54

Chapter 54
The lake was calm, and the moonlight bounced off the surface of it, tall trees surrounded it, their reflection making dark sketchy designs on it. Crickets called in the dark and owls hooted, the flapping sound of wings and the cool breeze swooshing against the leaves blended to form a melody.
He had never seen anything more serene in his entire life. For a moment he forgot his anguish, the pain and the anger inside of him quenched for a burning second of admiration as he took in his surroundings.
His breath slowly steadied, and he sighed in relief, his raggedy pants silencing into even ones. This was all he needed to heal, nature.
“Ava” he muttered into the darkness, never in a million years, would he have imagined her to do this to him. She seemed so pure, so innocent, so incapable of doing any wrong.
Perhaps he had been in too much of a hurry to judge the book by its cover. He should have looked deeper down, and seen her content.
Even using that to judge her would have been harder, her contents were very different from what he had just found out.
He thought he had known all there was to know about her. But he was mistaken, there was much more to her than he had ever imagined, and seeing it now, he felt like a fool for even believing she was anything else apart from this.
His legs had been fueled by his anger and he had run all the way here, and in the midst of nowhere, he had found this beauty.
How he never heard of or known there was a place like this in Westwood was beyond him. Perhaps no one had wandered this far, or they had found it but had decided to gatekeep.
There was rustling on the other side of the lake, and he lifted his eyes to scan it. It was too dark for him to make out anything or anyone, but the sound was gone just as quickly as it came, so he brushed it off.
Maybe it was just some random animal or a twig, he thought, his mind going back to the subject and object of his fantasy now turned to pain.
His nose caught a whiff of her smell, and he took a long inhale, his eyes unconsciously closing as he savored and picked out each scent. Cinnamon, clove, and something else.
Did he miss her so much that he was perceiving her? Or perhaps was she somewhere around the vicinity? He banished the second thought just as quickly as it came to his mind.
Why would she be here, in west wood, and at this hour? She was supposedly pregnant too, and West Wood was too long a distance from Mist Wood for her to just come leisurely.
Going with the first thought, he cautioned himself, that he should not be missing her in any way or form. She had betrayed him, and badly too.
What if the princess just made all of this up? What if this was all a lie to make him hate Ava? What if she just cooked this up to rile him and have him to herself?
He knew the princess well enough, and he knew she would go to any lengths to get what she wanted and if she wanted him like she claimed, this being a sham was a possibility.
Alpha Damon knew the only way to find out the truth was to confront Ava, he had to speak to her and hear from her lips and hope that everything that Princess just told him was a lie.
He hoped she would tell him that she was not carrying another man’s child and that she was not seeing anyone else aside’s himself, he could only hope.
An
Alpha Damon lay on the grass beside the lake, deep in thought, for some hours before he got up to leave. This time his head was clearer, the rage had dissipated, and he still felt bad but a little better than when he had first left the house.
He did not realize how far off he had wandered in his anger until when he tried to retrace his steps back to the house, it was all quite tiring as the force of the anger that brought him here and made him wander this far was not there to take him back home.
The night light from the mansion leaked into the woods through the gaps in the leaves and branches, and all he had to do was follow the light and he was home.
The grounds were empty save for some guards who bowed at the sight of him. He waved them off and headed to the entrance, dropping off his wet, muddy shoes outside to not filth the inside.
The maids would take care of it, he thought as he went straight to his room. He walked by Princess’s room and resisted the urge to go into her. He had to speak to Ava first and know the truth before he did something he would regret.
He headed to the bathroom to clean himself up, and that took a while. He was filthy, having laid down on the floor at the lake. He had to wash everything and everywhere thoroughly.
Soon he was done and headed straight to bed, he was exhausted and burnt out, and it did not help that his thoughts were still occupied by this one woman.
His eyes closed, and he dozed off, happily embracing the darkness that his eyes closed into. For a few hours, he would be free from this pain that was clutching at his heart with heavy hands.
Morning came sooner than he would have wanted it to, he squinted his eyes at the ray of sun that filled his room. He had forgotten to close the curtains yet again.
It was slowly becoming a bad habit, and he would have to deal with the consequences, by waking up to his room flooded by rays of sunlight.
Getting up, he got ready for the office slowly, he was not as enthusiastic about work today as he usually would be. There was the possibility that he might speak to Ava, and she would confirm what princess told him the previous night.
He settled for brown pants and a white button-down shirt, something dull and gloomy like his mood, he thought as he slipped on a brown pit of shoes to go with the pants.
Clipping a wristwatch on and spraying his favorite perfume, he observed his reflection in the mirror. His eyes looked heavy, like he still had a few hours of sleep in them, which he in fact did.
Small eye bags rested beneath his lower lid, and he massaged them softly with his pinky fingers to make them appear a little better.
That did not work, but it did make it feel better, he grabbed his car keys and walked out of the room. Stopping at princess’s door and slightly opening it to peer inside.
She was still fast asleep, splayed across her mattress like a newborn baby without a care in the world. He smiled at the sight of her, “cute” he muttered as he silently closed the door to not wake her up.
She should be up and ready for work in the next hour or so, he had noticed very early that she was not a morning person, so he had let her be, giving her the freedom to come to work whenever she wanted.
The drive to work was more hectic than it had ever been, he had to push away negative thoughts and thoughts of Ava.
He would rather not think the worst of her anymore, at least not until he had spoken to her. Just In case princess was lying, which he doubted greatly.
The office was empty, he was earlier than normal, there was barely anyone, and he let himself in. He just wanted to get out of his bed and the house instead of laying there and overthinking.
Going straight to work, alpha Damon switched on his computer and flipped through the files on his desk. Quickly getting into work mood.
Thoughts of Ava filtered into his mind occasionally, and he dwelled upon them for sheik before pushing them away again.
The sounds of other workers coming in filled the office, and he glanced at the time when he heard a new person walk in, subconsciously taking note of the time when they each resumed for the day.
He did not hear Ava or Princess walk in, and he waited patiently for them. He felt her before he heard her.
He could feel and smell her from a million miles, which was why if it wet under normal circumstances, he would have sworn she was at that lake the previous night.
But that would have been impossible, she hated West Wood, maybe not hate, but she would not just drive down to West Wood to be by a lake.