*Abi POV*
I wake up the following morning to find Omario nowhere to be seen. Nina starts stirring up, she’s gotten too fond and attached to our mate.
“He must be working,” I try to hush my agitated wolf.
“It’s too early to be working!”she cries.
“It’s seven o’clock, Nina.”
She has no idea what time I woke up when I was a slave.
“That time for our morning glory,” she says, sulking and I roll my eyes and leave our chambers.
Mother Luna Nala is already having breakfast by the time I get to the dining room. I can’t help noticing how at peace she seems and it warms my heart.
“Morning. Where’s Terrence?”
The two of them usually have breakfast together.
“He left with your man very early this morning. Come have breakfast with me,”she says warmly.
This woman has a way of pulling me in.
I take a seat opposite her.
“Where exactly have they gone to?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Did you and Omario fight again?”
I shake my head. “We didn’t. He was just not there when I woke up.”
She laughs. “You are not used to that. Is that why you are looking under the weather? Didn’t get the morning dose of your….”
“Mother Luna! I am not having this conversation with you!”
This woman sometimes forgets that she is my mother-in-law.
“Oh! Please. You two are so out of control, everyone knows about it,” she says wittily.
I roll my eyes and pour myself coffee.
“He’s meeting Dato, the accountant, to help him with some financial advice about the compensation of servants.”
My heart jumps and I can’t help but smile. He promised me to take care of things, I didn’t know that he would do it right away.
Mother Luna laughs. “That smiles tells me he’s going to have his favourite threat waiting when he get back.”
I choke on my coffee and my face starts burning. I must stop being so transparent.
“I’m going for a run now.”
She bursts out in laughter as I flee and shift into Nina, who wants to go for her favourite morning run.
The spoiled brat complains all the way to the mountain and back because she apparently only likes running with Titan.
I can sense something off when I get back to the castle. The servants are not in their usual jolly mood I have gotten used to.
“Teresa fills me in on what’s going on and I’m fuming by the time I storm into the study to find Loyd and Olivia busy with paperwork.
“Your Highness,”they greet in unison.
“You will be pleased to know that the servant payment issue is resolved,” Floyd announces.
I look sharply at him. He says this like it’s an inconvenience.
“Servant’s payment issue?”
“They have agreed to only get paid for everything they do from now on. They understand the kingdom’s financial constraints and will take no back pay,” he explains, completely naive to how his every word brews the anger inside me.
“Who is they that you consulted?”
“Oli and I spoke to all the servants in the castle this morning. We will speak to the retired ones later today,”he responds boldly.
Teresa already told me how they lectured them about bankrupting the kingdom. They intimidated everyone, indirectly reminding them of their position as slaves until no one could speak out.
“On who’s orders did you carry all this out on?” I ask sharply but Nina is already livid. We both hate these two.
“Rio asked me to handle this. Oli is a chattered accountant and understands the numbers. It’s the best way to handle this,” Floyd continues with his superiority complex and I want to tear him apart.
“You had no fucken’ right talking to the servants without asking me. Who do you think you are?”
They both look at me in disbelief. They still treat me like the slave they walked all over and it’s infuriating.
“Rio is the Alpha, he has the ultimate say and he gave him the go ahead,” Olivia responds proudly.
“He did not tell you,” Floyd says in a belittling menacing tone.
Omario always says he means well, but he’s wrong like he was wrong about his ex fiancé.
“Look, it’s not our fault that you are not educated and Rio views our opinions more than yours,” Olivia says and Nina goes berserk.
“Bitch! Let’s kill her,”Nina links. It takes everything in me to suppress her because a part of me wants that too.
“We can’t go around killing everyone who makes us angry, Nina.”
Nina rolls her eyes at me, not impressed.
I take a deep breath to calm myself down to no avail.
“Shut up and get out of here before I snap,”I warn when I feel Nina stirring up. Floyd grabs Olivia and flees the moment Nina takes over and the whole study goes up in flames. Everything in the study is ashes but my anger is still spilling out of control and my heart hurts like hell.
I don’t care much about what Floyd and Olivia thinks of me, it’s Omario’s actions that get to me.
I can’t believe that he promised to handle this only to hand it over to his pompous friend and ex fiancé, who came to intimidate my friends into agreeing to not being compensated for their torture. He did not even feel the need to tell me about it.
I thought our relationship would be better than that of his parents, but I was wrong. Mother Luna Nala had no say in anything that happened here because her mate looked down at her and made his Betas and Gammas more powerful than her. Yes, I’m not educated because I slaved here all my life, but I know what my people need better than those two.
I shift back into my human form because I can trust Nina not to go pouncing on the infuriating idiots. I’m pacing up and down the charred study when I hear a knock and the door opens. I don’t bother turning to find out who it is, I can smell my mate from a distance and he has her scent all over him.
“Abigail.”
His gentle tone is nauseating.
“Go to hell!” I yell as tears stream down my cheeks.
“Babe, please look at me,” he pleads and all I was to do is scream my lungs out.
“Don’t call me that and don’t come near me. I hate you!”