Chapter 26: 0026
Lorelei POV
For the first few days, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. In fact, things were so uneventful that I had started to convince myself Chelsea had simply been bluffing.
My chores weren’t much different from the ones I used to do back home, and by the fifth day, I had slowly begun adapting to this new environment.
Through Skye, I learned that Mrs. Vex was the head housekeeper and that Mr. Hawke was the handler who had brought me here. I also learned why everyone was so afraid of Chelsea.
She was close to both of them.
Because of those connections, she could manipulate situations, spread rumors, and get people into trouble with very little effort.
Still, since she never crossed paths with me again after our confrontation and hadn’t bothered Skye either, I eventually assumed I was safe.
I was deathly wrong.
One particularly busy evening, Skye was away performing her assigned chore, which involved serving in the dining hall while several higher-ranking individuals attended an important meeting.
My assignment for the night was mopping the long service corridor that connected the kitchen preparation areas to the lower levels of the main wing.
Because of the meeting upstairs, the hallways down here were unusually quiet.
I didn’t mind.
Actually, I preferred it this way.
The silence gave me a chance to think without constantly worrying about someone yelling at me.
I was wringing out my mop when another maid suddenly approached me with a deep frown.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
What does it look like I’m doing?
The response immediately popped into my head, but I bit my tongue before it could come out.
"My chores," I answered instead.
"That’s my chore."
My brows immediately pulled together.
Was she serious?
The roster had clearly listed my name for this corridor tonight.
"I was assigned the service corridor for the evening shift," I explained calmly, keeping both hands on the mop handle. "Mrs. Vex’s logbook had my name down for it before we left the lower hall."
The girl didn’t look convinced.
If anything, she looked annoyed.
"Well, there was a last-minute change two hours ago," she said, crossing her arms. "Weren’t you at the meeting?"
"No."
I hadn’t even known there was a meeting.
I had spent the entire afternoon scrubbing pots in the scullery and had come straight to this corridor the moment I finished.
"Of course you weren’t," she said with a scoff, and I rolled my eyes internally.
"Anyway, this is my chore," she said flatly, gesturing at the floor I had spent the last hour making spotless. "Yours is to clean the Alpha’s chamber."
The moment she said that, a shiver ran down my spine.
"What?" I blurted, stunned.
Since I got here, I had only been given chores in the lower ring, and now suddenly I was supposed to be cleaning the Alpha’s chamber? The very place Skye had warned me never to wander into?
"If you don’t believe me, you can go to Mrs. Vex and ask her yourself," the girl said impatiently. "Though expect to be punished for wasting her time."
I just stared at her blankly, feeling my heart pound loudly against my ribs.
"If you’re lying..."
"Why would I?" she cut me off, her expression hardening.
I blinked because, truly, why would she?
I didn’t even know this girl. We hadn’t crossed paths before tonight.
If only Skye were here.
So far, she was my only ally, but she was trapped serving the higher ranks in the dining hall.
I was completely on my own.
"Okay," I said reluctantly, setting the mop back into the wringer. "But how do I get there?"
***^
So here I was, pushing a cleaning cart through unfamiliar, much nicer-looking surroundings.
The maid had been kind enough to describe how to get there, which wasn’t difficult, and no one seemed to question me as I walked past.
But somehow, my heart wouldn’t stop pounding, and my grip tightened around the plastic handle when I was certain I had finally reached the forbidden territory.
The transition between the servant quarters and this wing was terrifying.
The cold concrete walls had vanished, replaced by towering pillars of polished black marble that swallowed the sound of my footsteps.
The air smelled of expensive cologne. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting soft golden light across the floor.
I stopped the cart in front of a massive set of double doors at the very end of the grand corridor.
This had to be it.
The Alpha King’s private chamber.
My hands trembled violently as I reached for the handle, my mind racing.
Just slip in, clean whatever mess they left behind, and slip out before the monster comes back, I chanted to myself like a mantra. You are Ella now. A ghost in a gray dress. Completely invisible.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, I unlocked the cart’s brake, pushed the heavy door open, and stepped inside.
The room was nothing like I expected.
Instead of the dark, intimidating lair of a tyrant, I found myself standing in a space that was almost... warm.
The walls were lined with dark wood instead of cold stone. A massive fireplace dominated one side, its flames casting a cozy glow across the plush carpet.
Bookshelves overflowed with worn paperbacks and ancient texts. A grand four-poster bed sat in the corner, draped in deep burgundy velvet.
But what caught my attention most was the wall of windows overlooking the entire estate.
For a moment, I forgot to be afraid.
Then I remembered where I was.
I grabbed a rag and a bottle of cleaner from my cart and got to work.
I dusted the bookshelves first, careful not to disturb the arrangement of the books. Then I moved to the desk, wiping away invisible smudges from the polished wood.
Everything was immaculate.
Whoever normally cleaned this room did an excellent job.
So why had I been sent here?
That single thought made something uneasy twist in my chest, and while I was contemplating going back to Mrs. Vex just to be certain, the door suddenly swung open.
My heart leapt into my throat as I spun around and saw a man stagger inside.
I practically stopped breathing as my back pressed hard against the heavy wooden desk, watching him rip the buttons off his shirt and send them clattering across the polished floorboards.
He didn’t seem to notice me at first.
His breathing was heavy, and his scent was so strong that my knees trembled.
He was completely out of it.
His skin was flushed, beads of sweat lined his rigid jaw, and his amber eyes carried a wild, almost feral look that made every instinct in my body scream at me to run.
But how could I?
He was standing right by the door.
He staggered another step into the room, running a large, trembling hand through his red hair as a low, rumbling growl vibrated from his chest.
Was he...
Was he going through heat?
