Sold To The Demon Alpha
Chapter 16

Aria’s POV: Runt of the litter.

His mate and pup were killed by humans.

The words continued to play in my head and even though it was a horrifying thing to replace out, it explained a lot of things about Roma.

Perhaps, it explained why one minute he looked like he could actually not mind my company and the next, he was completely removed and distant.

That was a lot of deduction given that today would make it one week since the incident at the lake and exactly one week since I saw Roma eye to eye.

“I gathered all of you here today for a meeting.” A deep and velvety voice said and I raised my head to see who it was.

Salem Faroe.

Everyone and anyone knew who she was in the pack.

I’m sure if she decided to move into town too, everyone would know who she was.

With that body and face, the confidence that oozed from her pores, Salem was who I wished I was.

Beautiful. Strong. Confident. Fierce.

Her red hair packed in a loose ponytail and body in a two-piece cloth, she surveyed all the servants as we sat in the hall where we had been summoned for a meeting.

“She thinks she’s all that because she has that body and face.” Somebody whispered behind me as she went over the new changes to our roster and new rotation schedules.

“She is all that. You wish you were her. All of us do.” Another person responded and as I turned back to see the people that were discussing, Sophia squeezed my hand softly and I raised my eyebrows in question.

“Pay attention. The last you want is for Salem to catch you not listening.” She mouthed to me.

“Why?” I mouthed back and the reply came from behind us.

“Because she hates omegas, that’s what. Thinks we are the runt of the litter. And you, human, you’re probably the litter itself” The first maid who has spoken earlier said and she laughed softly with the girl beside her.

Refusing to let her words get to me, I listened in to the change of schedule and the hall suddenly became eerily silent when Carlos came in.

Ignoring us, he pulled Salem aside to talk about something and there were murmurs in the hall again.

“I heard she’s back on the Alpha’s bed roster.”

“Sleeping with the Alpha. Everyone knows better than to allow Salem into their bed.”

“Heard it’s Carlos she is sleeping with though.”

“She could be smashing the two brothers at the same time. And I would understand if I heard that was true. With that body…”

“Ahem!” She cleared her throat just as Carlos left the hall and the silence returned.

Several minutes later, as she gave us the permission to disperse, I asked Sophia a question that had been bothering me since we had the meeting.

“What did she mean by omegas were the runt of the litter and I was the litter?”

Shrugging as we walked down the hallway, I saw that her countenance changed and it made me even more curious.

“Tell me?” I nudged her elbow and she rolled her eyes with a soft laugh.

“Okay, you know how in those high school novels, there are these really cool kids? That’s the Alpha, Beta and the Delta wolves. There’s the Gamma wolves, that’s the ordinary wolves and then there’s us. Remember when I told you that we’re the lowest and the weakest in the hierarchy because we can partially shift? She means we’re at the bottom and nobody likes us. But I think what she was getting at is that, if nobody liked us, imagine how everyone else would feel about you.”

Her voice went lower and she shifted close to me.

“Remember what I told you in the garden days ago?” She whispered and I nodded.

I could not forget.

It was imprinted in my memory like a painting on the wall.

The Dark Night, she called it.

The night where the werewolf hunters had broken the treaty that they had signed with the werewolves and invaded the forest under the guise of brokering peace. Many lives on both sides had been lost.

Sophia had lost her uncle that day too.

“We’re here.” Sophia told me and I realized that while I was lost in thought, we had arrived at my destination, the dining hall where I had been assigned to clean in time for dinner which was going to be held with many wolves in attendance to have a focus group meeting at night.

Sophia’s destination was to the right, towards the garden.

“See you around, Ari.” She said and when I nodded, turned to head in the direction of her chore.

Calling her name, I waited until she turned before I spoke

“You are not the runt and I am not the litter.”

Her face broke out in a wide smile and she waved at me before disappearing at a turn.

Grinning, I entered the hall and marveled at how large it was. The chairs could take over fifty people.

“Look who’s finally here.” A voice said, sounding annoyed and I looked away from the tables to see Natalia, one of the maids rolling her eyes at me.

“Hello. Have you been assigned here too?” I asked and she walked up to me, stopping a few inches away from where I stood.

“Hello, have you been assigned here too?” She said, mimicking my voice by putting a hand over her nose and scoffed.

I didn’t understand why she was being so rude.

“Sorry, did I perhaps do something wrong? Why are you giving me an attitude?”

Her eyes widened and she stood in front of me and poked my chest with a finger.

“I’m the one that gets assigned with a bloody human that thinks she can talk back to me because she’s been to the West wing and nothing happened to her.”

My eyes widened in surprise. I knew that it was bound to spread that I had been in the west wing but why was she acting so terribly towards me.

Nothing happened to me? I came so close to losing my life.

I wanted to argue with her and probably explain but I sighed, just wanting nothing more than to be done with our assignment and getting to my sketch pad.

“Look, can we just do what we came here for?” I answered and I stepped out of the way, turning to head to the table and see what work was left when she pulled me back by my hair and flung me across the room.

Screaming as my back hit the ground, she walked up to me, panting and squatted.

“People like you should know their place. Others have been nice to you because the Alpha has said nothing but you are like your people. The worst of the lot. And you do not belong here.”

Dusting her palms, she stood and smiled malevolently as I struggled to fight tears.

“You’re quite heavy for a human.” She added with a cackle just as the first tear slipped down my face.

“Or it could be that you are quite weak for a werewolf.” A voice said in the room and Natalia froze.

I couldn’t blame her because I had frozen in shock too.

I knew that voice. That hint of an accent.

Looking behind Natalia, I saw Roma standing in the dining hall with his arms folded around his chest.

There was a dangerous aura about him. A cold smile on his lips, a haunting gleam in his eyes.

It was the same look he had when he caught my father beating me up. A gleaming look that held the promise of bloodshed.