From Maid To Moonfire

Nyra’s POV

Right about that time, I was learning that the worst time to be a maid in the pack was when the Princess was expecting her prospective suitor, who happened to be an Alpha. And Kayla didn't fail to deliver a fair share of pain with the way she was calling me almost every second she could.

I felt like a button being pushed relentlessly without any option but to respond. My feet were beginning to get tired underneath me as I ran all the way to Kayla's room. I stopped briefly at her door to catch my breath as I had all the way from the kitchen downstairs, come running.

"Yes, my lady..." I sucked up all the complaints that had been building up in me all that time. I was already hated by everyone in the pack, so it made no sense putting myself in more trouble with the princess.

"What's this stain on my dress?" Kayla questioned, pointing to the stain on the bust of her white, sleeveless satin dress which looked more suited to kill her visitor than to dress her up. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Her loud voice brought me back into the moment as I had drifted far off into my little world of fashion, which was the only thing that seemed to thrill me a bit.

Before I could say a word, she came to me and knocked me into next week with a slap that floored me instantly.

“You want my guests to think I'm some pig or what?” She questioned as she paced towards me like she was modelling the dress which was high above her knees, while clinging to her body with no space at all, leaving me to wonder how she was moving at all.

Instantly, I snapped myself back into the present as I just didn't want to take any further beating. "But it was spotless after I dry cleaned it..." My eyes scanned the room and fell on a plate of sauce which had nearly the same color with the dark brown stain on her dress.

The bitch set me up.

"So, you mean to tell me I'm a liar?" Kayla stood tall with a smile as my being on the floor was the only time she could be taller than me.

"What's going on here?" Hilda, her mother, stepped into the room, making matters worse for me.

Her mother had been the one who taught her daughter that maids could be used as punching bags at times.

Especially people like me whom every one tagged the harbinger of death, who caused the unfortunate death of her own parents. They probably thought they were doing an act of service to the pack by mistreating me.

"You won't believe it mother..." Kayla continued her rant as she was now with her mother's full support. “This mutt is beginning to slack in her duties. She made a mess of my dress and now Rowan is going to think that I'm some pig like she is…”

I got to my feet immediately, standing some inches taller than the despicable Luna and her daughter. There was no telling what her mother would try on me in that vulnerable position, and I didn't want to stay long enough to find out.

"Looks like you carry your bad luck with you everywhere you go..." Hilda said with a really angry look on her face. "Now, you'll be going somewhere far away with it "

“I promise, I dry cleaned the dress properly. She must have stained it with the sauce over there..." I had no idea where the boldness shot into my system to reply the queen Luna, pointing at the plate audaciously.

"How dare you accuse the princess?" Hilda glanced at the plate on the table not so far away to see that I had actually been telling the truth.

A brief awkward silence followed and that made me wonder what they would do next.

"Here's the list of flowers I want in the bouquet I will be giving to Rowan when he comes here..." Kayla said, taking a piece of paper from the table which had the plate on it. “Go get them right now... from the woods…”

I glanced through the list of incorrectly spelled flowers and there were about seven of them. Sunflowr…honeysuck…hybiscs…it was really ridiculous and hard to look at.

“What…?” I yelped, "But we have all these flowers in the garden... why do I have to go all the way to the woods?"

“Well… I won't have you ruining our beautiful garden. Filth like you have no idea what it takes to get that sort of garden together, so you might want to get going right away…”

Hilda looked like she could hit me if I waited one more second. "You better come here before Rowan or you'll have hell to pay..."

“But I,”

"Understood?" She didn't even let me finish before she took a step forward like she would charge at me.

I walked away quickly and stopped after closing the door after me. What the heck had I done to deserve all that crap? I really felt like conking Kayla on the head or causing her some kind of pain, but she was just untouchable.

"For the goddess's sake this is a really expensive satin dress Kayla. Why the heck would you ruin it?" Hilda complained on the other side of the door. Her voice was muffled, but I could still make out the words.

"I wanted to bait her so I could make a victim out of her. My wrists felt stiff and needed to be...."

At that point, I couldn't bear to listen anymore, as I really felt the need to get going.

"Perhaps, I could slip in some poison ivy with the flowers." I thought as I walked away from them, down the corridor, which led to the stairs.

As I walked through the packhouse with the paper in my hand I noticed everyone turning their eyes away from me. I had gotten so used to that, to the point I referred to them as shy bastards. Shy bastards who didn't have the guts to face a girl who lost her parents. At least I thought so.

I ignored all of them as I walked all the way out to the entrance, wondering how I would pull off that one. It was just too early for those sorts of adventures and I really didn't know what exactly would happen if I stepped out into the unknown.

No one asked anything about where I was going. I was already used to nobody caring and that made no difference at all.

Slowly, the sounds of people talking faded away as I was getting deeper to the woods and that made me a bit scared. I'd heard so much about what happened to people straight into the woods all by themselves, and I wondered if I had been intentionally sent into those woods to be yet another episode added to those stories.

Each step I took had me looking back to know if I was being followed. It was really hard to believe that I was going through all of that just to get a couple of flowers which probably didn't exist in the wild.

The deafening silence made me hear the rapid rhythms of my racing heart clearly. My heart almost raced out of my chest when I snapped a twig under my foot, thinking it was someone behind me. I looked around again just to be sure, but there was no one in sight.

Then my eyes fell on a rose flower not too far away. I didn't hesitate to rush for that one. At least I would have something to show for my outing. I moved on the tip of my toes just to be sure I wasn't disturbing the peace.

As I bent over to take up the flower, I filled some thick hands on my waist and that had me shaken up and instantly turning around to face the pervert behind that. I was shaking all over as I stayed at the tall, bearded, bald headed scary looking figure standing in front of me. He was clearly a rogue and he didn't wreak any good intentions.

“Hello beautiful…” He said with a deep scary voice that made me shake even more as I was completely defenseless. While he spoke some other men who looked just as haggard as he looked emerged from the woods and at that point, I knew I was in trouble.

“I'm just here to get flowers, nothing more…” I was stammering terribly as I was backing away from him and his neck. “I'm not here to make trouble…”

“That makes two of us…” He was drawing dangerously close. “You want the flower but we want to deflower…” They all erupted in laughter and that made my blood around cold. That joke was creepy and frightening as well.

“Instead of looking to deflower, I think you should turn a new leaf…” and just like that another voice from nowhere ended the laughter.

What the heck was I getting myself into?

And in that breathless heartbeat of silence, the laughter died, the rogues stiffened, and I felt the air behind me shift as if something far more dangerous than them had just stepped out of the shadows and whispered my name.