Chapter 9

Elena’s POV

Clear as my fear, I still feel King Harvey as he finishes. He exhales heavily, dropping his face into my neck. Freezing entirely in his grasp, he brushes his nose with my bare shoulder, then presses his face there.

I shiver, and still feel the need to be with him and satisfy him. My fear kills that. Along with his long fangs that just barely kiss my bare shoulder. The slightest feeling of being bitten burns on my left shoulder but I stay quiet.

The soft sting of breaking skin and blood follows, but I ignore it. I don’t want to think about what has happened.

Slowly, he detaches himself from me and walks off to the bathroom.

Exhaustion blankets me. The stress of worrying about this for three days, my life, my sister’s life, my dad, and my wound.

We didn’t have sex because of my back, but once it heals, I am all his.

The thought both thrills and paralyzes me with terror.

When King Harvey returns, he wears dark shorts and a black tank top. He gingerly rolls me on my stomach and soothingly rubs my shaking body, then cleans my back.

“Elena, do you eat well? You are too thin.”

King Harvey’s fingertips trace down my spine and I shiver against his touch.

“I was eating, King Harvey.” I reply quietly.

As cruel as the maids were to me, they never left me without food or clothing.

King Harvey hums in reply but says nothing more. He rubs my back for a few more minutes, careful of my condition. My eyes drift shut, and I sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, King Harvey was gone. I suppose because he is king of werewolves, he has a lot to deal with day in and day out.

“Oh, she still smells like a virgin. Didn’t King Harvey have sex with the stupid human?” A new maid with yellow hair snarls as she opens the door.

There is a new old maid that follows her close behind with a pitcher of water. “I just was saying King Harvey doesn’t look down on this weak, stupid human!”

The two maids glare at me coldly, malice brewing in their shining eyes.

I can’t help feeling embarrassed. I know they can smell him on me, and whatever marks he left on me with his fangs.

The maids care less about my delicate position as I scramble to cover my body with the blanket, they throw a pile of dirty clothing at the foot of my bed.

“You have been here days and have done nothing! Eating and drinking for free long enough! Hurry up and wash this pile of clothes!” The young maid with yellow hair snarls.

The old maid has red hair and she snaps. “It is all silks and high-end blends; you can’t use the washing machine. It must be done by hand!”

She is not Doris and I find myself missing her.

Mindful of my back and bite mark on my right shoulder, I get up slowly and collect the clothing. There is no point fighting it, I have been taking care of Emily my whole life and the housework is nothing new. This is muscle memory.

I throw the clothing in the tub with cold water and soap, get on my knees and begin to scrub gently. A few moments pass, and I feel relaxed. I never get this wrong and in a way I feel useful.

“Stupid human!” The young maid snaps suddenly. “You are not washing thoroughly enough.”

I nod at her words and press harder on the red clothing and produce more bubbles. Maybe she was right. It should get clean.

“No, no!” The old maid interjects. “You are doing it too hard! You are damaging the clothing!”

Am I? I am not used to washing silks.

I continue as they talk to themselves so softly, I can’t hear. My back locks up and the cold water makes my hands shake and turn purple.

“Do you think King Harvey likes her? He didn’t touch her. How easy would it have been for him to just have his way with his strength?” the young maid asks.

“Maybe he didn’t want to break the weak human and had pity on her.”

“What is worse, being used and dying with honor or being too weak to not use?” The young maid’s voice becomes colder and crueler.

“Do humans even have honor?” The old maid replies as if this is a philosophy question.

“Oh, wait. Do we even need this laundry taken care of?” The young maid asks icily.

“Oh, no! I just recalled!” The old maid chuckles.

I pause my wringing water free of the clothing and look up at them.

“Did I wash the clothing wrong?” I ask gently.

“No, no, we don’t need the clothing to be washed! Oops!” The old maid stares me down with a fanged grin.

She wants to kill me with those fangs.

I looked away quickly.

My face glows red at my embarrassment and my stomach turns. I bow my head and continue to scrub lightly to keep myself busy. I look like I am doing something, maybe they will be kinder to me.

“This is the kind of chores she was made to do! She should do them in the future too!” The young maid says with a harsh laugh.

“Oh, I have a good joke! This weak human should defend us on a battlefield! She should defeat the enemy! Right?”

The two maids break out in a cackle of predatory laughter. I don’t need to see their faces to know they are smiling smugly.

Losing my hands in the red silk fabric and ice water, choosing to pick this pain over my face growing as hot as lava.

Then, I splash my face quickly with some soapy cold water.

These are the people I will be around; this is the werewolf mindset. All they worship is their power and will look down on me because I am not as physically strong as they are. I have no place whatsoever in a werewolf pack.

As a matter of fact, no human does.

The maids have not harmed me physically but broken my spirit. They are looking down on me, making me feel stupid and replacable.

I have protection of King Harvey physically, even when he is not in the room because I am his fated mate.

Once King Harvey is done with me, my fate will be tragic.

How will I know if this is true love?

“What are you doing human?!” The young maid hisses violently at me. “Hurry up!!”

“Don’t mak-!” The old maid jumps in to say, but suddenly is silent.

They both frowned deeply and moved to cover their heads with their hands.

This is the werewolf-only ability called the Mind link. I have seen it before while working with werewolves and twice here.

Humans can’t receive these signals.

The young maid’s face suddenly drops. Her mouth opened wide with her eyes to match, and she looks at her old maid companion.

“Did you just hear that?” The young maid asks incredulously.

The old maid matches her, and she gasps. “King Harvey wants to hold a mark ceremony?! That is the ceremony to make the mate a luna! It marks her place in the clan permanently!”

They both turn to look me in my eyes, a mix of mistrustful anger and fatality burns in both their eyes.

“Not possible! Impossible!” The young maid snaps. “How could a human be a luna! This has never happened in our history!”

“What are you two talking about?” Beta walks in the bathroom then pulls me to my feet and dries my hands for me with a black towel.

Numbly, I follow him as he guides me out the room. I am sick of these maids and would rather have King Harvey explain everything to me.

“Hi…” I whispered awkwardly, unable to think of a proper way to greet him.

After my night with King Harvey, I feel a bit more secure that I am slightly important to him, and at least he is kinder than the maids.

“Follow me! King Harvey is asking for you!”