A facade

LARISSA– Two years later

I woke up to someone violently shaking my body.

"How fucking lazy can you get? Will you get the hell up already!" Katya hissed at me so early in the morning. 

I opened my eyes and saw her staring down at me. The fact that she was my husband's mistress still hurt badly even after two years. Katya was still the same person she was that night, she still wanted to control everything and everyone around her even if it meant fucking her brother-in-law on his wedding night. 

"I'm awake." I said, trying my best to keep my voice normal. I was determined not to cry. 

She stared at me in disgust for a second and said, "Boil some water for Stefan and Stefan before he comes back. The heater is having issues and the weather is cold, he'll need a hot bath this morning. She smiled maliciously. 

I could swear on my life that Katya had intentionally spoiled the water heater in the bathroom. She could have easily called someone to do this but she enjoyed watching me suffer. She loved to make me do things like this because she knew I had no choice. That's why she had suggested to Stefan that I start doing all the work in the house to teach me a lesson. He had agreed in a heartbeat and my life has been like this ever since. 

I got up from the bed without another word to Katya and did as she said. I took one of the buckets under the tap and turned it on but nothing happened. The tap wasn't rushing. Katya must have left it on throughout the night just for it to finish, all so I would have to go downstairs to fetch water. 

I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I picked up the bucket. I was supposed to get used to all this by now but every time it happened, it felt like a knife piercing my heart. I couldn't control the tears as they flowed but I didn't make a single sound. 

After fetching water downstairs, I came back up, filled the kettle with water and lit a fire under it. Then I picked up a broom and swept the house, mopped it, dusted the shelves, tables and chairs, changed the sheets and dressed the bed. Stefan had made it clear that I'd do all the work but only in the house as it would make him look bad if someone from the pack spotted their Luna doing the house chores in a pack full of servants. 

Stefan came back from his morning jog as soon as the water boiled. The music in his headset was so loud I could hear it from across the room.

"Good morning and congratulations." Katya said in her sing-song voice and cat-walked to him.

"Morning baby, thank you." He smiled, grabbed her waist and kissed her on the lips. When his eyes fell on me and the smile on his face disappeared.

"Good morning alpha." I bowed.

He scoffed and said nothing. He never really spoke to me. He instead turned to Katya and said, "Is my water ready? My sweat is already cold. I need something hot." He turned to the mirror behind him to look at himself 

"Yes, my love, it is ready." She said and glared at me. 

"Five years as alpha and still counting. Impressive." He said, admiring himself in the mirror. "Five years of peace." 

I turned away to get back to work so as to not draw attention to myself. I realized it was better to make it seem that I wasn't present. 

"Hey!" Stefan called and I knew he was referring to me.

I turned around to face him, "Yes alpha?"

"We are going to the party together so try to wear something… presentable. You won't be embarrassing me today, do you understand?" A sour expression was on his face as he came face to face with me. 

"Yes alpha." I said respectfully, his words cut me deep as they always did but I kept a straight face

"Good." He said coldly. "Fix that fucking hair of yours." He said and entered the bathroom. 

****

"You sent for me, my queen." Joy said, bowing in respect. 

I rolled my eyes. "You don't have to bow all the time, Joy. It's not like anyone's here." Stefan was outside with his men and Katya had gone to God knows where. 

"I must always show respect." She smiled at me and I couldn't help smiling back.

She was so honored when I made her my handmaid two years ago. She was a polite person, maybe a little shy but she was an efficient maid and also very good company. The closest thing I had to a friend here.

"What will be suitable for the alpha's fifth anniversary party?"

Joy smirked at me for the first time ever, "I think I know just the dress." She said opened the wardrobe.

Joy's fashion sense was very impressive. She picked out a beautiful blue gown, silver necklace and earrings and silver heels to go with them. She styIed my hair, made me up and helped me get dressed.

"How do I look?" I asked when she was done. She rolled the big mirror over to my side so I could see for myself. I gasped slightly at the sight of my image; the way she curled my golden hair made them look beautiful, the gown brought out my curves and the shoe and necklace reflected in the sunlight. Joy was a genius.

Stefan was already outside by the car along with some other people when I came downstairs with Joy. They stopped talking when I caught their attention. Immediately, Stefan noticed me, he jogged over to my side, locked his arm in mine and smiled at me. 

"You look beautiful." He smiled sweetly and kissed my cheek. 

I stared at him. If this had happened two years ago, I would have been overjoyed but I knew better so I just played along.

"And you too." I smiled.

We drove to the square in silence, just the occasional waves and pleasantries to the people here and there broke the silence. When we got to the square, it was filled with people. I couldn't hear anything but immediately we stepped in, silence spread throughout the square. They marveled at us, the perfect couple.

"Long live the king and queen." Someone bellowed and everybody else chorused it.

After that, Stefan made his way towards the podium in front of the pack while I sat on one of the two chairs behind it made for alpha and luna.

They all fell silent again when Stefan cleared his throat.

 "I thank all of you for finding the time to come here today on this special day. Today marks the fifth year since I was named alpha of Tokenmoon pack. We have been having a steady increase in returns, livestock and harvest since my coronation. 

While I would love to take all the credit for myself, I must commend all of you for your cooperation and hard work towards making ours the strongest pack in the world. The level of crime has also reduced considerably in the past five years. Understandably so, as I'm not sure anyone wants to be skinned alive anytime soon…"

The people broke into laughter at those words. And even Stefan chuckled a little to himself before continuing;

"The education of our young cubs is of utmost importance to me as they are the leaders of tomorrow and that is why the local school has been renovated. This is where they will be educated in reading, writing, healing, fighting, survival and much more. With trained cubs in these fields we are bound to be the best. So I want to say thank you."

This was greeted with a round of applause from the pack. When it does down, he continued;

"And last but not the least, I know it's two weeks from now but I want to wish my wife a happy two year anniversary in advance. It's been two years but just look at her. Who wouldn't be happy to have a wife like this? I'm as lucky as all of you." He said, turning to smile at me.

These words melted the hearts of the crowd as their oohs and ahhs filled the square. I was not expecting those words from him but I wasn't surprised by the impact he had on everyone else. Stefan was an intelligent man and knew how to manipulate just anybody.

Stefan cleared his throat and said to the people, "This is a day of celebration so please eat, drink and be happy but I would like to open this ceremony with a dance with my wife." He concluded and everyone started cheering.

He turned to me and I got to my feet and walked towards him. He put his hands on my waist and I put my head on his chest. We danced to a slow beat for a while as the people fell in love with us. After a few minutes, we came to a stop and there was a thundering round of applause from the pack. They really enjoyed shows of affection.

I was overjoyed when I saw my parents moving towards me. 

"Mom, Dad!" I was so excited to see my family after all this time. 

"Larissa! Oh my baby. You look so pretty." My mom kissed my forehead as a tear dropped from her eyes.

"Don't go steal all the love, mother." Richard, my elder brother piped in. "Come here baby girl."

"You've gotten bigger, Richie." I said as I gave him a bear hug. 

"That's what happens when you're not around. I've been stress-eating, you see." He said and everybody laughed.

We were interrupted by the voice of the announcer; "It's time for the sword fight or sparring challenge. Do we have someone willing to challenge for glory?" He asked and everyone fell silent.

The sparring challenge was a kind of tournament but the twist was that anybody could pick up the sword and challenge literally anyone and it would go on until everyone agreed on a clear winner. That was usually after someone got hurt. People were weary of this because there were no rules.

"I'll take it!"  Richard said loudly and all eyes fell on him. He came forward and picked up the black steel sword on the ground. And murmurs broke out. Richard was renowned for his gift with the sword. 

"And who do you want to challenge?" The announcer asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

Richard looked around and said, "Who else would be a more honorable opponent than the alpha himself?" He said and turned towards Stefan. "I challenge you, my lord."