CHAPTER 6

I didn't get much sleep throughout the night. I was turning and tossing all through the night. My situation seemed bleak to me and I couldn't get the look on his face out of my mind. The looks on all their faces. I had been assaulted constantly in that pack. And even tonight…the way they had seen us. They knew…Eunice knew that it wasn't consensual but she acted like that to save face. I couldn't even defend myself in front of all those people. I sighed deeply. It was already too late to think much about it. They had all made their conclusions about me. There was nothing I could do to change how they thought about me. Again…my mate. If I'm being honest, I'm still bewildered that I had gotten one.

'He's not so much to us' my wolf reminded me and I sighed again. I forced my eyes shut but the sleep didn't come still. By the time the rooster crowed, I figured I had to get up. Since I was still in the tattered clothes from yesterday, I grabbed the cloak Hermes had given me and put it on again. It was a bit dusty after placing it on the floor as a cover so I dusted off the dirt and stepped outside the room. The hallway was empty unlike what I expected. I imagined that all the occupants of the other rooms would be up and about, running up and down the hallway, trying to get ready and get to work. Did I wake up too early? Or too late? I followed the part I had come through last night and I ended up in a busy kitchen. So I woke up late. I got stares standing there in my tattered clothes and unkempt hair. Unconsciously, I weaved my fingers through my hair and searched for Martha.

"Hey, you. Come here" I heard a loud voice and my eyes landed on Martha. I hurried over towards her, still ignoring the looks I was getting.

"First you wake up late and then you show up in the kitchen looking so…dirty" She folded her arms and stared at me. I scratched the back of my neck, unsure of what I should do now. The reason I had come to the kitchen was to find her because I didn't know anyone or what to do. She kept on staring and I decided I should apologize.

"I'm sorry," I said and she uncrossed her arms.

"Come with me" she brushed past me and I turned around, following her out of the kitchen. We were going down the hallway leading to the dorms and she constantly muttered under her breath as we went. I didn't catch everything she said but from the little I heard, I knew she was still displeased with me and unhappy that she had to deal with me.

"There is the bathroom" She pointed to a door far ahead.

"Get in there and wash up nicely. We don't want you messing up the whole place with your smell"

"Okay," I mumbled and went towards the bathroom. Seeing as she said nothing about a change of clothes, I took off the coat and my torn clothes. I decided to discard the tattered clothes I had been wearing and clean off the dirt with some water.

I found some bath gel in a bottle, sitting on the bathroom shelf and I decided to use it. It’s been more than twenty-four hours since I last took a shower.

After my shower, I had nothing to wear so I put on the coat and stepped outside. Martha was pacing outside the door but paused when she saw me.

"Did you plan to spend forever in there?" She asked annoyed.

'You said I should take my time' I wanted to answer but I held back. I knew speaking back to higher-ups wouldn't do me any good.

"And you still put on that dirty coat after taking a bath. Didn't they teach you anything in your fucking pack?" Why was she so angry? What would she have me do? Come out naked so she can complain about me not having a single modesty. I didn't get it. There was nothing that I would do that she wouldn't make a snarky comment about.

"And what's that face for?"

"Nothing"

"I think it's something. Do you have a problem with what I just said? Do you know what you can do? Go back to whatever hole it is you crawled out from. We don't want you around here" I said nothing, keeping my eyes down.

"Go back in and shower and toss the coat in the trash"

"B-but…"

"B-But what?"

"It belongs to beta Hermes"

"That's the more reason I want you to throw it away. Jeez. Can't stand seeing that he gave you his coat and you turned it so filthy" Maybe her issue was with me wearing the beta's clothes. Did she think there was something more to it? I couldn't let her think that. I only just arrived here and I didn't know if I'd ever leave from this place. It would be better not to allow her to hate me because of something she conjured in her head that was totally false.

"Nothing is going on between beta Hermes and me"

"Well did I ask you? Go in there and take another fucking shower. And change into this" She tossed the dress in my face. I caught it so it wouldn't drop to the floor.

"Thank you" I mumbled and entered the bathroom for the second time.

"Don't spend the whole day inside there. There's a lot of work you'll be doing today" I could hear the glee in her voice. I took another fast shower and changed into the dress she had given me. The dress was a bit on the tight side. I had seen most of the girlies in the kitchen and I kind of figured they had a type. Skinny and under a particular weight scale. I was nothing like them. And whoever had given out this dress was nothing like me. Buy I couldn't complain about anything. Not the length and definitely not the size. Whatever Martha says would be completely unpleasant and unnecessary. To be honest, I didn't want to hear it. I adjusted the dress around the hip for the last time and I folded the jacket neatly, placing it in one of the overhead cupboards. I'll come back for it later. I couldn't just toss the jacket away like that. It was part of a core memory for me. The first time somebody had been so nice to me without any reason. He just saw my predicament and instantly covered me up. I stepped outside the bathroom again.

"Thank the goddess you actually listen" She didn't say anything about the fitting of the uniform and walked away. I walked closely behind her until we arrived at the kitchen again. She clapped her hands twice and all attention shifted to her.

"Listen up everyone. This is…" she looked at me.

"Nevaeh" I spoke out loud.

"She is a new addition even though we don't need any. Don't be too surprised when you see her in the hallways. Now come with me Nevaeh" The others went back to their duties as she was done addressing them and I followed after her.

"Like you've heard countless times already. We do not need a servant at this point. But what can I do? You have no specific duty but you'll be involved with everything.

"I don't understand"

"As expected. It simply means that your duty is anything you're told to do. Cleaning, scrubbing, cooking, washing, serving at the table. Anything at all. Normally the servants are divided into categories and you only handle tasks you've been assigned in that category. But that isn't the case for you. At any time, you can be called to do anything maybe because one of the servants is ill or unavailable or simply because your assistance is needed. Whatever the case, you must attend to your call immediately.

"And if I'm already doing something?" She stared at me and I felt the need to explain further.

"Are there any tasks more important than the others?"

"No. They are of equal importance. Unless it comes to matters that concern the king" I nodded.

"I understand"

"Good. We are on the same page now. What did you do with Hermes coat?"

"I threw it away" That felt like the best answer and she nodded.

"Good. Listen to your superiors and keep your head down. We wouldn't have any issues. Okay?"

"Okay," I nodded. That was what I planned to do anyway. Stay invincible for as long as possible. Stay away from everyone while performing my duties, especially the men. I planned to stay away from them. Directly or indirectly, they seemed to be an origin of pain and torture for me. There were a few good ones out there but I guess I'll never get to know them.

"As long as you stay away from what doesn't belong to you. Wolves around here are very territorial"

"Understood"

"Good. Now start with scrubbing the laundry floor. It is unfortunately a tedious duty and hasn't been taken care of in a while" With that she disappeared. I knew I had to get to work quickly but I was left in the middle of the hallway with no knowledge of where the laundry room was or where I could get cleaning supplies to clean the laundry room. I would like to think Martha had forgotten to show me to where it was but she definitely did this on purpose. Luck was on my side today and I heard voices. I followed the sound and stumbled on a group of servants lingering around. Their conversation paused as soon as they saw me.

"H-Hey" I stuttered, unsure of how their reception would be.

"Who are you?"

"I've never seen you before"

"Are you the new girl?" Three of them spoke at once.

"New girl?"

"Yes. I heard from the kitchen that there was a new servant that Martha wasn't fond of"

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm the new servant"

"I know Martha can be a bit too much but why doesn't she like a new servant? Who brought you here?"

"The King"

"The king? That's shocking"

"He went on a trip and came back with a servant?"

"That has never happened before?" They started talking amongst themselves, ignoring me. Time was going by quickly and I didn't want to get into trouble for not doing my duties.

"Please where can I find the laundry room?" Again, their conversation ceased.

"The laundry room? Martha really gave you the laundry room. She must really hate you" I get that. But I need to find the laundry room.

"It's downstairs"

"But we are on the ground floor," I said confused.

"That's what you think hun. Come I'll show you to the laundry room. Do you have cleaning supplies?"

"No"

"Agnes please help us get what she'll need. I'll show her to the laundry room"

"Thank you," I said genuinely.

"That's okay. We servants have to stick together" She nudged my shoulder but I remained stiff.

"I can't help but notice you're different. From the rest of the servants, I mean"

"I'm a little on the big size," I said but she chuckled.

"I'm not talking about your weight hun. I'm talking about you…your specie" My frown deepened as my confusion grew. What did she mean by my specie?

"You seem like a wolf"

"Aren't we all wolves?" She laughed harder.

"Where did they find you from really?" I said nothing as we continued walking. We went down a flight of stairs and she opened a door, revealing a very large room.

"We aren't all wolves darling. The servants here are not"

"Then if you aren't wolves…what are you?" A loud noise from above interrupted us and she vanished, leaving me alone.