Chapter 2

Mellissa's Pov

I woke up today with a knot in my stomach and feeling extremely tired, which is quite unusual for someone who got proposed to yesterday. Glancing over at the clock on my bedside stool I realized I had overslept, the time was past 8 am. I stood up from bed abruptly as I knew I was in deep trouble, Mrs. Ironheart the head omega won't spare me for waking up late, when I have chores to do. I wonder why she hasn't barged into my room yet and given me an earful already, most times she'll even pour water on my bed, and I'll have to sleep on the floor until my bed gets dried.

I quickly washed my face with cold water, and brushed my teeths, bathing can wait a little longer, but Mrs. Ironheart's wrath won't. As soon as I stepped out of my room in the omega quarters, I saw Mrs. Ironheart addressing the omega's.

I tiptoed towards them and tried sneaking in to join the meeting without being noticed.

"Welcome, Queen of Queens," Mrs. Ironheart said mockingly, and all eyes were suddenly on me.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Ironheart, it won't happen again," I apologized immediately. "I had no idea what happened, I'm–"

"Make sure you to do as I've instructed, mistakes won't be condoned" Mrs. Ironheart continued with her address, not sparing me another glance.  

"Okay, Mrs. Ironheart," they all answered in unison.

"You're dismissed."

Everyone left and I was left confused as I didn't know what information she passed, from the look on everyone's faces it seems to be a pretty important information.

"Hey, Jerry," I called out to one of the omega's.

"What?!" He shot back.

"What information did Mrs. Ironheart give?" I asked, ignoring his rude behavior, it's not the first time anyways. 

Jerry sighed, like I was asking him for something big. "Alpha Prince, Alfredo's arranged mate, Princess Sheila, would be coming tomorrow. We–"

My mind froze at Jerry's words, I couldn't believe my ears. What's all this about an arranged mate? This has to be set up by his parents no doubt, but I'm sure Alfredo isn't aware of it, if not he'd have told me about it yesterday and we would have come up with a solution together. 

"Hey, did you hear any of the things I just said?" Jerry tapped my shoulders, snapping me back to reality.

"Yes, I did," I replied absentmindedly. "Excuse me, I have work to do," I said and walked out, I needed to speak with Alfredo as soon as possible.

"The least you could do is say thank you," Jerry called after me and hissed in irritation.

I know I was rude but I don't have time for such courtesies.

"Melissa!" Mrs. Ironheart's voice came from behind, as she walked up to me, anger boldly written on her face.

"Yes, Mrs. Ironheart," I answered.

"I ignored the fact that you woke up late today, but that's not an excuse for you to mess up things for me," she flared.

"I–"

"I'm not done," she cut me off. "I don't have time to deal with you at the moment, head over to the guest room beside Alfredo's room, that's where Princess Sheila would stay until the wedding is finalized."

Different thoughts raised through my mind. If all this was indeed real because I'm yet to accept it until I speak with Alfredo and hear what he has to say, does it mean that Alfredo would do all the things he does to my body to her, he'll touch her… 

"Snap of it, Melissa," I scolded myself and shifted such unsettling thoughts to the back of my mind.

I made sure I did my chores thoroughly and as fast as possible. I wouldn't want a situation where Mrs. Ironheart would request for me to probably redo a chore or something, because I needed all the time I could get to talk to Alfredo.

It was past 1 in the afternoon by the time I was done with my chores, it was as if Mrs. Ironheart was on some mission to prevent me from seeing Alfredo, she kept on giving me chores after chores, even the ones that were clearly not my work.

I headed straight towards Alfredo's study. I would have taken my bath if today was just a regular day, but the more time I wasted the longer it would take for me to get answers. Alfredo would still be in his study working before going for  lunch with his parents by 2 pm, it was a regular tradition, while the both of us ate dinner together in his study.

"I'm sorry you can't go in?" The guard assigned outside his study stepped in front of me blocking my path.

This was quite unusual. Even though we don't talk apart from saying hello, he has never stopped me from entering Alfredo's study.

"Why can't I go in?" I argued. "I came to  clean his study, I'm just doing my job."

"The study has been cleaned already," the guard informed me.

"How's that possible?" I asked, clearly confused. "I'm Alfredo's personal omega, I'm the one who cleans his study, and I'm sure I haven't come here today."

"Another omega came in today," the guard said coldly.

"But it's…. I just want to see Alfredo, please let me in,"  I pleaded.

"I'm sorry," the guard said, but I could see he was clearly not sorry. "Alpha  Alfredo gave strict instructions that he wasn't to be disturbed, most especially by you."

I was at a loss of words as I stared at the guard in disbelief. I couldn't believe that Alfredo would ever give such an instruction.

"Alright, I'll clean the study tomorrow," I said.

"No need for you to come here anymore," the guard's next words threw me off balance."An omega has been assigned to clean his study,"

I looked at the guard and his expression was cold as ice. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I decided to leave. I checked the time and saw that I had roughly about forty minutes before Alfredo would come out of his study for lunch, so I decided to use that time to take my bath.

At about ten minutes to 2 o'clock, I was done bathing, and I stood in a corner that led to the dining room and waited for Alfredo.

"Alfredo we need to talk," I ran over to him as soon as I caught a glimpse of him about to  enter the dining room.

"Not now Melissa, I have a headache," Alfredo said, rubbing his temples. "We'll talk some other time."

"It would only take a few minutes," I told him. "I just–"

"Can't this wait?" Alfredo's tone was distant, and he avoided eye contact with me. 

"Okay," I mumbled, as tears welled up in my eyes. 

Alfredo didn't spare me another glance and just went into the dining, leaving me frustrated and confused.

"He's just overwhelmed by everything that's happening with the arranged mate," My wolf Lyra said, offering comfort. "Let's just wait till tomorrow, he'll definitely send for us, and explain everything."

"I don't know Lyra,"  I voiced my worries. "Something just doesn't feel right."

"He loves us, he has proven that over the years," Lyra continued to side with Alfredo. I'm not surprised though, she's a wolf and would always side with her mate. "He's our mate, just trust him."

I sighed as I made my way back to my room in the omega quarters. "Have you tried reaching Dex, maybe he can tell you something?" I asked Lyra. "Since Alfredo is not ready to talk yet, I don't think I can wait any longer."

Dex was Alfredo's wolf, and when Alfredo was battling things inside, Dex was the one who told us. He and Lyra could talk to each other without us having to shift.

"I already tried," Lyra said. "But Dex is being tight-lipped about the whole thing."