Chapter Thirty-eight
Faelen’s POV
I stepped into the kitchen, feeling a wave of relief wash over me as I noticed it was empty. The maids hadn’t reported for work yet, which gave me a moment of peace.
But I knew it wouldn’t last long. They’d start pouring in soon, with their whispers, their suspecting glances and piercing gazes.
I needed to keep busy to distract myself from the weight of everything that had happened with Hunter last night.
I wanted it to seem like I had woken up before everyone else to begin my task for the day, there was no time to truly prepare.
The tension from last night still remained in my body, a reminder of our steamy moment, the heat that had burned between us.
I shook my head, trying to push the thoughts away.
Grabbing a rag and some cleaning supplies, I decided to head to the dining room. It was always good to stay ahead of the work before the day truly started.
As I made my way through the door, my mind spinning with plans of a possible escape and ways of gathering more information, I nearly collided with someone turning a corner in the hallway.
“Oh!” I gasped, pulling back just in time. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
The person I had almost bumped into was a maid like me, one of the early risers no doubt. The girl simply smiled, her eyes lingering on me for a moment, before she just nodded and continued walking down the hall.
She seemed unbothered. And myself I barely looked at her in my rush to get to the dining, but something tugged at the back of my mind.
I took a few steps forward before I stopped, the maid’s face flashing in my memory. There was something about her… something quite familiar.
I turned around slowly, staring down the hallway where she had disappeared. “Why do I feel like know her?”
After a moment scanning my memory, the realization suddenly hit me like a shock of the sensation of cold water on the skin.
My heart raced as I pieced it together… her face didn’t seem familiar from here in Hunter’s pack. I’d seen her before… but from somewhere else.
“She’s not from here.”
My pulse quickened as my confusion turned into a deeper, more unsettling feeling in me. If so, then why was she here? And why am I just seeing her now?
Who was she?
I racked my brain, trying to place her somewhere, to figure out where I’d seen her before. Could she be from somewhere else? Another pack perhaps?
I glanced around, suddenly paranoid that someone was watching me. The hallway was still empty, but a terrible unease tugged at me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.
My instincts told me to stay calm, but I just could not ignore the familiar tension settling in my gut.
If this maid wasn’t part of Hunter’s pack, then why was she here? Could she have been sent by someone? A spy too like me?
I clutched the cleaning rag in my hand tighter, my knuckles turning white.
“I need to figure this out,” I told myself, a wave of determination rushing through me.
Whatever was happening, I couldn’t let it ruin my mission.
Taking a deep breath, I decided to follow her. As I walked back towards the kitchen, still clutching the cleaning supplies, my mind raced on with different thoughts.
I hadn’t come across any more people from my pack or anywhere else since arriving here, and yet, this girl… she just seemed newly familiar.
I knew I couldn’t just let it go, not with everything at stake. My heart pounded in my chest as I hurried back down the hallway, looking for her. I needed to be sure.
When I finally spotted her, she was casually going about something, I didn’t care to notice. I just knew I had seen her before.
With a deep breath, I approached her. “Hey, I’ve not seen you here before,” I said, my voice low but firm. “But you seem so familiar. If you ask me where, at Belladonna pack I’d say.”
She turned toward me, a slow smile creeping across her lips, and without a word, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into a nearby corner, away from any prying eyes.
“I’m here like you,” she whispered, her voice soft but filled with a strange confidence that sent a chill down my spine. “A spy, sent to infiltrate this pack.”
I blinked, confusion swirling in my mind. “Wait… what? But if you’re not from Belladonna, then…?”
“I came through the boarders of Steeprock,” she interrupted, her smirk never leaving her face.
Steeprock? My thoughts stumbled over themselves. Those were the neighboring pack in conflict with Howle Wulf over land and gold.
“But I could swear I’ve seen you at Belladonna before,” I insisted, still trying to make sense of the whole thing.
Her smile widened, a mischievous spark in her eyes. “Relax. You’re right.” She finally admitted. “I was at Belladonna. But unlike you, I’m not new to this game. I’ve been working for Alpha Zodd for years.”
My breath hitched. Alpha Zodd was a powerful and ruthless Alpha… wicked some might say. And this girl… she was one of the few who had survived this dangerous path going out on missions, and succeeded.
I stared at her, my heart pounding harder now. “You mean… you completed your mission and stayed in the field?”
“Exactly,” she said, crossing her arms casually, like we were discussing the weather. “While others took their rewards and went on to live better lives in the pack, I chose to continue spying for Alpha Zodd. I like the challenge. The thrill of It.”
I could barely process what I was hearing. Here I was, in the middle of my own mission, struggling to gather the necessary information and send it back to my pack, and then there was this… girl.
She was practically a pro among spies. She had not only completed her mission but continued to thrive doing many more, slipping from one pack to the next like a ghost for Alpha Zodd, no doubt.
“So…What exactly are you doing here?” I asked, still trying to wrap my mind around it all.
Her smirk softened slightly, but there was something sharp behind her eyes. “Let’s just say, I have my orders. And you… you’re not as alone in this as you think.”
My stomach twisted. It wasn’t comforting. Not really. The idea that another spy was here, working for the same pack… one that had sent me here… only made things more complicated for me.
Was she here to help me out, or was she a threat? I thought.
As my mind spun with a thousand questions, I opened my mouth to ask more, but the girl quickly raised a finger to her lips, her eyes flicking over my shoulder.
Someone was coming.
Before I could react, she leaned in close, her breath warm against my ear. “Meet me behind the servants’ quarters at midnight,” she whispered.
I stiffened, a nervous chill running through me as I caught the sound of footsteps approaching.
Without another word, the girl stepped back, her expression quickly turning calm and blended in easily, turning back to her task like nothing had happened.
I was left standing there, my heart hammering in my chest. I struggled to compose myself as a couple of maids walked by, unaware of the conversation that had just taken place.
I quickly busied myself, grabbing the cleaning supplies tighter in my hands and moving toward the dining room, but my mind was far from that.
“Midnight… behind the servants’ quarters…” the girl’s voice echoed in my head.
Why was she really here? What could this mean for me and my precious mission? I wondered if I could trust her or not?
My thoughts raced, and yet, a part of me was already set on midnight. I had to know more.
Minutes later in the dining hall, I moved through the motion of cleaning and setting the place, but my mind was miles away from there, tangled up in all the awkwardness of that morning.
First, there had been the rush of waking up in Hunter’s bed, fear and confusion clouding my thoughts as reality crashed back into me.
My body still vibrated with the memory of our night together, the heat of his skin against mine, the way he made me feel like my whole body was numb… yet, somehow coming alive all over again at once.
I could still feel the pressure between my legs and at the tip of my nipples… a slightly sore reminder of all the pleasures Hunter had shown me last night, each moment tattooed into my memory.
Then there was the sudden appearance of someone else here… a spy posing as a maid too. The shock of realizing she was from my own pack was overwhelming.
The relief I felt after discovering she wasn’t sent to replace me had been quickly overshadowed by the curiosity of why she was really here, and what her true purpose was.
I was determined to find out tonight, to uncover the sudden mystery behind this unexpected ally. But for now, I had to keep my head down and make sure I didn’t attract any attention to myself… like always.
As I polished the table one more time, my thoughts shifted back to Hunter. I wondered if he would think of me during the day.
I couldn’t help but ask myself if he felt the same pull I did.
With the way it all played out for both of us… intoxicatingly, I couldn’t help but feel there was certainly more to our connection than just a few passionate encounters.
A soft sound made me jump. I glanced up, catching a glimpse of the head maid moving through the passage way to the kitchen.
I don’t know why, but I quickly ducked my head, pretending to be completely into my work, my heart racing as I wondered if anyone suspected anything.
I quickly pushed the thoughts aside as the sight of the head maid fade. After that moment, I began to feel the weight of my double responsibilities pressing on me.
I didn’t just have to perform my tasks as a servant here, I had to gather information for my pack as well, and now, with a fellow spy in the mix, the stakes felt higher than ever.
“I guess I’ll find out everything by midnight.”