CHAPTER TWO

 MAYA’S POV

  

  “When you’re done here, you’re to scrub all the toilets in the mansion,” a guard snapped.

  

  I didn’t forget for a minute that I was supposed to be scrubbing the toilets and not here on the training ground, but it was what Alpha Damien wanted.

  

  “This is a waste of time,” I muttered after picking up the sword that had fallen from my hand.

  

  It had been more than an hour since I arrived at the training ground. No coach had been assigned to me, and I was supposed to train myself. Alpha Damien would pass for a clown.

  

  I did train for a few minutes before I stopped. I wasn’t ready to waste the strength I was supposed to use scrubbing toilets here on the training ground.

  

  The air shifted, and whenever that happened, I knew exactly what it meant. Alpha Damien’s scent would fill my nostrils any moment now, and he would appear.

  

  “Maya,” he called. He was right behind me. I knew it because he wasn’t in front of me.

  

  I bowed and turned around. I happened to be his mate, but it didn’t give me the right to look him in the eye. That was a punishable offense, and I didn’t want to be punished.

  

  “What’s with the pretense? Did she go mute because I came with you?” Kendra sneered.

  

  “Calm down,” Alpha Damien told her.

  

  I had already known she came with him the moment I turned around. I saw four legs instead of two, so I figured out Kendra was with him.

  

  My wolf stirred weakly inside me. That was the most she could do. She wanted me to talk back to Kendra, but I wasn’t going to do that.

  

  “How did you perform today? Did your wolf show any sign of breaking forth?” Alpha Damien asked.

  

  “I did well.”

  

  “Yes, she showed signs of breaking forth,” I added quickly. I lied to him, and I didn’t feel so bad about it.

  

  “You wish,” Kendra muttered.

  

  Alpha Damien tilted my chin up with one finger until I had no choice but to look into his cold blue eyes. Kendra was no longer standing next to him. She must have walked away after speaking.

  

  “Why so nervous? You’re mine, are you not?” he asked.

  

  Words stuck in my throat, and I gulped. He had been putting me in a tight situation from the day he found out we were mates, and it wasn’t fair to me.

  

  He clearly didn’t accept me as his mate. If he did, I wouldn’t still have to scrub toilets, work as a slave, get bullied by the pack girls, and even tolerate Kendra’s excesses.

  

  For reasons I couldn’t comprehend, he hadn’t rejected me either. I had no idea where I stood in his life or what I meant to him. It had been three months since he found out we were mates.

  

  “The ritual. You’ll be there,” he announced.

  

  I glanced at him without meaning to. It was a reflex, not an attempt to disrespect him.

  “But Alpha, the last time…”

  

  “You lived,” he cut me off sharply.

  

  He knew that taking part in the ritual wasn’t my favorite thing, yet he forced me to join every single time.

  

  “I’ve told you several times that the ritual is harmless,” he said. I wasn’t sure he knew the pain that came with participating in it.

  

  The last time, I nearly died. Blood drained from me while he glowed with new strength that was visible to everyone. Why did it always have to be me?

  

  Kendra and most of the pack girls had more strength than I did, yet they never participated. All they did was watch me wallow in pain from afar.

  

  “You’re helping me protect the pack, and when you eventually become Luna, the pack members will remember you for it,” he remarked as he patted my shoulder.

  

  My ears couldn’t have deceived me. He had spoken about me becoming the Luna of the pack eventually. That meant he had plans to accept me as his mate, right?

  

  I resisted the urge to meet his eyes by keeping my head bowed. If I could, I would figure out whether he was serious or only toying with me.

  

  “Aren’t you wondering why I insisted on you reporting to the training ground every day?” he asked. I had been wanting to ask, but questioning the almighty Alpha Damien always came with punishment.

  

  “I’ve been wondering,” I mumbled. Not responding to him would also have been a punishable offense.

  

  “The Luna of the pack mustn’t be a weakling. You need strength to become Luna, and that’s why you’ve been training,” he lectured. I thought I understood where he was coming from.

  

  He had my best interests at heart, and I wouldn’t doubt that again, not even for a second. His love for me might not be so loud on some days, but I needed to know that.

  

  Earlier, I had lied to him that I had done well while training today, but now I regretted it. He must have assumed I was slowly gaining the strength I needed to be Luna.

  

  “I think I need a coach,” I blurted.

  

  “I don’t agree. If you needed a coach, I would have provided one,” he replied.

  

  He rarely gave me the chance to speak to him. Perhaps it had something to do with his ego, since he was an Alpha male.

  

  “Sooner than you expect, I’ll announce to the pack that you’re my mate,” he said.

  

  The pack citizens would all be present for the ritual, and from his words, he might have just hinted that he would accept me tonight in the presence of everyone.