She hit me again. Same cheek, same sting, except this time her nails caught skin on the way and dragged. I pressed my palm flat against my face and tried to breathe. I really was tired of being hit.
Her eyes went wide for just a second, like even she hadn't expected it. Then the glare came back, harder than before, covering it all up.
"Who do you think you are? You are so lucky they did not kill you for that! Learn your place mutt." She was already heading for the door. "Useless!"
The kitchen went quiet again. I stood there for a moment, then got on with the coffee. No point in anything else. I made it a large one this time and set it onto the tray with the cloths and soap before heading back to the office.
I stopped just outside the door and pulled my plait loose, combing my hair forward with my fingers until it fell across my cheek. I could see the scratches in the mirrored surface of the tray. Three of them, red and raised. My clothes were creased beyond saving and when I touched my face, foundation came away on my fingers, pink and streaked with dry blood. The cuts had stopped bleeding at least. I'd tried to clean them up but now my top had a stain on it too. Black, thankfully. Small mercies.
The guards outside the office saw me coming and gave me those looks. The sorry kind. I kept my eyes down and walked through.
The Alpha was still at the table. I set his coffee down gently and got onto my knees to dab at the spill on the hardwood floor. The room kept going around me, voices overlapping, nobody pausing. I didn't listen. I just focused on the floor, on getting it clean, on not making it worse. I sprayed it once the coffee was up to make sure it wouldn't go sticky.
His shoes had caught some of it too. I looked at the dried blotches for a second, thought about offering. Decided against it. I didn't want to say something out of place. Not today, not after everything.
I collected the rags and picked up the tray. I bowed toward my Alphas on the way out, keeping my hair forward, keeping my head low. I did not need to add to the list of things I had done wrong.
"Thank you, Nova." Steven didn't look up from his desk.
I nodded and turned to go. As I did, I caught the Alpha reaching for his coffee in my peripheral. I must have slowed without realising because when he picked it up and looked over, his eyes met mine directly. They were back to their usual colour now. But they went hard the moment he saw my face, and the heat that rushed to my cheeks was immediate and awful. I hadn't even noticed I was staring at him. He clearly didn't think much of me. I dropped my gaze and got out of there.
More than anything I wanted my bed. I wanted to lie down and cry until I fell asleep. But lunch wasn't going to sort itself, so I went to the sink instead and washed my face with cold water and rubbed some cream into my cheek. Standing there with my hands busy was enough to pull me back together. Mostly.
"Nova dear..."
Nevaeh's voice came from behind me. I turned, expecting something softer than I got. Her face was the same as everyone else's today.
"They require you to assist in the Alpha's tour. Meet them in the foyer now please."
"W-w-what—" I looked at the clock. 10.30 am.
"Now please, do not mess this up again. Go!" She growled.
I dried my hands and went. I was almost running by the time I reached the foyer and the men were already on their way in. Julie was there, glaring at me the moment I appeared beside her.
"Take off your apron." She grumbled.
I reached behind my back straight away. The strings wouldn't budge. The knot had pulled itself tight at some point during the morning and my fingers were too damp and jittery to get any grip on it. I tugged at it uselessly.
The Alpha dominance hit the hallway before the men even fully appeared and my neck dropped on instinct. That was just what happened when you were omega, especially with Steven clearly in a mood.
They were here now. Steven's eyes landed on me and I could see the questions moving through them. He'd asked for me specifically, I knew that, but I didn't think he'd considered what he was actually getting. Me, with no make-up, cuts on my face, bruises starting to show, and an apron I couldn't get off.
I let my hand fall from the strings. There was no point.
This pack was out to get me. I was sure of it. Setting me up and sending me off with no time to look decent and aprons that wouldn't come undone for anyone.
I let out a small breath through my nose.
"Right, shall we start with the tour?" Steven smiled.
The men agreed and moved out. Phoenix's men shifted around him like they'd practised it, every step accounted for, always in position. The Beta drifted along at the edges, grinning at things on the walls like he'd never seen a house before.
I moved to follow Julie when hands touched my back. I startled, went still. The warmth of it reached somewhere deeper than it should have and the voice in my head snapped awake.
Mine.
I turned my head. Phoenix stood there, already working the knot loose from my apron strings with no expression on his face at all.
"T-t-thank you, A-Alpha—"
"Phoenix."
I blinked. "Alph—"
"No. Phoenix."
I chewed my lip. His eyes were on my cheek, on the scratches, and his hand twitched slightly like he was stopping himself from reaching out. Everyone had seen it by now anyway. No use in hiding.
"T-thanks Ph-Phoenix."
The voice was at it again, too quiet to catch properly. I could've sworn he made a sound low in his chest, something almost like a purr, but I put that down to nerves. My whole body was warm and my face was no doubt red. His hand pressed gently at the small of my back and nudged me forward. I jogged a few steps until I was level with Steven, who gave me a tight smile.
We did the whole grounds. Questions came up here and there and Julie handled most of them. I was too slow with words on a good day, and today was not a good day.
I was fine until the training facility.
I didn't know if it was my nerves or something else but the moment we stopped there something shifted. Heat crept up through me from nowhere and my stomach cramped so sharply that my arms crossed over it on their own. My nails snagged in my shirt. I looked down and there was a small tear in the fabric.
I tried to focus on the wolves going through drills in front of me but the edges of everything were softening. Steven's hand came onto my shoulder, cold even through my shirt, and I turned to look at him.
"Are you okay, Nova?" His voice came out strange, like it was travelling through water.
"I-I don't feel good." I got out, pressing my eyes shut. Something was pressing in behind them, hard and building.
"What's happening?" Phoenix's voice, sharp and close.
When I opened my eyes I was on the floor. I didn't know when that had happened. Phoenix was crouched in front of me, eye level, watching me. Everything under my skin felt wrong, like it was all moving at once. My bones felt tight, like they were being squeezed.
"I-I don't know. It's almost as though she's..."
"What?"
"Shifting."
My legs cramped and gave out and I went sideways. Something caught my head before it hit the ground. Whatever it was felt steady and warm and smelled so good I pressed toward it without thinking.
"Well, is that possible? How old is she?" Someone asked.
"Uh, about 20. She-she's never shifted before."
"Never shifted?" The Beta.
"How strange."
I tried to push myself up. The nausea hit and I collapsed again and someone turned me over just in time. I threw up onto the ground. When I tried to lift myself onto my arms I felt one give completely beneath me and the crack of it was loud and the pain was white and immediate, shooting up to my shoulder and leaving everything tingling. The other arm followed. Then my ankles.
I heard screaming. It was mine.
My skin felt ready to split. My ribs went one at a time, each one a separate sharp break, and my lungs couldn't keep up with any of it. I was crying. I could feel it but I couldn't stop any of it. My vision blurred out at the edges, black creeping in from all sides.
I was going to die today. I actually was.
The darkness took me before I could finish the thought.