Alpha’s Black Furred Slave Mate
Chapter 10

maintain the rose garden.

Marlon stood at the window in the manor's study, overlooking the gardens in which Deonna was assigned to work in. He had the maids collect her belongings and move her into the maid's courters where she would be living. From there she was expected to He should have had her killed by now. But somehow, something was stopping him.

He watched as the head maid, Beatrice, forced her to cover her dark hair with a white towel. Marlon noticed that Deonna was outspoken despite the obvious fear that lingers deep within her. Some of the maids found her funny, others found her disgusting. But it was clear that Beatrice despised her and was only tolerating her to oblige Marlon's orders.

Memories of yesterday morning played in Marlon's mind. For whatever reason, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Even though he had told her never to speak of the acts again and to not think about it, he couldn't stop thinking about it himself.

As fuzzy as it was, he thought of the soft feeling of her body against his and the warmth of her touch. Her thick dark hair tangled around her tanned features was engraved in his thoughts. Her supple breasts in his mouth and the movement of them bounced as she rode on top of him. The memory of her soft moans kept sounding in his ears, making it nearly impossible for him to get any sleep.

Beatrice had given her a pink sundress to wear. The dress wrapped around her thin body, revealing the roundness of her a*s. It went down to her ankles and ended at her bare feet. The top of the dress showed off her cleavage and through the thin fabrics, he could see the outline of her nipples.

He had to brush the thought out of his head.

What the hell was wrong with him?

She was nothing more than a slave and had no business being inside of the manor. The thought of it disgusted him and he wanted nothing to do with her.

So, why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

Why was she affecting his wolf so much?

It must have been the drugs. Maybe they didn't quite wear off yet. It's been about 24 hours since the incident, so maybe it was just the after-effects.

He had to keep reminding himself that it was just the drugs. Nothing more.

(Deonna)

"Nobody wants to see your disgusting dirtball hair," Beatrice, the head maid, hissed as she threw a white towel in my direction.

I frowned.

Beatrice was a woman that looked to be in her 50s with red hair and fair features. Her eyes were an emerald color, equipped with long lashes. She was a heavier set woman that wore the same black dress as the other maids, except hers was much longer and it ended around her ankles. The other maids wore black dresses that ended right above their knees, equipped with white stockings that covered the rest of their legs. Their breasts were nearly poking out of the top of their dresses.

Looking around to the other maids, they were all similar in height, weight, and overall appearance. They were slightly taller than me, yet they looked to be around my age.

It was clear from the beginning that Beatrice was in charge, and she didn't look pleasant to be around.

They had barged into the slave cabin shack and brought me into their courters. They assigned me a room with a bed. It was the biggest bed that I could ever remember sleeping in. The room had actual windows that overlooked the garden. Windows without bars on them and I could actually open them. I had a wardrobe of maid dresses that I was expected to wear every day, and actual pajamas I was expected to wear to bed.

Last night we had dinner in the maid's dining chamber. It was hot food, and it didn't taste rotten or old. I didn't even have to steal it. They put it on a plate for me to eat along with a glass of freshwater.

Beatrice spent the morning going over my rose garden duties. It seemed simple enough; watering the plants, keeping the soil fresh, de-weeding and de-grassing, making sure the temperature and the humidity were kept to standards to ensure the survival rate of the rose garden.

The garden was important to the Roessler family because it was a garden that Marlon had built specifically for Ashley.

I felt a small pull that almost felt like jealousy lurking in my stomach region. I quickly pushed that feeling away.

Wrapping my hair up in the white towel that Beatrice threw at me, I stared at her and curled my lips up to snarl at her.

"You can hide my hair. You can shave me bald. But it won't change the fact that I was born this way," I told her in a low grumble.

"Keep your mouth shut, dirtball," she said, taking a step closer towards me. I held my ground, despite her threatening stance and the fear that began filling me. "Keeping a low profile is your key to survival."

I wasn't going to argue with that. I knew she was right and that was exactly what I was planning on doing.

...

As the days went on, I started to get to know the other maids a bit more. They seemed to enjoy gossiping, except for the head maid, who hardly ever acknowledged me except to yell. I was constantly being watched and ridiculed at the smallest misdemeanor. I was thankful I hadn't had any run-ins with the Roessler family. They were probably afraid to approach me now that she was living in the maid's courters and being watched. Especially Bob. He wouldn't dare try anything now that there were eyes on me. As hostile as Beatrice was, I felt somewhat protected.

For lunch, the maids would get together in their dining chamber and eat some fruit and vegetables hand-picked from the garden. I honestly wasn't even sure if we were allowed to be eating them, but their logic was, "We tend to them daily and care for them, we deserve our share."

That made sense, but technically maids were only commoners and weren't supposed to go against the rules of the Roessler family. They worked for little money and were to eat what the Roessler family provided for them, which was still decent food. Much more so than the rotting corpses we had to eat on the slave farm.

"It's so romantic how Mr. Roessler built that rose garden for his late wife," one of the maids, Clarissa said in a soft sigh.

The other maids giggled.

"She was such a lucky woman to have a husband like him," another maid, Lila, breathed. "He's so handsome."

"Handsome isn't even a word to describe him," yet another maid, Petra, giggled. "Breathtaking."

They all shared another round of giggles.

Eating a strawberry off their shared plate, that jealous feeling began returning to me.

"All he did was spend money. He didn't physically build that garden himself," I muttered.

They all turned their gazes to me; I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks.

"He's willing to spend the money on the woman he loves," Clarissa said.

"Materials don't show love," Deonna said in response. "Actions show love. Buying a rose garden means nothing if your actions aren't pure."

"Silly girl," Petra chuckled. "Acting like you know what love is. How many loves have you had, dirtball?"

"Petra, don't be rude," Clarissa said still eyeing me. "She doesn't need to know what love is. She's never going to have it, so it doesn't matter."

Their words were cut short as the dining chamber doorway swung open and Beatrice stood there, staring amongst the other maids. I could feel the tension in the air rising; Clarissa's cheeks were bright pink as she stared down at the food in front of her. I could tell Beatrice was feared and nobody dared speak out of line when she was around. Gossiping was severely frowned upon and punishable by beating. Speaking to a black wolf slave like myself was also frowned upon.

Beatrice made her way over to the table and scanned the surrounding area until her eyes landed on me. She looked disgusted as she always did when she looked at me.

"Lunch is over," she barked, staring directly at me, though everyone began packing up their stuff to go back to work.

I said nothing as I scrambled to my feet and began heading out the doorway to the gardens. Beatrice trailed closely behind me.

As we returned to the gardens, I was shocked to find Bob standing there, staring at me. I felt my heart beating heavily against my chest as panic began to rise through me. I didn't think I was going to see him in the gardens, knowing that I was being watched. He wouldn't dare try something with me, would he?

Beatrice stopped short and I could see her stern expression growing softer as Bob looked her over.

"I need to speak with the slave," Bob told her, locking his eyes onto hers.

She nodded without hesitation and took a step back, away from us.

After a brief pause, Bob grabbed onto my arm and yanked me through the rose garden until we were at a far enough distance. I struggled to keep up with him; my mind went back to when I first arrived, and he dragged me to the slave shack on the other side of the gardens and tried to have his way with me.

I shuddered at the thought.

He was going to try to kill me. Or r**e me. Or both. I had to figure a way out of this.

"I was caught," I told him quickly, trying to plead my case.

Technically, that wasn't a lie.

He released the grip he had on my arm and swung his big body in my direction, so he was facing me. His face was red with anger and his lips curled up in a snarl.

"I was caught," I repeated. "By your father."

He stared me over carefully, trying to figure out if I was lying or not.

"Impossible," he grumbled. "You would be dead."

"I swear on my life," I told him; I could feel my body start to tremble as fear set in. "I was caught and beaten. I was thrown in the slave shack to die. I ran a fever, and I didn't think I was going to make it the night. Your brother got a doctor to look at me and she gave me some medication to get better. This morning, the maids brought me to the rose garden and told me this was going to be my job going forward. They boarded me in the maids' courters, and I've been here all day." He looked me over again, staring at the bruises along my arms and the scratches around my jawline. At that point, I knew he believed me.

"7 am my tutor arrives again. She'll be here at 7 am every morning going forward to prepare me for my final exams. I need your help to get me through these lessons. She typically leaves around 8 am and I'll need your help completing whatever assignments she gives me," he told me, keeping his tone low.

I frowned.

He still wanted me to help him?

"The only way we can pull this off without them noticing you missing is if I sneak you into the manor at night and then back at the maid's courters in the morning. They won't expect you in the gardens until 10 am, I can have you back before then," he informed me. He was speaking out of madness. None of this made any sense to me.

"They'll catch me in the grocery room again," I told him, trying to come up with an excuse to not go with his plan.

"That's why you'll be staying in my room. Nobody enters there without me knowing about it. You'll sleep in my closet and remain undetected. Once my tutor leaves, I'll slip you some of my work to complete. I'll have you back to the maids courters before 10 am for your duties." My frown deepened.

He was serious.

"In return for your service. I won't touch you," Bob said, eyeing me.

"Do you really think you can sneak me in and out undetected?" I asked.

I couldn't hide the nervousness in my tone.

"Yes," he said. "We both need this to be as quiet as possible."