VIKTOR
“Well?” Alden asks into the silence. “Why do you look so shocked?”
“Because you shocked me, you asshole,” I retort as I think fast. “What? Were you just waiting at the door to pull that move?” I demand.
“Kind of, yes,” he answers. “So, who is he?”
“I don’t know who he is!” I snap at him. “This is the first time I am seeing him.”
“But you two were talking.”
“I-”
“Um, excuse me?” Andre calls out as he walks up to us.
Please, please don’t mess this up.
“Yes?” Alden asks as he switches his dead goldfish stare.
“I can see that I have caused some …tension,” Andre answers. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to come between you two.”
“What?!”
“Excuse me?! There is nothing going in between us!” Alden snaps.
“Oh, okay. Um, it is just… uh, you kept questioning him like a lover, so I just thought…”
“You thought wrong!” I snap back.
This asshole.
Lovers?
Really?
“Okay! Okay, I am sorry. Your argument was just… nevermind. I don’t know this man, okay?” he says, turning to Alden. “I saw him moving around asking questions and so when I bumped into him, I asked what the problem was. Told me about a kid missing. That is all.
“I see,” Alden replies as his gaze moves between the two of us. “I am sorry for… the inconvenience.”
“It is fine, man,” Andre assures him as he walks out. “I hope you two sort out whatever spat you are in,” he says before leaving.
Silence reigns for a full minute, both of us watching the other before I break it.
“You are a very suspicious man. It is not right.”
“I am a rogue,”he responds in that same deadpan tone. “Suspicion is what has kept me alive so far.”
Right.
Are we really that bad?
I get that most packs are… intolerant of rogues but we are not that vicious.
Right?
“Any news on Jhnelle? I ask as I move past him.
“No, not yet. Do you know where the Guia is?” he asks, getting in step with me.
“Security control room,”I answer. “We had no luck finding her so she decided to check the cctvs. I am heading over there now.”
“Okay, I will come with you.”
Our walk there is quiet, none of us even looking at each other as we maneuver our way through the crowd.
“You know,”he begins breaking the silence. “For someone who has no recollection of his past, you are being very calm and put together.”
“Really? I guess I must be a really chill person.”
“Of course, you will think that.”
“Okay, is there something you have against me?!” I snap as I whirl on him, completely pissed. “Why are you so hung up on me like this? I can’t be the first person to come into the settlement from an injury!”
“No, you are not. But you are the first who is so determined to get close to Rowan. Why is that? What do you want from her?*
“That is none of your business.”
“It is my business-”
“I can assure you, it is not. And you have a problem with me staying close to her and you can take it up with her. But until then, you get off my freaking back, got it?!” I snarl into his face.
He must see I mean business because he nods and steps away from me.
“Got it.”
After that, there is nothing to say. We resume our walk of silence before eventually arriving at an empty passageway with a blue door.
I walk up to it, giving a drum knock before pushing the door open.
In the room, there are almost thirty screens hanging on the walls with a large desktop control beneath them.
In front of it stands Rowan, with a few other men, all of them focused on the screen.
“That is the last of it,” one of the uniformed men says as he leans back. “I am sorry.”
“It just means that she is not in the mall,” another one says, this one dressed in civilian clothes. “There are still a lot of places she might be. You need to be calm, Miss. Blaze.”
“I am calm,”she replies as she turns away from him. “Can I still count on your help with the other buildings?” she asks.
“Of course, shall we.”
Upon sighting me, she hurries over, hope in her eyes.
“Did you find her?”she asks as her eyes flit between me and Alden.
“No, not yet.”
“Me neither,” Alden adds.
She inhales sharply at our Alden before struggling to get her emotions in check. My heart bleeds for her and it is all I can do to stop myself from pulling her into my arms.
“Alright, then. Let’s go,” she orders as she leads the way.
Again, no one says anything as we follow her. There is really nothing to be said to a mother who is searching for her child.
The only thing that will help her right now is to have her daughter back in her arms, safe and sound.
“Who was the man you were talking to?” she asks.
“What?” I ask in surprise.
Not that I don’t know there was a chance that she would have caught me talking to Andre.
Still, that she had the time to notice me…
She is something.
“The man that approached you, at the stairs. Who was he?”
“Oh, he thought I was a friend. When I turned, he apologized for the confusion and we parted. What? Were you watching me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, louis. I merely caught sight of you, that is all.”
“Really? In that whole mess of a screen, you caught sight of me? I am sorry but I can’t help but be flattered. In fact-”
“Mummy!”
As one, we turn to see Jhenelle heading to us while being carried in the arms of a man.
Andre.