CHAPTER 3: LAST NIGHT...

  VALERIA

          I stirred in my sleep, yawning, I rubbed my palm against my eyes, turning over to my side, my eyes fell on the man laying beside me.

Squinting my brows, I gazed in shock.

"Argh!" I screamed in shock as my hands immediately flew to my mouth.

My eyes crinkled in adoration, "He looks more handsome during the daytime." I adjusted on the floor to get a better view of him.

I had sex with this man last night, I didn't regret it, and I had no idea why.

Lost in my fantasies, my eyes landed on the basket I carried along with me yesterday. I jerk back hastily. I stood up, pacing around the hut, remembering that everyone would be awaiting me. 

Miss Sophie really needed those mushrooms.

Quickly, I ran around the hut, picking up my clothes from every corner of the hut and putting them on as fast as I could. I was just about to put on my coat when my eyes fell on him again, realising he was still naked.

Walking over to him, I spread it over him. I fixed my feet into the snickers and headed out of the hut.

         "He should be fine by himself,"

Sneaking in through the servants doorway, I tried to blend into the chaotic atmosphere of the bustling kitchen. Still dressed in my dirty clothing and leaves tangled on my hair while I made my way through the hallway, my heartbeat hastened, thumping in my chest.

People halted in their steps, their eyes were glued to my messy appearance, I heard their whispers along the hallway.

Hastening my steps, my eyes fell on Miss Sophie and my heartbeat cut for three seconds. Miss Sophie stared at me and then back at the butler as they were having a conversation. Quickly, I slipped into the kitchen.

 "Val! What the hell went on? Why didn't you return last night?" Maya went on and on, asking me questions.

"Valeria had no idea how worried Miss Sophie was last night. She almost had a panic attack." Eleanor paused in between her words, she gasped, staring at her finger where the nettle plants stung her.

Quickly, I turned around, "What do you guys mean? Panic attack?" I asked.

"Well, yes," Ruby said as she stirred the soup on the fire. "If only you knew, Jerry took the whole blame last night. But then what were you up to?"

Looking around the kitchen, everyone was busy, but Eve wasn't here yet.

"Don't look for her. She'll be here soon," Maya said, and I nodded slightly, facing the sink as I continued washing the mushrooms.

Eleanor walked up to me, standing behind me, as I could feel her breath hit my neck. "You should thank Eve... she was out till midnight searching for you."

I cocked my head, prominent lines appearing on my forehead.

          "Valeria!"

I took a deep breath when I heard my name, and without hesitating, I walked up to Miss Sophie. I could feel her eyes all over me as she observed how messy I looked.

"Mmhph, talk to me. What happened?" She asked, her voice menacing but calm as care and worry lingered in her tone.

My head fumbled with words to tell her, I could feel the sweat forming on my thighs.

I lowered my head, "I'm sorry, Miss Sophie... I fell into a pit last night, and I couldn't get out till this morning." My eyes twitched, I lied.

But to my greatest surprise, her expression softened, as she took out a leaf tangled in my hair.

Shoving it off, her hand landed on my shoulder as she turned me around. "Are you hurt? I will call for the physician to come and check you out,"

"I'm fine. I promise you that," I insisted.

I had already lied to her, and what I wouldn't do now is make her worry again.

After a long stare at me, Miss Sophie nodded. "Alright, go and shower. Clean yourself up. You look like shit," her eyes still fixed on me.

Turning around, she walked away. "Maya, get the mushrooms ready." Miss Sophie ordered as she began to supervise them.

Remembering the man I left in the hut. I took a deep breath. As long as he was safe there, there's nothing I could ask for. 

I had just taken two steps and yelped, when I felt a sharp pain down there. Quickly, I looked around to see if anyone had seen me, and my eyes met with Miss Sophie.

Quickly, I looked away.

Finding my way into my room, I quickly showered, put on a pair of new, fresh clothes, slipped my feet into my sandals and headed back to the kitchen.

      "You're back," 

Looking beside me, I saw Eve smiling at me as I wondered when she got there.

Smiling back at her as I chopped the veggies, "Yes, something came up, and I'm sorry for making you and Miss Sophie worried," I dropped the knife, staring at her.

Placing her hand on my shoulders, "It's fine," Eve propped her lips. "That's what friends do for themselves, right?"

I chuckled. "Right."

Walking over to the other side, beside me, Eve began to arrange the veggies.

"Has the Alpha arrived already?" Eve shook her head.

"Huh?"

I found myself smiling at that. I was glad he hadn't returned yet... at least the mushrooms weren't urgently needed.

"You are surprised too, right?" Eve asked as she dropped the veggies on the tray and rinsed her hands.

"Yeah, I am." I agreed, my voice barely above a whisper.

I could feel Eve's eyes all over me. 

Slowly, I turned. "Your gaze can swallow me," I teased.

"Well, tell me what happened. At least, I need to know," Eve made sneaky puppy eyes at me, holding my arms.

I hesitated for a moment.

"Uhmm, okay. Okay, okay! I'll tell you. I ran into a wounded wolf yesterday. A poisoned wolf, actually, and I saved him. He was being chased by some people I've never seen around before,"

Eve's jaw dropped. "What!" She screamed, her voice echoed throughout the kitchen, alerting everyone as their gaze fell on us.

Quickly, I dropped the knife and veggies and placed my palm over her mouth, restraining her from saying anything further.

          "Did you tell my mom that?

          "No. I didn't," 

Turning around, I took a deep breath and faced the basin as I continued chopping the veggies.

When we were done preparing breakfast, Miss Sophie gave us an hour break to do whatever we wanted.

I ran to the physician and begged him to lend me some medications, I sneaked into the kitchen store and packed some fruit, freshly baked bread, food, and water in a satchel.

Avoiding people's gaze as I walked over to the fence, I threw the satchel over the fence and ran out through the servants doorway.

I hit my palm on the satchel, dusting the sand and dirt off before hanging it over my shoulder.

"You are worried about the stranger, right?" Raina, my wolf, asked as I pushed the twigs in the woods away, clearing up the path for me.

She always made sure to show up at the moments I didn't want her to... last night, she was clearly nowhere to be felt around me. I was tense and nervous about her question.

Flickering my lashes, "Hell no! There's no way on earth that I'm worried about him. I clearly don't want him to die, and I know you don't want him to die either." I hesitated before responding to her.

          "I'm not sure we do," 

Suddenly, I heard leaves rustling around me. I paused for a moment just to be sure I was the only one whose footsteps were causing the leaves to rustle, but that wasn't the case. Rather, the sound was getting closer to me.

          "Look who we have here, hello sister!"

An eerie smile appeared on her face, crossing her hands behind her as she walked closer to me.

"What are you doing here?" Emilia asked, flipping her hair behind her.

I cleared my throat, holding onto the satchel tightly. 

"What do you mean by that?" I asked almost furiously.

"Excuse me! I need to get going," I walked past her.

Emilia stared at the satchel on my shoulder as she pulled me back, causing the satchel to fall and the contents to scatter on the floor.

My jaw dropped. "What the hell are you doing?

I gritted my teeth, squatting and began to pick them up.

Emilia began to laugh. "Oh sister! what's this?" bending over, she picked up the ointment that was lying beside her foot.

"Give that back!"

I rubbed my palm over my forehead, sighing deeply. My time was running out, I needed to head back before anyone noticed my absence.

"Emilia, can you stop acting like a child for a moment?" I lowered my voice.

"Can you give that back, please?"

"No. I won't," a disgusted look appeared on her face. 

"I will give it back if you tell me why you are heading to that hut."

Tugging my hair, I clenched my jaw as visible cords stood out on my neck. "Why should I tell you that?"

Placing her palms over her mouth. "Oh my! I forgot. I shouldn't be loud," she exclaimed, her eyes glittering as she gestured her thumb at the hut.

"So he doesn't get to hear us arguing here."

"What!?" 

"You heard me right," Emilia flared up as she grabbed my hair.

"Now tell me why you are here."

Why did I have to meet Emilia at this point? 

Why here?

"Are these medications... the food in that satchel, this ointment?" raising the ointment up.

"Are they for him? The man in that hut!" Emilia jerked her head in the direction of the hut as she pushed me away.

I staggered backward, trying to maintain my balance as I raked my fingers through my hair.

My lips quivered, clasping my hands together tightly, wondering how Emilia got to know about the man in the hut.

"How do you know him?" I tapped my foot impatiently, my arms crossed.

"I see, he's the one." Emilia's lips curled into a malicious smile.

"Now hand over the satchel!" She ordered, and I held onto the satchel tightly.

Making no intention to hand it over to her, I stood firm on the ground.

She guffawed, pressing a hand to her throat. "It's not like I had no idea that you are strong-headed and won't hand it over to me."

Kneading my shoulders, "Why should I hand it over? To you...? I found him dying last night, and I risked my life to save him. Now you run into me, start spilling bullshit, and then decide to order me around." I ran my fingers through my hair as I gasped.

"The heck, I'm your elder sister. Whether you like it or not, I deserve respect from you!"

Emilia let out a harsh breath while inspecting her nicely done fingernails. "Who do you think you are to lay your filthy hands on him? Huh? You are just a mere omega, an illegitimate daughter of my father," she fired back at me.

Her eyes flared up as she took steps closer to me. "So what gave you the right to lay your hand on the Alpha of this pack? A filth like you shouldn't even get to stand twelve metres close to him."

I staggered backward. My shoulders dropped as the satchel fell on a twig, causing the leaves to rustle.

"The alpha?" I asked, my eyes began to sting.

"You heard me! The man in there is Alpha Nickolas!" Smoothing down her skirt, she fiddled with her earring.

I had no idea if I was deeply hurt because my step sister had called me an illegitimate daughter of our father or if it was because I had an intimate affair—a one-night stand with the Alpha—the same Alpha I wasn't interested in when Ruby and the girls were swooning over.

Emilia quickly bent over and picked up the satchel. I tried to take it from her, but it was out of my reach.

My voice was cracking. "Give it back."

"Because I'm an omega, that doesn't mean I can't touch the Alpha. Moreover, if I hadn't laid my hand on him last night, he would have been as good as a dead man," I spat without flinching.

My face tightened as soon as a slap landed on my face. The tears I had been holding back found their way out of my eyes, streaming down my face. Lowered my head, my hair fell over my face.

Rubbing my palm over my face, sniffing my nose, "You know what! You can have the satchel,"

Walking towards the hut, Emilia dragged the scarf I wrapped around my neck.

"If you dare take another step closer, your family will be as good as dead," she warned, but I kept on moving.

Snorting, "I do not have a family. I ceased to have a family many years ago."

Emilia's palms squeezed into a fist. "You don't have a family? What about Miss Sophie and Eve?" she asked, giving a lopsided grin.

Squeezing my eyes shut, a vein popped out in my neck as I whirled around. 

          "What!?"

Terror overtook my face.

Emilia smirked as she walked up to me. "Now act like the nice girl you are, of course." She patted my hair.

"If you ever tell anyone about the events of last night or today, you wouldn't like to know what and how I'll deal with them, starting with the head chef, Miss Sophie."

Staggering backward, I watched Emilia disappear into the hut.

Falling to my knees, tears streamed down my face.

Helping myself up, my legs wobbled, I headed back to the central kitchen, wiping the tears off my face.

          "Valeria," 

I raised my face and saw Eve waving at me at the entrance of the kitchen.

"Eve," I forced a smile, hastening my steps towards her.

I hoped my face wasn't puffy... otherwise, Eve was going to realise I was crying and wouldn't stop asking me until I told her what went wrong.

"Mum just called for all of us... Alpha Nickolas will be back by tonight." Eve's face beamed.

The colour on my face drained upon hearing the alpha's name. Well, what was I expecting? He's fine now, so he should return to where he belongs.

          "Val,"

I was drawn back to reality. "Huh?"

"Your necklace? Where's it? The necklace with our engraved initials that I gifted you...why did you take it off?" Eve asked, pointing at my neck as her brows snapped together.

I placed my palm on my neck, "Uhh, it was just here," 

The necklace wasn't there, and I didn't take it off.

Last night...

The hut…