I Am the Alpha and the Omega

An Awful Day for an Anniversary

'My cake!' screamed Kiona in her head. 'He stole my cake! Is there nothing this man won't take from me?'

The cake disappeared from view as Will carried it away, and the generally flustered mood returned in the kitchen, while the Omegas carried out their work under the watchful eye of their Alpha.

Kiona recollected she was replenishing the food before this whole cake situation ruined the start to her day. While the Alpha had turned away to talk to Mia, Kiona stepped out of the kitchen and set about her work. She was carefully refilling the bacon and the sausages when she saw noticed a shadow looming over her. She looked up and saw the four warriors from before.

"Hurry up girl! What are you staring at?' growled Antoine, glaring at her.

Kiona whimpered in response. She quickly tipped out the food and stepped back out of their way keeping her face down. Antoine made his plate and moved on in his usual grouchy manner. Lee, Miles and Kayden followed. The three of them looked down at her; they could see she was trembling.

"Don't worry about him, he just gets very grumpy when he's hungry," explained Lee, smiling at her kindly.

Kiona kept her eyes fixed on a very interesting speck of dust on the floor. She waited for the three of them to finish and once they sat down, she went to refill the pancakes and fruit cups, being careful not to drop anything. Her heart sank as she looked up and saw some of the school children making their way over. She stepped away and was about to run to the kitchen when one of them called her and she turned around.

"Hey, you!" one of the boys shouted at her. "Come here!"

Kiona took a step forward timidly towards the boy, the serving station was all that separated them.

"Why are you an orphan? Didn't your mummy and daddy love you" he shouted at her and the other children laughed.

"No, of course not, look at her. She smells like trash!" the girl beside him taunted.

"Yeah! They must have thrown her away!" all the children laughed.

Kiona trembled, tears filling her eyes. She ran away into the kitchen leaving the children in the dining hall howling with laughter. She slid into the one of the storerooms which was by the kitchen door praying nobody saw her. Kiona leaned against the wall and slide down to the floor, letting the tears flow. Each of those taunts cut her like a dagger to her heart. She knew none of it was true, but it reminded her all over again how alone she was. She had lost almost everyone who was dear to her. Kiona was sure now her time with Cora was going to be much less too and that made her very sad. She wiped away her tears and took a few deep breaths, readying herself to go out.

"Kio? Kiiiioooo?" came a call.

Kio grabbed a jar of syrup; she needed a reason to be in here. Opening the door with a smile, she was greeted by Mia.

"Ah there you are Kio," smiled Mia kindly. "We need to start getting those plates in, could you collect them?"

Kiona nodded and wheeled out a trolley with large tubs to collect the dirty plates. This was the most awkward part of her job. She hated walking through the dining hall and feeling people glaring at her. She would usually try to wait for people to leave the tables and collect them after. As she started to stack some plates, she felt like someone was watching her. Picking up the stack of plates and glancing around she noticed that Kayden and Miles were looking at her. What she didn't notice was one of the children who had bullied her earlier had stuck his leg and he tripped her.

There was a resounding crash and the smashing and plate projectiles everywhere. Kiona cried out as she had landed face first onto the hardwood floor. As she slowly composed herself and looked around at the damage, she was met with peals of laughter all around her. It took her a few seconds to realise what had happened. She slowly got to her feet and began collecting the large broken pieces first; she would the sweep the smaller ones after. Her face stung from the small, bloody cuts all over her face where shards of a plate had scraped her and as tears ran down her face it stung and hurt her even more.

She collected the remaining dirty plates and cutlery and returned them to the washing area first. When she returned with a broom and dustpan to clean up the broken plates, some of the pack members began to file out of the hall. Although this was the first time she had broken something, Kiona sensed this was only the beginning. Carefully, she placed the broken pieces into a tub and began to sweep the smaller fragments up when she sensed a familiar presence in front of her. She stopped sweeping and kept her head bowed.

"Look at me," the Alpha commanded. Kiona stood still, frozen to the spot. "I am not going to repeat myself."

Kiona slowly looked up at the Alpha, his expression, hard. Kiona just wanted the ground to swallow her up and take her away from this place

"The cost of this damage will be deducted from your pay," he stated coldly. He turned on his heels and marched away.

Kiona shook her head and continued sweeping up the mess and before long she was done. There were a few last-minute stragglers who came to grab some breakfast after whom, they were done for the morning. Cora and Mia, shocked upon seeing her face, sat Kiona onto the kitchen worktop and started to clean it. The dried blood was a little stubborn to remove which caused Kiona to whimper.

"Are you ok little dove?" Cora asked softly.

Kiona nodded.

"Don't worry about the plates Kio, they are easily replaceable. That beautiful face is not," cooed Mia.

"The Alpha said he would cut my pay for the broken plates," Kiona sniffed.

"He what?" Mia replied, getting angry. "How dare he, we break plates all the time here."

Kiona shrugged.

"Is there any breakfast left?"

"All I managed to save you was a sausage and a fruit cup."

"Thank you, Mia," Kiona replied holding her arms out for a hug. Mia hugged her and went to get her breakfast.

"Little dove," called Cora, "while the Alpha was here, I asked him about my living arrangements with Caleb. He told me that Caleb has already spoken to him. We will move to a bigger room for families within the pack house and will have our own place in a month or two."

"That's great," Kiona replied as she nibbled on her sausage.

"I asked if you could live with us. I'm so sorry my love but both Caleb and the Alpha said no," Cora added sadly.

Kiona nodded, realising her one-month anniversary really wasn't a good day. She finished her fruit cup and then set off to do her cleaning. Today, she was cleaning the living room, the games rooms and all the bedrooms and bathrooms on the ground floor. These mainly belonged to the unmated warriors and unmated wolves that opted to stay in the pack house. She was by the supplies room, filling her bucket with everything she needed when suddenly someone pushed her from behind and locked the door behind her.

"Ouch!" she cried as she slammed into the shelving. " She turned around and turned the door handle, but it was stuck.

"Help! Help! Somebody can you help me!" she shouted banging on the door with her little fists. "HELP! HEEEEELP MEEEEE!"

There was no sign of anyone coming. Kiona was stuck alone, in the dark in a tiny, dingy room.

"This sucks!" she sighed to herself.

Periodically, when she thought she could hear someone walking past, Kiona would start banging frantically on the door and yell as loudly as she could. Werewolves have excellent hearing, so Kiona knew deep down, she was being ignored. Eventually, after a couple of hours of yelling, she gave up and slumped down onto the floor in defeat. It was around late morning now and unless she was let out soon, she was going to fall very behind on her work. She thought about her morning and everything that had happened. She woke up extra early this morning in such a happy mood, but everything went downhill from there. The only thing that made her slightly happy for a few fleeting seconds, was the cake Cora made for her. Her stomach rumbled in response; she was perpetually hungry.

Her mind wandered to Kayden, she closed her eyes and thought of his greyish-blue eyes his dark brown hair, his uniform and his silent, strong energy that somehow made her feel safe. She focused on his face, the emotionless expression it held, the same look that he had that night she was in the tree. She sensed he could see her. 'If that was true, why didn't he report me?' Kiona thought. 'He could sense me like Miles did; Miles was aimless. Kayden looked only in one place.'

The supply room door was suddenly unlocked, and it came flying open; Kiona opened her eyes and there stood the man himself. Kiona rose to her feet, grabbed her cleaning items and stepped out quickly, looking up at him.

"Th-Thank you sir. How- How did you know I was here?" she said bowing.

"Thank Lee. He overheard some stupid guards boasting how they pushed an omega into a cupboard and locked her in."

"Oh," Kiona replied, slightly disappointed.

"What's wrong? Do you want to go back in and hide?" Kayden smirked.

"No!" Kiona exclaimed and scampered off to the living room to clean.

The rest of her day was spent cleaning in relative peace and quiet. When she returned to kitchen just before the evening shift started, Kiona put her apron on and started on the by preparing the meatballs. She had watched Mia prepare them many times now and thought she could get a head start.

Mia spent her afternoons feeding the children in the children's' centre; today she came back with paint on her dress which meant she had an excellent time.

"Kio my love you’re already here!" Mia rushed to her pulled her apron on. "My look at these meatballs, I can't wait to taste them.

While Mia seared the meatballs, Kiona made them. Cora came later and boiled the potatoes and spaghetti, while Will prepared the salad and roasted vegetables. For dessert there was apple crumble and custard.

"Oh, Moon Goddess! Kio I almost forgot to tell you! The Alpha has asked that you serve him dinner today!" exclaimed Cora in a sudden panic.

"Wh-Why? Did he say?"

"No little dove, I have better sense to know not to question the Alpha! He said asked for you to come for 7pm so once those meatballs are finished, I'll pack the food you need to take, and you must go!"

"Is something wrong Cora?" Kiona asked. "Was he upset when he asked you?"

"No, no Kio. I-I just remembered what happened the last time you disobeyed him."

There was a silence and the two of them returned to their work. As soon as she was finished, Kiona was shooed out of the kitchen and with the hot food parcel in hand, she carefully walked to the Alpha's wing in the pack house.

As she came to the double doors that led to his wing, she knocked on the doors and waited patiently. A few moments later she heard the words 'Enter' which commanded her legs to go inside. The rooms were as she remembered them that fateful night she woke up, although they were not so unfamiliar now.

She walked past the atrium and into the living area and saw a table set for dinner. The strawberries and cream cake also sat there, untouched apart from the dollop of cream that the Alpha swiped earlier.

She began to lay out the food items and kept them sealed so they stayed warm. Then she stood by the table and waited.