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Chapter 7

She held up her hand with an annoyed look.

"Rule #1. Don't apologize." She glanced at the mop lying next to me. "Don't tell me you're still working."

I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head. She pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing a heavy sigh.

"I'm almost done." I added, hoping it would make her a little less angry.

She just glared at me again.

"If you weren't Rowen's mate, I'd drown you in that toilet." She grumbled.

I was really starting to question why this girl was helping me. She didn't seem to like me very much.

"I just need to clean the shower and the floor," I told her, forcing myself to my feet. "I won't be long."

"Just hurry up. I don't like wasting my time."

I grabbed the cleaning spray and hurried over to the shower. I couldn't suppress the feeling of shame as I worked under her scrutinizing eyes. We came from two different worlds, that much was evident. As much as I always wanted to be seen by others, it was times like this I was glad to hide. The judgment from her mere presence did nothing but make me feel small.

I was scrubbing the walls of the shower when I heard the sound of shuffling behind me. My eyes widened in shock as she appeared beside me, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

"What do I do?" she questioned, sounding like she was surprised herself.

My jar nearly dropped to the floor.

She rolled her eyes," Don't look at me like that. I won't ask again."

I snapped out of my surprised daze, reaching into my cleaning bucket to hand her a large green sponge. She took it hesitantly out of my hand and stared down at it like it was some foreign object. I hid my grin, continuing to watch as she started to follow my lead.

"I already cleaned that."

"Shut up."

We worked in silence apart from her occasional grumbles about tough stains that refused to come out. I couldn't help but laugh. At first, she looked like she was going to kill me, but I was almost positive I saw a very very very tiny smile appear.

I was wringing out the mop when Alana plopped down on the toilet seat.

"I hate this. My fingers look like a newborn baby's face."

I smiled, shaking my head," It's only been 10 minutes. Besides, we're almost finished."

She lifted her feet and I moved the mop around the floor beneath her. She had wanted to help me, but I only brought one mop and it really wasn't necessary for the both of us to do it.

It was strange being around another wolf that wasn't my family. Or the Hamiltons, but I rarely interacted with them. Our jobs were typically split into sections and those were divided by family. We helped each other with bigger tasks that were more difficult like the celebration, otherwise, we remained separate.

"We'll train hard for the next two weeks. I can't promise it'll be enough, but that's all the time we have to work with," Alana suddenly spoke, breaking my train of thought.

I paused in motion, craning my head to her. "Two weeks?"

She nodded, standing up.

"I think you should meet Rowen at the Celestial Ball."

The Celestial Ball. I repeated to myself.

It was only the biggest event in werewolf history. Wolves from every region traveled here to attend this special night in hopes of finding mates, strengthening alliances, and celebrating our deeply rooted traditions. It was held here in the Northern Shadow pack every year considering we had the space for it. It was very exhausting on our end, but other wolves raged about it for months on end.