Chapter 11: What You Do To Me

“Knock”

“Knock”

“knock”

I knock on her door and hope that she is awake, because today I am starting over with her or at least going to try anyway. By the time I woke up and took a shower, it was already 8 a.m. At 10, I must help Alpha Gerald with a project of his that requires two sets of hands, so I need to spend as much time with her between now and then that I can.

When she doesn’t answer me, I grow worried and unlock the door. I scan the room, but don’t find any traces of her. Deciding to check the bathroom, the minute I am about to knock on the door, she opens it and pleasantly surprises me with a genuine smile. However, the second she realizes it is me, she puts on a scowl and starts to murmur to herself, “He could have at least waited till I was done going to the bathroom, jeez.”

A little shocked at her grouchy demeanor towards me, I step back and start to frown because I am not used to people treating me like I am not in the room. “Excuse me, but I wanted to be able to spend some time with you before I have to leave later this morning. One of my alpha’s needs me in another part of the kingdom.” As soon as I speak those words, I see the look on her face change to worry, so I continue with this, “Don’t worry though, I will be back before dinner and then we can share a delicious meal alone on the balcony. I am having Omega Dante put it together especially just for the two of us. Do you want to know what it will be?” Asking as nicely as I possibly can.

Mind you, this is a bit of a stretch for me. I am used to demanding things get done and telling people what I want, not asking a little girl if she would like to know what is on the menu for dinner. It seems a bit strange and out of my league. I automatically think that I should try harder when she frowns at me and doesn’t say a thing.

Folding her arms tightly around her chest and taking a seat on the edge of the bed, I follow her and sit as close as I dare to without making her too uncomfortable about the whole situation. I want to let her get used to me so hopefully we can at least become friends. Even though I need so much more. She just infuriates me to no end sometimes and it is hard for me to understand how she affects me so much.

Clearly there is something about this girl that tugs at my heart strings. Every time I turn around, I can’t stop thinking about her in some shape or form. Now if she would just let me in, I might do the same for her at least to some extent. Who knows?

Shrugging my shoulders, I watch her stare at the wall while trying her best to avoid me at all costs. What is so bad about spending time with me? I don’t get it. Is she still scared of me?

“Arabella, you do know that I could never hurt you, don’t you? I just want to get to know you and start all over.” Glancing over at her face, I wonder what she could be possibly thinking right now as she looks completely expressionless.

Does she hate me so much that she is daydreaming just so she doesn’t have to spend time with me or answer my questions? I sit there staring at her and after a few minutes of silence and no signs of her even acknowledging my presence, I get up to leave. That is when she finally speaks.

Sighing, she stands and says so softly I barely hear it, “I am sorry.”

Raising her voice, a little, I hear the rest as she continues to speak, “I didn’t mean to be such a bitch. Sometimes it just comes naturally, I guess.” Shrugging and shaking her head, she leans on my shoulder with her head, “If you could only understand what I just went through. Literally the minute you brought me to this place, I found out that werewolves exist. I have been so scared and completely out of my mind till now. There is no way that this is normal at all. Why couldn’t you have eased me into this. Instead of throwing it all into my face, maybe you should have tried to tell me about it first. I think I would have been able to handle it if you told me, and then showed me.”

Her voice trails off after as she looks over at the wall and then closes her eyes. I watch the tears start to stream down her cheeks while I take her in my arms. It’s merely an innocent act, but it scares her so much that she ends up scooting clear to the other side of the bed after freeing herself.

Sounding still frightened from our encounter, she says even softer than before, “Please don’t do that. If I want you to touch me, I will let you know. But you are my captor and I’m your prisoner, that means touching is not allowed.” While trying to think of what I can do to make her feel more comfortable, I move over even more to limit the damage I have done.

Why does this have to be so hard? All I ever wanted was for us to be together. Is that too much to ask?

Raising my hand to my hair, I run my fingers through it to calm my frustration and then I state, “I will be back later, I must go attend to the Alpha’s needs.” Then I promptly walk out of the room and lock the door behind me.

So many things run through my head before I arrive at Alpha Gerald’s pack headquarters. First, I need to square away all these feelings for her before they get in the way of this meeting. Then, I need to get my head in the game so I can effectively help him with his problem.

See Alpha Gerald needs me to help him with his pack. They are becoming unruly and if we don’t stop it now, it will be too late to do something later. And this is the only reason why I left Arabella’s side. It is really important for this to be taken care of today.

Watching as Alpha Gerald has his security squad round up all the offending parties, I sit down on a log and wait for the festivities to begin. As I sit there, I notice one of the men is especially hard to deal with and mouthy. The others seem to follow him, because they all look to him when he says something to Alpha Gerald.

Standing up, I raise my voice and declare, “You will all listen to him, or I will have your heads on a post by the end of this hour. Is that clear?”

They all stare at me in fear because they know that I mean what I say. I have proved it in the past, and now if anyone of them starts something I will show them just how it’s done. As I sit back down on the log, I watch the head of the pack very carefully.

“Alpha Gerald and Julian will never be able to take care of us all. They sit in their comfy homes or in your case castle and rule with an iron thumb. Do they ever try and figure out just where they are getting things from? The answer is no.” The man turns around and points right at me as he cries out to everyone in the crowd. “We bust our asses for what? For our empty bellies at the end of the night and our mates crying themselves to sleep? Hell no. This is the time to stand against them. Stand with me right now or you will forever be stuck like you are now.”

Getting sick of hearing his accusations, I stand up not to stand with him, but to walk over and rip his throat out. I quickly launch myself right at his throat and connect before he can say anymore. The shocked look on his face, lets everyone know that he hadn’t thought that I would follow through with what I had said before.

For the rest of the afternoon, I sit and watch as Alpha Gerald effectively takes care of the problem all by himself. When the clock strikes 4 p.m., I excuse myself but not before asking what exactly he was talking about. “Was there a shred of truth to what he said?” I ask because if there is, it means Alpha Gerald is not giving supplies to his people when I send them to him.

As soon as I say it, I can tell that it is the truth. So, pointing at him, I demand, “You will give them everything you have and divide it amongst all of them. You are no longer their alpha. They will find a suitable man for the job from the pack. I am sure there is someone here who would fit the position quite nicely. Then once everything is divided, you will disappear from this territory. If I ever see you again or hear from you, your head will be on a pike at the gate to my castle. I simply can’t have my people starving and thinking I had anything to do with it. Now do it!”

After I finish that sentence, I walk back to my vehicle and find the two security guards who I came with before leaving. On the way home, I sit and stare out the back window as I think about the fact that I killed a man who’s only crime was to speak the truth and I feel absolutely horrible for it.