JASMINE’S POV
I instantly froze when I saw Xaden and Erik with a little girl on Xaden’s arm.
The girl said, "Uncle Xaden, why is this woman wearing chains? Don’t they hurt her?"
I felt my heart suppress once I heard her call him Uncle.
Why was I worried if she was his daughter? It was none of my business anyway.
No one said a word.
"Huh, Uncle Xaden?" The girl asked, tugging at Xaden’s top.
Then she turned to me. "Don’t they hurt?"
I gave a weak smile. "No, they don’t, dear."
She frowned as if she suspected I was lying.
Xaden was staring at me.
I hadn’t seen him since the night before when he had saved me from the other girls in the room.
He had steered clear of me; from what I saw, he didn’t want me an inch around him.
"Jade, why don’t we let Uncle Xaden talk for a minute?" Erik said, breaking the silence.
"Okay, Daddy." She said this as she extended her arms to Erik, who took her in his arms.
Daddy? Now, I could see the resemblance. He was her father.
If he was her father, where was her mother?
She was such a beautiful girl.
Together, they left.
I started to walk away, but Xaden caught my arm and spun me back.
"The Halo festival is happening." He told me.
I nodded. "Yes, I’m aware."
"Good." He said. "Then you must know that every pack will be here."
What was he getting at?
"Your mate’s brother would be coming along." He said,
My heart stopped instantly.
No! It couldn’t be!
My face must have been stricken pale because he smirked and said. "So you still grieve for your lover, whom I killed?"
If only he knew.
I wasn’t worried about the fact that Dean had died but about the fact that his brother, Alexander, would arrive.
And his brother would know that I was not Jessica.
Everything would be spilled out in the open.
Xaden would kill my pack and then kill me, but only after he had tortured me.
He caught my chin and forced me to look at him.
"Since they would be here." He said. "You’re going to put on a little show for us."
"S-show?" I stuttered.
"In front of everyone." He said. "Don’t worry when the time comes. You will see."
He pushed me away and then started to leave, but he stopped.
He turned to me and said, "By the way, If you think that you’re going to escape with him, then I will show you that what I have given you isn’t even torture."
And with that, I was left standing there.
I held my chest and felt myself sweating.
This wasn’t good.
What was I going to do?
He couldn’t know that I had deceived him.
If he didn’t, he would kill me.
Everything would come out in the open.
What was I going to do?
After pondering for a few minutes, I decided to do my best to disappear and keep a low profile.
That could probably help me. If I didn’t see Alexander, he would know I was here.
And just like Dean and the other men in the pack, he had tried to persuade me to sleep with him.
I had managed to turn him down and escape.
Nothing was stopping him from exposing my secret.
Dean was dead because of me and my family, and I had also humiliated him by rejecting his offer.
Dean had a mean streak, but when it came to Alexander, he was ultimately a man fuelled with blood lust.
Not even Xaden scared me as much as Alexander did.
Or maybe both were the same.
A girl came and met me.
I saw her and instantly recognized her as the girl who had asked the other girls in the bathroom, ’What if I was a good person?’.
What had her name been? Mya.
"Jasmine," she said. "The guests have started to arrive. Lady Belinda has assigned the both of us to two packs."
"Oh," I mumbled. "I had assumed it was only one person in a pack."
She shook her head. "No, it’s three. Lisa is with us, too."
"Who is Lisa, please?" I asked her.
Mya was stiff for a short while. "She is the one who confronted you in the room."
Then Mya turned and left, seemingly telling me she wouldn’t answer any other questions.
We worked on cleaning the rooms.
One was for a pack whose name I didn’t know, and the other was for the royal family.
Mya and I worked clearing the room for the pack, and then Lisa came in.
By this time, it was almost dark.
I looked through the window and saw horses arriving in numbers.
By then, we were already done with the work.
"I see you girls are done with the work." She said.
"We were supposed to do it together," Mya said softly.
Lisa’s almond-shaped eyes sharpened. "What did you just say?"
Mya sighed and mumbled nothing.
"Yeah. That’s what I thought." Lisa answered rudely.
I didn’t like Lisa, and I didn’t think she was nice, but seeing her speak so rudely to Mya agitated me.
Especially after it was Mya who had spoken up for me.
Lisa ignored us, sat on the bed, and looked at her nails.
The door was opened, and then she quickly jumped to her feet.
Some masculine voices came in, and I turned to tie the curtains to secure the cross ventilation in the room.
"Welcome, my lords." Lisa and Mya chorused.
I quickly joined and bowed.
When I raised my head, Alexander of the Shadow Pack stood with about five men before me.
This was Dean’s brother, the same wolf who had wanted to take advantage of me.
He looked right at me, and my heart raced so fast that it felt like it would jump right out of my chest.
This was it.
My disguise was up.