I Am the Alpha and the Omega

The Life of an Omega....

Kiona and Cora's friendship was instantaneous. Cora was of a similar age to Ariadne and had a similarly sweet and gentle temperament. She had inadvertently adopted Kiona as her little sister and showed her the ropes around the pack during her first week there. After teaching her the duties expected of her in the kitchen and the cleaning in the pack house, Kiona had her own schedule to keep. She continued to sleep in the cell at night, she got ready with Cora in her room in the Omega's quarters every morning and they set off to work together at 5am every morning. Kiona decided until she was strong enough to escape she would do her best to train and strengthen herself and avoid attracting the Alpha's attention. She would have to play the part, and stay under the radar for as long as she could.

Kiona noticed the Omegas in this pack worked very hard and were paid very little. Her salary was held by the Alpha and she wouldn't be allowed to a single penny of it until she proved deserved it. Omegas in the pack were also not treated very well. They were treated like sub-standard citizens and were subjected to routine abuse; the abuse was verbal and sometimes it got physical. What didn't help was they were undernourished. There was a fixed budget and amount of food that was purchased; this was agreed by the pack committee. The pack would eat at meal times and whatever was left had to be shared between the Omegas. The lion's share of the leftovers would eaten by the males who, for those working in the fields really needed it, so there was never quite enough to go around.

"Good morning Kio," called Mia brightly, one of the omegas in the kitchen who was whipping up pancake batter.

"Good morning Mia," called Kiona giving her a hug from behind.

Every morning, during the breakfast service, Kiona would have two duties. She would act as a runner between the kitchen and the dining hall refilling the food, and she would also help Mia by collecting the dirty plates and cutlery so they could be washed and ready for the next round. In the mornings, breakfast service would be between 6am and 8am. Cora was busy coordinating the team, organising the breakfast and lunch takeaway boxes for the pack which was a mammoth task in itself.

Following breakfast, until Kiona was allowed to go to school, she would help with the dinner preparation and cleaning the pack house; she usually got the mopping and dusting duties which nobody liked. She would get a lot of funny looks as nobody knew her and she didn't quite smell like a pack member. This would sometimes get her into trouble. After cleaning and the dinner service, she would go to Cora's room where she would practise reading and study. Her schoolwork with materials that Cora was able to borrow, came from a teaching assistant she knew, who worked at the pack school. On the weekends, there would be no cleaning, so she could catch up with her schoolwork or she would practise her physical training by running or exercising. Although she loved Cora, Kiona longed for the company of children her age, but they would ignore her. She was not allowed to visit the library and so was reliant on others getting books for her. It was quite a hard life and a somewhat lonely existence. Every night without fail, she would retire to her cell and try to meditate; failing that she would soon fall asleep. Her sleep was sometimes broken by nightmares, either about her beating or the day she lost her pack. This schedule became routine within four weeks of her punishment and she had not seen or heard from the Alpha since. It had taken her roughly this long to heal from the devastating injuries he had inflicted although the scars would forever remain; she didn't want a repeat performance.

One morning, she was up early and crept into the Omega's quarters to get ready like she always does and as she entered Cora's room she saw there was a man in bed with her! Embarrassed, Kiona quickly grabbed her things and ran into the showers to get ready.

"Kio?" Cora called sleepily as she heard the door close, but she was gone.

Cora caught up with her in the showers, where she was getting dressed.

"Are you ok little dove?" Cora called out to her.

"Yes Cora I'm ok, I'm sorry if i woke you up, I didn't want to intrude," Kiona replied, blushing.

"No it's my fault Kio, I should have told you. Caleb is my mate. He was away on pack business and I never got around to introduce you."

"Look forward to meeting him," said Kiona, nodding understandingly. "Does this mean you'll be moving out of the pack house?"

Cora's face fell at hearing this and she nodded sadly.

"Can I come and live with you?" Kiona asked excitedly.

"I'd love that Kio, I really would. I'd have to ask Caleb, but more importantly I'd have to ask the Alpha."

It was Kiona's face that fell this time upon hearing Cora's reply. She nodded but knew in her heart that the Alpha would never allow that.

"Of course Cora, I understand. I better go, I'll see you in the kitchen," Kiona said and ran off.

This was a slight blow to Kiona's heart because she had finally made a close friend and although Cora would be there, it's quite likely she would be completely outside these walls now apart from when she was working. As she skipped downstairs and along the corridor to the kitchens she wasn't quite watching where she was going and bumped into some warriors who were on their way back from patrol.

"Watch it Omega!" one of them growled at her.

Kiona jumped back in fright and turned quite pale because she recognised him, he was the one who held her down while the Alpha beat her to shreds. She jumped back further as she recognised the other three faces as those men she saw on the night of her attempted escape.

"I-I'm sorry," she stuttered and tried to walk past them keeping her head down, until one of them grabbed her.

"She's just a little girl Antoine," the man she remembered as Lee commented.

"Whatever she is, she's trouble. Come on let's shower and return for breakfast I'm starving came the gruff reply."

"Why do you smell so different but so familiar to me?" Miles said, crouching down to her height and getting a good look at her.

"Maybe she's your mate!" Lee joked, laughing loudly. 'Is he ever serious?' Kiona thought to herself.

"Don't be ridiculous Lee."

"Are we going or what?" the gruff voice questioned again.

Lee let her go and stepped back, walking away with Antoine leaving Kiona with Miles and Kayden just looking at her. Kiona felt although Kayden was silent, that he could see right through her.

"'Your scent," Miles questioned thoughtfully.

Kiona began to shuffle past them slowly and edged her way towards the kitchens.

"That's it! That night! You were in the woods! Or the trees! The Alpha was..." Miles said slowly looking at her. "Hunting YOU."

As Miles said the last two words his blue eyes turned dark. Kayden quickly held onto Miles and nodded to Kiona who ran into the kitchen. As she reached the safety of her workplace; she was relieved to see it was empty. Kiona sat down on the floor in a quiet corner and tried to calm herself down before she went into a full meltdown. She was hyperventilating, and nearly having a panic attack after reliving two really stressful situations. As she took deep breaths and chanted a little mantra in her mind, she eventually calmed down.'It's not even 5am and today is already a bad day,' she thought to herself.

Kiona was the first one in the kitchen that morning and she made a start on the pancake batter, she cut the fruit and brewed the coffee. By the time she was done and was setting up the serving station, everyone else was arriving. 'They are all a little late today,' Kiona thought.

"Kio my love, what is all this?' Mia asked as she looked around the kitchen.

"I got in early today so thought I would make a head start. You have all been so nice to me, a complete stranger. It is the least I could do." she replied smiling.

All the Omegas gathered together giving her a tight hug and Kiona felt like she had something that began to resemble a family.

"Well it turns out we have a surprise for you too! Cora was up last night making this for you!" exclaimed Mia bringing out a plate with a strawberry and cream cake on it.

Kiona's heart swelled at seeing this.

"Aw Cora, you're the best! What is this for?"

"It is exactly one month today that you came into our lives! Happy one month anniversary little dove," Cora explained, kissing her on the head. "Besides it was truly a group effort! Mia helped me make the cake, Will picked the strawberries, Alice whipped the cream, and the others helped keep you distracted while we planned this whole surprise. We can enjoy it a bit later once we are all free."

Everyone laughed and agreed to this heartily; soon the breakfast service preparation was underway. Before long, the serving station was laid out and warriors who were usually the first arrive came storming in. As the first wave, of warriors mainly, came in and sat down to eat, Kiona walked out to see what items needed to be replenished. She took a mental note going through the items.

"Sausages, bacon, pancakes, not eggs, not bread, ok and grilled tomatoes. Fruit cups" she muttered to herself, not realising someone was watching her.

Making a list, she rushed back to the kitchen to collect the relevant items and put them into the serving window overlooking the adjoining dining hall. As she walked round to exit the kitchen she crashed into something and fell backwards.

"Alpha!" came an exclamation.

"Sorry Alpha," Cora said, helping Kiona to her feet and bowing; Kiona silently did the same. They two of them stepped back and Cora held Kiona in front of her, hands on her shoulder.

"To what do we owe this honour Alpha," Mia asked politely.

The Alpha smirked as he looked around the kitchen at all the people stopping their work for him. His eyes fell on the strawberry cream cake which piqued his interest.

"How is our new addition settling in?" the Alpha asked walking further into the kitchen towards Kiona, his eyes burning into hers.

"She is doing very well Alpha, she's a fast learner and works hard. She is a valuable member of the team," Mia replied, proudly.

The Alpha took a step closer to Kiona and his hand rested on the bench near the cake. Her heart was racing as he watched her but she kept gaze averted to the floor.

"It pleases me to hear that Mia. What is this cake doing here?"

"Oh, the cake is for an anniversary Alpha. It marks one month since our new addition joined us."

The Alpha dipped his finger into the cream and licked it and hummed in approval.

"Have the cake brought up to my suite Mia."

"B-But Alpha."

"I will not repeat myself."

"Yes Alpha."

Mia reluctantly packed the cake up and placed it into a tray to one side, asking Will to deliver it to the Alpha's wing. Will hesitantly took the tray, and spirited the cake away from the kitchen. The Alpha still kept his eyes on Kiona; Cora held Kiona close to her and gently rubbed her back as if sensing her tense up.

"Are we ok to resume our duties Alpha, there will be a lot of hungry mouths in protest if we don't get the breakfast out," requested Mia.

"Yes," replied the Alpha. "Continue your work as if I am not here."