Chapter 7: Your Breakfast Is Ready

Selene shoved her hand.

Meris breathed heavily. Her chest rose and fell, her gaze falling to her wrist, where the bruise from Selene’s strong grip was evident.

She spat, "Do you see what you’ve done to me?"

Selene touched her temple, suddenly beginning to get a headache. She turned away to leave, but Meris gripped her by the wrist.

"What do you think will happen when Dante sees this? Do you think he will tolerate an outsider harming his mate?" She threatened, "This could get you killed, you hear me?!"

Selene looked at her. Aren’t you like a fake mate or something? Not that it’s any of my business.

As she thought, she snatched her hand back and turned. She pressed her cell phone as she went away, seeming to be wanting to call someone, who undoubtedly had to be Dante.

Meris balled her hand so tight.

’...Don’t forget that you are not Dante’s real mate. A forced fake bond you are keeping alive by biting and leaving around your pheromones isn’t going to stand forever. You’re endangering our goal by allowing another Omega within the same space as you and Dante...’

’...She may be a Wild Omega, but an Omega is still an Omega at the end of the day...’

Her face twisted with killing intent, and the moment Selene was out of sight, she narrowed her eyes wickedly.

She left the dining hall and stalked toward the kitchen. Entering inside, she shut the door behind her, startling the cooks and the maid inside.

They all turned at once.

"MADAM!"

They all fearfully lowered their gazes.

"Do you remember what I asked you to do last night?" Meris questioned.

They shared a look.

"But Madam...if the alpha finds out, he could kill all of us."

"Keep quiet!" She barked, "What sort of an Alpha do you think he is? What makes you think he will choose an outsider over your lives?"

"But Madam—"

"Do you want your families to have a hard life?"

"MADAM!"

"Then do as I ordered!" She venomously bit out, "I am the madam of this manor and this pack. So you either listen to me, or I’ll have to make you in my own way, and I don’t think I’ve ever given any of you the impression that I am generous or nice. Or have I?"

They collectively shook their heads.

"No, Madam."

"Not at all, Madam."

"Very good." Meris turned to leave. But then she paused. "And one more thing. If Dante asks later what happened to her, none of you should say a word. Lie that you know nothing. If any of you dare tell the truth or implicate me, I will make sure that not even the last of your bloodline survives. Do you understand me?"

They nodded.

They nodded their heads heavily, many of them having gone pale from fear.

"Get to work." She left the kitchen, slamming the door shut.

The maids all turned to each other.

"W-what do we do?" one of them asked.

"What else are we supposed to do?" another responded, annoyed. "The Madam of the house has spoken, and all we have to do is behave as she asked. Feed the outsider, and the rest of the situation can be handled later. You heard her as well, the Alpha would never choose an outsider over us, the members of his pack, whether dead or alive."

They all seemed to be coming to a mutual agreement when one of them slowly shook her head. Were Selene to be here, she’d recognize her as the staff member who’d shown her to her room on her first day in the manor.

"I don’t think we should do this," she said.

The other maids and cooks glared at her.

She added, "She hasn’t done anything wrong. Are we really okay with killing someone just because the madam asked us to?"

"Then would you like to lose your own family? Go ahead and be my guest. Just don’t drag us into your nonsense. She’s an outsider! What are you scared of? Coward!"

She was low-ranking compared to the other maids. It was easy to look down on and bully her.

"Everyone get to work!" The head cook pointed. "You, you will be serving the outsider! Understood?"

"Yes, Ma’am!"

....

By now, Selene had showered. Yet, she hadn’t eaten. They really would not let her into the dining hall to dine. The maids weren’t listening to her either. She had tried to contact Dante, but his phone was switched off.

Plopping onto the sofa in the living room, she threw her head back, eyes closed. Were she in her pack, she would have been enjoying a really nice good meal by now.

She was even beginning to experience some headache, brows scrunching in hunger. Her stomach growled every now and then. That was until she heard someone’s quiet voice.

"Madam."

Selene thought she was hallucinating.

"Madam," the soft voice called again.

She opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry for a few seconds before she fully saw the face of the person calling her.

"You..." she murmured. This was the maids who’d shown her to her room on her first day in the pack.

The maid forced a sweet smile. "Your breakfast is ready, madam."