The sounds of chirping birds touched my ears softly. The chill of the morning breeze made me shiver. Hopefully, it was a nightmare, but when I opened my eyes, I saw them before me... battered and shattered.
Eyes wide and tattered, I held myself from rending my clothes with a scream I swallowed in my throat.
So with shame, I cast my gaze upon them, ready to offer only what someone as weak as I could.
From the sky and the sound of the cock's crow, it was 5 a.m. So I shuffled clothes to the nearest woman, who flinched. "I can help you."
"Hypocrite!" the other spat behind me, and it twisted something inside me.
"I know..." I tried to say.
"You know nothing... you feel you're better than us because you weren't taken." I heard the fury in her voice, even though her dark hair covered her face.
The other, with short hair, spoke. "I hate people like her, self-righteous, selfish hypocrites who watch evil happen to you, then pretend to be a good person."
Their every word felt like a stab in my flesh. Only the woman I approached with curly hair looked at me. Her eyes held so much pain. "Please help me. I do not hate you... because it's something I would have done."
My heart swelled. I was going to avenge them somehow... although in the werewolf realm these matters were not taken seriously, as it was heat season and not controllable to some. Yet something like this was just evil.
The flesh of my legs turned hairy. I plucked my wolf's fur into my palm. I shed my tears, and I chanted some words.
The other two women gasped. "Witchcraft!"
When I was Alpha Queen, I studied some witchcraft for self-protection. I kept it a secret, as witches were not accepted in the werewolf realm.
The hair and tears soaked, I took it and rubbed it on her legs. "You will feel better in a moment."
"Close your eyes," I instructed, and she did. The air current in the room changed as I continued to chant in my mind, connecting the two other women to her. Making them one.
The woman suddenly stood up. "Oh my... I can stand, it doesn't hurt anymore!" she exclaimed.
The others looked at themselves in shock. "I'm totally healed."
"My name is Lisha," the woman I helped with curls said to me in a grand tone. "Thank you for healing me."
"You're welcome." The others didn't bother thanking me. They didn't even look at me. It was fair, even if it was to reduce just a tiny shred of guilt I felt towards them.
The door suddenly swung open. "Rise and shine! Time to work!" the madam barked at the top of her voice, and we rose and followed her.
She assigned the others their tasks, leaving me for last. "You! You will wash the floors," she said, dropping a bucket of water with a single cloth.
Washing the floors didn't sound so bad. "From the bottom to the top."
I cringed, my eyes wide as I looked from the ground floor to the two floors at the top. It was huge. My grip tightened. I still hadn't showered. I was still in the golden dress, and it was highly uncomfortable.
I sighed as I bent down to pick the cloth. "The sooner you finish, the earlier you'll have breakfast. Also, stay out of the Alpha Lord's and his family's sight!"
She left the room with the slam of the door behind her.
I was determined to survive this miserable life, so I picked up the cloth and started washing.
By the time I reached the second floor, my whole body ached raw with pain. I never knew my servants suffered this much. As I continued to wash, some water droplets fell down, and I heard a feminine voice from below.
"What was that!" she snarled, and my whole body ran cold. As I looked down, I saw her — a lady dressed in the latest Victorian fashionable dress, in jade green.
I could tell the dress cost a fortune, but since I was the purchaser of major originals, I could tell this dress wasn't the original, as I had purchased the very first design.
"Get down here, you rat!" she snapped in anger, and I quickly scurried downstairs.
"I'm so sorry, I was washing the floors at the top, so I didn't see when you—" The strike of her palm against my cheek sent me into shock.
My whole body ran cold. "Just who do you think you are?" she spat. "You dare speak before me? Do you know who I am?"
My whole world was spinning right before my eyes. "That you are allowed to bring your parasite self into the castle is a privilege, but you dare to speak in the presence of a noble? The utter audacity!"
"Shall I have you flogged for ruining my one-of-a-kind dress?" she gritted her teeth as her maids fanned her, while I stood there with my hand on my cheek in disbelief.
"Is something the matter?" a voice boomed from the top of the stairs, and we all looked up simultaneously to see a man dressed in a clean 2000s tux with his brown hair sleeked back. His eyes glowed green.
I recognized his voice from the carriage that had brought me to this place yesterday. "Oh, nothing to worry yourself about, Beta Daniel. I'm just teaching my maid."
Beta Daniel's gaze fell to my cheeks, and my cheeks burned with shame as I turned to look away from him. "Gamma Lady Lola, the Alpha is waiting for you." He said it like a reminder, and she gasped, running a little.
"Oh dear, I hope my beloved brother didn't wait too long." She said that in such a possessive way that my wolf reacted to it with an emotion I couldn't comprehend.
As soon as she and her train of maids left, exhaustion nearly sent me falling, but he was in front of me so fast my heart stopped as he held me up. "Are you alright?" he asked, his green eyes filled with concern as I pushed myself away from him.
"I'm fine," I said, hating to see that look in his eyes.
As I lifted my bucket and cloth to leave the room, all the hairs on my body stood. Butterflies scattered in my belly, and my heart raced for no reason.
Just a simple brush, barely a brush of clothes. I felt him so strongly, his scent made me queasy.
My body lit up with that fire again, the need to feel him.
"Alpha Lord Micheal, Gamma Lady Lola is waiting for you," Beta Daniel said, as if caught in headlights.
"Indeed." Alpha Michael simply grunted without looking at me, as they headed out of the building through another door.
I released the breath I was holding.
Living here was going to be extremely hard, I muttered to myself.
But Beta Daniel said that Alpha Micheal was waiting for Gamma Lola.
Why did he lie?