I Am the Alpha and the Omega

My Meatballs Bring All the Boys to the Yard

Kiona stood there by the table for what felt like forever. When the Alpha eventually turned up at the table, she stopped slouching and stood up straight and at attention. She didn't dare to make eye contact with him; when he approached her all she could see was his stomach. She suddenly felt even more uncomfortable than she already did if that was possible. The Alpha sat down at the table; he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts which showed off his physique in almost every single way. Like most Alphas he was tall, handsome and muscular. It was a sight wasted on a little girl like Kiona who was innocent and unaware of such things but his general proximity to her made her uncomfortable.

"Well?" the Alpha asked, causing Kiona to snap back to reality and leap into action.

She served him the spaghetti and meatballs, and then some salad, roast potatoes and vegetables on a side plate that was laid out. She then poured him some wine that was on the table.

"What happened to your face?" he asked her absent-mindedly. Kiona was surprised, perhaps he had forgotten the incident this morning.

"I fell over, I was clumsy."

"Typical omega."

Kiona bit back her tongue and was mentally hurling every insult at him that she could think of. Having served him, she stepped back and kept her head bowed. She was just counting down the time until she could leave; she just wanted this to be over.

"These meatballs are good," the Alpha murmured.

"Thank you, Alpha," Kiona replied, keeping her head bowed. Her mental barrage of swearing stopping temporarily to bask in the compliment.

"You mean to say you made them?"

"Yes Alpha, Mia taught me well."

"In that case I will ask her to teach you more, you can come here and cook for me personally."

This time Kiona actually bit her tongue in the horror of the suggestion he made.

"Alpha, I'm honoured, but a clumsy omega like me is not good enough for you," replied Kiona, trying to not sound too sickly sweet.

"You're right, you aren't good enough; but you will be," he smirked, putting a meatball into his mouth.

Kiona wanted to be sick; she clutched her stomach and kept her head down. The Alpha continued to eat in silence and made the occasional dig at her general stupidity while she served him additional helpings. In her nervousness, she dropped a meatball which rolled off his plate onto his lap. She was then given the embarrassing job of retrieving it. When he had finished dinner, he went to change his shorts while she packed away the food and washed the dishes in the kitchen. He sat back at the table with his arms folded across his chest and waited for her to return, which she did a few minutes later.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Alpha."

"Cut me some cake," he commanded.

Kiona took a deep breath and did as she was instructed. She had never cut and served a cake before; her mother had always helped her. She took the knife and bit her lower lip; cutting was the easy bit. Cutting a generous slice out, she balanced the slice precariously on the flat side of the knife and slid it onto a plate. She took a fork and placed it in front of him stepping away again.

The Alpha was amused at how stressed the little girl got serving him the cake; he decided he would torment her some more, to test her obedience. He knocked back the wine in his glass and as Kiona stepped forward to top his glass up, she heard him speak.

"Feed me."

"Pardon me Alpha?" Kiona asked, as she was certain she misheard him.

"Feed me," he replied, holding out the fork and grinning at her.

Kiona hesitantly took the fork and began to feed him; the task seemed simple enough. If they were not mortal enemies the scene even looked quite sweet, as Kiona was almost the same height as the Alpha was when he was seated. As she fed him the last bite, she released a breath that hadn't realised she was holding.

"Another slice," came the command.

Feeling a little braver as she knew what to do now, she cut another generous slice and again began to feed him. This continued until the Alpha had consumed four slices in total and there was one slice left. Kiona waited for his instructions.

"I am full. Please throw the rest of the dinner and the cake away," the Alpha commanded coldly.

"Alpha, the food is untouched, someone else could eat it," Kiona replied quickly, without thinking about the consequences.

"Throw it all away," he ordered again.

"But Alpha -"

"What have I told you about disobeying me and making me repeat myself? Do you want to be punished again?"

"N-No Alpha," Kiona stammered.

With a heavy heart Kiona cleared the table and walked to the kitchen with all the leftovers. The Alpha watched her throw it all away and walked away pleased with himself. Kiona wanted to cry; she was so tired after the horrible day she had, her face hurt, she was starving, and she watched the leftovers she had hoped to eat get thrown away. She was certain there was no food left in the kitchens for her now as it was almost 9pm and she couldn't even mind-link Mia or Cora as she wasn't officially part of the pack. She walked back to the kitchens with the empty containers, washed everything up and cried herself to sleep.

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Kiona's weeks of agony and pain turned into months and before she knew it, she had been at the pack for a whole year. She was still bullied daily by the other children in the pack; she didn't understand whether it was the way she looked, the fact that she was an orphan, an outsider, or just generally different. The only friends she had were the omegas that she worked with but even they had their own mates and/or families to look after. Cora had moved out of the pack house with Caleb and they had their own place a short distance walk from the pack house. Kiona would make a supervised visit with Mia sometimes but didn't always feel welcome; Caleb hadn't particularly warmed to her and she didn't understand why. She felt it best to keep her distance. she didn't want to cause any problems for Cora. She kept trying to meditate and practice her incantations that she remembered, she would have to wait another five years until she found out what type of elementalist she was. Unfortunately, she still hadn't been allowed to visit the pack library unsupervised, or to the school, and so she was heavily reliant on Cora's friend Mr. Liam Matthews who was more than happy to help her learn. His visits were the highlight of her week. Almost every weekend he would meet her in the pack house and take her to the library. There they would spend time on both days, studying. He would go through things she didn't understand, teach her new material and set her homework every week.

"If you keep this up Kiona, you'll be ahead of the other children your age!" Liam would chuckle.

Kiona would blush and smile graciously. Nobody else in the pack ever said anything nice to her, she would constantly hear how stupid and useless she was. It was a little slice of happiness she had in the week. Talking of slices, Kiona had by this time become an accomplished cook. Her rigorous training under Mia, with permission from the Alpha meant she was able to cook most things, but Kiona dreaded the day the Alpha would make good on his desire to have her cook for him. By contrast she would often make or save some dessert and present it to Mr. Matthews during their tutoring sessions which he would happily accept.

"I'm deeply against bribery Kio, but I think some of the world's problems could be solved over a slice of cake," he would joke.

One year turned into two years and before she knew it, she was going to turn 11 years of age. Kiona had grown taller, she was over 5 feet tall, her lilac eyes and her light caramel tan grew richer and deeper in colour and her thick silvery grey hair was down to her waist. Nobody in the pack knew when her birthday was, nobody cared, well except Mr. Matthews who mentioned he had a little something special for her this year. In the previous years he had gifted her books to read, or write and draw in, he had bought stationery and colouring pencils which were her most treasured possession. Cora was kind enough to give her some hand-me-down clothing which was getting more necessary as she was approaching womanhood. Her cell which she still slept in looked less like a cell now and a little more like a room. Although she still slept on the floor, over the years, she had scrounged a couple of boxes that kitchen deliveries would come in and she lined them with bits of newspaper. In these boxes, she stored all of her stationery, books and clothes; these two boxes contained the sum total of her worldly possessions.

The Alpha still tortured Kiona every now and again, depriving her of things she wanted and reminding her who was in control. There were many occasions over these five years, where out of desperation, Kiona did disobey him by trying to escape, defied the Alpha's orders or fight back with some of the children that bullied her. It all became too much for her to bear at times. The Alpha hunted her down every single time and belted her as punishment, sometimes he caned her, and other times she had to go without food and water. It was a miserable existence and the angry scars on her back reflected this.

It was the eve of her 11th birthday and after a long day of hard work, around 9pm Kiona showered in the Omega quarters and changed into her worn out shorts and crop top. She braided her freshly brushed hair, pulled her tattered dressing gown tightly around herself and braced herself for her walk back to her cell. Kiona had to walk down the stairs and walk along the corridor past the huge living room and games room towards the Alpha's study below which the cells were situated. She reached the bottom of the stairs without incident which she was grateful for, she turned towards the corridor past the living room and she began to briskly walk down it. She was relieved she had made this far. Seeing the coast was clear, she began to scarper down the final leg of her journey past the games room, but she was pulled back by someone.

"Woah, woah little Omega where are you off to in such a hurry?" said a familiar voice.

"Let her be, I told you Lee, she is trouble," came a familiar gruff voice.

Kiona looked over at the four warriors standing together playing a game of pool. She was silent as they studied her. She was about to step away when they asked.

"Have you ever played pool?" Miles asked. "Are Omegas allowed to play pool?"

Kiona shook her head, she turned to walk away.

"Would you like to learn?" Miles asked.

Kiona looked at him and then at pool table hesitantly. She longed to say yes.

"Miles! What are you doing? This isn't a game for girls, especially not this one," Antoine growled.

"Don't be like that Antoine, would it kill you to be nice for a change? You're always such a b***h!" Lee groaned.

"No," Kayden interrupted. "He can be nice, but I've noticed he's always mean to this one. Why?"

While all eyes were on Antoine, Kiona saw this as an opportunity to escape before she became a verbal punching bag. She quietly stepped away to a safe distance while they argued, which turned into a run and before they knew it, she was gone.