The Scarred Wolf

Chapter 8 I Won't Back Off

-Rose-

My body is tensed up but I try to put on a calm expression to let Ruby know I am afraid of her. I learnt this from my father, who had taught me it is better to hide your fear in front of merciless enemies, for the calmness you display will force them to evaluate the cost to hurt you.

The sound of her footsteps echoes in the kitchen and eventually comes to a halt. Harlot Ruby stands right ahead of me and says, “Hello, b***h. You have a sexy body. Much curvier than I thought. What’s your name?”

“I am not a bitch.”I force a smile, defending myself despite knowing my argument would probably offend her. “I am a silkworm.”

“That’s only because Madame Pink didn’t offer you the opportunity.”Ruby scoffs as she inserts one of her fingers into the cake on the kitchen board and licks the cream off. “You haven’t given me your name.”

“People all call me Rose.”

“Rose. What a boring name.”Ruby sneers. “What brought you here?”

“My ex cheated on me with my friend so I…”

“So you left the pack. The lower-rank omega was dumped by a heartless to-be-Alpha. Your experience is as boring as your name,”Ruby interrupts impatiently. She studies my face and theorizes, “I wonder why Emerald spoke so highly of you. Is it because you can cook well so you are planning to use your cooking as strength to help her attract clients?”

I blink at her conspiracy theory and shake my head,“No, cooking is my job.”

“Is that so?”Ruby gives me a suspicious look.

“Yes, Susana assigned me to run the kitchen, since you have picked Coral to be your personal maid. Someone must do the cooking to prepare the meals for the house.”

“Good, remember your place then.”Ruby nods in satisfaction and warns me in a serious tone. “Do not try to lure any clients in the house, or I will add another scar to your face. I will make sure it is long and thick, like a man’s dick.”

She laughs at her own words and Coral joins her merrily. I don’t find this joke funny at all so I frown. Coral squints her eyes and grumbles unpleasantly, “She didn’t seem to appreciate your humor, Lady Ruby. Maybe she prefers something tougher. Shall we teach her a lesson?”

Harlot Ruby examines her fingernails and gives Coral a nod, “Yeah, just like the usual. She is nothing different.”

I haven’t figured out what they were talking about when Coral suddenly raises her hand and slaps me. It happens too quickly for me to dodge so I take the full slap and my cheek starts to burn in pain. I hold my face and Coral smirks, “Well, this one is for your laziness, silkworm. You shouldn’t sit when you’re working.”

With that she raises her hand again, attempting to give me another slap. This time I see what she is going to do and I grab her wrist instinctively, holding it in the air. Coral is surprised by my motion. She turns to Ruby and whines, “My lady, she grabbed my wrist…”

“Let go of her, your filthy slave!”Ruby yells at me.

The moment I loosen the grip, Coral withdraws her hand. She furiously grabs a spatula trying to strike me. I flinch in time and kick her left knee, causing her to cry in pain and kneel on the ground. She hugs herself like a ball and I take the chance to snatch the spatula away from her.

Harlot Ruby gives me an incredulous look and yells, “How dare you!” She is about to approach when I dart at her with a threatening look. “Please do not come any closer, Lady Ruby. There is no need for us to escalate this self-defense into excess self-defense, don’t you think?”

Ruby pales. She is about to approach to help Coral but my words make her freeze at the spot.

“My knees! Help me, my lady, I can’t stand up!”Coral screams. She creeps towards Ruby and grabs her dress brims.

“Let go! Let go of me.”Ruby shrieks and rushes to the door. With a brutal force, a piece of the cloth is torn from her dress and is left in Coral’s hand.

Within a blink of an eye, Ruby is already out of sight. Coral struggles to stand up while crying, “Don’t beat me Rose, I am sorry. I am so SORRY!”

“You’re not sorry for bullying others. You’re just sorry for picking the wrong person to bully.”I state coldly. “I have seen a lot of bullies like you in my entire life. And trust me the number wasn’t small.”

When I was still the Alpha’s daughter, father could stand no bullying in my pack and he made sure every pack member, including the omegas were properly treated with respect. I didn’t expect that someday I would need to emphasize this matter myself.

I am recalling how my father punished the bullies and set the rules for everyone to follow when Coral’s voice interrupts my thoughts.

“Please forgive me. I swear I will never do that again. I…I,”Coral stutters as she begs, “I will do anything you say.”

“Nah, you won’t. It is your hobby to bully others. How could I expect you to change all of a sudden?” I let out a weak laugh. “Once Lady Ruby finds her helpers, she will come back to punish me. I will be tortured. Will I be beat? Whipped? r***d? Or murdered?”

Blood is drained off Coral’s face and she shivers like a leaf in the autumn. She doesn’t answer my question but simply whimpers repeatedly, “Please, please do not hurt me”.

“Did you spare those who begged you? Did you stop hurting them?”

“I…I…”Her face flushes in a color of guilt.

“If you spared no one. Why should I spare you?”I ask as I swing the spatula, making her crawl back in horror.

“Because…because I am bad and evil.”Coral cries, “But you are kind and good.”

“So the kind and good are supposed to be bullied by the bad and evil. Is this the doctrine Lady Ruby and you are busy preaching here?”I ask coldly.

Coral stares at me with a pair of puppy eyes and she is totally speechless. In the end the only words that comes out of her mouth is a whimper, “I am sorry”.

I ponder on the situation and say, “I spared you…” Coral jerks up her head in disbelief and I quickly add my conditions. “On the premise that you promised me two things. One, take a message for me. Tell Lady Ruby to leave me alone. She can be her butterflies however she wants. But she dares to come here to mess up with me again, I will let her pay the price. I used to fight with male warriors in my pack so I wasn’t afraid to have a fight with the guards. And mark my words, the next time the tool I use won’t simply be a spatula. I will use something sharper. Do I make myself clear?”

Coral swallows the lump in her throat as she swiftly nods her head. She then asks quietly, “What about your second command, my lady?”

“You can call me Rose. I know I am not lady-like.”I shrug. “In fact my name carried my parents’ expectations. They wanted me to be beautiful, but more importantly, to have thorns to protect myself.”I pause and smile at her, “As for my second request, don’t you ever bully anyone else again.”

“I will never.”She promises eagerly.

“Good. Now off you go. The kitchen is too narrow. I need some space to fry the bacon to prepare tomorrow’s breakfast.”I waved my hand and Coral rushed out like a scared hare who was chased by a wolf.

Well, I am a wolf.

I watch her back and shake my head in amusement.

It occurs to me that by next month I will be eighteen, which means I can finally meet my wolf.

All of a sudden plenty of questions pop up in my mind.

What’s my wolf’s name?

What will she look like? What’s her fur color? Does she have a pair of sapphire eyes like me? How does her voice sound?

What traits does she have? Will she be as quiet as Simon or be as talkative as Echo?

Will she be powerful? Will she make me more powerful?

Will she take me to find my fated mate?

Hold on, what if my fated mate is Hans Snow?

My heart skips a beat at the thought of this possibility. I ball my hands into fists and take deep breaths to calm myself down.

Since the day Hans asked for my hand, I have been dreaming and praying to the moon goddess to make Hans my fated mate. Why? An obvious reason is that this bond sounds more romantic, like Hans and I are destined to be together. Another reason is that a fated bond is much stronger than a chosen bond and therefore it is more difficult to be severed.

Generally, what a chosen bond is to a werewolf is what a romantic relationship is to human beginnings. This type of bond can be easily broken as long as one party doesn’t want to continue the relationship. The fated bond, however, is more like an arranged marriage, a chain designed by the moon goddess to tie the two wolves together. If you’re not satisfied with the goddess’ assignment and want to end the bond, you need your fated mate’s agreement. Only with a formal rejection process, can the bond be terminated.

God, no. I rub my face and let out a long deep sigh.

Things are gonna be really tricky if I am fated to Hans Snow.

Dear, dear moonlight goddess, I beg you not to let such a thing happen to me.

Finger-crossed.