Him and Me

“Mariella Anne Parkinson! Get your skinny ass over here! Now!”

I sighed as Madame Alma Tawnia (pronounced like Tanya) shouted for me.

The tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman stood with one wide hip jutted out to the side and her muscled arms crossed under her voluptuous breasts, making them appear larger.

Madame Tawnia’s striking, ice-blue eyes floated over my petite form as I curtsied.

“How can I help you, Madame?”

“You can help me by not seducing The Alpha Pricne.” Madame’s voice was tinted with disgust as she said the next part, "He requested your presence in room 1 tonight."

“Can’t you send in Emily? I only work here to clean.”

“Trust me, I wish I could, but he asked for you by name and said he’d know if I sent in another girl.” Madame rolled her eyes and threw a bundle at me.

I fumbled to catch it, and when I did, I asked, “What is this?”

“If I have to send in the least beautiful girl, and the only human, in this building to see the Alpha Prince, I am going to do my best to make her at least presentable."

"Thank you, Madame Tawnia."

"Whatever." Madame looked over me again. "I'll have some of the other maids draw you a bath in my chambers. Go clean yourself, you're filthy. I'm about ready to start calling you Cinderella"

I curtsied then turned and fled towards Madame's chambers.

When I arrived at Madame's chambers, I was surprised to discover that the white and gold tub was already filled with water of the perfect temperature.

The maids that lingered to help ready me pulled off my clothes hastily (and a little violently).

When I was undressed, they pushed me towards the tub, refusing to speak to me.

"C'mon, girls, say something. I thought we were friends," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

"We stopped being friends the moment you agreed to a night with the Alpha Prince," Anita, my apparently ex-bestfriend, said to me.

"But I couldn't say no. He's the prince," I pleaded my case, but none of them were listening to me.

The girls who I used to be so close to scrubbed the cinders and grime from my skin and hair in absolute silence, and when they were done rinsing the soap off of my body they pulled me by the arms out onto the white tile floor of Madame's bathroom.

Two of the girls took towels and thouroughly dried my body, not missing a single inch, and the third roughly dried my hair.

When I was as dry as towels could get me, the dress package was opened on the golden bathroom vanity.

Anita pulled out a beautiful, silky, long, black dress with a slit all the way up to the hip. She walked over to me, gingerly holding the dress and she slid it over my head.

The dress fell perfectly over my curves, and Anita cinched my waist tightly with a silver belt, covered in blue star embroidery.

Tasha, another maid, took over from there and sat me down in front of the bathroom vanity.

My hair was a mess from the rough drying it took, but Tasha made quick work of the tangles and pulled my long, jet-black hair into an intricate and beautiful knot on the back of my head.

The third maid, Anya, took over for Tasha and began to paint my face lightly. Anya didn't put a lot of makeup on my face, only highlighting my natural features, but when it came to the lips, she painted them blood red. Anya also applied mascara to my eyelashes to make my stormy, blue-gray eyes stand out more.

When Anya had done her part for my look, she pulled me up, and all three maids stood back and admired their handiwork.

Tasha decided my hair needed a little fixing so she walked up to me and pulled a small piece of hair from the bun on either side, to frame my face.

When she had styled the hairs where she wanted them, she stood back and nodded approvingly at me.

As soon as Tasha decided I looked good, all three turned on their heels and strutted out of the bathroom, leaving me alone and despaired.

I sat back at the vanity, and, before long, Madame Tawnia walked in, tailed by Emily, her daughter.

Emily and her mother looked almost exactly alike, except for their height. Emily was at least 6 inches taller than her mother because she was a werewolf. Madame Tawnia met and fell in love with a werewolf warrior and together they had Emily Claire Tawnia, a werewolf-human hybrid with the ability to shift, but Emily's father had to go away for a war before she was born. He hasn't been heard from since.

Emily stopped by the doorway while Madame Tawnia circled me like a vulture circling its next meal.

When Madame decided I looked fine she stopped and looked at her daughter. "Maybe you should take some direction from this skinny little ass, if she can attract the alpha prince over you."

I glanced at Emily by the door and saw the rage brimming in her eyes. Rage that was directed not at her mother, but at me.

Madame Tawnia walked out the door, saying to Emily as she did, "Escort the girl to room 1, whether she wants to or not," and the door slammed.

Emily looked at me with an evil glint in her eyes and strutted over to me. She grabbed my arm with a grip like an iron clamp and began dragging me out of the white bathroom, barely even letting me walk.

Emily continued dragging me until we reached room one. She drug me into the room and threw me on the bed before stomping out.

I wanted to cry and scream because of all that had happened that night, but I couldn't bring myself to. So I sat on the bed, where I had been thrown, and bowed my head to the floor, silent.

I was so focused on staring at the floor that I didn't hear the door open and someone walk in until the bad dipped next to me.

I felt someone dip their nose into the crook of my neck and inhale. Despite myself I scampered away, scared, and looked at the person who smelled me.

The man was georgeous. His hair was shaved on the sides, leaving a large area of fluffy-looking, brown and blonde hair. His eyes were the most striking color of blue, not quite as cold and harsh as Madame Tawnia's, but also not as gray as mine. His shirt was tight enough that his muscular physique could be seen underneath, and he wore black leather riding breeches.

"'Ello, Darling. I am Alpha Prince Alexander Charles Umilta. Are you Mariella Anne Parkinson?" he asked me in a husky English accent and all I could do was nod.

"Words, Darling. Are you?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. Let's go."

My surprise greatened and dissipated in the same moment and I couldn't stop myself from asking, "Where?"

"Why, to the palace of course."

"Why do you want to take me to the palace?"

"Well, I am certainly not leaving my destined mate in a place like this." Disgust filled his voice as Alexander looked and gestured around us.

Shock coursed through me again, and when the prince got up and grabbed my hand, all I could do was follow.