Because of the heavy workload in the kitchen, there were other workers who helped around.
However, they were different from Valerie. Valerie was a slave who worked for nothing and even ate the leftovers of others.
The other workers got paid and their food was decent. The same as everyone else.
They usually left most of the work to Valerie, but today because she was late, they had no choice but to do more work.
That was why as soon as Valerie walked into the kitchen, the worker responsible for washing dishes splashed her with a basin of cold soapy water she had just used to wash pots.
Valerie was drenched from head to toe looking like a featherless chicken, but she had no time to complain.
She squeezed the water off her patched dress and walked to the stove to start cooking pancakes.
Luckily, the fire from the stove slowly dried her clothes.
"You should stop messing with her so openly.
Don't forget that you are also an omega. If discovered by the remnant supporters of her father, you won't end well." A woman with a kind-looking face said to the girl who had drenched Valerie with water.
"What are you worried about? I am just following Innocent's orders.
She is about to become Luna and once she takes that seat, no one will be able to do anything to me." The girl had a smug look in her eyes as she said that.
Valerie pretended not to hear anything and continued to cook.
She poured the batter carefully onto the heated pan, watching it sizzle as if nothing else existed in the world.
The smell of pancakes slowly filled the kitchen, warm and comforting. Too comforting for a place this cruel.
Her hands moved automatically. Flip. Stack. Move aside. Repeat.
She had long learned how to separate her body from her mind.
Pain, humiliation, hunger. Those were things her body endured.
Her mind stayed somewhere far away, locked behind layers of silence no one could touch.
But today, no matter how hard she tried, fragments of last night's conversation still crept in.
My mate.
She whispered in her mind.
The word felt foreign, heavy, and poisoned.
It could have been anyone else, but why did it have to be him?
She wondered if this was how the moon goddess intended fate to work.
Binding victims to their executioners and calling it balance.
"Don't burn them," another worker snapped.
Valerie realized that she had zoned out for a second and the pancake in the pan was no longer perfect.
She nodded without lifting her head and concentrated on making pancakes.
She served the finished pancakes onto large wooden trays, arranging them neatly.
She then took the large bowl of sausages and bacon prepared beside her and began to cook those too.
She had become so good at cooking that if anyone else cooked, the alpha and other leaders would complain.
So, even though the kitchen had many workers, only she would cook.
Once everything was ready, Valerie served them in large wooden trays before carrying them toward the serving table.
Her arms trembled slightly from exhaustion, but she steadied herself and walked forward.
Dropping food would earn her more than a slap.
Just as she placed the last tray down, the kitchen fell into sudden silence.
The air also shifted and became heavy.
Valerie felt it before she heard it. A pressure rolling through the room, thick and suffocating, pressing down on her spine.
Alpha presence.
For Valerie, this was nothing as the pressure disappeared as soon as it came.
She was never affected by something as trivial as alpha presence.
Her fingers curled instinctively, nails digging into her palms.
She did not look up. She didn't need to, nor did she dare to.
Heavy footsteps echoed against the stone floor as someone entered the kitchen. The workers immediately straightened, heads lowered, bodies tense.
"Innocent."
Mike's voice cut through the room as if to announce his calm, authoritative, and cold presence.
"Yes, Alpha Mike." Innocent stepped forward quickly, from the direction of the dining area. Her voice sweet and obedient. A complete opposite of her true self.
"Breakfast is almost ready." She added as if she was the one who had cooked it.
Valerie's heart thudded painfully against her ribs.
She focused on breathing. In. Out.
After all that discomfort last night, she could feel him now.
His presence crawled over her skin, settling uncomfortably deep in her chest.
It felt wrong. Invasive. Like a hand where it didn't belong.
She hated it.
She hated the fact that this man was her fated mate.
She felt dirty just thinking about it, yet she could not stop her body from reacting to his presence.
She felt lucky that her wolf was not awake and she was more human than wolf now.
Mike's gaze swept across the kitchen lazily, uninterested, until it stopped.
Valerie felt it land on her.
It was slow, assessing, and possessive.
Valerie felt like she was goods in the market on display for those interested to buy.
But she kept her head lowered, shoulders slightly hunched, the perfect image of submission.
It was a posture she despised, but one she had mastered to survive.
"She looks thinner," Mike said casually.
This remark proved that all Mike ever cared about was tormenting her. He never noticed her at all.
Otherwise, he wouldn't say that she was thinner when she was the same size she had been for years.
Due to malnutrition, she was way smaller than other girls her age.
She resembled a fifteen-year-old when she was already turning eighteen in a few days.
While other shewolfs had curves and big chests, she was almost flat on every side.
Yet, only now did Mike seem to notice her thinness.
The irony of having such a mate.
Innocent stiffened when she heard Mike's remark. After all, she was one of the people who led the crusade against giving her food even though she worked like a horse.