Whose Baby?

C H A P T E R - O N E

8 MONTHS AGO

CARLA

8 MONTHS AGO

CARLA

The skinny, tall lady in an emerald green flared gown glared at us with a stern expression on her rumpled face, her creases were very evident, probably from years of constant and excessive scowling.

Being under extremely rude people was an unlucky fate I could never run away from.

I always found myself wondering what my crime had been.

I was only a wolf from one of the least ranked bloodline, why did the world always have to be so cruel towards me?

We had just arrived at the Green Forest Pack.

Lacey, the rude stewardess that acted like I was an i***t for agreeing to come was here too, as well as three other rankless wolves from the Red Forest Pack, our pack.

We stood stiff, our heads slightly bowed as we awaited instructions. Maids of Green forest pack were to address us soon.

I took a quick risky glance up at the woman. Her eyes were still fixed on us, faint sense of mockery tainted them. She looked like she was more than ready to give us all a hard time. However, I came prepared.

I made the decision to come here and get a fresh start for my life, it was my choice. I was ready to face whatever consequences came with it. After all, as the old saying goes ‘Nothing goes for nothing’.

It was my freedom and self esteem in exchange for a new life. It was a sacrifice I was ready to make.

“You are all here.” she started, her voice sounded strangled.

“I’m sure you are aware that your job here is simply to be in charge of all the maids duties of the new Alpha, so each of you will be assigned to the alpha and his brother’s room."

A new Alpha?

For a moment, I was taken aback. But I wasn’t the only one surprised. I knew that because my fellow stewards stared at each other, eyes filled with questions

Did we miss something? We were never told to come here for a new alpha. We were just told we were needed here.

Our opinions weren’t important anyway. We still stood, heads up this time as the Head maid dished out our duties to us one at a time.

I was to be in charge of cleaning the new Alpha’s room. While Lacy would clean the Alpha’s younger brothers’. She was assigned to the new Beta's.

The other steward named Tim was to take care of the Alpha’s elder brother’s needs. Furthermore, we were instructed to take the responsibility of the kitchen duties after cleaning and doing the bid of the Alpha and his family.

I was still confused. I continued to wonder who the new Alpha was and why we were needed to take care of his family's needs.

It didn't matter though, I didn't matter. I was certain he would be the same.

The same high headed, close minded and arrogant type.

High-ranked werewolves were usually arrogant, speaking from experience.

Well, I had sworn to not get involved with any of them anymore.

I had come this far to create a new name and be as invisible as I ought to be, and I intended to keep it that way.

So help me, Moon Goddess.

“And finally, about the skills and education promised by the Alpha king,” the head maid paused, then sighed in irritation.

“It has to be part time and not full time. We are short of staff here, and if you don’t do your work, no one else will do it for you.” she snapped resentfully.

Although, I didn’t know how her anger was our fault.

“I don’t know what a rankless wolf would want to do with skills and education or why they would need It.” she murmured, sniggering to herself.

It was loud enough for us to hear.

She was either mocking us to our faces, or she had intended to be quiet about it.

If the latter was her plan, she had failed, woefully.

She turned around her back to us and pointed to the beds in the room.

“This is the room you will be using."

Our eyes darted, looking around the little room with bunk beds like hostels. The only good thing about it was that it was tidied with bearable ventilation.

“All of us?” Lacey who was standing beside me asked, her voice laced with disbelief. She looked around, unable to hide her disgust.

“This is the only room we could squeeze out for you.” the woman snapped. Turning to us and locking her eyes on Lacey.

“Including the male?” Lacey continued.

I wished she would keep shut. It would not do us any good to get on the head maid's bad side. We were already at a disadvantage.

“How much of a choice do you have, miss? Would sharing room with a single male give you sleepless night?” She took a step closer to Lacey with an elevated eyebrow.

Lacey stayed quiet. I assumed she had realised we were no longer at our pack.

“Lastly, you have to begin your duties right now by going to the rooms of whom you are assigned to. After which, you can go to the administrative office of the pack to fill in forms on the skills or courses you want. I heard one of you wants to take GED test, good luck with that.” She concluded. The last sentence slid out of her lips with a sneer.

She turned away from us strode out of the room.

With the snarky look on her creases face, I knew she had not meant the goodluck.

If at all, what she had meant to say was 'goodluck with failing'.

I shrugged with a sigh as I took deep breaths in and out. I knew I would really need all the work and luck to pass the GED exams in one sitting since, knowing that I had stopped at middle school after my grandmother’s death.

'I can do it.' Was me assuring myself.

I was more than determined to.

Before going for our duties, we all unpacked our bags quickly and quietly.

I for one didn’t have much to unpack. I had come with very few clothes. Out of which, the only seemingly decent ones were those Emma had generously given to me.

They might not be of much use here, seeing that the only place I was going to wear them to was school.

We were meant to put on the maids uniform during work hours here in the pack, as instructed by the head maid.

Her face came to view in my head again and I chuckled, carrying on with my activity.

There was a pair of emerald green gown on everyone’s bed. The type the uncouth maid was putting on.

I sighed as I thought of home and my friend.

My friend, I missed her so much. I mused, as I folded all the clothes into the small closet beside my new bed. The others chose before me, so I had to take the bed closest to the ground.

After unpacking, we all took turns in using the crooked bathroom inside our room to change into the maid’s uniform. Mine was oversized. More ill fitted on me than the others looked on them, especially after losing so much weight from the drama with Mint.

Oh no! His name didn't just pop in my head after all this time!

Shit. I was here to leave that life behind, it wasn't going to be possible or easy if his name kept ringing a bell in my head.

Forgetting that name and the bearer was the reason I was here in the first place. I ran away from the people I loved and the place I lived all my life because I couldn’t bear to share the same space with him.

Or breathe the same air as him.

Some days, I could feel my heart tearing into shreds.

The hurt was too much, and the ache drenched my pillow every night. I deserved it. I tried to tell myself everyday that I deserved all the pain and heart ache I was getting

I deceived him. It was all my fault for wanting him in the first place, for loving him, for using desperate means to get him to look at me even for once.

Maybe the Goddess had made him my mate after seeing my heart.

But I wished she would have looked at his heart too and seen that he would never accept someone like me as his mate.

It would have saved me a lot. Or I might have still gone after him in the first place.

I have cried enough, I have wept all through many nights, clutching my heart because it felt as though it was shattering, remembering the look of pure hate and disdain on his face when he realized his mate wasn't the one he had expected.

He had fallen for my 'make believe' and not me.

It hurt. The bond hurt, even though he didn’t openly reject me, I could feel his hatred towards me glazing sharply in the depth of my heart.

I felt a single tear drop on my cheek as I stared blankly at the shadow of myself in the mirror. I wiped it away feverishly. I wouldn’t let myself sink back into that abyss, that void that ate at my will to live, I wouldn’t let it anymore.

I came here to get up on my feet, to put it all behind me and start afresh. I would make something out of myself here and become the happy and enthusiastic Carla I once were.

I have me, and that was all I needed.

Myself.

Wiping my face one last time, I packed my dense hair in a ponytail, making a conscious effort to adhere to that part of the dress code here before exiting the bathroom. Lacey and the other stewardess had gone to their duty posts. I was the only one left in the room.

They had not bothered to wait for me, not that I would have cared anyway. It was obvious they planned to isolate me here after what happened back at our pack. It didn't matter to me, after all I had not come here to make friends.

I had had enough drama with those already.

I took out my phone with the awfully shattered screen from my purse, slipped it into the pocket of the oversized gown before leaving the room.

I came out of the building tagged Maids quarters to see females in the same green gown walking from one place to another. Some carried laundry baskets, while some walked in cliques of threes or fours, discussing and laughing.

There were no familiar faces here.

I notice some of them send me curious glances, before returning to what they were doing or where they were going to. I ignored the feeling of loneliness threatening to envelope me and focused on the direction leading to the Alpha’s apartment.

As I walked, I let the fresh air work its way into my lungs.

The smell of a new land, new palace and new people.

The pack was like its name. Green, lush, and laid back. It wasn’t large like the busy and bustling Red forest pack, filled with never ending activities, but was great nonetheless.

I followed the direction of the head maid, walking from one building to the other till I got to the apartment described as the Alpha’s apartment. I entered the gate and stood in front of the door of his room, brushed my gown down.

I was about to knock, when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I didn’t need to wonder who it was. I already knew the only person would ever care to call me was Emma. I brought out my phone quickly and answered the call. Whispering, I told Emma that I would call her back. I was busy at the moment.

She laughed before telling me she was eager to hear how my trip to the pack was and that she had something really important to tell me. I chuckled before ending the call.

Sighing, I looked around before slipping the phone back into my pocket. I did not want anyone to see me with a phone as it was prohibited to use them during work hours.

I tapped the door lightly at first, hoping that the new Alpha would be out of his room for some Alpha meetings or whatever thing alpha Kings did. I shouldn’t care about that but I just didn’t know what to expect. I knocked again. This time, more confidently. A deep, commanding voice from inside told me to come in.

With my heart in my throat, I gently turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, stepping into a really, really large room.

Every corner was painted grey and even the bed sheet was grey and white color. I closed the door quietly behind me and turned to see a half-naked man with a white towel tied loosely around his waist while he wiped his hair with a smaller towel.

My jaw dropped.

Dear lord!

I almost gasped out loud. This wasn’t a man. He couldn't have been.

Standing in front of me was a living and breathing mannequin with locomotive abilities.

I gaped at his meticulously structured eight freaking pacs with firm bulging abs. His waist downwards was like the road to hell, a kind of hell that any woman would not mind living in forever. I had nor seen his face, but his body said enough.

I could hear it loud and clear.

I stared down at my hands and imagined running them down that rock hard stomach of his. He was like the i********: models whose lives started and ended in the gym.

In summary: the new Alpha was freaking hot. I'm talking smoky, burning, spicy hot.

Snap out of it, you f*****g hoe!

I yelled at myself, and started clearing my throat to introduce myself. I wondered how long it would take him to dry his hair.

Thank Goddess it wasn't a like a crime or taboo for a mere maid to lust after and Alpha.

I was just lusting.

Yes, I know. The exact beginning of my troubles and the reason I was here.

Women, we just never learned.

“Good day, Alpha. My name is Carla, and I’m the maid in charge of taking care of your room, your laundry and running errands for you.” I uttered with my head bowed, hoping I wouldn’t make any mistakes.

Silence.

Then suddenly the towel he was using for his hair dropped languidly on the floor.

My eyes followed it.

“You?” A cold, chilling voice that sent an icy shiver down my spine replied me finally.

I raised my head up to see a face that looked familiar, a dark hair with light grey stripes in front, and a pair of grey eyes glaring murderously at me.

“What the hell are you doing here, you low life!” He yelled gravely at me, but I was still trying to process the image before me.

The familiarity of his face and his voice, his smell that I could never forget, his eyes and this particular look of pure contempt and disdain.

It couldn’t be, no it could never ever be. My eyes were surely playing tricks on me, the Goddess wouldn’t be so mean right?

Let it not be true, dear goddess, please, please….

I blinked rapidly, hoping the face I was gaping at would change, my mouth falling agape in shock and trepidation. The sound of my beating heart was drumming right inside my ears.

A wave of nausea rolled over me, with the sudden urge to throw up.

My knees buckled, I clenched my sweaty palms into a fist to avoid dropping like a heap the ground.

Mint…. was the new Alpha?