4

I desperately searched through the drawer again but there was nothing else but aprons. There were no clothes in the other drawers. In the end, I just grabbed the apron and then turned to him. My face burning red in shame. 

“Th- this is the only thing I could find,” I mumbled, handing it to him.

“Are you kidding me？” He said dryly.  “I won’t blame you for your past behaviours if you just bring me a NORMAL shirt.”

He thinks I am keeping him naked for my entertainment?

“There is literally nothing else in this drawer, I swear on my honor!” I pulled the drawer open with enough force that it’s handle and hinges started to shake, “see! Aprons only. Or I can take off my dress and you wear it instead!”

His eyes turned into slits. No dress then. 

He took a deep breath of frustration and then snatched the apron off my hands. My fingers shivered for a brief second when his skin touched mine. It was so hard to keep my eyes off him! I dropped my eyes immediately to the ground. 

He put the apron over his neck, and tied the straps from behind. 

Inadvertently, I lifted up my eyes. Now that his ‘thing’ was covered up, I could finally take a few breaths of relief again. If other girls saw him like this, wearing nothing but an apron and walking naked around the kitchen like a walking wet dream… they would die from excitement.

He was hot. Like burning chocolate lava cake level hot.

““Ahem-notafangirl-huh,” he coughed out loud, hiding his words behind it.

My eyes shot up from his body up to his face, the blush on my face darkening to the level of a deep red. He had seen that I was staring at him! I forced myself to not act upon the urge of slapping my hands on my face and hiding in one of the cabinets. 

“What is your name?” 

Oh thank god. If he had started being an egoistic a-hole about this, I would have started crying. 

“August,” I responded in an unusually high-pitched voice, staring up at the ceiling.

“August?” his voice held amusement, “are you named after Augustus?”

“N- no,” I stammered as I realized his voice was getting closer. He was walking toward me, “like August. The month. That is when I was found outside the pack when I was a baby.” 

“Oh,” he muttered. “What is that smell?” 

Smell…? SMELL?! 

My head dropped down, as I immediately made a dash toward the oven. I grabbed the oven handle and opened it without thinking. The smell of the apple pie filled the room immediately. No burning smell. Whew! 

I grabbed the gloves from the top, and carefully took the pie out, placing it on the counter. 

“At least we are not going to starve to death.” I laughed awkwardly. I had not even eaten dinner. And god… hunger was just eating up my stomach now.

His eyes gleamed up like a kid in a candy store when he looked at the pie. 

“Have at it.” I offered him one plate. 

He stared at the apple pie for a couple of moments in silence. Then he picked up the fork and began eating. His eyes brightened for a brief second and his fingers stilled right before he grabbed the plate off the counter and started to eat it as he had never tasted a pie before. I hid the smile that tried to break through my lips. Going to the fridge, I grabbed a bottle of water and poured it into two glasses. As we were almost finished, he suddenly asked,

“So, how much did Lucinda pay you?”

My whole body stilled in shock like someone had just hit me with a baseball bat. All the color draining from my face at once. 

With wide eyes, I turned to him, “...What?”

“How much did Lucinda pay you for cooking these pies to bring me?” he repeated calmly, “and don’t even try to fool me. I know she can’t cook for shit and I know a taste from the very smell of the food. So… how much?”

The first thought that crossed my mind was- Lucinda is going to burn me alive and then eat my ashes.

“Please, PLEASE don’t let her know that you have found out!” I begged, dropping the fork on the plate, and turned my body fully toward him. My hands clasped in a praying position in front of him, “can you please keep it a secret?”

Lucinda must be already planning all the worst things to do to me because I got late and did not bring her pie tonight. And if she found out that Adrian knows about it… I might as well start counting the days I will have to endure staying alive in the dungeon without food and water.

An amused smirk covered his mouth. He slowly, diligently ate the last bite of the pie, licking the fork carefully, before turning toward me,

“And why would I ever do that?” he asked. “Plus Lucinda is the most easygoing woman I know. She won’t do anything to you.”

I tried so hard not to cringe and and scoff. Easygoing woman. Sure. 

“I will do whatever you want! Just don’t tell Lucinda.” I begged, “I swear! You will do whatever you want, anywhere you want!”

Oh my god… did I just really say that?!

 He choked on the bite that he had just swallowed, his eyes filling with tears as he grabbed the glass off the counter and gulped down several sips. 

“I had meant errand girl!” I cried out in horror, trying to somehow cover up the situation, “I didn’t…” I covered my face and turned away from him.

“I am going to get some sleep,” he muttered and walked off quickly. He grabbed the sack of flour lying on the kitchen floor to use as a pillow and laid down on the cold, hard tiles to sleep on his back. 

“Wait! Can you sleep in the storage room?” I asked. “I’ll help you sneak away when they open the door tomorrow morning.”

At least I’ll not be murdered for sleeping with a naked future alpha.

He didn’t look too pleased with the suggestion. No. He can NOT sleep here in the open at any cost. I will be skinned alive. Literally. 

“I’ll find a normal shirt as well the moment kitchen door is opened,” I rambled off without thinking , “so that no one can see you dressed like a porn sta-” Fuck!

I slammed my jaw shut with teeth clenched so tight that I was about to break it on my own.

His lips twisted in an unpleased line but he ignored me, and started to walk off, “Fine! But you owe me one. Remember that!”

 Oh god…. Oh thank god! I think I was having a heart attack in relief.

I leaned against the counter and slipped down on the floor, huddling my knees close to my chest.

For several hours my heart was thumping like a jackhammer in my chest. I could not sleep at all. The worry for what was about to happen to me when I am finally out of here tomorrow was eating me alive from the inside. Peter and Lucinda will definitely think that I did it on purpose to dodge them. And the punishment? I trembled at the mere thought.

When the night grew darker, my lids got heavy. I did not realize when I finally fell asleep, I fell forward on my knees and slept like a dead for several hours until a sudden loud sound woke me up. When I opened my eyes, my gaze traveled from several pair of legs to upward, and found Peter and other omegas staring down at me, dumbfounded. And the worst thing? Lucinda was with them!

“Oh… so you slept in the kitchen all night long?” Peter put on a forced smile, and then the tip of his hard shoe collided with my ribs as he kicked me with such a force,  it knocked out my breaths. “Just wait for your punishment, trashy bastard!” 

Lucinda walked toward me with her everlasting smile, “I was so worried about you since you didn’t come to me last night. I will see you in my room in an hour. You know where to find me, right?” 

I started to shiver. This was probably my last day alive in this pack.

“She is just a little bastard bitch, Miss Lucinda,” Peter gritted out, kicking me in the ribs once again as I tried to stand up. Tears of pain welled up in my eyes, “you should not use civil language with girls like her. You need to use force to make them like-” 

“BE QUIET!” An angry, sleepy growl came from the direction of the storage room.

 No! No, no, no nonono! My horrified gaze snapped in the direction of the voice. The crowd exploded in loud gasps and whispers.

“You hid a man here!” Peter bellowed with fury, “So this is what you have been doing in this fucking kitchen all night instead of following what I had told you to do, you fucking bitch?! I’m gonna tear you both in pieces!” 

“I said, ENOUGH!” Just then, Adrian walked out, still half-naked with tousled hair. His eyes barely open.

My heart stopped. 

 This is the first time in my whole life when I saw Lucinda’s ‘pleased and elegant at all times’ mask fall off. Her lips parted, and her eyes widened with fury, burying the fake facade that she always wore on her face. 

Seeing the whole crowd, Adrian immediately sobered and realize what he had done.

He looked at me, I looked at him.

Everyone else just stared at us.

Their eyes roamed over me. I must’ve looked awful, slept terribly all night. And my knees were red, swollen, and aching. And then their eyes shifted to the alpha male Adrian wearing nothing but an apron.

Finally, they stared at the remains of his shirt on the floor. The rags. 

“This is not what you think..” I managed to whisper out but then… 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”  

I learnt something new today. Omegas are quite some screamers. And handsome guys are NEVER to be trusted.