Cilla’s POV
I was no longer a slave. That was the best thing that had happened to me in a while. It meant that I was free to do so many things, but the only thing I was interested in was traveling out of the pack once in a while in a bid to find the twins. I didn’t know if that was included in the terms and conditions of my release but I hoped it was. Hope was all I had. For the first time in a while, I felt truly happy. I felt unstoppable. This was proof that Ridian had not lied when he said he loved me. My mate loved me!
My heart was swimming in happiness as I moped my room. Since I had not yet been assigned any work, I was free as a bird. I could lie on bed all day if I wanted. It was amazing. It gave me a glimpse of my life before my parents were killed and I was enslaved. Back then, I did not have to wake up with my mind full of duties that needed to be done. Janine had taken over. Thinking of Janine made me drop the mop and go out to see how she was doing. I had to gloat while I still had the freedom to do so.
Janine was a mess. Seeing her struggling with the dirty overalls of the miners made me break out in laughter. She stood up and glared at me. Huffing, she bent down and started washing again. Her hands were so weak and barely had energy to scrub the clothes clean. She didn’t react the way I wanted so I laughed a little bit louder. Clearly, she was quite smart, trying to ignore me so I could go away. But, I had no interest in going away. I was there to make her uncomfortable and didn’t plan on leaving before achieving that goal.
“Hey, Janine.” I began. “I see you’re doing a great job over here. How does it feel being my replacement while I walk around with nothing to do?”
“Just go away,” Janine said. “I have no time to listen to your gloating. If you have no intention of helping me, just go away.”
I laughed. “You really think I would help you. You’re totally crazy. I just came here to see how badly you were doing and to be honest, I’m not disappointed. I can see that life is treating you the way you deserve.”
“Okay, no go away.”
To be honest, I was disappointed. This was not the reaction I had been hoping for. She was better than I had given her credit for. She was not a neurotic b1tch like I had thought.
“What if I want to watch?” I said, in a desperate attempt to get a reaction out of her.
“Watch away,” she said.
Rolling my eyes, I walked away from Janine who was huffing and puffing while washing the dirty clothes that had made the water very dirty.
“Ahhh,” she cried out and I turned.
I saw her crying while staring at her broken nail. “I hate this stupid pack,” she yelled out loud. I chuckled. Clearly, she had not learnt her lesson.
I left her there and went back to finish cleaning my room. After a while, I heard a noise in the hallway. Someone was running up and down. I knew it was the little girl. Sometimes, her mother left her alone while she went to work at the main house. Whenever she got bored, she would run around the house. I never paid attention to her since I was always fatigued. Now was my chance to find out more about the new family.
I quickly finished cleaning up, went to store the equipment and went to the door of the room where the girl and her mother resided in. she had left the hallway and was singing in their room. I raised my hand and knocked softly.
Nothing. The girl went totally silent.
I knocked again. “It’s me. My name is Cilla. I was washing when you and your family arrived. Do you remember me, dear?”
The little girl did not say a thing.
“I mean no harm,” I said. “I just want us to talk. I have no one to spend the afternoon with since I was relieved of my duties. Why don’t we chat?”
“Mother said I should not allow strangers into the room,” the little girl said.
“I understand,” I said, leaning against the wall. “If you don’t trust me, we can go and sit outside together where everyone can see us. We can be friends. My sister is around your age and you remind me so much of her. The only thing I want is to see her and my brother again.”
I was silent for a while. Suddenly, the door opened and the little girl stepped out. She held a bundle of keys in her hand. She inserted them into the keyhole and turned them.
“Hello,” I said to her. “My name is Cilla. What’s yours?”
“Katy,” she said. She removed her keys from the keyhole and stood there, staring at me with big blue eyes. There was a small scar on her left cheek. She looked healthy but her eyes looked a bit dull.
“Okay, Katy. Come with me. I’ll show you around.”
“I’d love that,” she said.
I started moving and she followed me.
“What’s your brother’s name?” I asked her as we went through the door.
“His name is Joshua,” the girl said. “I miss him a lot. Why won’t they let us play together?”
“I have no idea,” I said. Separating the two kids was cruel. I wondered if the twins had been separated as well. “Don’t worry about it, Katy. I’m sure that they will let you see him at some point.”
“What if they killed him like they killed Millicent?” Katy said. “Maybe they killed him and father but mother does not want to tell me.”
I shook my head and crouched down to her level. “No, I don’t think so. They are alive. This pack is not as cruel as others I’ve been to. It will be fine. Who was Millicent? Your sister.”
She nodded.
I knelt down and hugged her. I could feel her tears on my shoulder but I did not care. It was clear that she really needed a shoulder to lean on. Her mother was unable to create enough time for her which meant she was alone most of the day with her thoughts, something that was very dangerous.
“I’m sorry about what happened. They killed my father and mother too. I always get very sad when I think of them and that’s why I spend time doing a lot of other things. Let’s go to the washing shed. Do you have dirty clothes? We can wash them together.”
“I don’t know how to wash clothes with my hands,” Katy said.
“I didn’t how to do it when I arrived as well but I was taught. I will teach so you can wash yours and help your mother.”
Katy smiled. “Yes, I want to do that. Mother always returns when she is very tired.”
“Okay, let’s go to your room and get all the dirty clothes. Deal?”
“Deal,” Katy said.
Katy and I went to get the clothes. We got them and started washing as Janine Bakers finished up hers. After finishing, we hanged them to dry and then went to join the others who had arrived for lunch.
By the time we got to the hall, most of the women and men had got food and had sat down. The dining hall was more animated on that day than other days. There was a lot of murmuring and chattering going on, giving off a vibe of excitement. I helped Katy to serve food on her plate before serving myself.
“I can’t believe she had the guts to return,” I heard someone saying. My senses perked up so I could hear more. Were they talking about me? But then, I had not gone anywhere in the first place. Who were they talking about?
“I hope Alpha Ridian does not forgive her because I don’t want her as luna after everything she did,” someone said.
After getting food, we sat down on a table that had two young women.
“Who is everyone talking about?” I asked.
“Miss Jane Willow,” one of the ladies said. “She’s back.”
I froze, stunned. Nooo! “Jane Willow is back?”
“Yes, that’s what I said.”
“Why did she return?”
“No one knows. She’s probably back for the alpha. Maybe things didn’t work out the way she expected when she ran away.”
I could no longer eat as my appetite had vanished. I could not compete with Ridian’s first love. Now that she was back, chances were high that he would get back with her and she would become the new luna.
There was no hope for me.