Because of the heavy workload in the kitchen, there were other workers who helped around.
However, they were different from me. I was a slave who worked for nothing and even ate the leftovers from others.
The other workers got paid and their food was decent. The same as everyone else's.
They usually left most of the work to me, but today because I was late, they had no choice but to do more work.
That was why as soon as I walked into the kitchen, the worker responsible for washing dishes splashed me with a basin of cold soapy water she had just used to wash pots out of anger.
I was drenched from head to toe looking like a featherless chicken, but I had no time to complain.
I squeezed the water off my patched dress and walked to the stove to start cooking pancakes.
Luckily, the fire from the stove slowly dried my clothes.
"You should stop messing with her so openly. Don't forget that you are also an omega. If discovered by the remnant supporters of her father, you won't end well." A woman with a kind-looking face said to the girl who had drenched me with water.
"What are you worried about? I am just following Innocent's orders. She is about to become Luna and once she takes that seat, no one will be able to do anything to me." The girl had a smug look in her eyes as she said that.
I pretended not to hear anything and continued to cook.
I poured the batter carefully onto the heated pan, watching it sizzle as if nothing else existed in the world.
The smell of pancakes slowly filled the kitchen, warm and comforting. Too comforting for a place this cruel.
My hands moved automatically. Flip. Stack. Move aside. Repeat.
I had long learned how to separate my body from my mind.
Pain, humiliation, hunger. Those were things my body endured.
My mind stayed somewhere far away, locked behind layers of silence no one could touch.
But today, no matter how hard I tried, fragments of last night's conversation still crept in.
My mate.
I whispered in my mind.
The word felt foreign, heavy, and poisoned.
It could have been anyone else, but why did it have to be him?
I wondered if this was how the moon goddess intended fate to work.
Binding victims to their executioners and calling it balance.
"Don't burn them," another worker snapped.
I realized that I had zoned out for a second and the pancake in the pan was no longer perfect.
I nodded without lifting my head and concentrated on making pancakes.
I served the finished pancakes onto large wooden trays, arranging them neatly.
I then took the large bowl of sausages and bacon prepared beside me and began to cook those too.
I had become so good at cooking that if anyone else cooked, the alpha and other leaders would complain.
So, even though the kitchen had many workers, only I would cook.
Once everything was ready, I served them in large wooden trays before carrying them toward the serving table.
My arms trembled slightly from exhaustion, but I steadied myself and walked forward.
Dropping food would earn me more than a slap.
Just as I placed the last tray down, the kitchen fell into sudden silence.
The air also shifted and became heavy.
I felt it before I heard it. A pressure rolling through the room, thick and suffocating, pressing down on my spine.
Alpha presence.
For me, this was nothing as the pressure disappeared as soon as it came.
I was never affected by something as trivial as alpha presence. Except for the night before.
My fingers curled instinctively, nails digging into my palms.
I did not look up. I didn't need to, nor did I dare to.
Heavy footsteps echoed against the stone floor as someone entered the kitchen. The workers immediately straightened, heads lowered, bodies tense.
"Innocent."
Mike's voice cut through the room as if to announce his calm, authoritative, and cold presence.
"Yes, Alpha Mike." Innocent stepped forward quickly, from the direction of the dining area. Her voice sweet and obedient. The complete opposite of her true self.
"Breakfast is almost ready." She added as if she was the one who had cooked it.
My heart thudded painfully against my ribs.
I focused on breathing. In. Out.
After all that discomfort last night, I could feel him now.
His presence crawled over my skin, settling uncomfortably deep in my chest.
It felt wrong. Invasive. Like a hand where it didn't belong.
I hated it.
I hated the fact that this man was my fated mate.
I felt dirty just thinking about it, yet I could not stop my body from reacting to his presence.
I felt lucky that my wolf was not awake and I was more human than wolf now.
Mike's gaze swept across the kitchen lazily, uninterested, until it stopped.
I felt it land on me.
It was slow, assessing, and possessive.
I felt like I was some kind of merchandise in the market on display for those interested to buy.
But I kept my head lowered, shoulders slightly hunched, the perfect image of submission.
It was a posture I despised, but one I had mastered to survive.
"She looks thinner," Mike said casually.
This remark proved that all Mike ever cared about was tormenting me. He never noticed me at all.
Otherwise, he wouldn't say that I was thinner when I was the same size I had been for years.
Due to malnutrition, I was way smaller than other girls my age.
I resembled a fifteen-year-old when I was already turning eighteen in a few days.
While other shewolfs had curves and big chests, I was almost flat on every side.
Yet, only now did Mike seem to notice my thinness.
The irony of having such a mate.
Innocent stiffened when she heard Mike's remark. After all, she was one of the people who led the crusade against giving me food even though I worked like a horse.