Shining Through Shadows

The First Breakfast

Lydia

Suni wouldn’t leave me alone and kept me up for longer than I had originally planned. It was way past bedtime when I finally succumbed and fell asleep.

For the past hour, I’ve been watching over the cook’s shoulder, watching closely how he prepared the breakfast for the Alpha. It looked healthy, and it was not at all what I had expected.

Two boiled eggs were placed in a little nest made from a piece of cloth. They were supposed to be smiling once opened, and I was a little curious to see that.

“Don’t boil ‘em too long, or else they’ll be dry! The Alpha hates that.” The cook had told me once he placed them into ice-cold water and I wrote it down for future purposes.

Note: The Alpha HATES dry eggs.

The cook placed a small bowl with blackberries, nuts and apple slices onto the tray. Everything looked fresh. The largest bowl was filled with porridge made with oats. The Alpha's breakfast was more healthy than I had expected it to be. Shouldn't he be eating a lot of meat? He was a wolf after all.

I noticed the cook was looking at me with a strange expression, so I cleared my throat and pulled back to create some distance.

“You better get going before he rips your head off…” He said, showing off his yellowed teeth in a crooked smile.

“Oh, sure. Thank you.” I replied immediately and stepped forward to grab the tray.

“And missy?” He called after me as I was about to leave the kitchen with the heavy tray in my trembling hands. “Don’t forget to ask him about his preferences for dinner. Lamb or venison!”

I nodded my head and went down the hall. It felt like my heart tried to set me up for failure, because with every step I took, the harder it was beating.

The doors were closed again, and I stood in front of them with my fingers wrapped tightly around the handles of the tray. How was I supposed to knock with his food in my hands?

I glanced around and noticed a small ledge I could use. With acute precision, I balanced the tray on the ledge against my hip and used my right hand to knock on the door twice before pushing it open.

Since the Alpha had a habit of staying away from his office during meal time, I hadn’t expected him to be there. So imagine my surprise when I found him leaning against his desk as if he had been waiting for me for several hours.

For the first time, I was able to look at him properly in the daylight. His hair was dark and tousled in a surprisingly styled manner. His dark eyes were boring into mine as he stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to be in great shape without him being too meaty. In my eyes, he was perfect. Handsome, even with the white scar running from his forehead down to his cheekbone.

His knuckles were blotched and covered in both old and new cuts and bruises. Did I want to know how he had acquired them? Probably not.

Why was I even standing here gawking at him instead of serving him his meal? God, I was a poor excuse for a servant…

“Good morning Alpha. Your breakfast.” I greeted him as I bowed my head and held the tray out in front of me. My grip tightened around the handles as I waited for him to dismiss me, the weight of it making my muscles in my arms burn.

“Good morning.” Was all he said, and I couldn’t help but raise my head and look at him. Was he going to leave me standing like that?

I gave him a tight-lipped smile, my eyes narrowing at him in challenge, but he only smiled in return.

“Please,” he said after a brief pause and pushed himself away from the desk, making room for me to place the tray at the table. Thank god!

“The cook told me to ask for your preferences about dinner tonight.” I sounded surprisingly confident as I spoke, even though I was afraid to have overstepped a boundary.

“Dinner?” He asked in a way that made my stomach twist into knots. My cheeks felt warm, and I had to close my eyes to regain control of my thoughts.

“Lamb or venison?” I turned around to face him with a calm expression on my face even though I felt quite the opposite. His dark eyes darkened even more as he stared at me with a look I couldn’t quite decipher.

“What if I prefer something entirely different?” He inquired as his gaze fell on my parted lips briefly. It felt like the collar of my uniform was suffocating me and I raised my hand and hooked a finger into it to loosen the fabric tightening around my neck.

“Like what?” My voice was breathless as I watched shadows emerging from behind him, the dark ghostly tendrils swallowing the sparse light in his office.

The Alpha took another step closer to me, his dark eyes never leaving mine. An unfamiliar heat surged through my body when he stopped right in front of me.

Just as he was about to speak, his eyes went cloudy, and he froze as if he was in a trance, thankfully shattering the moment between us.

I used the distraction to rush out of his office, leaving the Alpha behind standing like a statue…