I finally turned towards the entrance and began to head back into the manor. My soul was slowly detached from my body. It something I learnt after weeks and weeks of humiliation. It paid to pretend that I wasn’t Elora. My body floated through my weeks here and only pressed on by sheer will that came when I thought about my mother and siblings. I had to be strong for them. Just like Papa was.
“Elora!” Someone said in a harsh whisper.
I turned to see Alma. The female who served in the kitchens. She was dressed in the white chefs outfit that all the cooks in the Alpha’s employ wore.
“Alma, why are you hiding behind that…”
She pulled me into the shade of the tall flowers and shrubs that had grown right at the corner of the house.
“Have you had anything to eat in days?” She searched my face for an answer. Her eyes darting.
I shook my head in reply and she pulled me by the hand, away from the shrubs, out of the eyes of people and into the back of the manor where the kitchen was.
I walked in and saw the other two females preparing to serve drinks.
Everybody worked like robots here. There was no will to loosen up, even if there was it quickly fizzled out with the amount of work we had to do.
House parties with the nobles were the most depraved places anyone could be. The slaves and servants had the brunt of it. They would have se**x with them, if they wanted to. And if they refused, they would get a beating. During such house parties, many slaves would genuinely eat food to give them bad breath, cover every ounce of skin, or just refuse to bathe for weeks prior.
It was hell.
Slavery in Darwin pack was hell.
Growing up, my father had trained me to fight and defend myself. He’d taught me because he knew the kind of place Darwin pack was. And they had killed him.
“Here. Eat something,” Alma said as she shoved a piece of cake in a plate unto my lap as I sat down.
It was cold against my skin and the dress I had on didn’t affect that. For a moment I picked the plate up and placed my wrists against it. Savouring the feel of the cold against my bruised wrists.
“Thank you, Alma!” I said with my eyes closed.
“Eat up! You’ll need your strength. Eat. Eat,” she commanded.
Alma ran the kitchens in Ethan’s house. Ethan’s father was Alpha Rasmus, the all powerful, Almighty bastard that killed my father. He had the highest number of slaves in all Darwin pack and beyond.
I picked the fork and conveyed a piece of cake unto my mouth. I savoured it. It felt like heaven.
Then I remembered. My siblings.
Alma had always made sure them and mother had food to eat.
The slaves and servants respected my family unlike everyone else. They knew why The Alpha had really killed my father and the others. They knew he had been fighting to stop slavery in Alkarod. They knew he had almost won. And somewhere or somehow, they felt I would carry the torch. I wasn’t sure how that would work, as I was now a slave too.
As I ate a bit more cake that was when I heard it.
“ELORAAAA!”
The voice and sound I had learnt to hate, detest and fear. The voice that was once my best friend’s, my mate. The voice of my tormentor.
“Elorahhh! Where the fuck are you??” Ethan called again, causing me to jump to my feet.
“Here!” Alma said hurriedly. “Have some juice and some water for strength.” She offered.
I was going to decline when the glass found my lips as she made me sip. I had forgotten how good food was until now. The last few days had been a horror show.
I sipped half a glass and then some water. And as I walked out of the kitchen, I saw the other females nod at me. Somehow I felt seen. It was warming to know they understood my pain, my exhaustion.
I went through the kitchen door into the common room.
The depravity had already begun, and so had the embarrassment.
I walked passed a female, a man was completely naked and lifting the ladies frock.
The table at the center of the room carried a tray of leaves. Narcotic leaves. All they had to do was chew a couple of them, and down them with whiskey.
The room was an orgy. Drinks.
I walked up the stairs unto the next floor. This floor was for the more initiated or wealthy. They had mountains of narcotic leaves, and they engaged with reckless abandon.
This floor had slaves at every corner. Some were standing around absolutely n@ked and trying the little they could to hide their n@kedness.
There was a whole couch set up specially for the purpose of blow jobs. All one had to do was go and sit on the couch and a slave would walk up to them and start to undress them. Ethan himself had commanded this. Anyone who refused would be punished.
As I walked in I could see that every single slave in the room had bruises on their bodies. Some had scars in almost every part of their bodies.
None was smiling except they were asked to- to please the guests. Their lives were for pleasure, and they weren’t even paid to do it.
My blood boiled but there was nothing I could do now. I swallowed a huge lump and bit my tongue.
Now to find Ethan. I knew just where he would be and what he would be doing- and I knew why he needed me.
I walked to the door that was by the corner, just before another set of steps that descended downward to the common room. I stopped. Then listened. There was laughter, moaning, and voices talking.
I knocked and waited. I pushed the door and it came open.
This was the exclusive part of the party.
I looked around the room and I could see all the familiar faces who were once my friends.
Noah was standing by the window out looking the manor grounds. He had whiskey in his hand and looked at me and smiled.
“Come to join the fun, aye, traitor?”
I ignored him. The smell of cigars filled this room. Cigars that you couldn’t find anywhere except rooms like this. Burnt narcotics burned my nose.
Noah, Gary, Ethan and I had been best friends growing up. We were the same age, so it made it easier.
Our parents had been friends and so we had become friends easily too. I had grown up playing in their homes, as they had too, in mine.
However, their parents had turned on my father because he had spoken up against slavery. They feared they would lose their wealth and power, so they betrayed their friend, my father.
What hurt the most was how easily Noah, Gary and Ethan had turned on me.
Whack!
I saw the stars first before I felt the pain. Ethan had slapped me, letting his hand lash across my face as I staggered back.
“I fucking called you!”