Chapter 4

STELLA

While we sit and eat our pizza, I swallow the fear of making him mad and say, 

"Um, Dad?" 

"Yeah, sweetheart." 

"Are we in trouble with money?" 

"No, of course not. Why you asking?" 

"I was repacking your bag this morning when some papers fell out, and I saw that the bills were marked, overdue, and there seemed to be none of the money from Mum on bank statements." 

"You went through my bag?..." 

I flinch a little at his tone and the anger that is attached to it. He drops his slice of pizza as he looks at me, before sighing as he says. 

"Sorry, sweetheart. The upkeep of the house and the costs of living were more than I thought they would be... Your Mum was the one to keep track of all that." 

"And the bill from your work with Benjamin's signature at the bottom?" 

"I asked for an advancement on my salary to help keep the house and keep up with the bills... I really don't know how your mum did it." 

"So the promotion? And me having to work?" 

"Sorry, sweetheart. It was the only agreement he would take. Both of us work to pay off the advance. Move here where all living expenses are covered, so that any work we do comes straight off the debt." 

"How long?" 

"With both of us, we should have it paid by the beginning of the school year, next year." 

Not happy but understanding a little more, I don't say anything more, finish my pizza and then head up to my room to unpack a little more before crawling into bed and allowing the peacefulness of sleep to surround me. 

The next morning, I groan as my alarm goes off at 4 a.m. I hit the snooze button and groan again a few minutes later as it goes off once again. I rub my eyes and sigh as I remember why I set my alarm for so early in the morning; I get up, have a nice hot shower to warm and wake myself up more.

I use my scented body wash, taking deep breaths of the exotic smell before finally forcing myself to step out of the shower. I shiver as it is freezing, so I go through my bags and find the warmest clothes I have. I make a mental note that when I do get some spare time, I will need to pick up more.

Once I am dressed, I enter the kitchen and as I make some lunch for me and Dad I look outside and I shiver even in my warm clothes as it looks even colder outside. I sigh as I leave Dad's lunch in the fridge with a note stuck to the door.

I then pick up my backpack, which is ready for school later this morning. I head to the mansion and go straight to Tabitha's office, where she gives me my passkey and my uniform. I quickly get changed, grab the supplies that I need, and then head up to the fifth floor.

I entered quietly like I was told and started cleaning, working my way through the rooms on the floor. In some of the rooms, I didn't have to do much, as it looked like they hadn't been used in years if they ever had. I left his bedroom for last as I was going to change his sheets, like Tabitha told me to do so that it was done, fresh and ready for him to return later today.

I make my way to the kitchen except as I went to enter the kitchen someone grabbed me from behind, turned me, wrapped their hand around my throat and pushed until my back hit the wall. I gasp in surprise and for breath as I drop my cleaning gear to put my hands up to the one slowly getting tighter and tighter around my throat...

Then I hear his gruff voice.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my private space?"

Fear passes through me as I struggle to breathe and I try to tell him.

"I..I.. am... the.. new... cleaner... B..B..Ben..."

He tightens his fingers more, cutting off what I was trying to say. He then leans in, takes a deep breath against my neck and freezes before whispering,

"How old are you?"

He loosens his fingers just a little and I rasp out in my own whisper.

"I'll be 18 in 3 months." 

He then leans back in, pressing his nose firmly against the skin of my neck and taking another deep breath before seeming to cover a low growl.

"You are human?!"

This question statement from him confuses me but I nod as much as I can answering his question. He then releases me. I drop to the floor, coughing and gasping, trying to get air back into my lungs through my now sore throat. I'm not sure if I heard right, but I think he growls something to himself as he storms off to a different part of the floor.

Once I can take a breath without coughing too much, I slowly make my way back to my feet, pick up my cleaning gear, and enter the kitchen. I hope my encounter with that guy doesn't become a common occurrence, as I don't know if my throat could take too much of that or if I could work under those conditions if it happens every time I see him.

However, I don't want to cause Dad any trouble on my first day by not finishing what I am meant to. I clean the kitchen and once that is done; I decide to clean some of the other rooms, making sure to stay clear of the office and his bedroom. I know I will have to do them later tonight, but if I can stay out of his way and don't do anything to get his attention, I might just survive here, but then maybe not.

I am glad when I don't come across him again. I really don't know if I would survive another run-in with him and I have only had one brief encounter, and that scared me enough. So as soon as 8:30 a.m. comes around, I make my way back down to the maid's locker room near Tabitha's office.

I know she said to check in with her before and after each shift but I could feel the bruises already forming on my neck and I didn't want to have to explain to Tabitha how I got them when no one was meant to be up there.

I guess that makes him the big boss Axel; I think Benjamin called him. I make sure no one sees me enter the maid's lockers. After I get changed into my new school uniform, I look in the mirror for the first time and see the confirmation of bruises that are forming on my neck from his fingers.

I run my fingers lightly over my throat and know that I can't go to school like this and not have people ask too many questions. So I do the only thing I can, knowing that it isn't going to look good for me with the school, but I am going to be late for my first day.

I pull my jumper on and pull my hoodie up and over my head to hide my neck as much as possible and make my way through the town in the opposite direction to the school. When I find it, I go into the pharmacy and over to the small make-up section. It doesn't take me long to find some concealer that actually matches my skin tone, which surprises me, as I normally can't find one.

I buy it and then head into the public toilets in the back of the store. I remove my hoodie and look into the mirror. My eyes go wide at the sight of the now very dark bruises around my neck. Once I have covered them as much as I can, so you can't see them at a glance, I sigh and then head to the school.

I feel really embarrassed and out of place as I enter the school gates so late on my first day; I keep my head down as I make my way to the principal's office. I knock softly on the door and wait. It is a little while before I hear a clear lady's voice saying.

"Come in!"

I open the door and enter as she stands and continues

"I am Principal Abigail. I am guessing that you are Stella? And you are late."

"Yes, I am sorry I got caught up with the start of my work this morning.."

I just hope she didn't ask me exactly what had me caught up.

I don't miss it as she seems to take a deep breath and then she seems to nearly choke on the air she took in. She then seems to get a hold of herself before sitting back in her seat. She goes through some of the papers on her desk until she finds and pulls out a slim file with my name on it. She sits back and opens the file. After a little while, she closes the file and says.

"That is very impressive Stella, With all the work you have done and with how far in front you are in all your classes, there is really only one class that we have that isn't in most schools but is a necessity for everyone in our town. Now this class is classed as History and is once a day from 1 pm till 3 pm, I will contact the... School board and see if it is okay for me to approve you to do your final exams early that way you only have to concentrate on that one class for the rest of the school year but looking at your academic record I would say you could finish this class within the next school term."

"I like to stay on top of things. That way, if something is wrong or goes wrong, I can fix it before the due date."

I carefully and discretely put my hand up to my neck. It would have been nice to have a warning that the boss would be there this morning, especially since it seemed like he didn't even know I was going to be there.

"That's good. What are your career preferences?" 

"Yes, I was looking at child care and psychology."

"Wow... They are two wonderful careers. They will be appreciated and well received in this town and once you are qualified, looking at this record, you will do wonders. Are you looking at applying to our White Wolves Monarch College?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know about the college here. However, I have already filled out and sent off college and scholarship applications to Silver Oak, Mountainridge, Eagle Mountain and Maple Monarch colleges, so I can start next year."

"All good colleges. However, you should apply to White Wolves Monarch College as well."

She then leans down and opens one of the drawers in her desk, pulls out some papers, places them on the desk in front of her, and then closes the drawer once more. She then looks up at me and says,

"Um... Lunch is about to begin. How about you take this and get us some lunch while I make a couple of phone calls? I will have to talk to Be... Benjamin about your other college applications. Then when you return, you can fill out the application to White Wolves Monarch and then help me until our history class starts this afternoon, as you were so late this morning."

I look at her, confused, as she picks up her purse and then passes me some money. Why would she need to talk to Benjamin about my college applications when it has nothing to do with him? I stand but stop as I straighten and look at her. I had wanted to ask her what she meant by having to ask Benjamin about my college applications, but the look in her eyes as she picked up the phone made me think better of it and ask instead.

"What would you like?"

"Just a ham salad sandwich will be fine."

I smile, thinking that is a really nice kind of lunch. I turn and leave the room, closing the door behind me before I exit the outer office to go in search of the cafeteria.

It took me a little while to find it, however; it worked out that if I just followed the flow of students; they lead me straight to the cafeteria. I didn't miss the strange looks and whispering I was getting from the other students.

No one said anything to me until after I had picked up 2 ham salad sandwiches, paid for them, and started to leave the cafeteria, heading back to the principal's office. Just before I get to the doors, I am stopped by a guy and a girl, standing with their arms around each other, blocking the way.

"Excuse me! Can I please pass?"

"Look everyone, Alpha got us a new plaything!"

The guy says with a huge smile on his face. Everyone laughs and cheers. With only just getting here, I'm sure I didn't do anything to the girl standing in front of me. However, she then steps up to me and slaps me across the face. I end up on the floor from the unexpected force she uses as she says,

"We don't like newcomers here... You would be better off packing up your things and leaving as soon as you can!"

I can feel the tears in my eyes from the surprise and pain of the slap. However, I don't let them fall because I know that these types of people, they're the type that want to see that they are hurting you. It is what Savannah thrived on after everything that happened. It had made her feel better than everyone else and seem popular.

I slowly go to get back to my feet but the guy lifts his foot and pushes me back to the floor, this time I don't move hoping that the concealer around my neck doesn't rub off on my uniform as I feel my collar brush my skin. The last thing they need to see is that someone has already tried to strangle me and has already hurt me today.

They continue to laugh as the girl squats down next to me and goes to say or do something more until she takes a breath in through her nose and freezes; she gets closer and does it again. Everyone then seems to do the same and I start to wonder if I still have all the chemicals from cleaning this morning all over me.

The guy goes to say something else as well, but the girl quickly gets to her feet, standing in front of him. She leans into him and whispers something into his ear, and I watch as his eyes go wide. The next thing I know, he turns the girl around, puts his arm around her shoulders, spits on me and then says to everyone else with a huge smile on his face,

"Hey everyone, it looks like the Alpha himself has a new play toy. Who wants to bet how long she lasts with how the Alpha treats his females..."