Ch. 8

Adam leaned closer toward me, and I could feel his body heat wrapped around me.

I shivered, daring my gaze to remain on the ground. Would they know that King Ambrose claimed me as his mate? Had he even told anyone in my pack about it?

“She does smell like another wolf,” he agreed.

I knew the second that either of the wolves recognized King Ambrose’s scent all over me, they would have questions I couldn’t even begin to answer. Dangerous questions.

Just that thought made me sweat more.

Ben took another deep breath of my hair before finally letting it go. “I don’t recognize that scent.”

My palms were getting clammy.

“Whose bed were you in all last night, Omega? Hmm?” Ben spat at me. He was still standing over me, his scent filling my nose. I had to hold back a gag at how bad he smelled.

They must have been hunting while they were on patrol. Which meant I would be scrubbing all the stains and that smell out of the warrior’s clothes tonight.

“It must be some wolf from the Royal Pack that arrived while we were patrolling the east border,” Adam said. “I guess one of their guards was bored and full of pent-up stress.”

Yes, I silently pleaded with them. Please don’t recognize the scent.

Please don’t know that it’s the Alpha King’s scent all over me.

Please just think that it’s one of their guards.

“Hold on!” another warrior piped up, taking a few steps forward until he was standing right in front of me. “I thought that she wasn’t of age yet?”

“It’s the Royal Pack,” Adam snorted, as if what the other wolf had said was funny. “Do you really think that Madam Olympia, or our Alpha for that sake, would say ‘no’ to any member of the Royal Pack?”

A beat of silence filled the room.

“Well, if she’s just spent all night in bed with one warrior”—Ben’s voice turned from disgusted to eerily happy—”then she shouldn’t mind spending tonight in my bed. Isn’t that right, little Omega? Hmm?”

A shiver of disgust raced up my spine and I had to bite my lip to stop a sob from escaping.

But that’s the role of an Omega, I reminded myself bitterly. To serve their pack in any way that’s needed and deemed necessary by the Alpha.

“Where is breakfast? Why isn’t it on the table yet, girls?” Madam Olympia’s voice cut through the room like a hot knife.

I didn’t think that I’d ever been so happy to hear Madam Olympia yelling before.

An invisible weight lifted off my shoulders.

I might be an omega of the lowest rank, but no wolf, not even a pack warrior, would dare try and make any sort of move with Madam Olympia present. She was a high-ranking member of the pack, even though she just oversaw us Omegas.

Ben let go of my hair, and I could hear his boots on the stone as he took a few hurried steps back.

“Well?” Madam Olympia demanded. “What is going in here? Why is my Omega kneeling on the floor right now when she should be making breakfast?”

All of the authority and power that Adam held just a few moments ago was nowhere to be found when he finally answered. “The Omega was late this morning and needed to be punished accordingly. She was too busy warming a Royal Pack wolf’s bed last night instead of being a good girl and doing her chores.”

All the fear I thought was gone rushed back through my veins.

Was Madam Olympia going to tell them where I was last night?

Madam Olympia cleared her throat roughly. “Of course, I know what my Omegas are up to and where they spend their nights. There is no reason to be concerned about this, warrior.”

I didn’t dare raise my head and look up. Even though I wanted to see the look on warrior wolves’ faces.

The tension in the kitchen was so thick that I was sure it would remain until dinner.

“Well?” Madam Olympia snapped at the warriors. “What are you still doing here? If she doesn’t get started on breakfast now, then it’ll be late, and I’ll tell the Alpha that was because his so-called warriors couldn’t keep their grubby paws off one Omega when there are plenty of others they could be bothering.”

I had never heard Madam Olympia use that tone before. At least, not to pack warriors and not in my presence before.

I couldn’t remember a time she’d ever truly told off any wolf that’d been bothering me. But that was before the Alpha King called me his mate.

The warrior’s boots sounded against the kitchen floor as they ran out of the room, clearly not wanting to risk getting on the Alpha’s bad side before breakfast.

A heavy moment of silence filled the room, but still, I didn’t dare raise my head.

I’m a good Omega. I’m a good Omega. I’m a good Omega, I chanted to myself over and over.

“You can stand up now, Seven.”

I still didn’t raise my head.

“Seven…” she trailed off, her voice shaky. “You, um, you may raise your head now and…” her words died off as another pair of footsteps slowly crept into the kitchen.

I could tell by the sound alone that it was another omega servant who entered the kitchen.

It was probably Eleven. She always helped me with breakfast.

Although older than me, Eleven was still one of the younger Omega servants in the Blood Moon Pack. She was of higher rank than me and cleaned the upper floors of the packhouse.

“Well, you heard me!” Madam Olympia’s voice was firm once again. She turned to the other Omega. “You should have both started cooking already. Get a hurry on, or else you’ll leave every wolf hungry and upset. Don’t make me send Gamma Thomas down here to check on you two.”

And with her voice still echoing off the stone walls, she swiftly left the kitchen.

I finally raised my head to make a start on breakfast when Eleven’s gaze met mine.

“Seven,” Eleven said softly. “Are you okay?”

I stilled my movements, my whole body freezing at her words.

I had only talked to Eleven a handful of times, and only about chores.

Since Eleven was of higher status than me, we rarely ever crossed paths during the day. It was only during the evening when I would see her, but even then, we hardly ever spoke.

“I’m fine,” I said firmly.

The last thing I needed was for anyone to think that something was wrong with me. The last time another wolf thought that I wasn’t okay Gamma Thomas showed me what it truly meant to not be okay.

Eleven took a few steps closer to me before she started speaking again. “I promise that I won’t pry into your life, Seven, but…” She took a shaky breath in.

Then don’t, I wanted to tell her. Don’t pry, don’t ask any questions, just leave me alone so that we can make breakfast.

I kept my back towards Eleven as she spoke, hoping that she would get the hint that I wanted nothing to do with this conversation.

“I can smell the male wolf off of you,” she said. “I know he’s from the Royal Pack. Tell me what’s going on.”

My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach.

She probably cleaned the Alpha King’s room before he got here, I realized. I bet that she could smell him as soon as she walked into the kitchen.

Smell him on me.

“I can’t just stand here and watch you go through whatever this is without trying to help you, or at least saying something.”

This? What did she mean? Did she know what King Ambrose had told me?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I mumbled, finally finding what little voice I had in me. “We need to make breakfast before any more upset wolves come in.”

I walked around Eleven. I had barely stepped foot inside the pantry when I felt her behind me and the heavy wooden door slammed shut.

I whirled around to see Eleven blocking the doorway. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her eyes scanning me from head to toe.

“Move,” I said. “We have breakfast to make.”

The last thing I needed was to be punished because I didn’t have breakfast ready in time.

“If you just let me speak, then I’ll make breakfast myself,” Eleven rushed out in one breath. “You can go the chambers and lay down. Please.”

I rolled the idea around in my head, knowing she wasn’t about to drop it.

“Alright,” I finally agreed. “I’ll listen.”

I took a seat on the small stool we kept in the pantry. I pulled my wrinkled uniform tight against me, digging my fingers into my clothes to keep myself grounded.

Eleven’s shoulders sagged in relief at my words as she looked down at me.

“Look,” she started off. “I know that we haven’t ever spent a lot of time together, Seven, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care for you.”

My heart clenched at her words. Us Omegas were very rarely allowed to spend time together when we weren’t doing chores. And by the time most of us finally finished for the day and came back to the chambers, we were too tired to stay up and talk.

She glanced over her shoulder at the closed pantry door and tucked a few pieces of loose hair behind her ear, no doubt straining her hearing to check that no one was coming.

“I’m sure that Madam Olympia already knows, considering what I walked into this morning, but”—she bit her lip—”just because she may have allowed that royal pack member wolf to—”

“Wait,” I cut Eleven off mid-sentence. “I know that I smell like a royal pack member wolf, but nothing like that happened.”

My cheeks turned red at the mere thought of being intimate with Ambrose.

Eleven’s mouth hung open, and she stared at me wide-eyed for a few seconds. “But I saw…I mean, I heard those pack warriors talking to you in the kitchen earlier.”

A chill rushed down my spine at the mention of those wolves.

“Like I said,” I repeated softly. “Nothing happened last night between me and any male wolf from the Royal Pack.”

But you wanted something too, that little voice in the back of my mind said. You might be trying to deny it. But you and I both know that—

I shook my head quickly to stop that voice in my head. I was already as red as a freshly picked tomato. There was no need to make it any worse.

“But Seven, I mean, you smell deeply, and I mean deeply, like a male wolf.” Eleven shook her head, still trying to make sense of everything.

“I know that it doesn’t make sense,” I said. “But please trust me when I tell you that nothing awful happened last night, Eleven.”

I couldn’t tell Eleven that King Ambrose, the Alpha King and ruler of the werewolf world, was my mate.

Especially when I didn’t fully understand any of it myself.

I was an Omega, and every single wolf knew that Omegas didn’t get mates.

I stood up and brushed off any dirt that clung to my uniform.

“Now please, let’s get started on breakfast before any more of the pack warriors punish us.”

Eleven still looked at me with a weary expression but let me walk past her.

“You can go lay down now,” she called as soon as I was out of the pantry. “I’m a wolf of my word, Seven. Even if nothing like that”—she emphasized the words—”happened last night, something did for you to smell that much like a male wolf. I won’t just forget it.”

As much as I wanted to argue with Eleven, I was tired to my bones.

Everything that Ambrose had told me had mentally drained me. I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“Thank you for caring about me, Eleven.” The words came out soft and gentle.

Since Ambrose’s arrival, I’d never felt so cared about and looked after.

I’d never known anything but the Blood Moon Pack and the lowly life of being an omega bound to serve.

But you deserve more, that little voice whispered. You deserve so much more than the Blood Moon pack can give you. Ambrose can show you everything that you deserve.

My mind whirled from Eleven’s words as I walked down the winding set of stairs that led from the kitchen to the basement.

Nothing that she said did anything to ease my nerves. Instead, I felt even more lost and confused now. I could feel the anxiety creeping up from the bottom of my spine until it was wrapped around my throat.

I lightly wrapped a hand around my neck, as if holding it there would keep the anxiety from suffocating me whole.

I did my best to take short, even breaths as I walked down the hallway where all of us servants slept. Despite the sun having just risen less than an hour ago, the servant quarters were completely empty.

My room, like all the others, only had a small, rusting iron-framed cot, a chipped wooden bedside table, and a small armoire that stored my uniforms.

I didn’t have any personal belongings. I didn’t have any blood-related family to pass anything important down to me.

I collapsed onto my squeaky cot and wrapped my arms tightly around my only pillow, determined to knock every single thought and emotion out of my mind.

I had just barely closed my eyes when I heard an earth-shattering growl echo through the pack house.

Who was that?