The Street Rat And The Alpha

24

Maddy stared at the wall in the shower. The pieces of the note, although torn up showed up wherever she looked as a reminder of the threat.

They were destroyed, completely.  All the pieces burnt in the fireplace, the only place she could think to discard them.

Yet they were burnt so badly into her memory and it drove her mad— insane. Yet another piece of trauma to haunt her. Another one out of the mountains that had grown so high to the point that she couldn't even remember where they had begun.

Still the stress she felt was overwhelming to the point where she had had an absolute mental break down.

All she ever thought about, all day and all night was the stupid note.

The woman sank down in the shower letting the water pelt her skin. She did not feel eighteen, she felt like a child again. A scared little girl waking up, suddenly alone on the streets, abandoned without even a goodbye.

She felt helpless. What had she done to deserve feeling as such? All she had done was try to survive.

Xavier walked into the bathroom. His expression covered in concern. His eyes watering at the sight of her hunched over figure being pounded by water. "Maddy you've been in here for hours. Soon there won't be any hot water left in the castle."

He sighed when he got no response from his mate. "Maddy nothing is going to happen to you. It was just an idiot who through a brick through the window. Guards are everywhere now. You have nothing to fear."

Maddy only hugged her legs tighter to her chest. It was not just a brick. It was a death threat and it was not just for her. If only he knew what she had hidden from him.

Xavier turned off the shower and picked up his mate in his arms and wrapped her up in a towel.

He placed her on the bed. "Look at you Maddy you're soaking wet and in winter. You'll get sick if you are not careful. The doctor is going to get tired of you soon."

Maddy gave a short little mumble of agreement in reply.

The king shook his head and began to gently dry the human.

Tears had began to run down his cheeks as he slid her clothes onto her. He couldn't go on as they were. "Maddy please, open up to me again. I can't help you and be there for you if you don't let me in and tell me what is wrong. You're not yourself anymore. Ever since the incident you've been closed off, barely speaking, eating or doing anything."

He smiled seeing her in a loose dress, made of comfortable material specially for her. 

He could not reach out to her. There were times when the silence would break and she would be more normal. Normal entailed, saying a few words or cuddling into him, maybe even laughing, but then she would remember something. She would stare out of a window and recede back into her bubble.

She was not shut off completely. She was just off. She seemed to have some sort of at the very least mild depression, he assumed. He couldn't say for certain. All he knew was that she would become oblivious to the world. She would stare at an empty spot silently. Sometimes she would scream.

He had no idea what she had seen that day if she had seen anything. Maybe she had seen something. Something she did not want to see and had shocked her.

He did not know for sure. There was very little that could have done such a thing to her. He was certain she had seen many things on the street. Many bad or horrific things. She had been forced to fight in an arena. Surely whatever had happened during the short timespan of Lily being out of the room she could not have seen that much.