Chapter 18 Watch her
The bed sheet was snatched from my body, and a wave of coldness seeped into every inch of my skin like icy fangs piercing bare flesh. I felt anger bubble beneath my ribs, crawling like fire through my veins, but I ignored it, choosing instead to curl tighter and chase the sleep I barely remembered falling into.
"Wake up, wake up!" Jane screamed, her voice slicing through the air like shattered glass. It was way too loud for my liking. My eyes took forever to open, the dim torchlight stinging them. Morning had come if you could call it that in this place. Pale rays filtered through the iron-barred window, casting long, skeletal shadows. I didn't even recall closing my eyes. With no words, I sat up slowly on the thin cot. The stone beneath me leached heat from my skin. My limbs were sore, my head a fog, and a dull ache throbbed low in my gut from days of near-starvation.
"I'm warning you," she started when I hesitated too long. "If you don’t get up before the others, nothing will go well for you. You’re the one who said you wanted to shower. We can only use the bathroom when the other servants—” she caught herself, “—when the others are still asleep," she said. At that, I forced myself up. "Unfortunately, I currently have no clothes. They're all too short," she added dryly.
"It's fine," I muttered, voice dry and rough, as I stood on shaky legs. The chill in the room clung to me like a second skin. I didn’t just have stomach pain my body throbbed with exhaustion. My spine cracked as I straightened, and my knees nearly buckled. I was so, so hungry. My stomach gnawed at itself, empty. I was beginning to look like one of the bloodless corpses they whispered about drawn, pale, and hollow-eyed.
"Where did you sleep? You didn’t come back last night," I asked, my curiosity breaking through the haze.
"Ask fewer questions if you want to bathe," she snapped, suddenly stiff. She opened the door, and I rushed after her, the chill from the hallway stabbing into my skin.
The corridor was made of ancient stone, every inch reeking of dampness and secrets. Flames flickered in sconces along the wall, but their warmth never reached the ground. The shadows here didn’t behave normally. They clung to the wolves like veils.
"Let me explain quickly so you don’t get into trouble again," she said, her whisper low. But even whispers traveled fast in a place where every sound echoed against ancient walls.
"I'm listening," I said softly, too tired to argue. Too scared not to.
"We do work the house staff can't do. Don’t ask why. Just know this if you want to survive, do whatever anyone with claws tells you to do," she muttered.
"What kind of work can't the house staff do?" I asked.
"We sweep, scrub, clean out the blood trenches, mop rooms after... punishments..." she trailed off.
Then she froze.
“Don’t say a word,” she whispered sharply, her voice suddenly full of fear. “He’s coming. One of the wolf lieutenants. He’s here for you.”
"The new human you needed," a voice said behind me, smooth and cold. Every word coiled through the air like smoke. I turned slowly.
"I haven’t bathed. I’m not going anywhere with you," I snapped, trying to sound braver than I felt.
They were all calling me the new human, like I wasn’t a person. Just a category. A novelty.
They didn’t know my name.
I hadn’t told anyone. I wouldn’t. And I’d escape before they ever found out just how human I was. I had no supernatural strength. No sharp vision. No thirst for blood. I was breakable. Mortal. A lamb in a den of sharp teeth and claws.
“Says who?” came the reply taunting, elegant, and filled with menace.
Before I could answer, two wolves appeared beside me. I hadn’t even heard them approach. Their grip on my arms was iron, their fingers like marble and colder than ice. They dragged me forward toward a tall, pale figure dressed in dark finery lieutenant Henry, one of the high-ranking wolves. He stood beside a weathered woman with cloudy eyes and bloodless lips Madam Daniella.
“She belongs to the House now,” Henry said smoothly, not even looking at me. “The king has issued instructions.”
“She is not to be allowed near any silverware. Or any sharp objects,” he added with a slow smile. “She attempted to harm two of our attendants last night. It would be a shame to lose such a rare pet.”
I clenched my fists, fury pulsing beneath my skin. I wasn’t a pet. I wasn’t theirs.
“She won’t be assigned kitchen duty again,” Daniella said flatly.
“She will be monitored at all hours,” Henry continued. “She may be human, but she’s not... simple.”
I said nothing. My jaw locked tight. I could feel the weight of their gazes like a chain. Alpha Jaden was turning me into something else, a creature of fire and fury. I didn’t even know what that meant yet.
“Understood,” Daniella said. Then she turned to Jane. “Take her to the barns.”
"Yes, Madam Daniella," Jane replied, her head bowed, her voice hollow.
She looked at me. And for the first time, I noticed the fine scars on her face thin, precise lines, the kind claws didn’t leave. Fangs, maybe. Or something worse. Her lips trembled, and her expression was carefully neutral. She had learned how to survive here, but not without cost.
"Follow me," she said, barely a whisper. I obeyed.
The cold morning air touched my skin like a balm. For the briefest second, I felt alive. Sunlight spilled across the back courtyard, weak and filtered, but it made the wolves flinch. They hated it. I basked in it.
The barn creaked as we entered. Inside, the air was thick with dust, dried blood, and old straw. A few other humans—thin, silent, obedient—were already at work. They didn’t lift their heads when we entered.
“This is where you’ll be today,” Jane said softly.
I stared at her. This was the same girl who whispered that I was Kade’s mate. That I was dangerous to him.
She handed me a rag and pointed to a pile of tarnished tools and bloody buckets.
"Clean everything. No marks. If anything’s out of place, it’s your neck."
I rolled my eyes. I didn’t respond.
I didn’t want trouble not yet.
Silently, I picked up a spade. It was sticky with dried blood. My stomach lurched. The metal edge cut my palm slightly as I gripped it, but I didn’t let go.
Then I heard footsteps. Measured. Heavy. Not like the gliding grace of the others.
That wolf lieutenant, Henry
He entered with two younger wolves, their amber eyes gleaming in the shadows. They didn’t speak. Just stared.
Henry’s gaze settled on me. “She doesn’t belong here,” he said, but he was smiling. “That makes her interesting.”
“Watch her. Closely. No distractions.”
“Yes, lieutenant,” one of the guards said.
He turned and vanished like a nightmare fading at dawn.
And just like that, the barn felt colder. I returned to scrubbing, my heart pounding in my chest.
I was still human. Still alone. And in a mansion of wolves, that made me both prey and something far more dangerous.