Alone

THE CEO ALPHA KING
Chapter 25: Alone
Writer’s POV
What did he just say? Serena thought, staring at him doubtfully.
Did the king just say that he missed me? She turned to look at him, but noticed a smirk on his face, causing her eyes to widen as she quickly looked away.
What was he doing? What was going on?
“You know you just broke one of my rules. You don’t stare at your master in the eyes.” King Zed reminded, taking a sip from his coffee.
“I… I am sorry master, forgive me.” Serena apologized immediately.
“Of course. All I have ever done is forgive you. Now go make me something to eat and be quick about it.” King Zed ordered dropping the cup on the table.
“Yes, master.” Serena bowed slightly before rushing out of the room.
The king’s gaze lingered on the door even after Serena left, he lifted his coffee to his lips once more.
“Happy now? I don’t like being nice, you know.” King Zed communicated to his wolf who snickered in reply.
“Yes, I’m happy.” Damon, his wolf snorted.
Serena set out to work immediately after she got to the kitchen. She wished so much that Isaac would remain at the castle, but he had to go.
That was the deal she made with King Zed. She had to remain loyal to him forever in exchange for Isaac’s life and freedom.
She stared at the door of the kitchen to notice the guards. Two bulky guards stood at the entrance, waiting for her to finish her cooking.
She forced her eyes back to what she was doing, sadness spreading through her at the thought of Isaac leaving the castle. The worst was that she couldn’t bring herself to mind-link him either. She could only hope that he could feel her pain.
The way she reacted earlier was uncalled for, and Isaac must have been confused and angry about it, but she couldn’t help it; she had to let him go live the rest of his life, not stuck here in the castle for the rest of his life because of her.
As she tried to encourage herself to be strong and that she was only doing what was right for her brother, a tear managed to escape her eyes, falling with a splash on the counter.
But she quickly wiped it away, with or without Isaac, she had to live. She sniffled, pushing all her thoughts behind her to focus on the meal. In a few hours, she dished everything she had prepared on different plates. Then, she carried them out of the kitchen; the guards at the door followed her immediately, as they continued watching every one of her movements.
She was passing by a room when she heard Isaac and Kendrick’s voices. She paused and turned to see where their voices were coming from.
“What are you waiting for?” One of the towering guards behind her inquired.
“Nothing.” She mumbled and continued walking away with the tray.
“Serena.” She heard Isaac’s call but did not turn to face him. She bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from making a mistake.
When she arrived at King Zed’s current room, she knocked on the door, and he invited her inside.
The guard opened the door for her, and she entered.
She arranged the dishes on the table and then took three steps back, away from the meal.
Her heart raced with fear and uncertainty as she stood there, but she kept a straight face, telling herself she would get through it just like Isaac often advised.
It did not take long before King Zed detected her fears. He gave her a brief glance but pretended he had not noticed anything.
“Get me a glass of warm water.” King Zed gave the order.
“Yes, Master.” Serena turned and exited the room.
She walked lazily to the kitchen, but could not find Isaac where she last saw him. She could not smell his scent, and his voice could not be heard no matter how hard she listened.
The realization that she would spend her entire life in the castle without seeing her brother hit her hard; tears welled up in the back of her eyes, but she was determined to not cry.
She had only ever cried, and she wanted to be strong for once.
She took out the kettle and filled it with clean water. She turned on the stove and put the kettle on the fire, standing beside it while the water heated up.
As she waited, her thoughts drifted back to when she first arrived at the castle. How she met Isaac and how she was uncomfortable around him, scared to be precise. His Beta aura alarmed her, and she mistook him for a threat even though he was only being friendly.
How he continued to be kind to her until she realized they were siblings. That he was her big brother.
A sad smile spread across her face as she recalled the memory.
Serena felt her skin heat up and looked at the kettle to see steam rushing out.
“Oh my gosh!” She exclaimed, bringing down the hot kettle from the cooker. She tried to turn off the cooker right away, but the heat burned her hand, so she grabbed a piece of rag, but it caught fire instead.
She dumped the cloth on the floor, gasping in fear.
“What are you doing?” She heard a very familiar voice ask. Serena turned to see the king standing bewildered behind her.
What is he doing here? Serena wondered.
“I.. um… I want to turn it off, the cooker.. refused…” Serena stuttered.
“Turn it off. Turn it off right now!” King Zed commanded, his gaze fixed on the burning fire that had begun to spread through the cloth Serena had thrown down on the floor.
Serena dashed to the sink and drew water from the tap into a bowl, pouring it on the fire that was rapidly spreading along the counter.
After quenching the fire down, she went ahead and turned off the cooker, burning her hand again in the process.
She took a deep breath and bit down on her lip. She slowly turned when she heard someone panting quickly, and she looked up to see King Zed standing right behind her, his gaze fixed on the countertop.
His cold grey orbs expressed an emotion similar to… Fear?
After staring at the countertop for several minutes, he finally recovered and averted his gaze from the cooker before exiting the kitchen in annoyance.
Serena returned her gaze to the cooker, confused.
What just happened? She asked herself, her left hand flying to her chest in terror of nearly burning down the entire kitchen.
She took up the kettle and poured the remaining water there into a glass cup. She added a small amount of cold water to it, making sure it was not too hot or too cold before transferring it to another tray.
She then left the kitchen to go find him.
She followed his scent to his office, where she knocked on the door but received no response.
“Master, it is me. “You need to drink water,” Serena said, hoping he’ll answer her.
The door opened on its own after some minutes and Serena entered.
She noticed the king holding his head, appearing to be deep in thought.
She cautiously walked towards him and placed the cup of water before taking a step backward.
“You can leave.” King Zed groaned.
Serena nodded once before reaching for the door, but she stopped to look at the king, who was still holding his head as if it was going to fall off at any moment.
Serena did not understand why the king reacted so strongly to the fire; she did not understand how he, of all people, could be scared of such a small fire.
King Zed is not afraid of anything or anyone, so the situation is very confusing to her.
She kept staring at him, fighting the urge to leave as he ordered.
She kept standing at the door, wishing she could go in back, ask him questions and confront him.
She had no idea why she was suddenly worried about the king, but every bone in her body told her to go ask him what was wrong. It was as if disobeying the king and going in to meet him was the correct thing to do.
But she still has to follow his orders.
After much deliberation, she decided to obey him while remaining with him.
She closed the door but leaned back against it, the tray she used to serve him the warm water pressed against her body.
She stood outside his office for what seemed like twenty minutes, constantly listening to see if she would hear him move but he didn’t.
The thought that the king might have a past, something related to fire, a past that still haunts him, made her very concerned.
She is not sure how or why she suddenly had that feeling, but it was there.
After another twenty minutes had passed and he had still not moved or responded, she summoned her courage and attempted to open the door, but it was locked.
“Your Highness, I am not sure why you are acting this way, but if you need someone to talk to, I am here. Your secrets will be buried with me because I am your forever slave. She thought aloud, hoping that the king would hear her thoughts.
After another five minutes, he still did not respond. She turned to look at the door sadly before leaving to drop off the tray in the kitchen and clean up the mess she had made.
***
“Hey man, will you calm down?” Ken spoke to Isaac, who kept pacing around the room.
“No! I can’t calm down, Kendrick. I am not sure what the king did or said to her that caused her to behave that way. I am upset because she ignored me twice and does not even mind link me when she knows I am leaving the castle.
She could have come out to say goodbye, but she didn’t. “Of course, I am mad!” Issac spoke painfully.
“You stated that she is not allowed to see you again. That was the king’s command; did you expect her to break it despite what happened?
To me, what the king did was quite reasonable; it is better than being dead, you know.” Kendrick argued.
Isaac turned and glared at him.
“What? I am only telling the truth, and it is better than death. Why don’t you just mind-link her instead?” Ken suggested.
“I can’t, the king… I don’t know what he did to my head; I can’t mind link her; she is the only person I can’t mind link. It’s very annoying. She should at least mind link me.” Isaac huffed.
“How are you sure she can mind-link you since you can’t mind-link her?” Ken turned to Isaac and questioned
“Just a feeling. I just know that the king didn’t do the same to her, she is only avoiding me. She must know that I’m really mad at her.” Isaac said, shaking his head.
“Maybe you should stop being mad at her then. When she finds out that you are no longer upset then she will mind-link you.”
“Then what? What will happen after that, man? I’m not allowed to see my sister ever again. I can’t see her again, do you know how crazy that is?”
“I won’t be able to live with it, Ken. I can’t live without seeing her; it will be close to impossible; I mean, after searching for her for that long, then I lose her again?”
“No. I have to figure this out. I have to think.” Isaac shook his aggressively while biting down his nail as thousands of thoughts filled his mind.