AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hetty
Camilla’s the one who gets stuck with me.
Really, it’s kind of funny. When she first mated with Wyatt, they kept her locked up at Sage House. I was the only beta servant they trusted to check in on her and bring her food.
She stayed in bed most of the time, and was so sad and mixed up about her desire to both escape from the Sage family’s clutches and also be near Wyatt. She could never quite make up her mind what she wanted.
But now, our roles are reversed, and I’m the one locked in a room. After Rill dragged Noah away, Stella and Elizabeth escorted me to Camilla’s cabin. I’ve been able to remain calm, which I suppose is a result of a lifetime spent trying to remain invisible.
Stella, on the other hand, acted like finding me and Noah together was a personal affront against her.
“Betas can’t mate with alphas, Hetty,” she’d bellowed earlier, following me into the cabin. “You know that.”
“Well, maybe they can out here,” I told her coolly, sitting on my hands to avoid scratching her eyes out. “You don’t know that things aren’t different outside Goldenrod.”
“Of course, they’re not different—that’s ridiculous,” she sneered before releasing a loud groan. “You’re going to get yourself hurt.”
“He’s my mate,” I muttered stubbornly, crossing my arms over my chest.
I thought her head was going to explode when I said that. “Ugh! I told Elizabeth that the betas should have stayed in Goldenrod for as long as possible.”
My mouth fell open, shocked. “What? You don’t want us out here?”
She cursed, and when she turned to me, her expression was chastened. “I’m just worried about you,” she said defensively. “That’s all.”
“I don’t need you to worry about me. Noah’s my mate, he’ll protect me,” I bit out fervently.
Any traces of sympathy disappeared as she rolled her eyes. “You’re imagining things,” she said viciously, “and shame on Noah for taking advantage of you.”
It hurt when she said that. My oldest friend doesn’t think much of me, does she? Growing up together, sharing secrets. None of that matters. I’m only a beta servant who should be dismissed, her feelings discarded.
I didn’t say anything when Elizabeth showed up and pulled her away, whispering something in her ear. I could barely look at her.
Maybe that’s why I don’t have the desire to be forthcoming with Camilla now. She’s one of them, I’ve decided. Stella. Elizabeth. Wyatt. The Sages and Cypresses. None of them can be trusted.
We’re not even in Goldenrod, and they think they can swoop in and control everything. I haven’t been a beta servant since I arrived here … or even since I left Sage House, really. This is a new world. A bigger world. I get to make my own choices. I don’t have to follow their stupid rules and their ridiculous Order anymore.
“How do you think this happened?” Camilla interrupts my fervid thoughts from an armchair across the room. I couldn’t stand to have her too close to me, and she was surprisingly understanding about it, positioning herself as far away from me as possible. “Do you think it has something to do with being away from Goldenrod?”
She’s eerily calm as she lounges back, resting her hand on her giant pregnant belly. When I first got here, I hadn’t seen her in so long that I was surprised at how far along she was in her pregnancy.
Although, like all omegas, she has a dramatic flare to her hips, she’s small-statured, so carrying the baby of a giant alpha like Wyatt is no easy feat.
She looks tiny but enormous at the same time, her entire body seemingly consumed by the huge bump in her center. I’m surprised she was able to make the walk all the way from Goldenrod in that state.
But even though she should be uncomfortable, she’s strangely serene, her soft brown eyes studying me, curiously.
“I don’t know how it happened,” I mutter, wrapping my arms around my middle and sinking down on the bed. “You don’t know where he is?”
“No,” she replies, frowning.
I hum and slouch over. My call stopped as Rill dragged Noah away, and Elizabeth and Stella hopped out of the bushes, bringing me here.
Even though he’s not here, I still feel strange—hot, sticky, and distracted by his presence. He’s close by. In one of the cabins, maybe? What if I never get to see him again? What if they hurt him or send me back to Goldenrod?
I jump to my feet, my heart beating rapidly as panic breaks out on the back of my neck and pumps through my body as I search the room for an escape.
“You know, it’s kind of ironic that they made me keep an eye on you?” Camilla asks, not acknowledging my odd behavior. “After last year?”
