31

31
9:25 am,

The pack’s woodshed…
Luna Katelyn was seated with her legs spread apart on the provided tree stump, huffing and puffing. Her shoulders were slumped, and her elbows were resting on her thighs.
The maul was upturned, and its wooden handle leaned against her left thigh. Her previously loose grey outfit now clung to her body due to perspiration. 

Not far from her was her temporary mistress, Xoey, clad in a pink floral, knee-length dress and perched on a collapsible chair. The latter had her left leg draped over the other. “Hurry up, Luna. There are still more logs to go,” she called out. 

Xoey had earlier instructed that she take out ten logs from each of the three huge mounds of logs. That meant Katelyn had to split twenty oak logs and ten beech logs as well. She was to start with the former.  She had only split one thick oak log into the desirable bits and size, but she was already this tired. The Luna had never done such menial work in all her life.

She hailed from a noble family in an ally pack, 'Veiled Crimson Hound'. She never needed to even wash the dishes or do her own laundry. Not when she had servants to do that for her in the household. The most important thing to her was to look sexy, enviable and bag an alpha partner, which she had succeeded in doing years ago. 

"The ten-minute break is over. Get back to work, Luna," Xoey demanded, her hand reaching into the transparent plastic jar containing fragrant strawberry cookies. 
The latter stopped inclining her head and immediately cast a peeved gaze at Bellatrix's maid. 
"What's with that look? Are you planning to defy me?" The latter asked, looking unworried, though.

"Can you stop calling me by my title?" Katelyn snapped.
Yeah, she hated it; it only reminded her more of her awful state. A true Luna wasn't supposed to be caught doing this sort of work; it was way beneath her status.
If it weren't for her desire to return to glory as soon as possible, she wouldn't be doing this— letting a mere maid and a lowlife Omega decide her fate. 
She fucking loathed it!

"I'm your mistress," Xoey reminded, "...for now. I get to decide what I call you, not the other way round."
"Regardless, I still need to rest," Katelyn argued. 

And that was true. Sorting and lifting all those logs from earlier to form a fourth, but smaller stack had sapped a lot of her strength before she even attempted to split the first log. 

Seeing the pile of the remaining 29 mixed logs waiting for her to dish out justice, she felt her frustration only heighten. She wanted to stand, yank her hair, maybe yell or howl aggressively, whether that was becoming of a Luna or not.

"Where is the Alpha?" she couldn't help but ask. 
If he could see her right now, maybe... Just maybe, his heart could soften towards her. He could probably have Xoey assign her to a task much easier and better than the current one.

"I know what you're thinking," Xoey responded. 
"You do?" Katelyn asked, a disdainful lilt in her tone. 
The latter nodded. "Though I'm no mind reader, your thoughts are at least displayed on your face." 

Xoey rose to her feet and left the jar on the chair. Then she slowly made her way over to the peeved and frustrated silver-haired female. 
The Luna looked at Xoey with a suspicious expression. 'Why is she coming over?' she thought. 
"You know, you excel at making one amused. You really should consider changing your role and becoming the pack's comic."

Upon hearing those words, Katelyn felt a surge of rage coursing violently through her system at breakneck speed. 'That's it!' she thought, fuming.
She got to her feet and her eyes changed colour. "Xoey, you're dead meat," she growled. 
The latter, though, looked amused. "You're hilarious. You detest your freedom that much?"

"Don't threaten me with that. I'll kill you and your mistress, and the Alpha will have no choice but to choose only me," Katelyn barked, her canines lengthening into fangs. 
"Delusional," Xoey shook her head. 

Pity— one of the things Katelyn detested receiving from others. 
How dare a wretched Omega maid give her such a look when she was nothing but trash? Just like Bellatrix! 
"Tell me where the Alpha is right now, and I'll leave you with an intact corpse," Katelyn warned.

Xoey lifted a brow, arms folded, "What if I don't want to? You'll rip me into a thousand shreds? I do feel more sorry for you, though. After killing me, you'll still have to do the strenuous work of figuring out how to divide my body into a thousand even parts. I bet that's even worse than just having to split a few logs daily." The maid shook her head with a sigh, further infuriating the Luna. 

"You must be tired of living," The Luna raged. 
"Truly pitiful. I wonder how you were able to charm the Alpha into marrying you in the first place. You're just a beauty with an ostrich's brain. No, scratch that, you're not even pretty now. You're at most... not too ugly," 

"XOEY!"
"Yes, Luna Katelyn?" the Omega blinked her eyes dramatically. 
Katelyn remained on her spot, wearing a murderous expression, her hands fisted by her sides, her chest heaving up and down from her barely bottled-up rage.

Xoey unfolded her hands. "What are you waiting for? Come on, Luna. Charge at me," she beckoned, her look both impish and provoking.
But Katelyn didn't leave her spot. Enraged as she was... she didn't want to lose her freedom yet. At least this environment was a million times better than the cell. "Consider yourself lucky," she said with a scoff, her fangs receding.

"It's not all about luck, but you wouldn't understand. If only your brain were a little more than a decoration,"
"Xoey, stop insulting me. Don't think that, because you have Alpha Killian's backing, you can treat me worse than a dog. I am still the Luna of this great pack!”
"Yeah, I know. And I've never denied that. You're a Luna who's fallen out of favour."

"Go back to your seat or, better still, go back to your ugly mistress."
"No, Luna, I can't go to her. I prefer to watch you suffer. You better get back to work, and the next time you challenge me again, I'll have my mistress tell her mate to send you back where you belong— the prison." Xoey pivoted and elegantly made her way towards the chair.

She picked up the cookie jar and shook it at Katelyn, "Want some?"
"Never!" Katelyn spat.
"That's good to hear. My heart was hurting when I thought of sharing with you. Thank you so much for declining. Now, pick that axe and finish your task."
“…” Katelyn decided not to reply. For the sake of retaining whatever sanity she had left. 

Just as she was struggling to further split her third oak log, Xoey unexpectedly spoke.
"I recall you asking to know the King’s whereabouts. Don't you recall what he told my mistress that day at the training grounds? He's going to train her personally. And I bet he's doing that now."

The Luna paused what she was doing and straightened her upper body before turning to glare at the Omega.
The afternoon sun was by no means merciful.
Here she was trying not to collapse from the unfair simmering heat while Xoey was under the shade provided by the woodshed, looking rather carefree.
This distinction was enough to make one's blood boil.

"How do you know he won't change his mind? Plus, your mistress's ugliness could repulse him on the very first day. I bet she's at home right now, bawling her eyes out from the Alpha's harsh words,"
"Are you calling His Majesty a bully?" Xoey asked, twisting open the cap of a bottle of water.

As she guzzled the bottle's contents, some of the water sneakily slid down her chin, down her throat, slightly soaking the neckline of her dress.
She exhaled in relief, staring at the half-finished bottle, then directed her gaze at the unhappy Luna. "It's so refreshing, Luna. Want some?"



Alpha's office…
Bellatrix was enervated. 

After so much effort in getting down the books that Alpha Killian had requested, it was time to put them back, that too, without any form of assistance. 
He had told her all this stress was just a warm-up. Then, what about the 'training'? 
She finally understood the meaning of the Gamma's last words to her.
If she could survive one day of the Alpha's training, she and Xoey ought to celebrate and get drunk, if possible. 

After what felt like an eternity, she finally restored the books to their proper location. Then, she propped her right elbow against the side shelf, gasping for air as she rested her forehead on her wrist.
If she hadn't been before the Alpha, she would have lain sprawled on the floor; it seemed quite inviting at that very moment.
"Get me water from the fridge," her mate suddenly said, his gaze focused on a particular page in the hefty cyan book.
"Y-yes, Sir," she mumbled, forcing her exhausted body to move forward. It was quite a tough task, but she managed to get there.

Sighing, she opened the upper door of the fridge and found an array of canned drinks which caught her eye. But she couldn't find any water. Though she thirsted for one of these drinks, she willed herself to shut the door.
Then she opened the second and found plastic bottles of water.
After all the stress she'd gone through, these bottles were really glowing in her eyes like little angels. She gulped as she reached her hand to pick one of them.