Dawn couldn't believe that she would be stuck in this kind of situation. She thought, once she was away from her pack, she wouldn't have to face these dirty tricks anymore.
Seriously, they thought she would give in to them after she survived someone like Emily?
"Helping me wash my hair? With cold water?" Dawn stood up from the bathtub and got out of there in quick succession. She stared at the two buckets of cold water near Kynes legs.
Kynes smiled at her. "Lady, you must not know about this, but it is our tradition to wash our hair with cold water."
"If you don't like it, I can get warm water for you," Pyllo chimed in. "Usually, we bathe in cold water as well."
Dawn narrowed her eyes. "Really?" She wondered how thick their skins were if they managed to take a bath in cold water. "You fill your tubs with cold water too?"
Kynes and Pyllo looked at each other and then nodded.
"Yes, my lady." Pyllo looked her in the eyes.
"We prepared warm water because we assumed it would be too much for you to immediately follow our tradition," Kynes added.
Dawn walked away to grab a towel to cover her nakedness and then crossed her arms in front of her chest. She didn't say anything, which made them nervous.
"So, the tradition here is to bathe in cold water? How long did you usually dip in?"
"Ten… fifteen minutes…" Pyllo said hesitantly. She didn't know what Dawn was up to, especially when she was smiling harmlessly at her.
===============================
Pyllo rushed across the hallway as she hastily looked for Fern in the kitchen. She was breathing raggedly, a trail of white vapor from her mouth. The moment she saw the old woman, she immediately tugged her to come.
"What is it?" Fern frowned because she had to oversee the preparation for dinner tonight. She didn't have time to go with her.
"You need to help Kynes." Pyllo looked like she wanted to cry.
"Why? What's wrong?"
Pyllo told her about what Dawn did to Kynes on their way to the bedroom and this shocked Fern, because she didn't expect that woman to be so daring. The first impression she gave her was one of a timid and well mannered young woman.
After all, she heard Dawn was an alpha's daughter. She was a highborn, of course, she would have some restraint and not act like a wild girl.
Didn't she get any training back in her pack? But then, Fern remembered a very important piece of information; the Luna of the Moonlight pack died during an attack so many years ago and only recently her father got a chosen luna, which meant she grew up without a mother. No wonder, there was no surprise there…
"She made Kynes dip in a bathtub filled with cold water!" Pyllo cried out. "What should we do now? What if the alpha finds out?"
Fern clenched her jaw. "Stop crying."
Once they arrived, Fern quickly barged into the bathroom and found the sight that Pyllo had described to her.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Fern asked sternly, she immediately ordered Pyllo to help Kynes get out off the bathtub. The poor girl was shaking, her body drenched and her teeth were chattering.
"I am the one who should ask what the meaning of this is…" Dawn's voice startled them all. Their hearts skipped a beat, because no matter what, she was an alpha's daughter, in this case, she was the next in the line for the title. Of course, her voice carried a lot of intimidation if she wanted to.
Kynes started to beg for forgiveness, as she fell to the floor and sobbed so hard, but Dawn ignored her because right now, her attention was solely on Fern.
"Answer me, what is the meaning of this?!" Dawn narrowed her eyes viciously, which left Fern flustered, as she lowered her voice, making it sound as polite as possible. "This is how you treat someone outside of your pack?"
Fern balled her fists. She tried to calm her nerves after the intimidation that Dawn displayed, putting her in her place.
"You misunderstood the situation."
"How can I misunderstand the situation?" Dawn was still wearing her towel to cover herself, thankfully, this room was warm enough for her to wear this little. "Did they do this on their own? Or was there someone behind it, who gave them the nerve to do it to me? Either way, someone should be punished for this incident. I want the alpha to be notified about this immediately."
Pyllo and Kynes went pale when Dawn brought up the alpha's name. Both of them immediately knelt down, pressing their heads on the floor. They were too terrified to incur the alpha's wrath.
"The alpha is busy," Fern said.
"I want to see the alpha."
"My apologies for this mishap. I will make sure to train them well. I will give them the punishment they deserve, but please don't blow this small matter out of proportion." Fern had a way with her words. "We don't usually have an outsider in our pack. If you make this matter big, people will talk about you and I am afraid it will put you at a disadvantage."
Dawn pressed her lips.
Fern was not exactly like Julia, but she still found herself in a situation similar to back when she was still in her pack. Life really sucked. She hated it. She felt a lot of hatred, but what she did was; suppress her anger.
She was alone here, one wrong move, her life would be miserable. If she wanted to have a peaceful life, she needed to tread her path carefully.
"Is that a threat?"
"It's advice, my lady." Fern toned down her attitude a little bit. "This is not your pack, people will naturally be wary of you."
It sounded like a threat in Dawn's ears, but this was not something new to her.
"Fine. But, I will be the one to decide their punishment."
Dawn felt sick to be treated like this. She just escaped the clutches of Emily and Julia, she was not going to let herself fall back into such conditions.
Therefore, she wanted them to stop before things escalated. Also, they needed to understand they wouldn't be able to do this kind of nasty trick without any repercussions.
In that case, the punishment that she demanded was rather harsh. This was what you could call killing the chicken to scare the monkey.
Dawn wanted them to stand in the garden, where she could see them from her balcony, wearing as little as possible.
Fern was fuming, she didn't agree to that punishment, because it was too harsh.
"I thought you are so used to this weather that you can soak for fifteen minutes in cold water, so doing that is not a big deal, right?"
"I will report this to the Alpha." Fern's face turned so red.
Dawn was silent, she contemplated for a while, before she nodded. "Fine. Go ahead."
And with that, right now Dawn was staring at Kynes and Pyllo from her balcony, watching the two of them hug each other in order to keep their bodies warm. They didn't dare to lift their heads and look at Dawn, but inside, they were seething.
Shifter's body was built differently, they had hot blood they said, which meant, this harsh weather wouldn't kill them. It would, at most, get them sick, which was unusual for a shifter, but it definitely wouldn't kill them.
With that knowledge, Dawn thought this was a suitable punishment for them for messing with her, so others who wanted to do the same thing would think twice.
She would prefer them to be scared of her and leave her alone, rather than for them to think she was an easy target. She didn't want to deal with this kind of bullshit for the rest of her life in this pack.
"This is so annoying…" Dawn muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, Fern was running in the corridor to look for the alpha, she needed to let him know what that woman was doing to the pack members. How vile she was with the punishment.
But, the problem was; the alpha was in the middle of a meeting with his beta and gamma, thus she needed to wait until they finished with their discussion.
Unfortunately, it lasted for long and they only finished when it was dinner time. Fern immediately entered the strategy room and reported what happened.
"That woman is crazy, Alpha!" Fern immediately blabbered what Dawn had done to her two maids. "She made them stand in the garden for a whole night for a small mistake!"
"That's indeed crazy," Darius stated, he was tidying up the table when Fern reported this news.
Zenith ignored his gamma's comment and immediately went out of the room, followed by Fern. She was surprised because the alpha wanted to confront her immediately without even asking about the situation, but she was glad that the alpha would take some action against that rude woman.
Meanwhile, Darius and Axel, the beta, looked at each other, but both of them immediately tidied up the desk and went out of the strategy room too, but when they met with an intersection, they chose a different route.
"Where are you going?" Darius asked Axel with a frown.
"Don't you want to go and see what happened with the alpha and that woman?" Axel was puzzled.
"No. Why would I when so many delicious dishes are waiting for me?" Food was a life in itself in Darius' eyes, but Axel didn't hold the same concept.
The beta only frowned and then walked away, while Darius shrugged his shoulders and headed to the dining hall, where his appetizing food was waiting for him.
Meanwhile, Zenith walked toward Dawn's bedroom, while listening to what Fern said, she recalled the event and the small mistake that Kynes made; not preparing the water warm enough for Dawn's liking.
The alpha didn't give any response, but that was how he was, thus there was nothing weird with Fern continuing her own monologue along the way.
Once they arrived at the bedroom, Fern immediately opened the door for the alpha without even knocking first, which made Zenith narrow his eyes at her.
However, the sight of her lonely back when she stood in the balcony made Zenith ignore Fern and strode across the room to approach Dawn. He took a blanket on his way and draped it gently on her shoulders, which startled her.
Dawn's black eyes widened in surprise to see Zenith, she opened her mouth, but no sound came out. From the corner of her eyes she could see Fern, who looked at her defiantly, as if she was saying; you will not be able to get away with this.
"What is going on here?" Zenith nodded at the two maids under the balcony, who were shivering in cold weather. "Are you planning to kill them?"
Dawn was shocked when she heard Zenith jump to an extreme conclusion. "A shifter will not die in this weather. They will only get sick."
Dawn knew that Fern would call for the alpha and based on her experience with Emily and Julia, the story must have been twisted to her favor.
Thanks to the mother and daughter duo, she got a really good lesson about life.
In that case, it would be better to confront Zenith as soon as possible and put things straight. With this, she would be able to know where she was standing in Zenith's eyes
Whether he would believe her words, or… he would be like her father, who would take their words over hers.
"So, you want them to fall sick?"
"I want to punish them for the rude thing they did to me," Dawn said. She was ready to tell him everything, but she was shocked by his reply first.
"If they are rude to you, they should be breathing their last, not fall sick."