*Danika*
“We. Are. Out. On. A. Picnic,” Lance detailed, his hands akimbo.
“Pic… Picnic?” returned Alonso in a frustrated tone, his eyes squinted menacingly, as he shove his hand our way.
I lunged closer to Lance, hiding my face from meeting Alonso’s, lest I melted from his murderous glare.
I peeked from the side of Lance’s broad back and saw Alonso look back, where his chosen mate was coming now from.
He shortly flipped around. “Don’t forget this is a pretense. You two are beginning to get on my last nerve,” he rushed out in a hushed voice which I suspect was because of his chosen mate getting closer.
“Hey, you two! I’m so glad you are here. I was beginning to worry it’s going to be very boring out here with only Alonso and me,” reeled the blithe brown-haired lady.
“Hey, Cleopatra,” Lance hailed her.
She waved a set of red-colored nails our way. “C’mon Lance, you know I hate it when you use my full name,” she slurred and scooted closer to Alonso as if she wanted to melt into him. My heart twisted in pain. He didn’t even make any move to push her away.
“Okay, I hate the silence. What’s going on?” went on the hornbill.
Alonso quickly recovered from whatever was going on in his head and took her hand on his and slowly raised it to place a sensual kiss on her knuckles.
Her eyes followed the movement as her other hand smothered her very short translucent wear that stopped mid-thighs. It was red. Just like the other day. And the other day too.
Are all her dresses red?
I thought it was going to end there, but from the look of things, it seemed these two wanted to put up a show for us.
He dropped her hand by her side, furiously grabbing her around the waist and smacking her flat against him, and then in a split second, captured her mouth in a soul-searing kiss.
I was burning with deep hurt. I wanted to do something. My inside was twisting as though my heart would rip out. He was intentionally hurting me, and he didn’t care. I didn’t know when a tear slid down my face and I buckled backward in grief, unable to hold myself up.
It wasn’t until I was about to fall back to the water, that Lance whisked around and caught me mid-air.
He carried me up, his worried eyes fixed on me. “Hold your breath and focus, okay?”
“Is she okay?” the stupid bitch asked as though I looked fine to her.
“Yea, she is just going through… a little cold,” Lance fibbed, exiting the water and taking me back to the shade.
He dropped me on the laid-out mat and scrambled through the food box until he produced a bottle of water and popped it for me.
“Take this, you will be good,” he said as he handed the bottle to me, his hand going to my hair and brushing it backward.
“Thanks,” I mewled, my side eyes noticing Alonso and his chosen mate drawing close.
Why won’t they just go away? Must he always do this to me? Why can’t they just let me be in peace? I don’t mind staying away from him if that was what he wanted. As it seems each time we were together, he would always want to hurt me.
And because of the stupid bond, it always worked. Still, I won’t stop yearning for him. More tears came and spit down.
“Hey, hey, look at me, don’t pay them any attention, okay? Just focus on… anything. Just not him. Or what he is doing,”
“I can’t help it, Lance,” I grogged out amidst tears. “It’s the bond. I can’t just help it even though I want to pay a blind eye to it. Why me?”
“Maybe we should leave then,” he suggested and my head found his and nodded vigorously.
“I’m sorry I am this vulnerable and have to spoil-”
“Shush-” he cut me, his finger finding my lip and sending bouts of electricity spiraling through my body.
“Are you sure your mate is okay, Lance?” came the mocking voice of Alonso directly from behind Lance who was backing the beach.
Lance took his time before responding. He stood and met the face of the Alpha. “Yea, she is. It just has to do with the full moon drawing close. You know what it does to mates. I was thinking we should hold on for a while, but from her condition, I think we have no choice but you know…” Lance’s shoulders bounced.
At that minute, I didn’t hear an after sound. And because I was looking down at my fingers, I didn’t catch a glimpse Alonso’s face. Knowing him a little from these few days spent together, I know by now his face would match that of an enraged panther.
Lance finally broke the silence. “We have to leave now since our night is going to be… VERY BUSY,” he emphasized the busy. I smiled amid my rioting emotions, loving this rebellious side of Lance. He would certainly make a great actor.
“Let’s go, baby,” he said as he stooped to pick me up, pushing passed them, and at that flitting moment, I could swear I saw a look of confusion on Alonso’s chosen mate’s face.
She must be wondering what exactly was going on.
Lance gently dropped me in the car and went back to bring our box of sweetings.
You have to become better, Danika. You can’t go on like this. You have to stand up for yourself. When will you accept who you are and come out of this good girl shell you are hiding? I battled with myself until Lance joined me and we drove off the beach.
I had been having a good time but thanks to almighty Alonso, he managed to ruin it. With that bitch of his.
“I’m sorry for everything, Danika,” Lance said on our way home.
“It’s not your fault, Lance. To be fair, I am deeply grateful that you stood up for me. Something I’m yet to pull off.”
“You can if you want to. He is your mate.”
I snorted, my tears ultimately abating. “The last incident left me almost dead. I learned my lesson in a hard way,” I said, referring to our last clash at the hotel.
He chuckled. “There was a cause for that. Anyways, I have another place if you are up for it. He doesn’t know about there.”
“Okay, I think I would want to be anywhere far from his brooding presence right now. Plus I’m not ready to go home,” I told him, adjusting on my seat to rest my head, my eyes looking head.
*
“Hope you enjoyed your day, Ms. Danika?” inquired Mary that evening after we returned from our outing.
“Yes, I did.” A small smile creeping in at the thought of the maximum fun I had in the second venue. It was also a beach, and this time much more fascinating, with palm trees lining the walkway. There were few people around who were happy when they heard Lance’s mate was here. They all came to greet me, while I hung on Lance, only nodding and giving them an acceptable smile.
“I trust Beta Lance. He is so much fun. Many of our pack girls had hoped to be mated to him, but unfortunately for them, the goddess in her kind mercies had other plans.”
My face crumpled, feeling really dratted for having to lie to Mary, the only other person who has been courteous to me. “Well, it’s okay,” was all I could say.
“Yea,” she mildly expressed, helping me shrug on a simple gown which she referred to as an evening gown. “Why don’t you go down and see the opera before dinner. Lance-Sorry, I mean Beta Lance likes watching the opera by this time, it’s his favorite.”
After her error with Lance’s title, she seems to become frantic, looking everywhere but me. I didn’t put much thought to it though, since it was of no consequence to me.
I decided to heed her suggestion and went down to watch the television with Lance. At least it would afford me some distraction from what happened today, before dinner.
Just as she had told me, Lance was lunged in one of the couches, remote in hand, his eyes intensely pinned to the television. He hardly took notice of me, as I sat on another couch and joined him to watch the opera that was presently on.
Not long have I sat down without Lance giving me any attention, did the knocker go off, ensued by the loud padding of the butler’s feet from wherever he was, to the door.
A few minutes later, the door from the lobby to the living room swung open and Alonso stormed into the sitting room, his eyes instantly finding mine.
“Why are you not responding to the link, Lancelot?” His strong, able baritone resonated in the hall.
Lance whose attention has eventually been snatched from the television, looked at Alonso, his forehead creased in a look that scream ‘bewilderment’.
“I didn’t get it. Maybe because I was distracted,” he pointed at the television.
“Whatever you say,” Alonso said, prancing further into the room. His eyes seemingly now avoiding me. “We would be having a meeting throughout the night. At my place. Alone.” The rhythm of his voice gave no room for contention.
Meeting? At night?
Quite Intriguing.
…