*Danika*
The car drove for a long time until to my uttermost relief it eventually pulled off the road to the parking lot of a fancy restaurant located down a lonely pathway. I wanted to ask Luther why the location was so bizarre but shut my mouth, knowing he won’t say a word. He had done it before and I wouldn’t want to be forced to curse at him.
I alighted and picked up my purse, looking around the desolated area. The only good thing here was the enormous restaurant, with sharp neon lights at the front circling and disseminating the brightness around it.
“Let’s go,” Luther blurted, driving me back from following the movement of the light with my eyes. I hastened after his lofty gaits, still struggling to stand correctly on my heels. It reminds me of the first time I wore them and the trouble they had put in. Maybe it was that day Alonso decided I wasn’t fit to be his Luna Queen.
Drafted piece!
We reached the patio and the shepherd doors scanned us before letting us in. The lobby, like the one outside, was empty. My eyes were still roving about the building, excitement mixed with anxiety bobbing within me. How sweet of Alfred to bring me to a beautiful place like this. I would burst his ears with gratitude. We might even take a few pictures.
I smile at the receptionist, a bald-headed man sitting at the back of a giant desk with a lady elegantly dressed with a red bow tie standing in front of the desk, whose lips pulled to the side as if smiling before she looked away.
I was starting to sweat from literally running after Luther. The hall seems to be endless. Even though Alfred might have chosen here possibly for security measures, do we have to go down the tunnel to hide away from people?
Almost giving up and asking Luther to take me home, he stopped in front of a black opaque door where a tall imposing man was standing. He reached out his scanner on our bodies, then opened the door for us to go in when he found nothing suspicious on us.
The room was desolate with only a bar standing in the middle. With my hand holding my bag to my shoulders, I raked my eyes about, still enthralled by the exquisite interior decor.
“The King awaits that-”
“Wait, what! The King?” I cut off Luther, furrowing my brow at him. So this was the King’s doing and I was thinking it’s Alfred? Hol- Of course, it would be the King. Now everything was starting to make sense; the red gown and the red roses. It’s just that I didn’t think he would take this risk!
Now Luther knows! I searched his eyes to know if he was shocked or appalled. But I didn’t see anything. He was still the same Luther, serious without a smile.
“Okay, thanks.” I smiled frantically and strutted in the direction he pointed. When I looked back, he was gone. No sign of him to show he had been there with me some minute ago. With my mouth cocked to the side, I shook my head and walked on. I will have Alonso’s hide for this.
“You came…” he said when I got to the booth he was seated, stretched on the couch in a relaxing stance, as I’d never seen him before. His broad body was engulfed in a simple black frock and a white shirt that was unbuttoned at the top, showing off his glistening chest and a snippet of his white vest, tucked into black trousers. As usual, he looked delectable.
He stood when I was in front of the table bearing a bottle of a brown substance in a bucket of ice, and came to help me out of my black cloak. Our hands brushed, igniting my flesh in a blazing fire. I swallowed hard, looked away from his knowing eyes, and sat down.
He cleared his throat, and went to hang the cloak in one of the chairs before returning to sit down.
“Were you thinking I wouldn’t?” I lifted my brow when I asked, taking notice of how his eyes skimmed over me. The dress was a plaid flannel short gown. It went down to my knees, exposing my white thighs to anyone who cared enough to look-being Alonso right now. Maybe I should be grateful it turned out to be him. Imagine if it were Alfred looking at me in this manner, I would have definitely been died.
“It was a gamble. I thought maybe after this morning, you wouldn’t have wanted to see me. Plus you disobeyed me and ran off to work, which I assumed would have made you tired,” he intoned in a hoarse voice.
Is it at this point I tell him I didn’t think it was going to be him in the first place? Or should I just let it fly? After all, I was running away from thinking about my discourse with Alfred today, I wouldn’t want to raise any further dispute. So I only smiled and patted my lap, averting my eyes from him to leer around.
“So why did you bring me here?” I queried, returning back to examining him. “Irrespective of the risk this would pose!”
“I just wanted to take you away from home and have you to myself without the fear of who is nosing around or… possibly because I just thought you will like it-”
“I do!” I interrupted, seeing the way he was starting to stutter. I wouldn’t want him to think I am not delighted with this because I am. Despite it being him, I am pleased he thought of doing something in my favor. “I am delighted to be here,” I pelted out with a nervous chuckle.
He nodded hesitantly and bent to pour me a glass of the brown substance. “I hope you like Champagne?”
“Champagne?” I croaked, eyeing the bottle.
“Yeah. I didn’t know what you would like so I settled for this since almost everyone seems to like it…” he trailed off to concentrate, only looking up to hand me the glass with a slight smile.
“You know if we are going to do this, then you have to smile more often at me like you did the other day…” I sipped the drink and hummed in concurrence with him. “This is good!” I surged, tapping my hand now in my lap.
“I’m glad you agree,” he informed me, his eyes intense on me. They were sparkling across the table and I knew it was from the fancy lights in the room. They were not bright, but enough to see the next person.
Suddenly, music assailed the room, breaking our chemistry. Low music, but very romantic. I haven’t sampled a lot of music in my life so I can’t decide if I was a music person or not, but right now, in this moment sitting with Alonso with his eyes pinned on me in a dark examination, I loved this particular music that was on. It made the moment magical.
“What is it about you, Danika?” His voice sailed to me, low and filled with meaning.
“What is it about me?” I returned the question, flipping off my hair from my face with my free hand.
He shrugged, took his glass and had a long sip. “I don’t know… I tell myself you are not the right woman I need to lead my people, yet, for reasons beyond me I can’t seem to stop thinking about you.”
“Why?” I pushed.
He huffed and looked at his glass, his finger swirling at the top in thought. Then he said, “When I lost my first mate a long time ago, I made a vow I was never going to remarry. She was the love of my life and everything I ever wanted in a woman; sharp-witted, beautiful, tongue of a viper, and only a look from her could freeze a river when she was angry,” he snickered, a certain look on his face.
I sat further up on my couch, desiring to hold his hand and tell him it was alright.
“All I wanted and still want is to lead this Kingdom to become what she always desired…” He met my eyes. “The first time I brought her home, my Dad looked at her and told me she would make a great Luna Queen. I believed him. She was full of dreams, dreams of making this Kingdom become one of the greatest in the three Pacific… in the entire supernatural world. She was bent on uniting us, even though she knew how impossible that would be.” Then his eyes grew cold. “She died dreaming…”
Filled with so much sympathy for him, I couldn’t take it anymore and stood, moving to his were he sat to hold his hand. His wolf eyes are now surfacing showing he was raging inside with the memory. I decided it’s time we changed the topic.
So I smiled, tugged his hand, and asked cheekily, “Is that why you brought me here? To talk about your dead mate?” He stilled, then shook his head. I knew he was hurting and I didn’t want him to turn back to his former distant self. It’s a good thing he is making an attempt to open up and we would go one step after the other. Slow and steady.
I stood and took his hand, dragging him up to the center of the room. “I have always wanted to dance in the arms of my mate someday, will you do me the honor?”
“Dance?” he quizzed in a nervous voice. I tugged him out of the couch, snaking my hand around his head to draw him close before he got a chance to change his mind.
“Dance.”
…