HAZEL
There 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 because the taskmaster has already seen it, and his eyes are currently zeroed in on it.“What are you trying to do?” he begins and then he holds up his left hand when it looks like Cathy wants to start defending herself. “My question was a rhetorical one, and I certainly didn't ask you to speak. I have eyes that I can use to see clearly, and I definitely know what you were about to do to Hazel here. You were trying to beat her up, weren't you? And not even with whips, canes, or anything of that sort but with stones. It seems that all of you were trying to do a lot of harm to her and you will all be punished accordingly.”Cathy and all the other maids start to speak now, but he cuts them off immediately by raising his hand up again.“Just like I said before, I didn't ask any of you to speak. From now on, anyone who does so much as utter a single word shall receive a greater punishment than the one I initially intended, so you will do well to keep quiet,” the taskmaster says menacingly, and immediately, all the maids cease their talking and keep their mouths shut promptly.Then he goes on. “For trying to cause harm to your fellow maid who has the same rank as you,’’ he starts, “all of you will be assigned hard labor in different parts of the pack house, and as for you, Cathy, your punishment will be greater than that of the rest. You will be assigned to clean the dungeons for two weeks while Hazel will be let off her normal daily chores for a month before she will finally resume doing them.”I don't bother to correct the taskmaster's assumptions and actually inform him that the maids hadn't actually planned to cause harm to me. Rather, they wanted to kill me. They had the intent to kill on their minds, and they shouldn't be let off too easily.But I don't want more trouble than the one I already have on my plate as a result of being the mate of two powerful kings, so I just decide to keep my mouth shut.They will be punished accordingly just as the head taskmaster said, especially Cathy who will be sent off to clean the dungeons that are always so filthy and smelly because of the stench of blood, sweat, urine, saliva, feces, and other disgusting things, so I should be satisfied, but the truth is that I'm not.They deserve so much more than that, especially since they tried to kill me, and would have actually gone through with it if not for the timely intervention of the taskmaster. If he had not come as soon as he had, I would be dead by now, and I don't want that for myself.I don't say all that I feel to the taskmaster because I'm glad that they are getting punished at least. I know that I should just let it be. I really hope the rest of the maids would leave me be for the moment, since I know Cathy won't because she is relentless. I don't want any of their troubles. I just want peace.On the upside, I won't get to do any of my normal daily chores for a whole month. That's quite a respite and I'm glad for that. Since the entirety of my days will be completely free now as no maid or cook or even the assistant taskmasters will dare to send me on an errand since the order was given by the taskmaster himself, I don't know what activity I will use to occupy myself.I will have to find something tangible and time consuming, but simple to do so that I won't get bored. I don't know what that is now, but I will definitely think of something later on.“Hazel,’’ the taskmaster calls out and I'm snapped out of my musings as my eyes quickly look up to the taskmaster who is standing above me and looking down at my figure on the ground. He continues with his statement. “Find your way inside the pack house. Cathy and the rest, all of you should come with me for your respective punishments.”With that, he turns around and walks away with all the maids following behind him including Cathy, but not before she gives me a very nasty look that reads deep. I know that she will definitely be back for more, but I will be ready for her the next time.When they have all walked away from where I'm still lying on the dirt and are no longer visible, I pick myself up from the ground and dust my clothes off as best as I can.Then I head inside the pack house and quickly make my way to my tiny storage closet room without encountering any of the maids. Once inside, I pick out a change of clothes from a threadbare box in the corner and head into the bathroom for a shower.My clothes, though not new or anything close to that, are as clean as they can be because I take enough care to maintain them so that they can look as good as possible.It's not until I have taken a warm shower and changed into clean clothes that the full impact of what happened outside the pack house comes bearing down on me like a pack of cards.I was almost killed. A group of maids tried to kill me. I would have been dead now if not for the fact that the taskmaster stepped in on time.I can't help but think back to how all of this began.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
HAZEL But I don’t know the answer to that because he doesn’t say anything just then. Instead, he walks around the kitchen, his eyes roaming over the whole place. He does this for a full minute but he still doesn’t say a word. His eyes are expressionless so there is no way for me to know what he is thinking.My heart is beating fast in apprehension as the taskmaster walks forward until he is standing just in front of me. What does he want with me?Then opens his mouth to speak. “I have just come from the second floor before I headed over here,” he starts, and as he says that, the apprehension I’m feeling increases because I know exactly what he went to the second floor to do, and his next words prove that my thoughts are right. “I inspected the bathrooms I assigned to you to wash.”My heart is beating so fast that I almost think the taskmaster can hear it as I wait for his next words. Even though the universe does not favor me most times, I really hope he will say something favorable
HAZELThe biggest hall in the pack house has already been decorated and transformed by the best decorators in our pack. I'm really happy with the way it turned out because the decorators arrived late, and I had already felt that it wouldn't be possible again.The biggest task has been accomplished and the rest of the things that are supposed to make the welcome ceremony a success are just little and can be done quickly.Since I'm done with my work, I decide to move around the pack house to make sure everything is in order, even though it's really not my job to do that. I don’t know why I decide to do it, but I just want to because I feel that I have to know if everything is in order in preparation for the King’s arrival. The next hour goes by really fast. It’s really faster than we all expect, and the fear that we have all been trying to hide starts creeping in; the fear of everything being a failure and of not impressing the King at all. I surely don’t want something like that to
HAZELImmediately, I lower my gaze and bow my head. My hands are shaking and I'm so scared to look up to see if he noticed anything. Then our taskmasters start ushering everyone in. I look at my fellow maids and nervously bite my lower lip to stop it from shaking, but it doesn't work. We wait for the guests that came with the King to all come into the hall before we disassemble our line and fix ourselves around different parts of the hall instead, as we await the needs of the guests. Presently, I'm looking around the whole hall except for the King’s face, even though I can feel his gaze on me. My whole body is shaking, and I can’t help but wonder how everything is going to end.If I can, I want to leave and not come back at all just because of how scared I am. My wolf continues to whine and chant the word, ‘mate’ but I'm trying so hard to be normal, so I just ignore her."Welcome to our pack, Alpha King. We are so happy with your presence," our Alpha and the taskmasters chant in uni
HAZELThe King starts to move back, and he pulls me along with him. I try to pull away, but he is too strong. As I trail behind him, I can hear people having side talks and they seem so surprised at the way everything turned out. Well, they aren’t the only ones feeling that way. I'm surprised too. I never thought I would get noticed by the King, not to talk of getting embraced by him. I can only wonder where he is pulling me to… and why.The King continues to pull me along, albeit gently, with him until we get to his bedroom. I have never entered the bedroom before, so when he opens the door and wants to pull me inside, I flinch and refuse to go in. "I want you to come in. We have to talk, Hazel," he says and pulls me in, closing the door behind us immediately. He finally releases my wrist and I wince quietly at the sore spot on it as I slowly rub the pain away. He sits on his bed and squints his eyes at me. I can tell that he is thinking about something, but I don't know what it i