Jayce’S POV.
“That will be all for today Lloyd, you can go home now.” I tell my Beta who’s seated before me. We’ve been discussing the party arrangements for hours now and it’s already nine pm.
“Thank you Alpha.” Lloyd picks up his file from my table and rises to his feet. “I hope you’ll be heading home too.”
“I’m right behind you.”
“Right.” He nods. “Good night then.”
“Good night Lloyd.” I watch him walk out of my office. Once the door closes behind him, I lean on my chair and let out a heavy sigh. I’m exhausted and famished and most importantly, I miss my mate, Alora. I just want to go home right now so she can hold me in her warm arms.
“What are you waiting for?” My wolf, King, asks out of nowhere. “If you miss her so much, why don’t you just go home right now?” He asks eagerly and I roll my eyes.
“That’s exactly what I want to do right now, King. Go take a nap. I’m not in the mood to deal with you tonight.”
“Fine! But you have ten minutes to be home. You are not the only one who misses our mate.” He says stubbornly and I find myself chuckling even though I don’t want to.
As of now, I’m the only one who has any sort of connection to our mate, Alora. He doesn’t have any yet because I’ve not marked her. Once I do that, her wolf will be able to reach out to King and they will form their own mate bond. It’s going to be very interesting and lovely. I can’t wait.
I organise the files on my table in place and turn off all my electronic gadgets before leaving my office.
My heart keeps dancing in excitement as I walk out the building and step into the castle premises. My entire being is longing for Alora and I’m sure she’s waiting for me to get home.
As I walk, I wonder what news she has for me tonight. I will be more than happy to sit down and listen to her talk endlessly about her day. She always looks so cute when ranting and God knows how hard I try to refrain myself from kissing her.
My cell phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out. I stop in my tracks when I see the name on the caller ID.
It’s Alora.
Alora is calling me.
I clear my throat and look around before answering the call.
“Hello baby.” I greet her with my calmest voice. “How are you doing?”
“Alpha Jayce, Good evening. I’m doing just fine, thank you.”
“I’m happy to hear that. Do you need anything, love?”
“I need you to tell me when you will be coming home.” Her voice is firm and serious. I take the phone away from my ear and look at the caller ID to make sure it’s Alora I’m taking to and it’s her.
I’m shocked by her response.
I’m shocked in a nice way.
“I… I…” I stutter nervously as I scratch the back of my head. It’s been a while since anyone said something like that to me. Alora really caught me off guard. “I just left the office. I’m on my way home now.”
“Alright then. I’ll ask the maids to heat up your food. Don’t take too long, okay. I’m waiting for you.” Then she ends the call. I take the phone away from my ear and look at the screen with a frown on my face. I wasn’t even done talking yet.
“You are gonna be a feisty one, Alora. I need to brace myself for what’s coming.” I shove the phone in my pocket and look around me curiously. I can feel that I’m not alone out here. Like there’s someone following me. I can perceive the smell of a person, I can feel his or her presence, but I can’t see them. “Whoever’s spying on me had better stop right now. I can feel your presence, I can smell you.” I say out loud as I keep looking around.
I’m not afraid.
I just hate it when anyone tries to attack me by following me around and attempting to take me off guard. That has never worked before and I wonder if they never learn.
Because I’m not scared, I keep walking. The entire castle premises is lit up and I can see perfectly. Whoever it is must be hiding behind one of these many gardens or trees.
I walk for a short distance and I’m about to take the nearby corner when I hear footsteps approaching quickly from behind. I instantly turn around to see who it is and I’m shocked to see my step-brother, Jovan, flying on my body out of nowhere, but he doesn’t reach me because another person intercepts and attacks him midair before his protruding claws can touch any part of my body. The person, whom I immediately recognize to be Reed, grabs Jovan’s hands and pushes him away from me.
Reed just saved me from my brother’s claws and canines.
Jovan groans in anger and comes back immediately to fight Reed. They both get into an intense fists to fist battle and Jovan gives Reed a big bite on his right leg. He doesn’t even react like he had been bitten. He keeps fighting. I’m about to step in and take over, but I stop when I see what Reed does to Jovan. He balls his right fist and gives Jovan two heavy punches. One on his jaw and the other in his stomach. Jovan growls in pain as he staggers several steps backwards before finally falling to the ground.
“How can a mere Omega beat me up? This is preposterous! I must be trippin!” Jovan panics on the ground.
Reed, who’s really pissed off right now, starts walking closer to Jovan to ride on with the fight and I don’t try to stop him. Jovan, afraid of what could happen to him, gets on his feet and runs away with his hand clutching his stomach.
Coward.
I rush over to Reed.
“Are you alright?” He asks me and I’m taken aback.
“What do you mean, am I alright? As you can see I’m perfectly fine. Are you alright?” I ask, pointing to his leg. The fabric on the spot that was bitten has been torn and I see the wounded spot. It makes my heart hurt. He just got bitten by an Alpha wolf. It’s going to take a lot of time to heal. “We need to get that cleaned up. Come with me.” He doesn’t protest. I mind-link the pack doctor who lives nearby to meet us at the main castle.
I have so many questions to ask him about the incident that just took place, but I’m going to do that after his wound has been cleaned up or during the clean up process.
When we arrive at the building, the doctor is already waiting for us. He immediately starts attending to Reed’s wound.
I still can’t believe Reed protected me.
“How did you know he was going to attack me?” I ask, looking at Reed who seems to be in so much pain, but he’s trying to hide it.
He’s always trying to hide his emotions.
He looks up at me.
“I didn’t know. I was on my way here to steal some milk from your kitchen and I happened to see him trying to attack you from behind, so I had to step in to protect you.”
“You had to?”
“Yes. I had to. It is my duty to do so. You are my Alpha.” He says it like it means nothing to him, but actually, it’s a big deal to him.
You can never know what is going on in Reed’s mind for real.
“I see.” I say nodding. “How were you able to beat him up? He’s an Alpha, you are an Omega. Your strength is nowhere compared to his, but you had him thoroughly trashed. That’s not something that happens everyday.”
“Well I guess today was one of those rare days and also, I perceived Alcohol in his breath. He must have been drunk and a bit weak, that’s why I got lucky. It’s no big deal.” I nod my head and don’t say anything, because I’m still not convinced by that explanation.
Jovan might have been drunk and a beat weak and off balance, but I know what I saw. Reed’s strength was something I have never seen in anyone else before. Not even Lloyd who is the Beta of this pack.
Even if Jovan was sober and strong, Reed would’ve trashed him. I am very sure of that.
I walk over to the kitchen where I take out my special milk from the fridge and two glasses from one of the shelves. By the time I return to the living room, the doctor is gone.
“Where’s the doctor?” I ask, looking around.
“He’s done with the wound, so I sent him back home. He also gave me some painkillers to take.”
“Oh…”
“Your brother bites like a girl.” He mocks Jovan and I laugh hard as I place the glasses and milk on the table.
“Stop running your mouth, Reed. You got beaten by an Alpha, that wound is going to take a while to heal.” I explain as I fill the two glasses with milk.
“Alpha my ass.” He scoffs. I shoot him a menacing side eye as I give him one glass of milk.
“Drink your medicine with this milk and stop talking. You are injured.”
“On my leg, not my mouth so I can talk as much as I can.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot no one ever tells you what to do.”
“I’m happy you know that.” He says with a proud smirk. I shake my head and take a sip of my milk. We both stay silent for a while, buried in our own thoughts and that’s when it occurs to me that I have to say something to Reed.
“Thank you.” It’s almost a whisper, but I know he heard because of our extraordinary hearing abilities.
“Why are you thanking me?”
“For protecting me from that sudden attack. I don’t know what Jovan was willing to achieve from that sudden attack, but you prevented him from achieving it and I’m thankful to you for that.” He simply nods and I don’t push it because I know that’s all I’m going to get no matter what I say.
He might be a difficult person to interact with, but he’s very reliable and that’s why he’s one of my favourite people in this life.
I’m going to tell Lloyd to stop monitoring him. It’s obvious he’s on my side.
He doesn’t even look like someone who’s in pain!
“I only shared my milk with you today because you are injured. Stop coming here to steal it. That has got to stop.” He doesn’t say anything. He quietly pours himself another glass of milk and starts drinking. I know what I just said got into his right ear and came out through the left. He’ll do whatever he wants. “I’ll start hiding this milk in my fridge.”
“I’ll befriend Alora and have her give it to me when I ask.”
“Alora loathes you.”
“Then I’ll go get it myself. I don’t care if I meet you guys having sex. That won’t stop me from getting what I want.” I choke on my milk.
Reed says the most obnoxious things when you dare to challenge him. I simply shake my head and let it go.
“From which parent did you inherit your love for milk?”
“My dad.” He swallows dryly after saying the word dad. I look at his face and his expression has changed too. The naughty look has turned into a sad one.
“Cool.” Is all I say as I nod my head. We keep drinking in complete silence.
I have shared wine, whiskey and coffee with people, but never has it been milk. It feels so nice to drink milk together with Reed and I hope we do it more often.
He can never know that’s something I wish for.
I don’t know why, but I can feel a special connection with Reed. He might be obnoxious and annoying and arrogant, but I like him a lot.
That’s something I will never be able to explain why.