1- FIRST TIME AGAIN

ONE

        "Aria!" 

    "Yes, madam," Aria scrambled off the floor, and a hot slap landed on her cheek. She held her cheek and blinked severally to clear her vision. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. Madam Kate was her guardian and the chief staff in the pack house.

     "Why is the Alpha's room not yet cleaned?" she barked. "Don't you know he is arriving soon?"

     "I am sorry, madam; I will clean it up immediately." Aria picked the bucket and mop from the kitchen floor and went away from the grumpy buxom woman.

     This is Aria's life here in Winter Pack. She was a lowly omega with no family or anyone to stand up for her, at least not anymore. She had come to accept her fate and the fact that she would die unhappy. She hurried back to the room that was supposed to be the one the new Alpha was coming back to. The Alpha of Winter Pack had just died, and another Alpha was to take over since this Alpha did not have an heir.

     Aria entered the room, set down her bucket and mop and looked around. When can she afford this luxury? The room was big and well furnished, with a luxurious king-sized bed at the centre of the room. The room was tidy, but Madam Kate would do anything to make sure she was not free. She has been running around the pack since morning, from one chore to the other and would not be done with one task before she was called to do another.

    She cleared the tables and cleaned surfaces before mopping the floor. Madam Kate appeared at the door and glared at her for a moment. Aria kept scrubbing the floor, trying to ignore her intense gaze. She walked into the room, leaving footprints on the floor where Aria had already mopped and touched the table surface.

     "This still sticks to my palm." She walked over to the drawer and ran her finger over them. "I want to see my face on this. Why is it not getting clean? Do you want me to deprive you of food for three days again?"

     "No, madam."

   "The Alpha would arrive soon, and you have not done anything." She walked out of the room, leaving Aria with more instructions. 

   Aria began to clean the room again, and she was exhausted by the time she was done. She stepped out of the room with the bucket and mop, wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her palm. Aria knew nothing about the Alpha except that he was the late Alpha's grandson and that he would merge his grandfather's pack with his pack, although she kept wondering how he would do that. Celina and Amy passed her as she made her way to the kitchen and purposely pushed her. Because she did not expect it and was too tired, she fell and landed on her butt and yelped. They giggled and went away. Her pain gives them pleasure.

      She eyed their retreating figure, stood on her feet, wiped her butt, and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. She did not usually work inside the mansion. She always cleaned the porch, scrubbed the floors, tidied outside the main house, and did other strenuous work. She did almost everything in the Alpha house because she was the only Omega working there, and her workload was way too much. Even other servants taunted her, and she could not do anything about it.

       "Aria!" Madam Kate's voice startled her as she showed up in the kitchen.

      "Yes, madam."

      "Come here, quickly. The Alpha is here, and he is thirsty. Take this juice to him. He is with Master Roland in the cabana."

    Master Roland was the acting Alpha. He has been doing that work since the Alpha and Beta died in a car crash. Aria quickly took the tray from her and started to make her way out of the kitchen.

       "Are you done cleaning Alpha's room?" Madam Kate called after her.

       "Yes, madam."

        "Hurry and give them the juice. They should not wait for you, or I will chop your feet."

  She nodded curtly and carried the juice away from the kitchen. She usually did not appear in front of the Alpha because Madam Kate thought she was not worthy enough to be in the Alpha's presence. Ash, the maid that usually tended to the Alpha, fell ill this morning, so Aria took up the work. She met Celina and Amy again by the corridor, and they were giggling at themselves this time.

       "He is so handsome," Celina observed.

       "It feels good to finally have a young Alpha. I can now dress well to attract him. What if he is my mate?" Amy asked dreamingly.

    Celina scrunched up her nose. "Do not flatter yourself. Do you think he would not have a mate at this age?"

  They both saw Aria and scoffed. She ignored them and headed towards the cabana where Master Roland and the new Alpha were waiting. But Celina and Amy have sworn that her life would remain miserable. Celina hit her with her shoulder, and her hands shook, making the glass of juice shake and the liquid splutter. She held it tightly so that the glass would not fall.

     She could hear the deep voices of men laughing. It was not only Master Roland and the new Alpha in there, but some of the elders were there, too. The sound of their laughter made her body vibrate, and she almost dropped the tray of juice. But she knew she would die if she dared drop the tray. The men were talking when she walked in, but she froze in her tracks when she saw the new Alpha. His scent wafted into her nostrils, and her hands shook violently.

                  Xavier

    What was he doing here? The tray left her hands and hit the floor, the glass shattering into pieces, arresting the attention of everyone in the room. Aria blinked twice to make sure she was not seeing things, but he was still there. She willed her heartbeat to something approximately normal. He was still all too easy on the eyes, still the most arrestingly handsome man she had ever seen. Time has changed nothing except to mature or to even improve upon perfection. The line of his jaw had gone from defined to powerfully rugged; his body had bulked up with muscle to better fit the broad shoulders.

     "Hey, Omega scum!" Master Roland yelled.

   Aria immediately fell out of her trance, blinked, and bent down to pick up the tray and shattered pieces of glass. "I am sorry," she muttered.

    Her heart hammered in her chest, and she wondered if she would not drop dead of a heart attack at that moment. She recognised Xavier so well, although he had changed so much.

      "All these clumsy Omega servants," one of the men in the room said. 

   She looked up again, and her eyes met with Xavier's. The skin around his dark eyes was weathered, more suited to the intensity within. Eyes that now looked down at her with so much hostility.

                   Cold. Distant. Dead.