Chapter 6

There is a knock at the front door of the house and it shakes up the core within me. Dad walks ahead and gestures to me to behave properly in front of the King Alpha. I straighten my dress and my hair. Mom did not put any effort in my look because as per her plan,I am supposed to look ugly in comparison to Lisa who is all dolled up to steal hearts. I just hope the guys understand that it is all exterior. I never understood why men go for external looks when after a certain time it all becomes common. The books I read spoke about the love that emerged from knowing the soul of a person. How they actually are from within and not from their looks. I wonder what changed. 

The door opens and two large, black suit wearing men stand on the porch with their ramrod straight backs and proud uplifted heads. They are certainly werewolves who work under the King Alpha. The air of royalty they radiate from just being working under him makes it obvious what a high position it is. Mom and dad bow in front of them and they address them with a nod. Both of their eyes slid towards me, making my heart race. I don't know how to behave properly in front of such royalties. When I met the King Alpha, I thought I had lost my tongue for real. 

"Ma'am, our King Alpha would not be able to join us. So we are given the duty to escort you to the palace. Please come with us." The man on the left speaks and I notice Lisa's face losing its colours from the corner of my eyes. She was looking forward to King Alpha to make his presence and then she would have seduced him in every way possible. 

I pull my bag and walk towards the door, my mother's eyes prying on me. It is as if she is reminding me of what I am supposed to do. I do not reply with anything and just walk out. The men take all the bags, even the one I was carrying on my shoulder from me and walk towards the black BMW. I don't know much about cars, but it is a costly brand. Lisa always spoke about riding in a Ferrari when she will get married to the King Alpha and become the queen. I am sure she is not happy with the turn of events. Neither am I. I do not care what she rides on or what I ride on. I just want to be free from all this and live a safe, simple life, away from all the darkness. 

The men finish putting all the bags into the trunk of the shiny car and hold the backseat's door for me. I kind of flush as I did not expect this kind of treatment. The way he spoke to me that day, I felt that he would treat me even worse than his maids. Sighing, I step inside the car and the smell of rich leather hits my nose. The seat feels a combination of fluff and firmness. I can sink deep into it and still won't have to worry about submerging completely. The two men take the front seats and the window starts rolling automatically, making me jump. Woah! I did not expect this. In a moment of looking at the rolling window on my right, my eyes fall on my whole family. None of them look happy, especially Lisa. She appears like she would kill someone. The only person who is a bit calm is my mother. For some reason, I do not feel like I will miss them. At all. Depends on the situation. It is safe to say that they have put me through worse. 

The engine roars to life, making my heart race and the scenario starts to change through the window. My sinful family slides behind and a series of pine trees, then crossroads, then middle sized houses with small gardens come ahead. The sky looks bright and the sun rays glitter on the lake body in between the shade of more trees and bushes. The bricks and houses start to get less as the car moves forward, replaced by more greenery and clean roads. After, maybe, an hour or so, the scenario changes into an isolated road with greenery on both sides, but fenced with huge metallic rods, each having a sharp spear at the head. If anyone tries to escape these fences, they will have it hard on whichever part gets stabbed by the spear. The fences are very long, as they don't tend to end anywhere. Not until one place. Which is not the end, but a junction between the two long lines of fence. And it is nothing normal but a huge golden gate,with the head of golden wolves attached on the top. The man sitting in the passenger seat pulls out a walky-talk and speaks something in it. Are they still in use? Someone speaks from the speaker and then with a loud thud, the two sides of the gate start to diverge apart. 

My jaw hangs in the air, as the car moves inside the spacious land. A large part of this land is covered with trees on both sides, and a wide enough path stretches from the our side to the other end. I narrow my eyes to see what the other end consists of because all I can see is the bright blue sky. As the car drives forward, the angle of my vision elevates and the sky which before a few seconds ago appeared like it would fall on top of us now goes up and a small building comes into view. It stands with huge green plants which are shaped like water droplets. 

After a few minutes, my eyes grow wide and I feel like stabbing my brain for thinking of such nonsense. The building I thought to be small was just appearing because of the distance. Now, when I stand on the tiled floor, in front of this giant palace, all I can do is just gape. The palace looks like a thousand people can live in it, without even knowing that they live together. A series of twenty- thirty glass windows with their shades on top look down at me. The walls are milky white, the brown pillars the only source of color on the building. The sound of sprinkling water coming from the fountain behind me soothes my ears and the cold air pricks on my skin even though I am wearing a jacket. 

Two men wearing the same uniform as the men who picked me up stand on each side of the huge,ceramic double door with dragon design on it. They bow down and hold the door open. I stand here, not understanding what to do. Should I walk inside? Fortunately, a woman wearing a black dress and a white apron with frills on the sides comes rushing out of the darkness and stands in front of me. She gives me a bow and her eager eyes scan yours truly from head to toe. 

"You must be Miss Hazel." Her lips curve in a sweet smile and I smile back. 

"Yes." 

"Our Sire is busy in his meeting. So he will meet with you personally after he is finished. You must be tired of your journey. Please come with me. I will escort you to your room." She bows again and I want to tell her to not do that, but I guess she was ordered to do so. 

I follow her inside the doors, my luggage being taken care of by the other men. As I step into the darkness, coldness seeps into me in an instant. I don't know if it's just the air conditioning or the palace in general. Strangely, in a huge place like this, there is a lack of lighting. Even half of the curtains on the windows are closed. I can only tell where the staircase is because of the ray of light that falls from the window just at the right of it. I walk up the wide stairs, feeling dizzy about the change in environment. And worried that in any second, my foot will slide on the marble and I will hit my butt on the floor. So, I tread carefully, taking much more time to catch up to the maid who waits for me on the second floor. She does not complain a word about it and then walks ahead with me following her. The second floor is just the same. All I can make out is vague shapes of the structures and the picture frames on either side of the wall whose colour I don't know. Why is everything so dark here? 

Suddenly, a ray of light hits my eyes and I close them as a reflex. "This is your room, Miss." The voice of the maid reaches me and I slowly open my eyes to realise that it is the light coming from the room in front of me. Thank God! At least something has light here. 

I step inside the ball of light and after my eyes get used to the brightness, the room becomes clear to me. And I gasp. This is a room? I look at the maid, who appears stoic to ask if she has not mistaken this hall sized place as my room. But by looking at her expressions, I guess this is it. This giant, hall-sized room where another mating ball can be easily arranged is my ROOM. As wide and spacious it looks, the grandeur is something to die for. The walls have a light cream colour to it that enhances the light that falls on the walls from the large floor-ceiling windows, flanked with silky maroon curtains. A few metres away from the east window is a queen sized bed with a roof on it, standing on the four cream coloured pillars that have maroon silk curtains wrapped in a spiral around their thick body. The bed sheet is also silky maroon, matching the maroon pillows. It looks like one of those beds that princesses sleep in. And it makes me want to touch those silky fabrics. 

"Please find yourself comfortable using this room. If you need any help, then there is a phone on the table." She points on the white table with drawers beside the bed. 

Not being able to speak any words, I just nod my head and she leaves the room. 

I look around, my head feeling heavy with the amount of beauty dancing in front of me. Never in my life have I ever seen these things for real and now I am just thrown into it, without any invitation. I sit on one floral printed couch that stands in front of a huge fireplace. My back sinks into the softness of the maroon cushion behind. I think I don't even need the bed to fall asleep. Above the fireplace there is a huge television screen, as flat as paper. I wonder if it will appear as a drawing if I touch it. On the two sides of the screen, there are black speakers resting on a silver shelf. This all feels like a dream. I lay my head on the couch and the cream ceiling with white, circular LED lights comes into view. There are a few words to describe this place. My eyelids start feeling heavy and I allow them to shut down for a sleep.

A knock at the door startles and I open my eyes to turn my head towards the door. Do I have to tell the person to come in? I open my mouth, but the door opens automatically and the loud, nerve wrecking voice comes through. 

"Welcome." 

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