Lilac
My roommate sat up, eying me wearily. "The prince's wing? What did you look for all the way there, to encounter the assholes there?"
"I was assigned to clean the Prince's room." I explained while wincing and he tilted his head a little.
"You were? That bastard Henry was behind it?" He asked and I let out a long sigh, stomach still feeling tight from nerves.
"Well, in a way. I was assigned by lady Iris to be among those that would serve him as meal. But since Henry was mad at me, he sent me to go clean his room, and I couldn't refuse." I explained almost immediately.
"That bastard Henry." My roommate bit out as he sat up in his bed and I couldn't agree more. "It's sad but we aren't allowed to refuse the orders of the seniors when it comes to the chores distributions." He pointed out while regarding me with curious eyes.
"But it's weird that a newbie like you is assigned to that wing by lady Iris. Usually, newbies start up quite easily." He paused for a moment, eyes narrowing a bit.
"You said the guards there asked you to come back?" He asked and I hurriedly leaned forward while nodding.
"They definitely don't want to have any stupid conversation with you. They just wanna rape you." He pointed out and I swallowed emptily while nodding again because I kind of figured that out from how they were touching me while searching me.
"Um…" I clasped my hands before me. "Can you help me? Please?"
He remained silent while staring at me and my heart pounded away against my ribs.
"I don't help people." He suddenly blurted out and I flinched, disappointment rolling through my insides.
He stared at me for a moment longer before sighing and dragging his hand over his face. "Don't look at me with those eyes, you might make me change my mind." He muttered and I almost apologized before his words replayed in my head.
"I don't help people. I promised myself I wouldn't after the last person I did betrayed me. He fucking planned with a bunch of people to have my little sister captured and sold. Tell me, if you get betrayed this way, would you ever help people?"
My stomach rolled with multiple emotions as I bit on my bottom lip and glanced away. His emotions were valid and I instantly feel bad for asking him to help me.
"However, you have eyes that remind me of my little sister, and since we're rooming together and would be around each other a lot, I guess I can help you."
At once, relief coursed through my veins as I stared at him, hands clasped before me again.
"Oh my goodness, thank you so, so much!" I cried out, genuinely meaning every word. He sighed and rolled his eyes before waving me off.
"It's fine. Stop thanking me before I change my mind."
I quickly swallowed the rest of my words and I watched him wearily as he laid over his bed and closed his eyes once again.
"You should probably take a nap too, I take it you're tired as well?" He said without opening his eyes and that was when fatigue instantly engulfed me and I yawned.
"I want to, but I can't cause I'm still nervous about tonight,"
He shifted in his bed without opening his eyes. "You don't need to be anymore. I'll take care of it." He assured me that even though I didn't know a single thing about him, I felt this urge to trust his words and believe them.
"Okay." I muttered as I laid down on my hard bed. My eyes remained open as the moments passed by.
"The name's Jake." My roommate's now familiar voice drifted into my ear and I flinched at the unexpectedness because I assumed he already fell asleep.
"I'll wake you once it's time. Sleep." His voice filled the room again and this time, I forced my eyes to slide close.
"Okay."
~~~
I felt hands shaking my shoulders roughly from the middle of my sleep, and on jolting awake, I was met with two faces hovering over mine. Two guys. They were grinning down at me and my heart began to pound instantly.
"You our new roommate?" The first one barked and I frowned before I was roughly tugged into a sitting position.
"Since you're the last to join us; you'll have to wait on us, and do our personal chores, like help wash our clothes, sheets and so on. You also need to do a whole lot of other things. And you must accord us with respect at all times."
I blinked as I looked between them, feeling genuinely confused.
"What?"
"It's the normal protocol of each room. We can punish you in here if we want, there's no one you can report us to. So it's best you just don't make this hard for yourself. Now, I'd like you to wash my–" the second guy was still speaking when Jake appeared behind them and grabbed their throats from behind before squeezing tight and the boys instantly began to cough and struggle.
"None of that bullshit in here, okay? The new kid is my friend so you won't hurt him or mess with him. Is that clear?"
After he spoke, he loosened his hold and they began coughing while scrambling away. As I stared between them and Jake, I realized that they were terrified of Jake, and it hit me that Jake just rescued me out of this situation.
"C'mon, let's go." He said to me, already heading for the door and I quickly hurried after him. It was pitch black outside but the moon was bright, and so many slaves were hanging out outside the open field in the middle of our wing.
"Thank you for what you did back there." I said as I struggled to keep up with him because his long legs made him walk really fast.
"That's nothing." He responded.
"But won't they hate you? They're also your roommates…" I muttered and he snorted.
"They were already afraid of me anyway and I don't care." He said as we exited the slave quarter and began to walk all the way to the Prince's wing. As we walked, I began to get some flashbacks of myself in his room.
When we approached the entrance of the wing, my heart instantly dropped into my stomach as soon as I sighted the guards. They were all drinking and laughing together. I noticeably slowed down from fear of what might happen to me tonight if anything goes wrong.
"Relax." Jakes said as if he could read my mind, then he gently took my elbow and led me all the way to the front of the guards.
I stiffened as soon as they noticed me, and unconsciously, I inched closer to Jake as they all rose to their feet while chuckling as they eyed Jake in an unimpressed way.
"You brought backup along? Why? Because you believe he'd somehow be able to fight us all?" One of the guards drawled and all of them laughed loudly, making me flinch and inch closer to Jake.
"Even if he's strong, he's still a human at the end of the day he's definitely no match against one enwulf, not to talk of seven. You must be really stupid to have thought this was a great idea. And for that, you might not even make it to tomorrow morning after we'd get done with your body tonight."