The sassy-looking cook whom I met yesterday smashes the cabinet shut and angrily places a mug of coffee before me, causing the contents to spill a little when she lets go.
"Thank you," I murmur. I don't need to look at her twice to know that she has thoughts of malice, particularly towards Omegas. She couldn't stop staring at my dress, judgmentally eyeing me from the corner of her eyes while pretending to wipe the counter before me; she did that slowly and in motion—almost as if she was mocking me.
"What's your name?" I manage to say. My heart has been palpitating ever since I came in here an hour ago; Lily is with Allen—something about him missing his mate, which I know is an excuse to get away from me in case Alpha Josh comes to find me.
"Linda." Her lips are pouted, the rag is hanging loosely in the air, and it's so soaked in water that it dribbles into a puddle. She goes back to business, wiping at the teal-granite material like her life depends on it, hurriedly and diligently, slightly out of breath.
"I'm Zara." We started on the wrong foot. She looks like a hardworking coworker who never gets a job promotion despite working three times as much as the others. She might appear a bit strict, but that small smile at the corner of her lips, which she is trying hard to conceal, is evidence that she might like me a tiny bit.
"Nice to meet you—" My words are lost in my throat when he walks in, briskly searching for something. He looks out of breath; he has changed into a white polo with a few buttons undone. His eyes are mesmerizingly terrifying; I fight the urge to smoothen his furrowed eyebrows and whisper sweet nothings until all his worries go away.
"Can you please excuse us, Linda?" I have never heard him speak politely to anyone. Not that I have ever known him for that long, but from what I observe, Alpha Josh doesn't have the tiniest respect for anyone—not even his dad.
"Yes." She winks when she is at the door and sends a flying kiss like a guardian angel. She walks away satisfactorily, almost teasingly implicating she knows what's going on when she drops the apron by the door, not before uttering with the biggest smile on her wrinkled face, "Nice meeting you, Zara."
"How did you find the kitchen again?" I look at anything but the swirls of the coffee.
"I—" I turn my head to the side, looking at the gas cooker; Alpha Josh is standing not too far, at the edge of the kitchen island. He looks like he could commit murder, and the white-themed aesthetic can't absorb his dark energy.
"Lily showed me." I rush out. I take a small spoon out of the rag and gingerly swerve it through my drink, back and forth—anything to distract me from his voice and presence.
"I see you met Linda." There's a slight change in tone when he says her name. I have a guess she is the only person he tolerated in this building—probably one of those middle-aged nannies that took care of him when he was little, sort of thing.
"Yes." I swallow hard. My head is down; I can see his trousers out of my peripheral vision. I could kill to look at those hauntingly captivating eyes again, but I'm still mad at him and would rather maintain my stand.
"Come on, let's go." He strolls out in long strides. I keep the spoon beside the mug and follow him out. I push the chair so that it's facing center like the rest of the arrangement instead of sideways.
Alpha Josh walks through the hallways, taking sharper turns once in a while. I struggle to catch up with him; the hallways look all the same, white-coated like that of a hospital. We come to a stop before an enormous door that reads 'Alpha' in gold. He punches a few numbers; a few seconds later, the metal gives way to a gigantic room, different from the previous one I was in.
"Come in." He steps aside. I don't know whether to trust him on this, considering what happened a few hours ago, but I don't trust anyone. My wolf gets a fuzzy feeling whenever she is close to her mate; she gets so excited she wants to jump him. Although she is still mad at him for making us cry, she still yearns for his attention.
Alpha Josh's room is surprisingly not painted black or whatever cult color I expected it to be. The walls are blue, giving you a fuzzy feeling. There's a bookshelf on a wall with books neatly stacked, a chair and table with paperwork all over it, and a pair of shoes by the edge of the dark blue king-sized bed.
"Take." He tosses a hoodie out of a walking closet whose presence I have neglected. It's painted white like the entrance—plain but elegant.
"T—" I take it from him. The tension is so thick, I'm afraid if I breathe, it'll be heard. I struggle to keep my footing; I feel out of place. All this is just too much. The people here are just so elegant I don't think I can fit in. So much for wanting to be a Luna.
"You're right, being an Omega doesn't mean you can't be a Luna." Alpha Josh says with a straight face. He looks so robotic I could've sworn the sound was coming from somewhere, but there's only the two of us in here.
"I—" I toy with his brown-colored hoodie.
"Get some sleep. I have to meet with the council." He turns the doorknob. Hesitantly, he turns around and whispers so low, I almost miss it.
"I'm so sorry."
I stand at the edge of the bed, helplessly trying to process all that happened today.