“C – Car -” I opened my mouth and almost vomited the truth but I paused at the right time.
In the Alpha Prince’s luggage, I’d thought of the best way to live life before I got the resources to pull Red Lake to the ground. I planned to work as far away as possible from them, living as if I were dead because I knew Noah would be looking for me.
“Amethyst,” I muttered, my head falling forward and my ears reddening.
“That’s a pretty name,” Orion said, his tone friendly. “Now, Amy, why were you hiding in a royal carriage?”The friendliness disappeared from his tone.
“Do I – Do I have to answer that?” I gulped as the air turned frigid. “I – I needed a ride and I – I’m not -“,
“You conveniently fainted in front of my carriage, snuck inside and hid but you want me to believe you did all this because it’s the only way you know of getting a lift?” Sharp words cut through the thick skin I thought I’d built from years of being degraded and they pierced my heart.
This man –
He carried power like a second skin, wore it as if he was born to be powerful. When he spoke, his words, which, although were spoken in a quiet tone as if he could not be bothered to raise his voice, carried across the vicinity.
“It’s all – I didn’t mean to faint.” It was the truth but I knew he wouldn’t see it as more than a lie. Why – why did it have to be this man? How could my one impulsive decision lead me to the path of a man who killed without a second thought? Someone who murdered his brother in cold blood!?
“Cut her some slack,” the beta defended. “She fainted and found herself in a strange pack so she did something crazy. Besides, we did take her to Dark Moon and promptly forgot about her.”
While Orion spoke, the prince’s eyes bore into me. I wouldn’t dare look into the eyes of a man so powerful. Even the gaze he had on me seared my skin and dried my throat. I’d never been this terrified in my life and a lot had happened during this period for me to be terrified. All this man had to do was look at me and I felt the ground underneath me shift as if about to open up to bury me.
“I – I am – I am sorry,” I stuttered when the gaze did not fall from my face. “I promise -” Words bubbled up from my throat but I couldn’t make sense of anything. The urge to apologize, to fall on my face and beg for forgiveness overwhelmed me. I may be wolfless but I never quite mastered the submissive part of my position. I didn’t know how to beg but standing before this man, words of apology flowed out.
“Amethyst.” He tested the name on his tongue. It was a name I’d envied as a child, a name so precious I wished my mother had given it to me. Why did it come to me at a time like this? “You have hitched a ride to the capital.” I knew the journey had been long but – the capital!? “Now what?”
“Sir – I am – a job -” Distorted words fell from my lips. “My f – my alpha – I’m running from him. He – cruel man -” He hadn’t asked but I felt I needed to give a reason for my need to hide in his carriage.
“If you need a job, the palace is hiring,” Orion butted in. “You can apply -“
“Orion.” A single word that shut up the beta and made me freeze. I noticed then that the area around us was unnaturally quiet and I knew it was because of this man. “Amethyst,” he called my fake name again then I heard a cruel chuckle. “You’re not a wolf, are you?” My gaze unwittingly snapped to his.
“W – What?” My mouth rounded. “Of course -” Of course, I was a wolf. I hadn’t shifted but it didn’t mean –
“What are you?”
Those words plagued my mind for days after that. He left me with them but the words did not leave me. For the first time, I wondered if I was a late bloomer or if I was not a wolf in the first place. My identity dangled at the point of crashing to shambles but it was just the beginning of the thorough shift my life underwent in a short time.
I got a job, alright. The palace hired me to clean and then things went to flames.
One thing I learnt after a week of working in the Alpha King’s palace was that no matter the place, the treatment for those like me remained the same.
“You’re telling me you’ve scrubbed this floor?” The girl who was in charge of showing me the ropes of the job glared down at me as I scrubbed the banquet hall.
In the grand scheme of things, she was the same as me – a nobody. She was an omega who’d worked at the palace for three years and the head of the maids put her in charge of my supervision. Somehow, she took that as a prerequisite to bully me.
“Yes, I’ve scrubbed the floor.” I didn’t bow to Alpha Noah so if this nameless omega girl thought I would bow to her, she didn’t know me.
“This dusty floor?” She swiped a finger on the floor and raised her hand. “Do you think this is your village!?” She raised her voice, glaring down at me. “This is the royal palace! If you’re going to work here, then you should be prepared to work hard!”
I worked hard. Knowing where I came from, the reality I did not want to return to, I had no choice but to work hard. All my life, I’d been a hard worker so it wasn’t anything new to me. In Red Lake pack, I worked like a camel, toiling day and night in the pack house and working into the night at a local pub to be able to afford my rent at the same pack house. At least in the royal palace, I got housing and feeding and my job description was fixed. Mopping, sweeping and dusting. In simple words, I was a cleaner.
“Answer me when I’m talking to you!” My supervisor hit me across the face and I saw red.
“Mary,” I called her name as I stood with a burning cheek. “Why did you hit me?”
“W – What!?” She screeched. “How dare you question my method of discipline? Do you want me to hit you again?” She pointed a threatening finger in my face, almost stabbing my eye.
“You’re not in charge of my discipline,” I reminded her. She was just a worker like me, the only difference between us being her work experience. She had no authority to discipline me any more than I could discipline her.
“I am in charge of your training!” She went red in the face. “If you don’t work hard then I have to discipline you.” She frothed at the mouth, itching to hit me again if her clenched fists were any indication. “How can a new maid be so arrogant?”
Arrogance.
Everyone I met wanted to lord over me. I understood that in every gathering, I would be the bottom of the bottom of the barrel thanks to the fact that I didn’t yet have a wolf. For this reason, I stayed on my own and minded my business. I did my work as instructed but I was accused of arrogance at every point by every Jane and Dick that could not get me to lick their feet.
“Mary!” Another maid rushed into the hall I’d been cleaning. A spark of irritation heated my insides as she stomped dirty feet around the ground I’d been washing for the past two hours.
“Mary, Scarlett is here!” I froze at the mention of that name.
Killian. Scarlett.
I was a fool to not recognize those names when I woke up in a strange pack but after that, I realized just how dangerous things had been for me at that point. My hands found my neck and I massaged it, remembering how that girl had tried to choke me to death thinking I was making fun of her red hair by mentioning carrot.
“Really? She’s here!?” Mary, the omega supervising me said, her face brightening. “Did she ask about me?”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply