21A Maid for the Packhouse 2
+25 Bonus
21 A Maid for the Packhouse 2
Nyra’s POV
The pack erupted before Kieran even moved, cheers, stomping, voices rising in pride. Kieran stepped forward, but he didn’t look like a man being celebrated.
He looked… hollow.
Like he hadn’t slept.
Like something inside him had been clawing him apart for days.
His shoulders were tense. His face was pale beneath the torchlight. His jaw was clenched so hard it made his cheekbones sharp.
And his eyes,
His eyes found me immediately.
Not with the cold dismissal he wore in daylight.
Not with the careful distance he always kept.
With fear.
Pure, raw fear.
It hit me like a punch.
His gaze pleaded with me in a way his mouth never dared.
Don’t let go.
Please.
Don’t leave me.
For a second, my heart faltered.
For a second, the bond tugged like a hand reaching for mine.
And then I remembered every time he’d looked away.
Every time he’d let them laugh.
Every time he’d chosen reputation over me and called it love.
So I didn’t look back.
I stared past him.
Through him.
1/5
21 A Maid for the Packhouse 2
+25 Bonus
As if he was just another wolf on a stage.
Because if I met his eyes properly, I might break.
And I had no pieces left to spare.
Alpha Ethan’s voice rang out.
“My son will soon face his Alpha challenge,” he declared. “And I am confident he will win.”
The pack roared.
Chants rose.
Kieran stood there like a statue, but his eyes kept dragging back to me, desperate and haunted.
The cheers didn’t reach me.
All I felt was dread.
Because an Alpha challenge meant war.
It meant politics tightening.
It meant sacrifices.
And I knew, I knew, that in this pack, girls like me were always the first sacrifice.
The crowd finally quieted again, hungry for the next announcement.
Alpha Ethan lifted his hand once more, and when he spoke, his voice sharpened like a blade being drawn.
“And to stand beside him,” Ethan said, “as his future Luna…”
Time slowed.
My lungs locked.
A cold wave rolled through my veins, as if my body already knew what was coming.
“… Beverly Crestwood.”
The name detonated inside me.
I felt it physically.
A sharp, vicious tug in my chest, like the mate bond had hooked into my heart and yanked.
Pain flared so suddenly my knees almost buckled.
I sucked in a breath that felt like it scraped my throat raw.
On the platform, Beverly stepped forward with a smile bright enough to blind.
2/5
21 A Maid for the Packhouse 2
+25 Bonus
She looked flawless. Confident. Proud.
Like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment.
She moved to Kieran’s side and slid her hand around his arm as if she belonged there.
As if she’d always belonged there.
The pack cheered again.
Louder.
More delighted this time, because it was the kind of pairing they understood.
The Alpha’s son and the perfect Luna.
Tradition.
Beauty.
Power.
I stood in the crowd holding a maid’s draft paper, and something inside me cracked with a sound I couldn’t let anyone hear.
Kieran didn’t smile.
He didn’t look at Beverly.
His gaze was still on me.
And the fear in his eyes turned frantic now, as if he was screaming without words:
This isn’t what it looks like.
But it didn’t matter.
Because the pack had spoken.
And the Alpha had announced it publicly.
And Beverly’s hand on his arm was a knife twisting deeper than any rogue’s teeth ever had.
My vision blurred.
Tears gathered fast.
I blinked hard, refusing them, but the bond pain didn’t care about pride.
It tore through me anyway.
Hot.
3/5
21 A Maid for the Packhouse 2
+25 Bonus
Merciless.
My mother shifted beside me, sensing something wrong, her head turning slightly,
No.
No, she couldn’t see this.
She couldn’t feel how I was falling apart.
I turned sharply before she could read my face.
And I started walking.
Fast.
Too fast for someone who was supposed to wait to be dismissed.
Too fast for someone who was supposed to know her place.
I heard murmurs rise behind me.
I felt eyes tracking my back.
I knew it was disrespectful.
I knew it would be noticed.
But my heart, my stupid, bruised heart, couldn’t take one more second of standing there watching him. belong to someone else.
The bond pain pulsed again, vicious.
My throat tightened, a sob threatening to break free.
I clenched my jaw until it hurt, forcing it down.
I would not cry in front of them.
I would not give them that.
I pushed through the crowd, my steps unsteady, my chest burning, my hands shaking so hard I could barely keep the draft paper from tearing.
Behind me, I heard my mother call my name,
“Nyra!”
But I didn’t stop.
Because if I stopped…
I would fall.
4/5
21 A Maid for the Packhouse 2
And I wasn’t sure I could ever stand again.
P
Comments
Support
Share
+25 Bonus
5/5
