A Secret Alpha Mate

2 - Alpha Floor

*Trigger Warning - attempted s****l assault *

Isla

I dressed in my cleaning uniform, which always felt too short and tight, before grabbing a cart full of supplies. I made my way to the Omega elevator and up to the Alpha’s floor.

As the elevator door opened, I felt a sense of discomfort I couldn’t place. It took me a second to compose myself and push the cart out. I had only been up here a few times as I generally tried to avoid this floor and any interaction with ranked members. Whenever I was up here, I felt like something wasn’t right.

An immediate sense of unease seemed to linger in the air itself. I was sure it was just nerves of being around them and anxiety at a potential run-in.

Usually, they completely ignored our existence, but if they were in a bad mood, they could turn on us, especially Hailey and Seth, the Alpha's kids.

Seth was twenty, but his father, Alpha Benjamin, didn’t want to give him the title yet. The Alpha said he had to earn it, which I actually respected. Seth wasn’t too happy about that, though.

Alpha Benjamin started to make Seth train multiple times a day, and he would yell at him in front of the staff and other pack members and sometimes even go as far as to hit him in public. You could see the look in Seth’s eye when he did this, it was pure hatred, but he never talked back or retaliated because he was scared of him.

Whenever Luna Julianna was around, she grabbed her son and consoled him, giving the Alpha a warning look. She had played the part of his ‘mate’ for a while now and refused to do anything in public that would make others see that they weren’t each other's destined mates.

Alpha Benjamin had always been strict with his son and lenient with his daughter. Turning Seth into a resentful bastard and Hailey into a spoiled rotten b***h. I couldn't decide which one was worse.

I pushed my cart to the other end of the floor; past all the empty rooms, no one entered. At least, I had never seen them open. I think they were used for guests, but anyone that stayed here slept on one of the other floors full of empty rooms.

I stopped in front of the Alpha’s room and internally sighed; I might as well get started with the worst one, the one person I was most scared of accidentally running into. The uncomfortable feeling only increased as I stepped into the massive Alpha suite.

Dark wood and high ceilings were a common theme throughout the ranked member's rooms, the whole pack house, actually. We were situated deep within a forest, and the packhouse fit seamlessly in.

Outside one of the large windows, pine trees swayed in the distance. Early morning fog danced through them, not yet dissipated by the sun's warm rays. I took a moment to admire the view; it tugged at something deep inside me. I felt connected to this place, the pack that The Moon Goddess herself supposedly blessed ages ago. I thought some of her blessings still lingered; you could feel it at times like this.

I took a deep breath, trying to memorize the scene and the feeling of serenity and rightness that accompanied it before I had to return to my bitter reality.

Deep cleaning meant hours on your hands and knees, scrubbing and ensuring the place was sparkling, and my body protested the thought. The old head Omega, Janice, always said, “Clean it once, and then clean it again.” With a huge smile on her face. I smiled as I thought of her. She made work so much better. Janice always had something positive to say and tried to turn chores into something remotely fun. I wish we got to say goodbye.

I caught myself in the mirror for the first time in ages, seeing myself clearly instead of a dark reflection in a window at night or the oven door when it's turned off. Omega bathrooms didn’t have mirrors.

No one cared about our appearance. I was no longer the too-skinny adolescent with bright red frizzy hair. I had filled out. I knew that by the way my clothes were almost too tight now, but seeing my curves was an entirely different thing. My hair had settled into a deep auburn with a slight wave.

I c****d my head to the side and stared at myself. My light green eyes stared back, I wouldn't go as far as to say I was beautiful by any means, but I was pleasantly surprised by my appearance. I smiled a bit, not hating how I looked for the first time in literally forever. If I got nothing else from today, at least I got a bit of confidence.

I was sweating when I was done with the first bathroom, and my knees were aching, making it hard to stand. I nervously gave it another check to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. I couldn’t obsess over this, though. I still had Hailey, Seth’s, and the Alpha’s office to do.

I decided to do the Alpha’s office next, wanting to limit my chances of running into him. I had never been in his office before, and my stomach churned at the thought of running into him alone. I knocked once. Thankfully, no one responded.

I slowly opened the door and turned on the lights. His office was an all-dark-paneled space with a massive dark wooden desk. It would have been cozy if it belonged to anyone else, but being in here made my skin crawl.

Something caught my eye hanging behind the desk, a bit of gold reflected in the dim light. It was a crest in black stone with gold markings. I tried to make out what was on it, but there were massive claw marks across it. Was this their family crest? I hadn’t seen it anywhere else in the packhouse.

I stepped closer to have a look, forgetting myself for a minute. On the crest, there was what looked like a golden wolf howling at a silver moon. Standing next to the wolf was an outline of a person in a flowing robe. It was beautiful and felt ancient and powerful. I wanted to touch it. I reached up, my fingers trembling, when I heard the click of the door opening behind me.

I gasped as Alpha Benjamin stalked up to me, grabbed my hand away, and turned me to face him. I couldn’t form a thought. I was frozen to the spot.

“What the hell are you doing in my office?” He snarled, his voice loud and low at the same time. “No Omegas are allowed in here.”

He dragged me out. I stumbled but finally caught my feet. I pulled my arm away when we were back in the hallway, rubbing it against the pain.

“I uh,” I stuttered, still in shock. “I’m deep cleaning the bathrooms today and was going to do the one in the office next,” I explained.

He glared at me, and I swallowed as fear gripped me. “No Omegas are allowed in my office; that is a pack rule.” He said every word slowly as if I were dumb, and to him, I probably was.

“I had no idea; I don’t usually clean the ranked members' floors,” I tried to explain, averting my eyes.

He looked at me in disgust and then back to his open office door, ensuring nothing was out of place. “Well then, why are you still standing here? Get the f**k on with it, Omega.” He said Omega with so much hate.

I walked behind him cautiously, retrieving my cart from where I left it in the hallway. I was almost to Hailey’s room, almost to safety.

“What’s your name, runt?” He called out, and I stopped.

“Isla,” I replied, turning around to meet his gaze.

“Well then, Isla, I’ll make sure something special awaits you this evening.” He smiled, no doubt thinking of punishments for me. He turned to his office and slammed the door behind him, making me jump.

The Alpha loved nothing more than putting down Omegas and public punishments. He was even happier when he could combine the two. Public meaning in front of other Omegas, the pack wasn’t invited in on his humiliations.

It was like he needed to show his authority and have people fear him, even though he was the highest-ranked member of a prominent pack. Anger replaced my fear as I entered Hailey’s room. Meghan knew what she was doing. She knew we weren’t allowed in there. I was furious that now I would be enduring a punishment tonight on top of finishing these bathrooms today.

I looked at the clock on her dresser. It was already past 1:00 PM; I couldn't believe I had spent that long in the Alpha’s bathroom. There was no way I would finish these last two bathrooms to their standards, undoubtedly earning me yet another punishment.

I felt defeated as I made my way into her bathroom. I almost cried when I saw the number of beauty products and makeup I would have to move off her counters. A few minutes later, the door to the bathroom opened behind me; great, just my luck.

“I’m just starting here,” I told Hailey as I turned around. Only it wasn’t Hailey. Behind me were three Omegas, two from my room and one I’d met in passing but never got much chance to talk to as she usually did laundry, and I was mainly assigned to cooking and cleaning. They all held up cleaning supplies and gave me sympathetic smiles.

“We finished our work early to come up and help." Kara, one of the girls from my room, said, “Meghan doesn’t know.” She added with a wink.

I was filled with a sense of gratitude for them. “You guys didn't have to come up here. I could have managed.”

“Like hell, you would have.” The other girl from my room, Tressa, cracked a smile.

“Besides, if you don’t get this done, all of our asses will be on the line.” The laundry Omega, whose name I think was Ashley, said.

I couldn’t deny that, and I could really use the help. We started chatting and laughing with each other as we got started. Even if our situation wasn’t always perfect, sometimes far from it, I was genuinely grateful for the people around me.

We finished Hailey’s bathroom and then moved on to Seth’s. Darkness was falling outside his bedroom window. It didn’t take as much time as I thought it would, though, especially with the four of us working together.

“I think we’re almost done here; why don’t you guys head down for dinner?” I suggested.

“Are you sure that you can manage the rest?” Ashley asked, looking around.

“There are only a few finishing touches left, and I need to drag it out a bit longer anyways, so Meghan doesn’t think I got off too easily.” I explained. They grabbed their things, heading out after I thanked them profusely.

“I’ll save you something to eat if you miss dinner.” Tressa turned back to me. I smiled at her, and my stomach rumbled at the mention of food. I hadn’t eaten anything all day.

We always took care of each other as Omegas here because no one else took care of us. I wouldn’t say I was close to all of them, or even that many, but my experience had been mostly pleasant.

The girls in our room especially looked out for each other. We always saved food when we knew someone was getting punished by being forced to skip meals. Small things like that have bonded us—that and sleeping a foot away from each other for years.

I took a final look around the bathroom, making sure I left nothing behind. I bent down to put the last few supplies on the bottom of the cart when someone came up behind me and grabbed my hips.

I stood up slowly, trying to breathe. My whole body sent off warning alarms, and the hair on my arms stood up.

I started to turn around, but I was tightly pinned to someone's chest. My breath hitched in my throat. I froze in confusion and sheer panic.

“Going somewhere so fast? I just got here.” His hot breath blew on my neck, making me shudder in disgust.