Seeing Winifred dressed in a beautiful dress that wasn't a slave's wear for the first time made Arthur feel some type of way that he couldn't really put into words. In fact, he felt a whole new feeling and connection towards the human slave ever since he set his eyes on her, it was a feeling that was strange and new so he absolutely couldn't define it, all he knew was that he felt like he had a strange pull to always protect this human which was why he had begged his father to let him have her in the first place since he knew how brutal he would have been with her if she belongs to him instead.
But then, there was no way he was going to strive or dwell on whatever pull it was. It didn't even matter, he was going to be his usual icy self and tame the rude slave at any cost, although not so much since that was what he found intriguing about her in the first place. When his family had requested to see the slave he had bought for so much and he went towards the direction of his room to get her, they had been so shocked that he thought their eye balls were going to fall out of the sockets they were in.
"She slept in your room?" Her bratty step sister had questioned, after gasping like she had just heard that her crush had gotten married to someone else.
"Uh? Yes?" Arthur responded, not understanding why that was a big deal.
His younger brother scoffed, "You get a new toy and you're already cuddling up to it. If you want some tips on how to handle and tame sex slaves, you bad better ask experienced men like us, dear brother, don't go submitting to females like some weak wolf." Hunter said in a mocking tone.
His father laughed at what he said before proceeding to contribute his own quota of mockery, "Oh, stop teasing your elder brother, Hunter. Let's just leave him to grow into a man, you know that he's a late bloomer."
They all bursted into another fit of laughter that annoyed Arthur to his bones and he had no choice but to again lie as usual to make himself look better than they see him,"Stop making it look like I'm some virgin, you both. She was in my room because she couldn't walk at all after the torture I put her through last night, she fainted even and right now, she's even still weak." He said, earning looks of surprise from both Hunter and Father while Alice, his sister just threw him a disgusted glare.
He didn't wait for their responses as he stormed off to his room instead.
"Get up and follow me." He had snapped angrily at Winifred after he had taken in her body and face in the new dress she was in. She jumped off the bed on impulse, "what? Why? Where are we going?" She had questioned, making him throw her a very harsh glare.
He honestly wasn't in the mood for her rude remarks or unnecessary questions so he warned her in his most scary and emotionless voice, "You'll see, stop asking questions. I ask the questions, I lay out the instructions and all you need to do is answer. By the way, the people you're about to meet aren't exactly patient so I'll watch my actions and my mouth if I were you, unless you're ready to be killed in the worst way possible." And he wasn't joking.
Even Winifred was shocked at his new tome and expression towards her, she had known him for at least a day and not once had he shown her that side and maybe that was why she was starting to think he was a little bit okay, but seeing the way he had now spoken to her made her change her mind towards him, yet again.
As she walked behind him to wherever it was that he refused to tell her, she couldn't help but gasp at the beauty of the huge house she was walking in. The house was simply stunning, the roof was so high and the furniture screamed class, elegance and money. It was almost like she was in a castle or some palace.
"Well, it is a castle and a palace." Arthur mentioned, startling her.
"What? I didn't say that out loud, did I?" She questioned, scared to her wits whilst thinking that hearing people's thought was part of their strengths and powers or so.
"Of course, you said it out loud. I don't hear thoughts, what do you think I am? A witch or vampire? Oh please." Arthur replied, almost chuckling when she heavily breathe out. She looked back to the wonders around her and Arthur on noticing her excitement decided to just say something about the castle she was so mesmerized about.
"This huge castle has been around for over one thousand years. It has been renovated by various alpha kings who lived in it, it's like our generational or ancestral fort. The castle keeps getting renovated because the structure degraded at time changes and new things come up as usual. It was actually built by the first set of witches and not by any human nor mortal hands which has made it stand till date. There's a library at the top floor that holds the paintings on each Alpha King we have had and their own personal contributions both to the lycan castle and other things. This castle has four hundred and seventy eight rooms, taking up over three thousand acres, and accommodates over 300 werewolves."
"Wow!" Winifred exclaimed making Arthur proud of himself for knowing these details.
The moment they got outside a part of the castle, venturing into another part that looked like a court, all eyes turned on them. The court was filled with a dozen werewolves, all in their human form, as if they had been expecting them. Their curious gazes made Winifred feel apprehensive, but she refused to make her fear known to the beasts in the room she was in. Yes, it was true that the castle was beyond anything she could have ever imagined and that the benches scattered around the court, each guarded by a beech tree, looked like the perfect reading nooks, but that didn’t change the fact that this place had just become her new prison. And she wasn’t about to give anyone the impression that she was going in of her own accord.
As they made their way between the wolves, everyone greeted Arthur in the most respectable way, but not one of them acknowledged her, or at least nodded their heads in her direction. What met her instead were glares and whispers and she immediately understood she was not welcome here, that she wasn't liked by almost anyone.
"What's with the gathered wolves in here? Unless you were specially invited or summoned into this court, I don't see why anyone should be here. There's no ceremony, or are we now gathering just to welcome a filthy human slave?" Hunter's voice thundered as soon as he stepped into the room. Winifred winced at being called filthy while most of the gathered slave's started to go their separate ways even though it was evident that most of them were interested in the human slave that had just been bought with so much money.
Winifred was already famous even before she got into the castle and each wolf wanted to see what was so special about a human slave that made the icy prince spend a fortune on her.
"Oh, brother. Don't tell me that you plan to let your sex toy dress up like a noble and not a slave that she is. Or do slaves now wear dresses almost similar to that of the lycan princess?" Alice scoffed on seeing the human slave walk in behind her brother.
She would be lying if she said she didn't think the human was pretty. She was immediately jealous of everything on her; hair, eyes, skin and body. Seeing her on a dress almost similar to hers made her boil, she was supposed to be the one in the spotlight yet a human slave was taking it away, she immediately glanced at her crush since forever and was even more pissed when she saw his gaze fixated on the human slave.
"She's my toy just like you have pointed put and I would not dress my toy in tattered and filthy dresses. I'm putting my hands on her afterall and you all know how much I hate filth and dirt." Arthur said, trying to stop the dress issue from aggravating. He was well versed that she should be in clothes designated for slave's but he found the dress beautiful when he saw it and had planned to gift it to his fiancé but decided against it.
But then Alice wasn't going to have any of it, "Dressing in the designated slave outfit doesn't make her dirty... dressing her up like she's a royalty is not acceptable and..."
"Don't tell me that you're in one of the most beautiful and expensive dresses yet you're so concerned and jealous about a slave who's in one way lower than yours just because." Arthur interrupted her, tired of her bratty whining.
"Alice, filth is still filth no matter what. Dressing up a pig as a doll doesn't make it a doll, it'll always be a pig, such is this case so do not bother worrying yourself over nothing." The Alpha King finally spoke, silencing the back and forth between the siblings and bringing Winifred to look up at the owner of the authoritative voice that had just spoken. And then, she was shocked to see a familiar face, a face that she never hoped nor wished to see again, a face that still hunted her dreams, and so she exclaimed in both surprise and shock, "Alexander?"