The Disgraced Daughter & Her Sigma Mate

Chapter 8: I Believe You...Despite the Collar

It seemed that the week given to Royce by the alpha so that she could settle in had gone before it had even arrived. Fortunately, for Royce, she had the time to situate her parent’s old room to her liking.

Truth be told, Royce didn’t have a desire to change much. She wanted that room as close to the essence of her mother and father as possible.

Royce had an ability among others that allowed her to see the aura of others, depending on how strong that aura was. Her parent’s auras were among the few that she had seen that were particularly powerful. Sometimes those aura’s would release a characteristic from the one whom it belonged to; she noticed during the week that she’d been in that room that a subtle scent of her father would release into the room when she had trouble sleeping. It relaxed her, but only after she spent an hour or so crying because she missed him so. A feminine and motherly essence would sometimes show itself as well, cradling her in a way with its maternal energy. It was what calmed Royce when the pain of her departed father seemed to be a bit hard to bear at times. She never officially met the woman but Royce knew that it had to be her mother.

It was most definitely a mix of emotions being back home. If Royce was being honest with herself, however, being able to feel her parents was worth the pain that it would sometimes produce from their absence.

“Wish me luck, you two.” Royce requested this of her parents, knowing that this would not be an easy day for her.

She rushed out of the room and toward the front door when another essence hit her; one that was extremely powerful, and domineering. An aura that she could not shake and unfortunately, did not know how to get rid of.

It was dark and arrogant. It was towering, and the scent was overpowering. It was extremely difficult to ignore.

“I wish you’d get out of my house,” she hissed under her breath before heading out the door.

Royce hopped on her bike headed over to the packhouse.

When she arrived, she didn’t bother going through the front door. She was a servant of the packhouse now, so there was no need to walk through the front door as if she had a right to.

It wasn’t like Royce was no stranger to the servant’s quarters anyway. Sure, the alpha did his best to make Royce feel welcomed, and apart of the family, but at the end of the day, an orphan was an orphan.

More than a few times, Royce had been asked to help out with the lower-level wolves of the packhouse.

The lower level wolves were called Drudges; no one respected them as they were considered useless outside of packhouse chores, and at times even s****l favors. They were weak, and some never had even fully awakened because of their weakness. Others were orphan wolves who never fully acclimated into the versatile, taxing, and most times, dangerous ways of inhumanity.

Royce, had she not been taken in by the alpha, would have been one of those servants. People had already looked down on her as they thought that she didn’t show as much promise as she should have, having been Royce Caulder’s daughter and namesake.

They had all even assumed that Royce’s wolf had never awakened. What they didn’t know was that Katya had actually awakened earlier than what was normal for a young wolf. In cases such as this, it meant that the wolf was special, and they would inherit great power. Persephone was one other whose wolf awakened at a young age. She was special. She was a prodigy.

Royce…Royce just wanted to stay out of the way. That’s all she ever wanted,

“And what is your name?” A short and stout woman with pinched features and rosy round cheeks asked with impatience.

“My name is-

“Royce!” The woman exclaimed with wide eyes.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The older woman didn’t recognize Royce at first but she recognized the woman almost immediately.

Minerva Duncan was her name.She was chief among the Drudges, directing everyone to their chores. Although she was a Drudge, Minerva was fondly looked on by members of the packhouse due to her quick wit and motherly aura. She always looked out for everyone in the packhouse; especially those whom she would look after in the serf quarters.

“Oh! Is it great to see you!” She expressed with shrill excitement. Minerva welcomed Royce into her embrace, her short arms wrapping around the young woman with elation.

Minerva always made it a point to make sure that Royce was taken care of, as she had taken notice a long time ago that Royce wasn’t treated the best by her peers.

“It’s so nice to see you, Ms. Duncan,” Royce replied as she returned the older woman’s hug.

When they pulled away from one another, Minerva asked, “So, what brings you back here?” she asked, then her curious expression turned cautious and alert. “I had heard about what happened that night at the gate.” Minerva ushered Royce into the kitchen door. “Just so you know, I never believed what they were saying about you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Duncan. That really means a lot.”

She smiled. “You’ve always got my support, sweetheart. You’ve always been the sweetest little thing. I remember those days where you willingly helped out around here.”

Royce did willingly help sometimes. There were those other times, however, where Kareen would send her away because of some misplaced blame. Either way, Royce always made it a point to make sure that Mrs. Duncan’s load wasn’t too much to worry about when she was overwhelmed with her duties.

“It was always a pleasure, Mrs. Duncan.”

She chuckled lightly and patted Royce’s hand. “I appreciate you saying that. Now, what are you doing here?”

“Caulder, Royce!” a loud voice interrupted their conversation. It was the Beta. “You were supposed to report to the front of the packhouse.”

“Well, I wasn’t aware of that,” replied Royce.

“Come,” said Jesop. “You’ll be here in the kitchens soon enough.”

Royce smiled at Mrs. Duncan’s. “It was nice talking to you.”

Mrs. Duncan seemed concerned. “Is…is everything alright?” She asked. When Royce didn’t answer right away, she eyed the beta for an answer. “Jesop?” she said with an impatient assertion.

“She’s going to be serving the family, Minerva,” he said. “Before you ask why, I must insist that there is no time for further explanation.” He then eyed Royce again. “Caulder.” He then headed out of the room.

“Royce?”

“It’s okay, Mrs. Duncan,” she smiled. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Royce then went after the beta to receive whatever information was needed to further her new role as the packhouse Drudge.

“Looks like you’re wasting no time in familiarizing yourself with the serfs,” Jesop said as they ascended the stairs into the main part of the pack house.

They turned a corner and ended up down a long dark hallway with one archway door standing at the end. Royce always wondered what was behind that door when she was a younger version of herself. Now, she’d finally find out.

Jesop opened the door and moved to the side to offer Royce clearance to enter.

She looked around curiously and nervously. Why did he bring her here?

The room was eerily scarce in furnishings, the only sign of decor being the walls adorned in these long brown wooden slats with hooks on them nailed against the wall-six lining three of the four walls in the room. On each twelve foot slat there were lines of collars hanging on the hooks.

Royce immediately recalled that there were some Drudges who wore these while others, like MInerva, did not.

Jesop glanced awkwardly at Royce before he finally reached for one oe of the collars. He then turned to Royce with an expression of guilt on his face.

“You already know that you will be a servant to the pack, so I will not go into detail about it. Minerva will do enough of that.”

“I take it this,” Royce pointed to the collar. “Is what separates the good servants from the bad slaves.”

Jesop didn’t like that term but he also realized that it was one that would no doubt be used by others concerning Royce’s predicament. He didn’t bother correcting her.

With a twist of the small rod on the choker, a blue light switched on and it opened. Jesop then placed the collar around Royce’s neck. As soon as he latched it on, the light switched from blue to green.

“This will track your whereabouts, and…” he sighed. It was obvious that he was reluctant to finish his sentence.

“Keep me in line whenever I step out of it?” Royce finished for him. “Yeah, I know.”

Instead of responding immediately after, Jesop just watched Royce for a moment in silence. She was bitter and visibly aggravated by this but not once did she rebut against him or try and make this more difficult than it was.

“You’re not going to fight against this?” he asked out of genuine curiosity.

His question seemed to catch Royce off guard, but she had an answer for him nevertheless. She looked up at the intrigued Beta.

“Why fight a losing battle?” she asked. “I’d only do more harm than good for myself in the end.” She turned toward the door. “May i go now?”

There was very little else Jesop could do besides accept her answer. “Return to Minerva. She’ll get you started.”

“Right…thanks.” Royce walked to the door.

“I do believe you…you know?”

Royce glanced back at him.

“I do believe that you are innocent, Caulder.”

“Shame…that that just isn’t good enough.”