Madam Yelena was a short greying older woman, with a permanent frown etched on her face. After Carla had introduced me as ‘another’ new maid, she had looked at me with a scowl on her pouty lips before shoving a; broom, mop and metal bucket in my hands and assigned me to the Beta’s mistress bedroom.

Each cleaning maid had to go with a guard just in case they wanted to try anything funny. Those were Madam Yelena’s words.

After long and strenuous hours of scrubbing the bathroom and thoroughly cleaning the bedroom, I and two other girls of my age were asked to trim the trees in the garden before I was finally shown my room.

It was a small room, with a twin post bed, which meant I had a roommate. I looked around for her belonging but I found none.

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep, although the mattress was hard and the sheets were cold, I drifted off within minutes, with Eve in my thoughts.

A few minutes into my sleep, I felt someone lightly tap my shoulders. “Wake up, Akira, Madam Yelena wants to speak to us.” A familiar feminine voice spoke.

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes. My head pounded hard and I was thirsty.

“Heyyy.” I yawned with a smile when I saw Lenny.

She grinned back, it almost felt like all that happened was a nightmare until she spoke.

“Thank heavens we’re roommates. We have to go.”

I quickly followed her to the enormous kitchen, where all the maids were gathered and madam Yelena was already speaking with a scowl on her face.

She was talking about the annual ball coming in a few days and how we needed to please the Alpha with our arrangements when I heard someone gasp beside me.

“Akira!” Eve’s girly voice rang through my ears.

My eyes filled with tears and I immediately rushed to hug her.

I quickly rambled off questions to her, mainly about what the hell we were doing here.

And she answered them all in one breath, allowing me to ask questions and giving me the right answers.

“So you’re telling me that werewolves are real, ninety percent of the people living here are werewolves and this is a ‘wolf pack’?” I asked dryly, my arms folded across my chest.

Although she answered my questions as well as she could, I still thought she was lying, none of it was making sense.

She nodded.

Lenny and I stared at her like she was out of her mind.

“And their Alpha is the infamous Alpha Ares?”

She nodded, once again.

“So Nana’s stories were true?” My jaw was almost touching the ground.

I had occasionally told Eve about the stories Nana told Ama and I. The thought of Nana and Ama had my heart clenching and my eyes teary.

“Why the hell are you still calm? I can’t stay here, Eve!” I whispered, looking around the whole place. And in my peripheral view, Lenny nodded in agreement.

Eve looked at the floor, then I knew something was wrong. “My father is a werewolf and was a member of this pack, he was among the wolves who were exiled.” She exhaled loudly. “Look, I want to leave, but I can’t. If I get caught trying to escape, my punishment will be grave because I am a werewolf.”

“What?!” I cried out, gaining the attention of the girls closer to us.

Madam Yelena suddenly interrupted us. “Except you all want to be whipped by the guards, again, I strongly suggest you shut up.”

It was finally the day of the annual ball. It was frightening how much I was growing accustomed to this prison.

Over the week, I had been whipped once, when I slept past the time we- the maids-normally got up. But l was still rebellious and Madam Yelena still loathed me. It was a win-win situation.

We were all dressed in a different maid attire. It was a black French maid attire, with a white ruffled half-apron, stockings and black high heels. I was curious as to why we were given a different attire but when I saw the lustful stares of the male wolves, I suddenly knew why.

The male slaves were on black slacks, a white dress shirt and a white apron. Some of them were teenagers while others were young adults.

The mansion was massive, it was built in a Beaux-Arts style with Greek and Roman adornment. It also had; arched windows, grand arched entryways and stairways and polished marble floors. It embodied large rooms with ornate interiors. It truly was magnificent.

The dining hall I was in was grand and with gothic style. Its interior was also striking. It had one large table for the Alpha, his mistress and a few other important people and little tables for other families in the pack, there was also a huge dancing floor in the middle of the ballroom.

The symphonic orchestra was soaring and it made the whole air in the hall peaceful, which I was sure was quite the opposite in a hall filled with werewolves.

“Are you ready?” Eve asked beside me. We were all standing closer to the backdoor of the hall, with heavy trays on our hands.

I nodded my head but my heart was beating rapidly, over the past few days I had noticed signs of non-human behaviour from the people here and I was starting to think Eve was telling the truth.

I watched as eye-catching men and beautiful ladies strode in, adorned in flamboyant suits and dresses. The female werewolves were beautiful with tall and slim figures. While the males were packed with muscles and were very tall.

Once they were all settled, something strange coursed through me and I felt him. Then I saw him.

He was there. Right there.

Strikingly handsome in all of his lethal glory, with a sculpted jaw that I could see from afar and mid-night black hair in a man-bun that reached the top of his collar. He was tall, extremely tall, with his muscled body wrapped in a tailored-to-perfection black dress shirt and a matching black suit.

He was accompanied by his mistress. She was exceptionally beautiful and tall just like the rest of the female wolves. With platinum blonde hair and an hourglass figure, her make-up was also done to perfection.

Everyone – including me- stood in a submissive stance as he sauntered towards the table like he owned every ounce of air in the room, as though he commanded it to will. A small part of me could not help but admire his lethal, powerful grace.

I watched, stunned, as he paused his stride to his table and stood, transfixed, before he inhaled deeply, his jaw twitched and he ccontinued his walk, but this time he looked irritated.

Eve looked at me with a grimace on her face. “That’s our cue to begin. Remember, Akira, please be on your best behaviour, you don’t want to make the Alpha angrier than he already is.”

With a clap from madam Yelena, we started moving. The trusted maids were asked to serve the prestigious people while we were asked to serve the people of the lower class, the inferiors.

As we started serving the dishes, I distinctively remembered Madam Yelena’s words; only speak when spoken to and always keep your head bowed.

Eve had explained to me what a mate was and I could still remembered Nana’s words. But I was confused when the mated males continuously kept looking at my cleavage like i was fresh meat. It was nauseating.

When we were done serving the first round of dishes, we quietly stood beside our assigned tables, just like we were instructed. Hands folded at our backs and heads bowed.

I was in the kitchen, arranging the next round of dishes for my table when someone suddenly tapped my shoulder. My feet were aching by this time and with a sigh, I turned to see another maid. She looked about ready to cry, I craned my neck a little to look at her face, she was pretty and very tall.

“Can you help me give this to the Alpha?” She nodded to the gold tray on her hands filled with exotic bowls of soup.

I felt my heart stop. Not the Alpha.

“He already snapped at me twice.” She continued when I gave her a questioning look. “I understand this might be hard for you, but you’re new and....” She trailed off.

I shuffled on my feet, I wasn’t so sure why she chose me out of all the girls -and boys- here. But something compelled me to help her.

“Sure.” I nodded, collecting the tray from her.

She grinned. “I’ll attend to your table. They won’t even know you’re gone.”

With wobbly legs, I walked out of the kitchen to the Alpha’s table. As I walked towards him, waves and waves of electricity, I couldn’t comprehend, coursed through me, desire spiked through my veins and I suddenly couldn’t breathe.

I stood beside him and we both inhaled at the same. A woodsy and masculine scent filled my nostrils, my desire heightened and my pussy throbbed.

I slowly exhaled but that didn’t stop my shaky hands as I placed the tray on a vacant space and carried a bowl of chicken soup.

He raised his head and as our gazes clashed, something terrible happened.

The bowl of soup slipped from my hands and I watched with my mouth open as the soup slowly spilt on his expensive suit. Everyone simultaneously gasped in horror and all the chatter around the hall stopped, earning the attention of everyone.

He didn’t flinch when the hot liquid burnt him, instead, he kept his gaze on me, sharp grey eyes burning with anger and his granite jaw flexed.

I took a small step as he stood up, loudly swallowing the lump of saliva lodge in my throat.

He looked older, like he was in his mid-thirties, but I wasn’t fazed by his age. I had always loved the age-gap tropes in the romance novels stashed in my bedroom.

What was I saying? This was the Alpha, not one of the sexy male leads in the novels.

“Who are you?” He asked calm and collected, his gaze ran slowly down my shaking figure and he clenched his jaw when his gaze landed on my pale thighs and cleavage on display.

His husky voice made me clench my thighs tightly, instead of feeling fear, I was wishing he could spank my ass red and take me over the table beside us. My face flushed at the naughty thoughts running through my head.

What was happening to me? I was scared of him but with the fear came an absurd amount of desire for him.