CHAPTER 2

The second I heard my father's voice booming down the hallway my heartbeat started pounding like it was about to come out of my chest. I started to feel dizzy from the panic I was going into. 

"There's someone locked on the other side of this door." The man says.

"Oh. She's no one to worry about. An omega. She just cleans the packhouse." Luna says.

"Well, I would like to meet her." The man says.

"That's not possible I'm afraid. She's not a good girl. She's rather disturbed and needs to be kept away from people." Father says. And I sat on the stairs on the other side of the door listening to the whole thing unfold. I can't say that I was surprised to hear them speak about me like that, but I felt rather upset and depressed hearing it out loud. Knowing that it's not true. Is that what they tell everyone?

Well, that's unfortunate." He says.

"Come on Alpha Connor. You're missing the whole party that we're throwing in your honour of being here." Luna says. Then I heard them slowly walk away. I let out a breath and walked back up the stairs to my bed.

I knew that the party would be going on for a long time, so I was safe for now. I was really tired after everything that I had done today. So I climbed under the covers and drifted off to sleep again. 

I wasn't sure how long I was asleep this time. I couldn't see my alarm clock from where I was on the bed but when I woke up I saw my father standing right next to my bed with something in his hand. I wasn't sure what it was in my sleepy state but he raised his hand and struck me with it. 

That's when I realised it was a silver whip. And he hit me again and again and again. 

"I told you never to talk to people." He growled at me.

"I just told that man to go away. I wasn't going to open the door. I promise." I begged.

"I don't care. You spoke to him. You shouldn't have even done that." He growled, striking me again. 

"He told me that he knew I was there. He could hear me." I say trying to defend myself against the blows that were leaving wounds all over my body that not even werewolves could heal from. 

Father struck me over and over and over again before he finally stopped. 

"I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance. Now get downstairs and start making breakfast before our guests wake up." He demanded as he starts leaving the attic.

I managed to lie back down again for a moment but I hissed as I did so because of all the wounds that he just inflicted on me. They were all over me and they were so painful that I couldn't lie in any position without it hurting.

When I got up I saw that my dress had tears all the way through it from the whip so I took it off and I put on another grey knee length dress that was two sizes too big for me but I left the attic and headed downstairs. I needed to be careful that there was no one around and I snuck to the back stairs that led straight to the kitchen. 

The clock on the wall said that it was only 4am which didn't surprise me. I needed to get everything ready before the others woke up. So I got the tea and coffee table ready first and put them in the ballroom because that room was the only one big enough to accommodate so many people that we had staying here right now.

I then walked back to the kitchen and got started on my usual kitchen chores of making breakfast from scratch. That's when I started hearing voices coming into the ballroom. I didn't recognise any of the voices but they were all sitting down chatting and I could hear them getting their coffees and laughing. Having a good time. I wondered what it would be like to be in that room surrounded by people who considered me a friend. 

Just after Father and Luna arrived in the dining hall, Luna had to excuse herself and come into the kitchen as I was taking the muffins and croissants out of the oven and she came to inspect all the food that I had made and I was just finishing up. 

She stood there tapping her foot with her arms folded across her chest waiting for me to hurry up and place them in the serving trays without saying anything to me. She couldn't risk the others knowing that I was in here or that man from last night recognising my voice and coming to investigate.

"They have an early morning training session. So hurry the hell up." Luna growled very lowly at me. 

I stumbled around trying to hurry up and when the eggs were ready, I put them in the serving trays, then I was ushered out of the room while the servers came to get the trays and took them away to the ballroom. I walked from the stairs but none of them saw me standing there. I wanted to see the people in the ballroom as well. But I knew that wasn't going to happen. But Luna did say that they were going to an early morning training session. I might be able to get a peek at them while they're outside. I was curious about the Protectors. There were always stories going around about how great they were at fighting and that's why pack's always called them in for help. They were to be admired. And they were definitely admired by a lot of packs.

I had to wait in the attic until they all finished their breakfast. Then they headed outside to the training grounds and that's when I went to the first floor and I started cleaning all of their bedrooms, while they weren't there. 

I changed the sheets on the bed, gave them fresh towels and toiletries. Father and Luna liked to treat this place like a hotel when we had guests staying here. They got fresh stuff in their rooms every day if they were staying for a long period of time. And these guys were definitely going to be staying for a while.

The last guest room I cleaned belonged to Alpha Connor that Father had been talking to last night and I could smell his scent the second I walked into the room. Hazelnut and Cinnamon. It was practically intoxicating. 

I did have a second there where I just soaked it up but then I had to get to work. He had a private bathroom in his room so I needed to change his bedding and vacuum his floor and then I went to the bathroom to change the towels and toiletries. Before I left the bathroom I got a look in the mirror and I saw a massive black eye and bruised lip from yesterday when Father hit me. Just before I was about to leave the bathroom I heard some voice in the hallway. 

"Hold on a moment, man. I just forgot something in my room." He sang out to someone down the hall. So I quickly closed the bathroom door and I locked it.

I could his movements in the room but then they suddenly stopped, like he was just standing in the middle of the room. A sudden knock on the bathroom door made me jump a little and I knew that he was right outside the door.

"Is someone in there?" He asked. But I stayed quiet for a moment, when I heard trhe door knob rattle as he tried to open the door.

"You're the same girl from the attic, aren't you?" He asked curiously. 

"Please. Just let me finish cleaning and I will leave." I asked quietly.

"Open the door." He says.

"I can't. You can't see me." I insisted.

"I really want to see you." He says leaning against the door.

"You can't. I'm not allowed to." I says.

"Well, do I need to break the door down?" He asked stepping back.

"If you do then I'll make sure that you never see me again for the rest of my life." I threatened. I didn't hear anything for what seemed like an eternity after that. But he did eventually come back to the door and lean against it again. 

"Why don't you just tell me your name? That can't be too bad, can it?" He asked. 

"I'm no one." I answered again. The way I've been trained to.

"I don't believe that. I think you are someone and you're someone that I want to know." He says softly. Does he really want to know who I am? No one ever does. No one sees me. No one knows me. They don't want to know me. Who would want to know a murderer. I killed my own mother, that's not something that people usually accept.

"I...I..." I started to mutter out when I hear those high heels walking down the hallway and into the bedroom. 

"Alpha Connor. I've been looking for you. You weren't out at training." Luna says.

"I just had to come in to get something out of my room." Alpha Connor says very casually.

"Did you lock yourself out of the bathroom or something?" She asked approaching the door. "It's alright. I have a master key." Luna added as I heard keys jiggling. I clamped my hand over my mouth waiting for the door to open.