Mikael Armand's face visibly darkened.
"I have followed the Alpha for years, so I know for a fact he has never met his mate. Now if she really has his mark, I want you to get rid of it then find her. Do you understand me?"
"I do." Then she left.
As she got to her quarters and began the unbinding ritual, Aurelia, along with the other new maids were being overworked.
It was customary amongst veteran maids. Whenever new maids came in, they would sit back and make them do their jobs.
So basically, if senior maids gave maids under them a task, those maids would in turn give the tasks to the new maids.
After doing laundry with the others, Aurelia was walking past the kitchen when a sudden wave of dizziness hit her.
Moments later, an unbearable, stabbing pain tore through her lower body.
It was at this moment that a veteran maid pushed out a food trolley from the kitchen, a worried look in her eyes.
Upon seeing Aurelia, her downcast eyes instantly lit up.
Ignoring her pained state, she pushed the trolley in front of Aurelia, instructing stoically, "This is Alpha Axton's food. Take it to him. While serving him, don't make the mistake of looking him in the eyes."
"In fact, once you drop the food for him, ask if he wants anything else. If he doesn't, he'll dismiss you quickly. Do you understand me?"
Aurelia, who didn't know why she was suddenly fighting for her life, was too concerned with herself to hear a word the maid said.
It was winter and the cold was biting, so why did she feel as if her insides were melting off?
Unable to keep her heavy eyelids open, she squeezed her eyes shut and bit down on her lower lip until the metallic taste of blood filled her tastebuds.
A group of passing veteran maids paused seeing their fuming colleague and clicked their tongues mockingly.
"Hey, don't be heartless. Can't you see she's fighting for her life?"
The first veteran maid huffed and took a step backward in irritation. "That is ridiculous. It has only been a few hours since she arrived."
"They must've thought being a a maid in the alpha's residence is something just anyone can do because of the perks which comes with it."
The veteran maids mocked Aurelia and the other new maids for a while before one of them changed the subject, eyes pinned on Aurelia.
"Don't you also think she's weird? I haven't sensed anything from her ever since we met."
"Now that you mention it, I noticed it too. She looks to be in her twenties already, so how could she not have a wolf?"
"She has no wolf? Goodness, no wonder she's so weak."
"How can one not have a wolf at the age of 20? Even late bloomers get their wolves at the age of 19."
"What a sucker. If she had no liver for doing such strenuous work, why apply to the Alpha's residence?"
"She looks like she's about to die. It'll be bad luck if she dies on her first day. Someone inform a senior maid to kick her out."
Aurelia caught wind of the last sentence and panicked, eyes flying open as she forced herself off the floor.
Whatever this pain was, she had no problem with it coming, but why did it have to be on such an important time? What happened to nighttime?
"I can do it. I'll take Alpha Axton's food to…" She was merely repeating what she thought the veteran maid said, but winced in mid-sentence, grabbing the skin just above her cervix in pain.
The pain this time, forced her down to her knees, balls of sweat rolling down her face as her breathing grew heavy.
This time, the other maids finally realized there was something wrong somewhere and stepped back in confusion.
As Aurelia kneaded over, inside her clothes, the mark of a crown near her cervix slowly faded.
The veteran maids were only worried for a moment before they began chiding her.
"Hey, if you're going to die, do it outside the residence!"
"What a scheming girl. If a senior maid or worse Luna Carmen hears of this, they'd think she's in this state because we've been slacking off and making new maids do our work!"
"She's not the only one who has been working, so how dare her try to pull such a disgusting move? People like her irritate me!"
The last person strutted to Aurelia and began stubbing the side of her abdomen with her foot.
"If you don't get up this instant, I'll beat you to a pulp!"
Bent over on the floor, Aurelia's furrowed brows instantly eased as the pain disappeared as abruptly as it came.
However, she had too much going on in front of her to brood on what she just went through.
Seeing how she seemed to have miraculously recovered, the veteran maid quickly concluded she had staged her episode to get out of working and slapped her hard on the cheek.
"Am I a joke to you, you lazy brute!"
Aurelia clenched her jaw tightly and bowed to her apologetically.
"Forgive me."
People were watching.
Showing any sign of strength would be her breaking out of character.
While she could easily take these average people surrounding her, she didn't want to raise suspicions on how a girl with no wolf could beat those with wolves.
Damien had told her not to let her emotions get the best of her while she was here.
Men were naturally attracted to weaker, clumsy and delicate women. Once she attracted the attention of a pack warrior, her job here would basically be done.
In here, she was Aurelia Night, a clumsy and pathetic drunk struggling with drinking a addiction.
Unless she wanted to blow her cover, all she could do right now was bottle in her emotions until she found a way around the border.
Scratching the back of her neck, she stuttered nervously.
"I-i used to drink a lot outside these walls, but since I've been in here, I haven't had a single drop of anything with alcohol. It's… messing with my mind and causing me pain."
The scratching, nervousness and stuttering, were all things everyone watching her had seen numerous times in their life so it was easy to convince them.
"Oh? You must be going through withdrawal. Fair enough. I've seen numerous drunkard go through what you just did."
"I'm letting you off this one time because I don't wish to punish you. Now hurry up and go deliver the Alpha's food."
Aurelia froze.
Alpha? Alpha Axton?
She was out of it earlier to hear the first maid mention his name.
That man had seen her face when she held the young alpha hostage a month ago. Though he was far from her, she still couldn't risk him recognizing her.
She parted her lips, attempting to lie her way out of this, when the maid turned and began strutting away.
Gulping down hard, she grabbed hold of the food trolley and began pushing it toward the Alpha's quarters.
The residence was a simple one. The closer one got to the Alpha's quarters, the stricter the guards became.
After verifying her identity, the guards let her in.
Pushing the food trolley into the room, Aurelia clenched her fist's nervously.
"My lord, I brought your lunch."
Silence.
After standing on a spot for more than ten seconds, she pushed the trolley towards the mahogany table in the middle of the room, carefully placing the dishes on it.
Then she got up and turned around to leave, but her eyes caught the weapons arranged by a corner.
For the love of weapons, she paused and sighed heavily.
The Alpha wasn't in right now. He was probably with the councilmen. She would just take a quick look at the weapons then slip out.
Yes, that's what she'd do.
Her feet moved on their own accord, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the weapons, running her hands over them with her eyes sealed shut.
She started from the ones in front, all the way to the back. With her eyes shut, she could take in even the smallest detail on them.
Thirty seconds later, she grimaced in pain, promptly peeling her eyes open when her head hit a wall.
The weapons' rack was in the middle of the room. No one in their right sense would build a wall in the middle of the room.
She was already having such a crappy day and needed to vent even if it was to a wall. So she turned to kick the wall in rage.
"Why on earth would anyone build a wall in the middle of the room? Doesn't Cinder Pack have…"
She suddenly trailed off when she realized no wall was as soft as this.
Lowering her eyes, her breath hitched when she saw it was a person.
All this while, she had been kicking someone's leg. A man's leg.