Working in a kitchen full of werewolves was no walk in the park.
Nobody talked to me.
I quietly did my job while Cassy and Mary, two of the cooks, watched me.
I was slicing onions that Mary had handed me when one of the she-wolves deliberately bumped into me. The jolt made the knife I was holding slip, and I ended up cutting my right hand. It was a deep cut, and blood started to flow out quickly. I winced.
The girl who had bumped into me smirked. “You should be more careful,” she said, her voice dripping with menace.
“You should get a Band-Aid on that before it gets infected. The first aid kit is in the servants’ bedroom,” Cassy said, giving me a cloth. I quickly pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding.
I hurried back to the servants’ bedroom and rummaged through the wardrobes. It didn’t take me long to find the first aid kit. I cleaned my wound with some antiseptic and covered it with a Band-Aid.
On my way back to the kitchen, I saw a young woman walking by. She was heavily pregnant, but she looked like she was barely eighteen.
She seemed to be sneaking around.
Our eyes met as we passed each other.
I could tell instantly that she was human.
How many more of us were there in this castle?
Back in the kitchen, Cassy and another woman were finishing up with the onions.
“Lucy,” Cassy introduced me, “this is Emma.”
“Hi Lucy,” Emma greeted me with a warm smile, “it’s nice to meet you.”
“I just saw a woman in the hallway,” I said in a low voice, “she’s pregnant and I’m pretty sure she’s human.”
“Her name is Lily,” Emma explained, “She’s the king’s stepsister, and she’s half human. Good catch.”
“She has the senses and half the strength of a wolf, but she can’t transform into one because her mother was human,” Cassy added, “she defies everyone. Her stepmother, the Queen, arranged her marriage to the royal advisor, Jason, hoping to tame the young notorious princess, but that didn’t work. She was still messing around with every royal guard she could find, so the royal advisor got fed up and got the princess pregnant whether she liked it or not. She’s been locked up in their room as punishment, but I’m sure she found a way to escape again.”
Knowing there were other humans around was comforting.
“How old is she?” I asked, “she doesn’t look older than fifteen.”
Emma laughed.
“Oh, Lucy! Don’t you know werewolves hardly age? I’m sure you’ve noticed most werewolves here look so young and pretty? Lily is young but not that young. She’s twenty-one years old. Her husband is the older one though, he’s in his thirties I heard from rumors,” she whispered as we made our way back to the kitchen.
I was stunned. That girl couldn’t be twenty-one! I was about to turn twenty-one, and I wished I looked that young and cute. I bet I looked fifty next to all these beauties.
Emma must have noticed the shock on my face, and she giggled. I was starting to like this side of her—it was so human.
“Oh, wait until you see the king! I’m sure you would faint if Lily’s age shocks you. Follow me, we need to get some roses for the table decor from the gardens,” she said with a smirk as she opened a door near the kitchen that led outside.
The rose garden was close by, and it was beautiful.
I blushed a little in embarrassment. I didn’t mean to be so shocked. I mean, it was expected that these supernatural beings would be extremely beautiful and angelic, but it was still surprising to me. I would never get used to this.
“Is the king also…you know, old but young, ma’am? I heard he’s really evil,” I blurted out before realizing I had just insulted her king!
“I wouldn’t say I am evil… There’s a difference between being evil and providing justice,” a deep voice said right behind us.
Emma and I both squealed in shock as we turned around.
There he was…
The King.
The moment I saw her, a rush surged through my body.
It was unlike anything I had ever felt before.
My whole body wanted to pounce on her.
It couldn’t be.
I was the King, and she was human.
There had to be some mistake.
The intensity of the moment must have been too much for her because I watched her faint right in front of me.
The wolf inside me winced with pain.
Her pain was my pain.
That human was my mate.
