HAZEL
When 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 safest place for her,” King Arnold says.“Do you even hear yourself? You want Hazel to go with you to your Kingdom? Well, I have to tell you that it’s not possible. She is mine and she is coming with me to my Kingdom to be my mistress where she will receive the best of care. I will certainly take care of her better than you can,” King Ethan opposes.“That’s not possible. You don’t want her to be the only woman in your life, but I want her to be mine and mine only. I’m the one that deserves to have her because you don’t.”“I will take good care of her. She has to come with me. I’m the one that found her first!”They are both arguing with me in front of them, not caring if other people can hear them. Frankly, I would have left this room since, if not for the fact that I haven’t been asked to leave by either one of them. Since they are Kings, I can’t just leave without permission from them. It’s nothing short of sacrilege.I do wish I’ve been given a choice in this matter, because I certainly don’t want to keep standing here while these two grown ass men argue between themselves, tossing the idea of keeping me between themselves as if I’m some sort of prized possession.In all these, they haven’t even sought my opinion about the current issue for once. I’m the one being talked about, yet they think they can decide my future without any input from me. They must be joking. I’m upset about the whole situation unfolding in front of me, and I can’t help but wish I could do something about it. I just want them to snap out of it and quit the petty arguments.Suddenly, the sound of the phone ringing cuts into their argument and I don’t think I’ve been grateful for anything in years the way I’m grateful for the phone ringing. It’s the phone in the suite which means it could be for either one of the twin brothers.But my gratitude is short lived when King Ethan ends the call and continues the argument with his brother. How could he leave the call unanswered? He is a King and his duties should certainly come first. Who knows if the person calling is doing so for a very important reason?They both keep arguing and I’m getting more and more upset by the minute, so I know that it’s now time to intervene. I can’t let them keep going on like this. Something has to be done.“Can both of you just be calm for a moment? It won’t cost you both anything to just be silent for a while and quit arguing with each other,” I say in a high pitched voice, making sure to draw their attention away from each other to me.My plan succeeds as they both look at me in shock, probably because they didn’t expect me to raise my voice at them since they are both Kings. But the thing is that I’m fed up with their attitude. They are surely not acting like the Kings they are right now.“This argument between the both of you won’t accomplish anything,” I start. “You can’t just stand there, discussing me amongst yourselves just as though I’m a prize to be won, because I’m not. I’m human, and I deserve a choice.”As I think about how best to present my next words, unknown to me, the group of maids who hate me are outside the door of the room, eavesdropping on the conversation between me and the two Kings, but I don’t know that at this time, so I just forge on with what I have to say.“Both of you haven’t given me a choice in this whole situation but I will give myself one. The bottom point is that I don’t want either of you. So it’s best for you two to quit talking about me and just accept that fact,” I say, laying my thoughts bare before them.Just as I expected, there is shock on their faces. They weren’t expecting such an answer from me and they weren’t expecting me to speak so bluntly like that. But I did. I just had to.“What do you mean?” Arnold asks. “No, you can’t do this, Hazel. I’m your mate and I’m offering you a better life in my Kingdom, so please come with me so that I can take good care of you.”There is a note of plea in King Arnold’s voice and I never thought a day would come when I would hear a King plead, much less plead with me, but that’s what’s happening right now. I still ignore it, because even though he seems sincere, I don’t want to go with him. I don’t want to be at the mercy of any man who will think he can do what he deems fit with me.“Hazel!” King Ethan growls. “You have to come with me. I’m your mate.”I can hear the note of authority in his voice as clear as day. He thinks he can just boss everyone around and order them to obey his commands because he’s the King. Well, unfortunately for him, that won’t work with me.Going with King Ethan to his mansion would be a very bad idea. He is already controlling enough as it is, and I don’t know how far he is willing to go if I should eventually go with him. No, I can’t do that. He is too brash.Now, my choice has been made and I know that I can’t go with either one of them. I have to remain in this pack and face my bullies. I have to face my fears too so that I can become a better version of myself.“As I have said before, I’m not going anywhere with any one of you, so both of you should just leave me alone. My life was going just fine before you appeared,” I say rudely, turning around and heading for the door so that I can leave.Immediately I walk out of the room, I see a group of maids standing just outside the door and it’s obvious that they have been eavesdropping on the conversation that was taking place inside the room.Now, they all look at me and I can see the disgust on their faces. I know that the reason they are disgusted with me is because they have never come across a person with two mates. It’s a sacrilege in the werewolf community and here I am, a maid who has two powerful Kings as her mates. That’s too much for them to bear.I do the best thing I can do in this situation, ignoring them as I turn to leave. As I walk away, I begin to regret talking to the Kings that way. Who knows what they are going to do to me now?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
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