Chapter 5

The woman who greeted me at the door was nothing like I expected.

She had warm eyes, a soft smile, and an aura that made the knot in my chest loosen a bit for the first time all day.

“You must be here for the job,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am.” I stuttered the words out, my hands clasped tightly together. “I heard you were looking for domestic staff, ma'am.”

She gave me a gentle smile, as if she could somehow sense how nervous I was. 

 Then she spoke.

“What’s your name, dear?”

“Elaria.”

“Elaria.” She repeated my name softly, as if testing how it sounded on her tongue. “Well, Elaria, tell me. Do you have any experience managing a pack house?”

“Y-yes, ma’am.” I nodded quickly.  “I can cook, clean, manage a packhouse and I’m very hard-working. I have done it almost all my life,” I said, laughing nervously. 

She studied me for a moment, her eyes moving from my face to my feet and back again.

My nervousness returned instantly.

I shifted from one foot to the other, biting down on my lower lip. A habit I picked up whenever I was nervous. All of a  sudden, she clapped her hands.

“Good.” 

I blinked.

She smiled, and something about her smile made me feel safe. 

I allowed myself a small breath of relief.

“You are hired.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “You can start tomorrow. I’ll have someone show you around first, so you know your way.”

A maid led me through the halls — the kitchen, the dining room, both grander than anything I’d seen at Walton’s pack house.

“The east wing belongs to Selene,” the maid said, lowering her voice. “Try your best to avoid her. She can be quite mean, especially toward omegas.”

I swallowed and nodded.

“And the upper floor belongs to the Alpha.”

The moment she said it, something inside me tightened.

The Alpha.

I pushed the thought away.

We stopped in front of a large door at the end of the hallway. “This room is off-limits to maids,” she said firmly. “Only the Alpha can go inside.”

Just as she was about to leave, something occurred to me.

“Wait.”

She looked back at me.

“Who was the woman who hired me?”

A small crease appeared between her brows.

“Which woman?”

“The woman at the entrance. The one who gave me the job.”

“Oh.” Her expression changed, as though she finally understood what I was talking about.

“That was Lady Liora. She’s the former Luna of the Blackwood Pack.”

I was on my knees, scrubbing the floor of the east wing hallway, when a sharp, piercing voice cut through the air.

“Hey. Hey! You, Omega, get out of my way.”

I looked up. 

The lady standing before me was striking.

Her platinum-blonde hair was sleek and perfectly styled, her ice-blue eyes cold and sharp. Even the way she carried herself seemed deliberate and polished.

But it was her eyes that caught my attention.

The moment they met mine, something flickered across her face.

 Recognition, perhaps. Or fear. It was gone as quickly as it appeared that I wasn’t sure I’d seen it at all.

Then her expression hardened, whatever emotion that had slipped was buried beneath fury.

“How dare a lowly omega make eye contact with me?” 

Her voice rose, sharp enough that the maids further down the hallway froze in place.

“Standing in my way as if you own this place.” She stepped closer, her expression twisting with disgust. “Do you have a death wish?”

I could hear the fury in every word.

I should have lowered my head and apologized. That was what an omega was supposed to do.

Instead, something inside me snapped.

I slowly rose to my feet, taking my time as I wiped my damp hands against my apron. I had no idea what possessed me to do it, maybe it was because of how she spoke but when I looked at her again, I met her eyes directly.

“You’re not blind.”

 “You can see I’m cleaning the floor you’re standing on. I glanced at the bucket beside me".

“I didn’t realize I was supposed to apologize for doing my job.”

The maids nearby gasped.

The woman’s expression shifted from disbelief to pure fury.

She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Who the hell are you?”

“No one important,” I replied. “But you’re welcome to introduce yourself instead of screaming.”

The words had barely left my mouth before her hand struck my cheeks.

The sound echoed through the hallway.

For a heartbeat, I felt nothing.

Then the pain came—hot, sharp, spreading across my cheek.

I didn’t step back.

I didn’t lower my gaze.

I simply lifted my chin and looked at her again, refusing to be the first one to look away.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said quietly.

Something flickered across her face.

Surprise.

Perhaps she had expected me to crumble. To apologize. To cry.

I did none of those things.

“I’m Selene the Luna of the Blackwood pack,” she said, each word deliberate and cold. “And you would do well to remember your place.”

She turned sharply on her heel and walked away, but just before she disappeared around the corner, I caught it.

The slightest falter in her step.

Almost as though she hadn’t expected me to rattle her.

I stood there a moment longer, my cheek throbbing, my hands shaking now that she was gone. But I didn’t cry, I refused to cry. 

Darius POV

I was going over the patrol reports on my desk when Kade let himself in without knocking, the way he always did.

“Darius.” 

He dropped into the chair across from me. 

“You have to meet the new housekeeper your mom just hired.”

I didn't bother looking up.

“Why?”

“Because she’s interesting.”

“I’m not interested, Kade. Get out.”

“You haven't even met her.”

“And yet I’m certain I'll survive without doing so.” 

“She’s quite feisty. She even had a clash with Selene.” Kade said, sounding excited.

That got my attention.

“And she isn't  dead yet? 

Kade’s mouth curved into a grin.

“Apparently, she is not.”

Kade opened his mouth again, but whatever he saw in my expression made him think better of it.

He leaned back with a sigh.

“Fine. You've been on edge all morning.”

I didn’t answer.

He studied me for a moment.

“What’s going on with you?”

I leaned back in my chair and rubbed a hand over my face.

“I don’t know.”

That was the truth.

My wolf had been restless since I woke up. Not his usual agitation before a fight. This was different.

He had been pacing inside me for hours, clawing against the edges of my control.

Something is wrong, I thought.

My wolf growled in response.

Kade raised a brow.

“Maybe you need a run?”

I looked at him.

“Maybe.”

“A long one.”

I sighed and glanced at the remaining reports.

“I’ll finish these first.”

By the time I returned from the forest, the tension inside me had finally eased.

For the first time all day, my wolf had been quiet.

The forest had always been the one place where I could clear my head.

But the moment I stepped through the doors of the pack house, my wolf stirred again.

A strange pressure tightened around my chest.

My wolf was no longer restless.

He was alert now. searching.

I clenched my jaw.

Calm down.

He ignored me.

A frustrated growl escaped my throat just as one of the guards approached.

“Alpha.”

I turned toward him.

“Lady Liora is calling for you.”

I nodded and continued toward the west wing.

I had barely taken a few steps when it happened.

A scent brushed against the air.

I stopped dead.

My lungs filled instinctively.

Sweet. Warm. Familiar.

My wolf went completely still.

Then he surged forward.

There.

I followed the scent deeper into the west wing, my pulse quickening with every step.

Whatever had been driving my wolf insane all morning was here.

I rounded the corner.

And there she was.

A woman crouched on the floor, gathering something from the scattered items around her.

I stopped.

Something inside me went still.

I didn’t know why.

Then she turned.

My breath caught.

Elaria.

For a moment, everything disappeared.

The pack. The noise around me.

There was only her.

Three years.

Three years since I’d last seen that face.

My chest tightened as memories I had buried years ago clawed their way back to the surface.

No.

It couldn’t be.

She slowly lifted her gaze to mine.

Our eyes met.

 Mate.