“Only three months, right?” I asked, hoping that the voice in my head would chime in to answer my question. But it was quiet now, and I was alone.
Finally, I let myself give in to the need to cry. I put my hands over my mouth to muffle my sobs as I tucked my face into Podcast’s shirt and inhaled the eucalyptus scent that reminded me so much of home.
Sleep was fleeting. I mostly dozed throughout the night because the boning of my corset made it impossible to truly be comfortable.
As the sun rose in the sky, I could see slivers of light slipping in between the cracks of my cardboard nest.
I, with some difficulty, sat up. My mouth felt grainy, like I had licked the floor and my head pounded dully as I crawled out of my nest.
I pulled myself up off of the floor and sat on the bed, unsure of what to do next. I wasn’t sure if the alpha pack just outside the door would appreciate a stray omega wandering around their home.
My stomach growled and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten. “Most likely a hundred years ago,” I said to myself with a snorting laugh.
I wanted to get out of the dress. Ineededto get out of the dress. I knew that my skin was probably raw from wearing it for so long, and I also knew that I would not be getting it off unless someone helped me.
Steeling my resolve, I finally opened the door a crack and peeked down the long, dim hallway. There were several closed doors that hadn’t been included in Doc’s tour the night before.
I crept barefoot down the hall, wincing when a stray floorboard creaked as I made it to the top of the staircase that would lead down to the brightly tiled kitchen that we had passed on our way up to my room.
The house was filled with the kind of silence that could only be achieved when all its inhabitants were fast asleep. Because of that, I took my time descending the steps, afraid to make any noise and risk waking anyone up, until my feet finally met the cool tile of the kitchen floor.
The kitchen was a large room at the corner of the house and was decorated with pink and white fixtures, which was incredibly surprising to me seeing as the pack seemed to be rougher around the edges.
I ran a hand along the smooth countertop and stared at the large fixtures that were placed between the cabinets.
I had no idea what they were used for, though I had never spent much time in the kitchen at Wilde Manor either. My mother would have thrown a fit had I tried to learn how to cook, a skill she told me that I would never need as a rich man’s omega.
I wouldn’t even attempt to touch any of the strange contraptions that filled the kitchen. Instead, my eyes zeroed in on a bowl of fruit and the shiny apple that was on top. That would be enough to sate my hunger and would keep me from ruining anything else in the kitchen.
Grabbing it out of the bowl, I bit into the sweet fruit, moaning reverently as my stomach seemed to register that I was finally feeding it. The juice from the fruit ran down my chin, and I knew that it was unladylike of me to eat in this manner, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I leaned against the counter, my earlier discomfort over my dress momentarily forgotten as I continued to pull chunks of pulpy flesh from the core of the apple. I was about halfway through my breakfast when I heard footsteps come from the top of the stairs.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Rex’s voice came from the top of the landing as he descended the steps in a thunder of stomps and joined me in the kitchen.
“I was hungry,” I said, trying not to be cowed by his icy eyes and irritated expression.
Rex didn’t seem amused by my excuse. “You should have waited for someone to come and get you,” he told me as he came close and I could smell his overwhelmingly sweet berry scent. It was odd that such an angry alpha would have such a pleasant scent.
“You’re making a mess,” he pointed out as he grabbed a rag that was hanging on one of the cabinet knobs and wetted it in the sink before yanking my free hand toward him. He started to mop the apple juices off of my hand and I found myself becoming irritated as well.
I yanked my hand away from him and cradled it to my chest. “I can wash my own hands when I’m done eating, thank you,” I said, glaring up at him.
Rex snorted, his icy eyes fixating on my face as he suddenly changed the subject. “You know, I did some research on you last night. Juneau Wilde, the spoiled princess of the Wilde family. Born with more money than you knew what to do with and probably waited on hand-and-foot by servants.”
Heat rose in my cheeks as he spoke. One of the strangest things about coming to the future was the seeming availability of information about me. Podcast had been able to access my entire life’s story with just a few taps of his thumbs and now it seemed like Rex had done the same.
“And I don’t know anything about you other than the fact that you seem to have some quarrel with me,” I said, squaring my shoulders and taking another bite out of my apple. I was never one to be afraid of a wayward alpha, even if they didn’t like me. It was one of my mother’s pet peeves about my personality, but it seemed to help me at this moment because Rex blinked with surprise at my rebuttal.
“I don’t like anything about how you popped into our lives, princess. All that supernatural bullshit freaks me out and I can’t help but feel like you are going to put me and mine into danger just by being here.” Rex’s honesty was both frustrating and refreshing to me. On one hand, he was assuming that I had anything to do with being transported into the future, but on the other he at least admitted to his own fears. Not every alpha could do that.
“I wish to go home just as much as you want me to, if not more,” I told him, returning his honesty with some of my own.
“Good. Because as soon as that voice in your head tells you it’s time I’m going to yeet your ass back through that mirror.”
I didn’t know what the word ‘yeet’ meant, but I understood the sentiment. Anger rose like acid in my belly as I tilted my chin up stubbornly and looked him in the eyes.
“Fine,” I said and grabbed his hand, placing my half-eaten apple into it before heading toward the stairs.
