Rosella
My hands shook vigorously as I held the lillies. I had managed to find them amidst the thorns. At first, I wanted to ignore Madam Ruth, but I had no choice but to follow her will.
I spent hours searching among the thorns for the flowers, and even when I was cut and bled endlessly, I refused to give up, continuing my search for the Lilies. Giving up was never an option for someone like me, and I wanted to prove the Alpha king wrong.
I was not going to let him bully me.
"Hey!" I shouted as I struck the door. "I found the lilies!" I announced. "Hey," I tried to knock again, but one of the hefty guards stationed at the door grabbed me and dragged me outside. "What the hell is going on?" I demanded, but before I could react further, a sharp strike landed at the back of my neck, and darkness consumed me in an instant.
The shock of cold water against my body jerked me awake. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was in a room with Madam Ruth and two other girls standing opposite me.
My gaze wandered around until it landed on the Lilies I had picked from the thorns. They lay beneath Madam Ruth's feet, and to my horror, she continued stomping on them. "What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at them.
"Oh my!" Madam Ruth chuckled, showing no remorse as she continued to crush the flowers.
"I bled while picking those! How could you treat them this way?" I retorted.
"You can speak!" Madam Ruth stepped closer and crouched to my level. She raised her hand, and I braced for a blow, but instead, she grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled it so hard I feared my scalp would split.
My hands were placed behind my back by the two girls and all I could do was scream but who was going to help me? No one.
"You are nothing but a slave handed over to me by the king, and I can do whatever I wish with you!"
"If you are going to kill me!" I yelled. "Then kill me now!"
She laughed and shoved my head backward until it collided with the wall. Bells rang in my ears, and I thought my skull had cracked. My vision turned white for a few seconds until I could see again.
Blood trickled from my forehead down to my lips. "This is…" I heaved a sigh, tasting the iron in my mouth. "Doing this only proves your foolishness!" I spat out the blood. "You crave validation from the Werewolves, yet it is so clear you have never received it. It is pitiful to watch you bow to them!" I tutted, shaking my head.
"You little thing!" She slapped me across the face. "How dare you, useless slave, call me a puppet!" She grabbed my chin and pushed my head backward.
I tilted it to avoid the wall. "I hold your life now, and since the Alpha says I can do as I please with you, this is my verdict," Madam Ruth announced as she stood and cleared her throat. "Girls!" She beckoned them closer. "Take her from the Mansion into the woods, where the rogues will feast on her!" she ordered.
At the mention of rogues, my eyes widened in terror. I understood what that meant and what they were capable of. The rogues will tore me apart. "What…" My voice shook as the girls seized me. "What are you doing? You cannot do this!" I struggled, but their grips on my shoulders prevented any escape.
"Of course I can," Madam Ruth clicked her tongue. "I am your god, and I can do anything to you." Her laughter was manic. "Take her away!"
"Yes, ma'am!" The girls bowed their heads and dragged me along forcefully.
"Let me go!" I screamed. "You cannot do this!" I cried, but they ignored me, pulling me toward the massive gates of the Royal Mansion.
As we reached the gate, a sleek black car pulled up and stopped at the entrance. At the sight of brown shoes stepping out, I assumed it was the Alpha king and prepared to lash out. Instead, the man who appeared was different. His brown hair framed a face tattoo on the right side, giving him a dangerous, bad boy appearance.
It was not the alpha king, I muttered as I sighed in disappointment.
"What is happening here?" he asked.
The girls immediately bowed their heads. "Your grace," they addressed him with respect that revealed his importance among the werewolves.
Anger surged within me. The Werewolves could drive sleek cars while humans suffered and toiled to survive while walking on their legs. No human owned a car and that increased my anger towards the werewolves.
My fists clenched as fury built over the injustice I and the humans had endured.
How dare they? I thought.
"Are you okay?" the man asked, and I sneered at him rather than respond.
Why should I answer such a sarcastic question when he could see I was bleeding from every part of my body?
"If you are not blind, you should not ask such an obvious question," I shouted. "Stop pretending to care, because you do not." I yanked my hand from one girl, kicked the other, and pushed forward.
I had regained my freedom, and I was not afraid of what would come. I had no desire to return to that mansion.
I hated it there.
Lost in thought, I turned to see the girls and two guards chasing me, while the strange man observed.
I was so focused on them that I failed to notice a car hurtling toward me. I collided with it, my body thrown against the back of the vehicle.
Pain seared through me as bones cracked, bells rang in my ears, and my vision blurred. I whispered incoherent words the brown shoes approached through the haze.