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
ETHANI stand near the bed in the suite where I will be residing for the duration of my stay in this pack. The suite has been tastefully furnished to suit me but I think about none of that as there are other pressing matters on my mind. I’m stunned. Really stunned, in fact. I didn’t think Hazel would have the audacity to reject me, a whole King of the East, seeing as she is just a maid in this pack. I know for sure that she felt the mate bond, so why would she reject being my mistress like this? I was sure that she would say yes and yet, she said the exact opposite of that. I’m really dumbfounded and this is not something that happens to me frequently as I always know what to say at any given time. But the thing is that I’m a bit relieved because she didn’t reject me outright. She only rejected the idea of being my mistress. At least, there is still something to stand on. And this means I can try again. She was probably in a bad mood when I asked her the first time so I have to tre
HAZEL It’s the afternoon of the next day and the most baffling thing right now is that I’m done with my chores for the day. I didn’t expect that to happen and it’s really surprising. Yesterday and even this morning, all my thoughts were occupied with the fact that I would have a lot of chores to do today since I didn’t do much yesterday. I was still thinking that that would be the case until I went to the task master’s suite and he gave me the same chore as yesterday, and nothing else. Even when I went back to his suite to ask him for additional chores, he just ignored my question and told me that was all for the day. Why is this happening? I ask myself.It really isn’t that I don’t like the fact that I’m not given as many chores to do as before, because I really do like that. I actually like the respite I have gotten from my daily chores, but what is puzzling me badly is the reason for it. I have thought about the whole thing and I have only one reason for it. Maybe I’m getting
HAZELIt’s another day and I’m doing my chore for the day. Just like the last two days, I have been given just little to do and I’m doing it diligently and efficiently. I’m in front of the pack house watering the flowers as usual and suddenly, I hear the sound of footsteps so I immediately turn back around only to see Cathy and two of her minions who are the same ones from yesterday, with one of them holding a bag of something indistinguishable in her hands. She has a very murderous looking expression on her face towards me, and goes on to eye me with open contempt before she speaks. “You, Hazel, why are you being singled out and given little chores to do for three days now while the rest of us have to work tirelessly throughout the whole day? What’s it that’s so special about you, eh?”The pitch of her voice rises with each word she says and I just look at her without saying a single word to her. Then I suddenly realize something. She is jealous of me. I wonder what exactly she is