tried opening it from the outside.
“Oh, you locked yourself in there?” He snickered; his voice heavy with rage. “Fine, I will wait for you to step out. You can’t sleep in there, can you?”
I had no intention of sleeping in the bathroom, but his question gave me the idea.
I got up from the floor and dried myself with the towel hanging over the drawers. Then I moved myself to the bathtub and curled into it. I didn’t think I would sleep so easily but almost as soon as I closed my eyes, my mind went unconscious.
The next time my eyes opened, there was a faint silver line in the sky as morning slowly drifted into the city and there was also noise. I rubbed sleep off my eyes and strained my ears to listen to the sound clearly.
“I don’t know what madness you have going on in your head, but I need to use the damned bathroom, Scarlett! Open this door or I’ll break it!” Asher growled, rattling the door roughly.
Knowing that morning was here already, there was nothing he could do to me. With that in mind, I slowly got out of the bathtub, rubbing the numbness from the cold off my hands as I walked to the door. I unlocked it and Asher pushed me out of the way as he rushed to the toilet seat.
—Thankfully, I crashed safely against the door and not the tiled floors.
I grabbed a hold of myself and returned to the room, ignoring his groans. I quickly walked to the wardrobe and picked out a dress. I was in the process of wearing it when his strong grip roughly pulled me away into his chest.
“What do you think you are doing?” He growled, glaring down at me.
I only glared back at him, refusing to give him an answer— and that was my mistake. In a blink of an eye, he pushed me to the wall and held my throat, pressing down on my windpipe.
Panic seeped into me, and my eyes bulged out of their sockets as I took hold of his hands around my neck. “A— Asher!” I cried out but the evil grin on his face only grew larger.
“What did you think, you could insult me; keep away from me for the whole night and get away with it? Huh?”
“Asher— Please… You are— hurting me…” I winced as my lungs burned with lack of air.
Rather than reduce the pressure, Asher increased it. “You always make so much noise about being a Lycan Princess…” he whispered, and horror settled in the pit of my stomach as I feared what would come next.
“Now… let’s see how strong you are, princess…”
He lifted me off the ground and squeezed even harder. I began to choke as my wolf fought violently to get even a single drop of air while our mate squeezed our life force out.
I didn’t think he could do it. I thought this was just a punishment but as he raised me off the ground, I feared that Asher might have lost his mind. He was going to kill me.
“Asher— Please… stop—” I managed to wince out again, but he only cocked his head to the side, and I saw it in his eyes. I was going to die.
Dark circles started appearing in my vision as my life force started to trickle out of me but just when I thought this was the end, a sharp knock at the door jerked him back to his senses.
He dropped me to the ground instantly as if my neck had burned him. His eyes were wide with an emotion I couldn’t define as I coughed and struggled to take in air.
“Scarlett? Asher?” The mumbled sounds came from the door and Asher released a frustrated sigh before walking towards it.
As soon as he unlocked the door, I recognized the voice as Nathan’s.
“Scarlett— King Asher,” he said, his voice clearly filled with confusion.
I knew that if he saw me on the floor, he was going to cause trouble, so despite the pain I felt, I pulled myself off the floor and moved away from the door.
“Did you need something, Nathan?” Asher asked him as the awkward silence went on.
“Oh, hmm— yes, the king called for a meeting concerning the attack yesterday and he wanted you and Scarlett to join us...”
“That’s fine but the problem is, my mate and I planned on returning today…but we will surely try to attend the meeting. What happened was truly horrible…” Asher replied, and my eyes almost left their sockets as I glared at his back.
“Right, it was. I will send the guards to escort you once the bell rings… What about the princess?”
Asher turned his evil eyes at me before returning them to Nathan and with a smile in his voice, he said; “She is very sore from all the trouble I gave her last night… you can’t even imagine…”
“Oh, I see…” Nathan trailed off and I could tell he wasn’t convinced by that half-baked lie but in the end, there was nothing he could do. “I shall leave now.”
“Sure.” Asher mumbled and as soon as the door closed, he returned his focus to me. “You heard your brother’s dog. We have a meeting to attend. Get ready and put on your best face.”
“Nathan is not a dog,” I hissed under my breath, glaring deeply at him, wishing my eyes would produce flames that could burn him.
Asher laughed. “Say whatever you want. That boy would always be a dog to Axelo.” He walked into the bathroom, “Get ready before I step out.”
I couldn’t even cry. I just sniffled away the pain settling in my chest and slowly moved back to the wardrobe. My neck was sore, and I didn’t even want to see what it looked like. I just wanted to get over with everything.
The dress I planned to wear turned out to have tiny hands that could expose the condition of my burning neck, so I picked something with a turtleneck and longer sleeves. I was in the middle of fixing my hair when Asher returned to the room.
“Not, bad… smart princess,” he mocked as he dressed up too.
It was choking being in the room with him and thankfully the bell rang signalling the commencement of the meeting. Without waiting for him, I walked out of the room.
Surprisingly, the guards and Nathan were there, waiting for us. And finding out that I was leaving my mate with a frown wasn't a good sign.
Quickly, I wiped away the frown from my face and forced a smile; “Nathan… good morning.”
He threw a glance at the closed door behind me and pulled me by the arm to a corner, away from the guards. “Scarlett, what is going on?” He threw his head back once more to check if anyone was coming, “Is he hurting you?”
My heart flipped and, in an instant, tears filled my eyes. I opened my mouth, but words failed me. How was I supposed to tell him the truth?
“Scarlett, I saw you on the floor this morning and it had nothing to do with sex… what is Asher doing to you? Tell me… please…” Nathan insisted.
“I— He is—”
“My love!” Asher’s voice suddenly filled the corridor, and I quickly pursed my lips, wiping away my tears. His hand grabbed my free hand while Nathan held on to the other.
Nathan didn’t speak but his eyes remained on me, from the aura hovering around him, I knew that one word from me and there was going to be trouble. He would disregard Asher’s position and they were going to fight.
“A— aren’t we late for the meeting?” I managed to let out through my teeth before pulling myself out of their hold and rushing towards the conference room.