HAZEL
I stare at the person in front of me as defiantly as I can. I’m not about to let myself be bullied again. I have faced a lot of bullies this past month, and now, I’m ready to speak up. I can’t just stand back and allow other people to control me just as they have been doing before.My taskmaster looks back at me with surprise swirling around his features. I know why he is surprised because I am too. I never expected that I would stand up to him, and he didn’t either. But now, here I am, looking at him as he looks back at me, all the while standing my ground.“What did you just say, girl?” he asks me in a firm tone.Actually, this is the assistant taskmaster for all the maids in the Moonshine Pack. The head taskmaster usually handles most of the work, but since he is away at the moment, the assistant taskmaster is stepping in. That’s why my workload and those of about five other maids have been handed over to the assistant taskmaster.The five other girls that I’m supposed to be working with today know about the hatred the taskmaster has for me, so they decided to capitalize on it, feigning illness so that the taskmaster has no other choice but to assign all the work to me. But he won’t be doing that. I’ll definitely make sure of it.I know why the taskmaster hates me, and I’ll try to keep it brief.The Werewolf Kingdom is divided into four separate Kingdoms and each of these Kingdoms is ruled by a King. The Northern Kingdom is ruled by King Arnold while his brother King Ethan rules the Eastern Kingdom under which our pack, The Moonshine Pack is a part. The Southern Kingdom is ruled by King Hunter, and the Western Kingdom is ruled by King Garner.Well, back to the topic at hand, the reason the taskmaster hates me is because the King of the Eastern Kingdom is my mate.But at the moment, I’m having none of his hatred. I won’t allow myself to be kicked around like a toy anymore just because I was unfortunate enough to be a maid in this pack. I have endured their bullying for a long time, and I can’t continue with it any longer. With that thought firmly in my mind, I look the taskmaster in the eye and say my next words.“I’m sorry, I can’t do what you’re asking me to do. The workload is beyond my capacity.”With that, I turn around and leave the place, turning a deaf ear to my name being yelled furiously by the taskmaster, or rather, the assistant taskmaster.ARNOLDI’m really curious about my brother’s mate. At first, I didn’t know he had even found his mate because we have both been busy carrying out our duties and traveling around the packs in our respective Kingdoms. When we were done with that duty, we got down together and he told me all about what happened when he went to the Moonshine Pack.He told me that her name is Hazel and she rejected him when he asked her to be his mistress. But the thing is that I can see part of the problem here. She probably didn’t like him asking her to be his mistress when they could just be normal mates. But knowing my brother, he isn’t ready to settle down with one woman just yet. He wants to keep playing the field until he is exhausted, but it’s not supposed to be so.Now, as he sits across the table from me, I can see that he looks really forlorn and unhappy. The rejection — which wasn’t even an actual one since she didn’t reject him outright — must be taking a toll on him, and I have to do something about it.“Hazel…” he whispers absentmindedly. “She is so beautiful.”“Chin up, brother. It’s not the end of the world,” I say in an attempt to cheer him up.“You don’t understand, Arnold. She rejected me. Like, she looked me in the eye and rejected me straight up.”“That’s the mistake you’re making, Ethan. You think I don’t understand the situation when I understand it perfectly well. She rejected your offer, not you. You made her an offer of being your mistress and she didn’t take it because she doesn’t want it. She probably just wants to be your mate,” I explain to him.“Is that what you think? Well, you’re wrong,” he replies in a sad tone. “Every woman wants me; even just a taste of me once in their lifetime. I still don’t understand why she rejected me. She should be honored that she is my mate and I asked her to be my mistress.”I pity my twin brother at that moment. He looks so sad that it’s heart wrenching. I want to do something to cheer him up so I start to think hard and fast. After a short while, I manage to come up with something.“Ethan, I have a suggestion…” I start to say but he cuts me off almost immediately.“Just forget it. It won’t do any good in this situation,” he replies, standing up immediately and heading for his room. A few seconds later, I hear the door to his room bang shut loudly.He thinks he understands but he doesn’t. I still have to help him even though he doesn’t want my help. He is my brother, and I can’t just stand by, watching as sadness envelops him until he can’t find the joy in his life.***A few hours later, I knock on the door to Ethan’s room and a few seconds later, he begrudgingly answers.“Come in, Ethan,” he calls out, grumbling lowly. “Even if I don’t give you permission, I know that you will still come in anyway.”I push the door open and find him sitting at his desk. I walk to the bed, lower myself on it and as he speaks, his back is to me.“What do you want?”“I just want to say that I’m sorry about the situation you are in with your mate, and I want to offer my help.”“What help can you offer to her from far away?” he says bitterly.“What do you mean, Ethan? Is she in trouble?” I question him.“I just got a call from someone in the Moonshine Pack. He said Hazel is being bullied by some of the maids in the pack as well as one of the taskmasters. I can’t even do anything to help her right now. I’m the King presiding over her pack, and I’m just as useless to her as anyone else.”There is pain in his voice as he speaks, and I stand up, walk over to the chair he is sitting on, and place a firm hand on his shoulder to comfort him.“Don’t talk like that, Ethan. You can still be of help to her. I told you before that I have a suggestion and I still do now.”“What’s it, Arnold? Lay it bare before me,” he says.“We finish with whatever we have to do here as soon as possible and head over to the Moonshine Pack to help Hazel with the bullying issue. When we do that, she will see you as her savior and you can use the opportunity to bond with her. She will accept you in no time,” I explain.“That sounds like a mighty good suggestion. Let’s get on with it,” he says with more cheer in his voice than I have heard in a while.HAZELAll the maids of the Moonshine Pack have just been informed that King Ethan is on his way to this pack for an official visit. And that’s not all. We are told that this time, he is coming along with his twin brother, The King of the Northern Kingdom, King Arnold Sharpe. We are told that they are coming on official pack business, but I know that’s bullshit. The main reason that they are coming here is because of me. King Ethan probably told his brother about his mate and how she rejected him and now, they are both coming here to try to force me to accept King Ethan and go to his domain with him.Well, if my guess is correct and that’s really what they are coming here for, then they are in for a rough time. I won’t go with them willingly, except if I’m tied and bound up. They have to forcefully cart me out of this place if they want me to leave.It’s the truth that I don’t like my situation in this pack. I have never liked being a maid, but there is nothing I can do about it. Well
HAZELWhen the rest of the maids went inside the pack house, the Alpha of the pack came to lead us to the suite that had been prepared for the Kings. All of us had followed him silently and when he showed us to the suite, he left without a word as well. Now, the two Kings who are in the same room with me have started arguing with each other.“What do you mean she’s your mate?” King Ethan growls at his brother.“Ethan, to tell you the truth, I don’t know how it happened. I just know that I felt myself being drawn to her when we first arrived and now, I can feel the mate bond between us,” King Arnold replied calmly.“You can’t be serious. She is my mate. Hazel is mine!” King Ethan roars. “She’s mine too. I can’t be lying to you about something like this,” King Arnold insists. “Come off it, Arnold!”“I want her to come with me to my Kingdom as my mate. She will be better off there, especially since she’s being bullied here. She can’t remain here any longer. My mansion will be the safe
ETHAN I’m still rooted to one spot in shock and so is my twin brother. I cannot believe that Hazel just rejected us so brutally and I’m sure he doesn’t either. But it’s the truth. She rejected us and we just have to come to terms with it. I don’t know why Hazel rejected us and I don’t think I understand why either. Try as we did, we couldn’t seem to find out what her reason was. But the main issue is that I don’t think I can come to terms with the fact that a maid just rejected me and my twin brother. Hazel is just a mere maid, for God’s sake, so I still don’t understand why she would reject either of us when we are offering her a chance at a better life, when we just want to lift her out of the abject misery she is currently living in. “She rejected us, Ethan,” Arnold suddenly says, cutting into the silence that has enveloped us ever since Hazel left. “She did,” I reply in a brave tone.He looks heartbroken about the situation and I am too, but I know that we have to square up to
HAZELThere is an expression of plea in my eyes as I look upward at the stone that is sure to come crashing down at my head any moment from now, but the girls around me don't seem to notice it. And even if they do, then they don't care. Just then, I close my eyes in order to brace myself for the forceful impact the stone will definitely have on my delicate head, but I'm shocked when after a while, I don't feel anything, not even a single touch as light as a feather. I'm puzzled by this sudden development since it's definitely not what I was expecting, so I start to open my eyes tentatively but surely. When I finally get them open completely, to say I'm shocked by what I see would be an understatement.Standing near Cathy and looking at her with a murderous look on his face is the head taskmaster. The stone she was about to hit me with is still in her hand and now she looks around, trying to find a way to dispose of it and make herself look less guilty, but it doesn't seem to work bec
HAZELFOUR WEEKS AGO “What do you even know how to do properly, you lazy girl?” my taskmaster yells at me, his eyes narrowing in distaste as he fixes his penetrating gaze on me. “You're a failure and a disgrace. It's no wonder your parents left you to languish on your own.”His gaze is still on me as he makes mention of my parents and he narrows his eyes more, expecting me to give him a reaction, but I don't. I won't give in to what he wants. I won't give him the satisfaction of that. No matter what he says to me today or any other day for that matter, I won't say anything negative or revolt against him for once. He should keep saying what he wants. He will leave me alone soon enough just as he always does. I stay quiet as always as he keeps spewing more and more hateful words at me. Even though the words affect me, I always try my best not to give off any reaction. I never allow anyone to see how much their words affect me. I don't want to give them that satisfaction. My expression
HAZELI run a brush over a particularly hard patch of the floor. It seems like there is something sticky on the floor and I know that I surely have to get it off since I don't want to incur the wrath of the taskmaster. So I scrub harder and before long, the sticky stuff is gone. Then I retrieve my mop and continue cleaning the floor, using the bright lights of the second floor as guidance. Earlier, when I finished washing those clothes, and I met the taskmaster just outside the laundry room, he didn't have much to say to me. It seemed as though the shock I had experienced when I first caught sight of him had been for nothing and thankfully, he hadn't made a mention of any punishment.He just asked me to go inside and clean all the living rooms on the second floor, and I nodded, and replied to him with the usual, “Okay, taskmaster,” before I rushed into the pack house to do as he asked.Now, I'm cleaning the second living room on the second floor and as I survey my work, I'm quite sat
HAZEL“What’s wrong with you, girl? Why can’t you just do anything properly?” the head taskmaster yells harshly at me.The ferocity in his tone is enough to make me cower in fear. He has always been harsh to me right from the beginning, but this time is different. He looks so angry that I don’t even know what to do or say about it.“How dare you think of washing my clothes with that of one the other taskmasters?” he growls.So that’s the problem? It doesn’t sound like something to be worried about so why is he making a big deal out of something so little? It just seems like he is making a mountain out of a molehill. But as usual, I don’t say any of what I’m thinking out loud. I always keep my thoughts to myself and it has served me well so far. No one needs to know what I’m thinking as it might get me into trouble. As if I’m not already in enough trouble every single day of my life, I think.“And the worst part of this whole situation is that you didn’t wash my clothes with just anyo
HAZEL As I wake up the next day, the first thing I do is jump out of my bed as I head to the little bathroom that I alone use. When I’m there, I wash my face and brush my teeth. I don’t bother to take my bath since I know that doing it won’t serve any purpose because soon enough, I will be doing all sorts of chores that will make me get dirty or sweaty easily. So I quickly dry my face with a worn but neat towel before I step out of the bathroom, and then I go back to my cubicle of a room to change my clothes. When I’m done with that, I step out of my room, moving towards the second floor as I have some work to do there. Yesterday, when I was done with my work in the kitchen, I had done a few other chores before I was finally discharged by the taskmaster, but not before he gave me a list of the chores I would do this morning. The first thing I do just before I climb the stairs leading to the second floor is get some supplies from the storage room which is at the bottom of the stair