I woke up surrounded by the comfort of the soft sheets. Guided by habit I stretched my arm in search of Faustina and once my hand came into contact with her body, I relaxed.

The mattress shifted as I sat up, rubbing my eyes. My body felt relaxed as if the concerns that persecuted me had moved away during the night.

I must have slept like a baby. Maybe it was the power of an extra comfortable bed.

But I didn't sleep in the bed.

Last night images attacked my mind like a whirlpool, they turned around my head reminding me of the black wolf, his crying, and how I fell asleep with him on my legs.

Was it all real or was it a dream?

The tingling that traveled through my body when thinking about him told me that it was real. I could still recall the warmth that covered me at that moment. It was a new feeling for me, a feeling that made me yearn for more.

The real puzzle was how I had gotten into bed. Only one response emerged: Almec brought me back to the room. That meant that at some point during the night he regained power over the wolf and realized that he was sleeping on my legs. Then he shifted back into his human form and carried me to the bed while I was sleeping.

Why do these things happen to me?

I broke one of his rules and also treated his wolf like he was a pet. Almec must have been angry with me. And living together there was no way I could escape him forever.

To prepare for what was to come, I began to rehearse my apologies in my mind as I got out of bed and got ready to start my day. They all sounded like bad excuses, a part of me refused to accept that I had done anything wrong, after all his wolf sounded like he was about to die, I couldn't let him suffer so much.

"Princesa, it's time to get up or we're going to miss breakfast," I said to Faustina, gently shaking her shoulder.

"What is for breakfast?" She asked without even opening her eyes.

"I don't know, we'll find out when we get down to the kitchen. I bet they must have pancakes."

The magic word made my sister bolt out of bed and run to the bathroom to get ready, it didn't matter the situation every time I mentioned pancakes she jumped into action. A few minutes later she was ready to leave the room.

It took us several tries to find the kitchen, the mansion was very large and Almec had not given us a tour last night. When we finally set foot in the room, Faustina let out a cry of excitement.

I was right, there were pancakes. A pile of them, to be exact, was waiting on the marble island.

The two people present in the room turned after they heard the scream. One of them, who I assumed was the cook because of the apron he was wearing and the flour stain on his wide nose, approached us.

"You must be the new misses. I'm Demian, the handsome chef," he said, scratching his shaved blonde beard. "It's always a pleasure to see someone so happy about my food. You can help yourself to whatever you want."

"Really?" Faustina asked, flapping her hands in excitement.

"Of course. Khalia can show you where the cutlery is." The cook pointed to the young woman who was next to him.

"I'll get them for you." She took two plates, forks, and knives from the wooden shelf and placed them on the table. "There you go. The glasses are on the cabinet to your right."

"Thank you," my sister and I responded at the same time.

Faustina helped herself to her food while I grabbed the glasses. She took the first bite immediately and made a happy dance after swallowing.

"Valen, you have to try it, it's delicious."

"I'm glad you liked it," Demian said. "You too, have a seat and don't restrict yourself when choosing the food, I made everything for the two of you."

I took the seat next to my sister and began to fill my plate. "Sorry, I don't think I introduced myself. I'm Valentina and this is Faustina."

"Don't worry about that, we all forget things when we're in front of delicious food." Demian winked at us and sat on the other side of the table. "I hope you don't mind me keeping you company."

"If you're going to be complimenting your own food all the time, I don't think they want your company," Khalia said.

"Actually, we'd love to have someone to talk to," I replied. "That includes you too, Khalia."

"Yes, stay too," said Faustina, smiling at the young woman. "You are very beautiful."

Khalia blushed at the surprise compliment and sat next to Demian. Faustina was right, she was very pretty, her brown skin did not have a single imperfection and her big brown eyes carried a special glow.

"Thank you, you're very pretty too. I like your freckles," she said.

"And I like your hair, I've never seen one like it," Faustina spoke with her mouth full of pancakes.

"It's called an afro and it makes me happy that you like it."

"So." Demian put his arm on the table and rested his head on his hand. "How was your first night at the mansion? Did Almec treat you well? If he doesn't behave like he should, you can tell me and I'll nag him for you. I've known the boy since he was a baby, I know how to put up with him."

"Almec was very kind," I replied. "We don't have a single complaint."

"For now, you should see him when he's not in a good mood. If I saw right this morning he seemed a little angry," commented the cook.

"I would say he was more than a little angry, in my humble opinion it was more like completely pissed. Today he got in the way when I was talking to Geldra, and told me that I should use my time to do my job as a housekeeper instead of taking so long to say goodbye."

The toast almost got stuck in my throat. The more I listened, the less I wanted to cross paths with Almec.

"Geldra is her mate," Demian explained. "She's the beta."

"We know that she is the beta, we already met her, we also know the delta," said Faustina. "But we don't know anything about gamma."

"I don't think you'll hear from him for a while, Ezra is in another pack, Almec sent him there to try to improve our relationship with them," Khalia said.

"Do we have a bad relationship with another pack?" I asked, surprised that someone would want to challenge Almec.

"Don't worry about it, it's not bad enough to cause problems, we just have some disagreements," Demian reassured me.

"Come to think of it, I never heard of a pack with so many ranks," I said after taking a sip of my coffee.

"It wasn't always like this," Demian replied. "Before Almec took leadership we only had an alpha and a beta, but since Almec delegated most of his responsibilities he couldn't leave Geldra in charge of everything, that's why he appointed a Gamma and a Delta."

"Thank the Moon Goddess that Geldra isn't in charge of everything," Khalia commented. "I would have gone crazy."

"Breakfast was good, can we have more pancakes as a snack?" Faustina interrupted the conversation.

"You can have all you want," answered the cook. "You can even choose what you want for dinner. It's my job to prepare what you want."

And she did, Faustina visited the kitchen after lunch to make a petition for dinner. She was so excited about it that as soon as Demian put the food on the table we were already sitting in the long dining room. There was someone, however, who was absent.

Almec had remained in the confines of the left wing. According to Khalia, he did not even accept the food she offered him. Since they saw him at breakfast, the alpha had not shown his face to any of the people present in the mansion.

A bitter taste grew in my mouth, contaminating even the food that Demian had cooked with such care. I was confused, I didn't know whether to feel worried about his absence or guilty for making him uncomfortable the night before. The only thing I was sure of was that I had to find him.

Was I willing to break another rule and enter the forbidden area to see him?

In the end, my longing was stronger than my fear, and I left Faustina in Khalia's care to go in search of Almec.

My legs shook as I climbed the stairs. Every step brought me closer to danger.

"What are you doing?"

Almec's voice surprised me. I turned around slowly, and after gaining courage I looked up. He seemed tired, his disheveled hair pointing in all directions, and the tanned skin under his eyes was stained with dark circles.

"I was looking for you," I answered honestly. "Khalia said you haven't eaten anything since breakfast and I was worried."

"You don't have to worry about it, it's normal for me. I prefer to stay alone," he explained. "I think we have something else to talk about. Follow me."

Without waiting for my response, Almec entered the hallway. I followed him, my gaze fixed on his broad back until he opened one of the doors and motioned for me to enter.

The room was some kind of office, and judging by the lack of objects on the desk and the small layer of dust on the furniture, it hadn't been used in some time.

Almec leaned his body against the desk, looked at my face, and crossed his arms.

"Last night I lost control of my wolf, I apologize for that," he said.

I wasn't expecting an apology, I thought it would be the opposite. "It's okay, it can happen. Besides, your wolf didn't try to hurt us at any point."

"Regardless of what my wolf's intentions are, I should not lose control. I wanted to clarify that it is not something that happens often, I don't know what happened last night. My wolf wanted to go to you, I refused and he ended up taking control."

I started playing with my fingers. "I don't want to overstep but maybe your wolf is lonely."

"I will take care of my wolf on my own." The tone of Almec's voice lowered and the seriousness of his eyes told me that I should not interfere. "You worry about following the rules. I told you you couldn't leave your room."

"I can't stay locked in when I hear a wolf crying outside."

"Yes, you can. What if the crying was an act to trap you? It's my fault for losing control, but you also made a mistake that I hope won't be repeated."

"Maybe if you let your wolf have contact with other people I wouldn't be in danger."

"Don't tell me what to do with my wolf!" he screamed and approached me. "Not when you don't even have any type of contact with yours."

"I'm not going to follow your rules without question when you don't do what's necessary. I may not know much about a relationship with a wolf, but I know what it's like to lose one and it's not something you'd like to feel. Don't be stupid, take care of your wolf." Tears threatened to escape my eyes. "At least try to have dinner with us."

"Alright," Almec said, his frown already gone, for an instant, I could swear that he looked worried. "I will have dinner with you starting tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, then."

With those last words, I left the room, hoping I made the right decision by inviting him.