The Rejected Human mate

Paranoia

Eloise’s POV

I wasn’t safe here any longer. I knew it deep down within me.

The mansion carried with it a terrifying silence. Not in the way that most grand houses were, where silence meant nothing but luxury and wealth.

No, this was different.

I moved through the corridors with my head down, daring not to let my eyes meet anyone. My hands gripped the edges of my apron tightly.

Every step I took felt as if I was being swallowed by the whole house, its walls carrying whispers I couldn’t hear but could feel sinking into my bones.

This whole thing had started last night Axel warned me, but it has grown worse with time. The other maids looked at me with an unease.

All the guards looked at me uncomfortably whenever I passed, their eyes assessing me in every single way. Even the head steward kept track of where I was during the day.

They were all waiting for something to happen, especially as they knew I was nothing more than a human slave.

But for what?

I didn’t know that.

And then I heard voices whispering silently in the shadows as I made my way through the grand hallway.

“I don’t understand why he won’t just do it at once”, a voice hissed.

I hid, leaning towards the wall to peep through the voices that I heard.

It was Kenna. The one who Axel was mated to.

Or rather about to be mated to.

“What was she up to by this time of the night?”

“I thought Alphas were supposed to mark their mates without question,” another voice said. It was likely one of her friends.

Kenna let out a sharp sigh. “Exactly! And yet, for some stupid reason, he keeps postponing it. Do you know how humiliating that is?”

“I’m supposed to be the future Luna of this house, in charge of everything. And yet, he won’t even claim me the right way he was supposed to.

She voiced out in anger.

“You know Axel is not an easy person to deal with, maybe he is just being too careful.” Her friend said, replying carefully.

“No.” Kenna objected.

“I feel as if something or someone is holding him back. But it won’t matter soon anyway. I have a plan up my sleeves.”

“By the next full moon, he’ll have no other choice but to mark me as his own.” She said, a sly sinister smirk curling her lips.

A slow chill crept into my chest upon hearing all this. I had no idea what she meant, but nothing about Kenna showed that she was a kind of patient person.

She was cold, and heartless in a way that made even the servants terrified of her, this thing she was plotting wasn’t good in any way.

A small, sharp voice immediately drifted me away from my thoughts.

“Mama?”

It was Lily’s voice as she ran towards the study where Axel was.

No…..No….no…no

My blood ran cold as I chased after her to stop her from getting close to him. She cannot afford to meet him.

Lily was already standing at the entrance of Axel’s study room, looking at the man who she could never find out the truth about.

I couldn’t breathe. My feet refused to move any longer, terror crawling into my body, holding me stuck to the ground.

Axel was already seated at his desk, the firelight casting a warm glow across his face. His expression at seeing Lily wasn't as cold as I thought it would be.

It was something else—something dangerous that could not be read and he studied Lily closely, who was also staring back at him with curious eyes.

“Who are you little girl and what do you want?” Axel’s voice rang through, his tone low and even.

Lily moved her head a bit, looking unmoved by his intimidating gaze at her.

“I was looking for my Mama,” Lily replied to him.

A hint of something immediately changed on Axel’s face.

Would I call it Amusement?

Or something deeper?

But I had to stop this immediately before he noticed something and this got out of hand.

“You should not be here, go look for you Mama somewhere else.” He said with a little softness. It was foreign to see.

Lily immediately walked away but was stopped too quickly by him as his dark eyes sharpened with a hint of something.

He was trying to recognize her.

“Wait, who is your Mama by the way?”

I couldn’t let my truth be exposed, Axel can never know.

I moved into the room immediately, forcing myself before he could get any answers out of her mouth.

“I’m so sorry sir, I said quickly, scoping Lily into my arms.”

“She’s one of the maid's kids who got lost, please pardon her manners, sir.”

Lily frowned, immediately cutting me short of my words.

“I wasn’t lost, Ma—.”

“Enough,” I yelled cutting her short, I couldn’t let her finish those words.

“It won’t happen again, sir,” I spoke, facing my head to the floor as I couldn’t look into his eyes, one look at me and Axel might get the truth out of me.

I could not afford to let him know, ever.

Axel studied me for a long moment before he exhaled. “See that it doesn’t.”

Just like that, he dismissed us, his attention already drifted back to his books. Lily struggled in my arms, but I held her tight as I carried her out of the study room.

My pulse, still pounding in my ears. If he ever knew the truth…..

I didn’t even ever want to think about what would happen if it ever took place.

***

The dinner party being held at the grand Oxthorn mansion was worse than I had imagined it to be.

The grand ballroom was already choked with people who were dressed in expensive clothes and jewelry, their laughter echoing through the whole room.

My nose was filled with the scent of roasted meat and expensive champagne clashed with the bitter sting of anxiety that kept crawling into my skin.

I kept my head down, moving carefully between the rich and wealthy as I served them, ignoring the murmurs and gossip about my presence as a human maid.

That was when I heard Kenna’s voice ring out through the crowd.

“It seems that one of the maids has stolen something that does not belong to her.” She said, a sick sweet smirk curling her lips.

“Come now, Eloise.” Kenna voiced out, her eyes immediately getting locked onto mine.

“Surely I hope it’s not you that must have bitten the hand that fed you by stealing from me?”

My blood ran cold.

She has just accused me of the one thing that I knew I had never done my whole life.

She brought out a bracelet, holding it up for the entire room to see— I had never really seen it in my entire life.

It was a silver one, delicately made and very expensive, something I could never afford no matter how much I saved up.

Murmurs immediately filled through the grand ballroom.

I had been set up. Nothing more than a target of a devious trap.