Maya's POV
The bucket of freezing water slammed into my face.
"You lazy Omega, get up!" Sophia Blake yelled at me. "Alpha Connor's breakfast won't make itself!"
I sat up quickly on my thin mattress after gasping. My hair dripped water onto my old nightgown. My heart was hammering in my chest. My bare feet felt cold on the wooden floor. I jumped up and whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't hear the morning bell."
"You dumb girl, that's because there was no morning bell!" Sophia gave a cruel laugh. "The time is four in the morning. However, Connor needs his breakfast prepared by five o'clock today. He has important tasks to complete."
I blinked frantically in an attempt to awaken. It's four o'clock? It was even earlier than normal. Cleaning the entire pack house yesterday left my body hurting. I was only three hours into my sleep.
"Go more quickly!" Sophia gave my leg a forceful kick. "Or I'll tell Alpha Connor that you were once again being lazy."
I felt a lightning-fast rush of fear. Connor forced me to use my bare hands to clean the restrooms the last time he felt I was being lazy. For days, my fingers were raw and bleeding.
I hastily said, "I'm going, I'm going," and picked up my work dress off the ground.
Sophia's icy blue eyes watched me. "Don't you know what today is?"
I gave a headshake. It felt the same to me every day. Get up, work, get scolded, work some more, and then go to bed.
She grinned broadly and stated, "Connor's twenty-second birthday is exactly one week away. He is one week away from being the true Alpha. A week prior to selecting his partner."
My stomach turned strangely. Everyone was aware that Connor would choose Sophia. Her father was the Beta, and she was intelligent and attractive. I was just the floor-scrubbing orphan girl.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked quietly.
Sophia grinned more broadly and cruelly. "Because, little Omega, I want you to remember where you are. Things will be different here once Connor and I mate. You'll put in even more effort than you do now."
Her footsteps were loud on the wooden floor as she turned and left. I was trembling from fear as well as the cold water. My life would be considerably worse if Sophia turned into the Luna.
I hurried to the kitchen after putting on my dress. It was cold and dark in the large room. I started preparing Connor's favorite breakfast, which consists of eggs, bacon, and freshly baked bread, after lighting the fire. Without thinking, my hands moved. I had prepared this dish countless times.
However, today felt different. I heard a voice in my head as I cracked the eggs. It was warmer and deeper.
"Come on, young one. You'll be free soon."
I let the egg fall. The yellow yolk was all over the floor as it smashed. I cleaned up the mess and whispered, "Great. I'm hearing things now."
Lately, I had been having weird dreams. I have dreams in which I see a golden light and hear my name called. Dreams of joyous running through forests. However, dreams were just that—dreams.
"Maya!" Upstairs, Connor's voice boomed. "Where's my breakfast?"
"Coming, Alpha!" With a trembling voice, I called back.
After plating his food, I hurried to his room upstairs. Connor was examining papers while seated at his desk. When I walked in, he didn't look up.
"Put it down and get out," he said coldly.
After placing the plate on his desk, I turned to go. Then, however, an odd thing occurred. The air began to shimmer as I passed Connor. Similar to heat waves on a hot day.
Connor glanced up quickly. His green eyes widened. "What was that?"
Sincerely, I said, "I don't know. I didn't do anything."
Connor got up and took a step toward me. The glimmer intensified. Something, like an unseen rope, was drawing me in his direction.
"This isn't possible," Connor muttered. He appeared bewildered and afraid.
"What's impossible?" I inquired.
However, Connor simply shook his head. "Leave. Leave right away."
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst as I fled his room. What was going on with me? Why was Connor so terrified?
I cleaned and tried to forget what had happened throughout the morning. But that tugging sensation returned each time I thought about Connor's face.
I heard Connor conversing with his friends in the dining room during lunch while I was doing the dishes.
Connor remarked, "I'm telling you, something strange is happening. That Omega girl this morning..."
"Maya?" his friend Jake chuckled. "What on earth is odd about her? She is merely a servant."
"I am aware of that!" Connor lost his temper. "However, there was this... sensation. Similar to electrical current in the atmosphere."
My hands froze. They were talking about me.
Jake remarked, "You're probably just anxious about your birthday. About choosing Sophia as your partner."
Connor said, "Yeah," but his tone was uncertain. "Yes, that's most likely it."
I cleaned the living room after I was done with the dishes. But Connor's words kept coming to mind. I had experienced that sensation of electricity as well.
I noticed that I was staring out the window at the forest while I was dusting the shelves. I wanted to crash into those trees for some reason. I wanted to run until I came across... I had no idea.
"Maya!" I jumped at Sophia's voice. "Get back to work and stop daydreaming!"
"Sorry," I blurted out.
However, Sophia was giving me a weird look. "You appear different now. Something's brighter in your eyes."
I made contact with my face. "I feel the same."
"Well, you're not," Sophia remarked. "I also dislike it. Do not forget what I told you this morning. Recognize your position."
I sensed that she was observing me as she left. I felt like everyone was watching me today. The other pack members continued to stare at me as if I were unique.
I was cleaning Connor's room that evening when I discovered something that chilled me to the bone. He had a book on mate bonds on his desk. A page titled "Unwanted Mates" and "How to Break Sacred Bonds" was open.
As I read the words, my hands began to shake. The book discussed forcing relationships to end, rejecting partners, and making unwanted partners vanish.
Connor was reading this, but why? Unless...
Behind me, the bedroom door slammed. When I turned around, Connor was standing there with a furious expression on his face.
With a menacing tone, he questioned, "Reading my private things, little Omega?"
I muttered, "I was just cleaning. I didn't mean to—"
"You didn't mean to what?" Connor took a step forward. "You didn't intend to find out my secret?"
Like a spider, fear scuttled up my spine. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
There was a flash of what appeared to be panic in Connor's eyes. "Maya, everything is going to change tomorrow. Everything. And you." He took a moment to examine my face. "You'll wish you hadn't been born."
I stood there by myself, trembling like a leaf in a storm, when he opened the door. I gazed at the open book on his desk. In the lamplight, the words "How to Break Sacred Bonds" appeared to glow.
I was aware that my life was going to get significantly worse, regardless of what was going on with me or what Connor had planned. However, I was unaware that tomorrow would mark a permanent shift in my life.