Alpha Bounded (Alpha's Little Secret Universe)

Chapter 8: Interviews

I felt uncomfortable. Interviews were normally very straight to the point and didn't go to much into detail about personal life, but because the project we were doing was a romantic drama, the question of who I was dating behind the scenes kept being brought up. Raphael usually played into it, occasionally throwing his arm around me or playfully acting like we were a couple when interviews would get around to those questions. He'd also answer those kinds of questions before I could answer. Saying things like "we're best friends" or "we're a work couple". Part of me knew he was just trying to build excitement for the project, but it could be a bit much and it only fueled the rumors. Especially when Malachi was sitting on the other side of me during most interviews without so much as being mentioned half the time. His role in the movie wasn't as prominent so he tended to take a back seat in most of the interviews.

"Malachi, how is it working with such established actors? This is sort of a break out role for you and the fans would love to know more," the interviewer asked. Malachi took a moment to think, then looked at the woman.

"It's an amazing experience to be around such a talented actors. Raphael has kind of shown me the ropes of how these bigger projects work and Walker's sort of been my anchor for some of the heavier scenes. He's really easy to talk to about how to project big emotions," he responded professionally. He was such a media trained actor that it almost made me laugh.

"Oh...really? So you and Walker spend a lot of time together working on scenes?" She asked. I knew she was digging for any sort of hint as to who I could potentially be interested in. That's all these late night interviews tried to do.

"Only the time we're allotted on set. He has a majority of the emotionally heavy scenes, so I try to soak up as much knowledge from him as I can." It was easy for him to speak around the truth. We hadn't gone public about anything yet. We hadn't even discussed if we wanted to. There was so much to unpack between us that I didn't even know where to start. It just wasn't the right time to tell everyone yet.

"I see...so Walker..." the late night show host looked at me, her lips curving into a smirk.

"...Obviously you and Raphael have on screen chemistry as we saw in the trailers. Has any of that carried over into real life for you?" The interviewer asked. It was like they all had the same list of questions written for them by the same person. Thankfully this question was asked to me and not the entire main cast.

"Me and Raphael are just friends, if that's what you're asking," I answered. The interviewer crossed her legs, the biggest smile appearing on her face.

"I just want to understand how your relationship with Raphael is behind the scenes. I mean you two have a lot of romantic and sexually heated scenes together. There has to be some kind of fire between you two," the interviewer theorized.

Before I could even say anything, Raphael jumped in. "I think that's a very personal and uncomfortable thing to ask someone who's pair bonded," Raphael revealed. Instantly, I felt my stomach drop. He had just told everyone on live late night T.V. that I was pair bonded with someone. I could also feel the energy shifting from Malachi's direction. He hadn't said much this interview, but I could just tell he was doing everything in his power not to say anything to Raphael.

"Wait, so are you telling me that Walker is in fact pair bonded with someone?!" The woman questioned.

Raphael nodded, continuing on as if he hadn't just made my life 10 times harder. "Obviously I'm not allowed to tell you who. But trust me. I'd never overstep any boundaries or come in between a pair bonded couple. My relationship with Walker is completely photonic," he clarified.

"Wow, you heard it here first folks. Walker has a mate and they're pair bonded!"

As soon as the cameras cut to commercial and we were allowed to walk off the live set, I went to find Blair immediately. She was already in damage control mode as she managed to make several phone calls to my parents by the time I got backstage.

"That idiot! Why would he..."

"Blair it's fine," I assured her.

"It's not fine! He just...on live tv...." Blair's eyes widened. "Where is Malachi?!" She asked. As if planned, I heard two voices screaming at each other followed by the sound of security. I poked my head out of my dressing room to find Malachi being pulled back by several security guards while Raphael held his face in his hand.

"Let go of me!" Malachi shouted. Once he was free he walked directly to me, pushing me back in the room and slammed the door behind him.

"I'm sorry,"he apologized the moment I looked at him.

"He just went and did that without even discussing it with you. How does he even know about us? I bet it was..."

"I told him," I admitted before he could jump to any possible suspects.

"Y-you did...oh..." Malachi's face dropped. "...I didn't know you two talked about stuff like that." I felt a little guilty for not telling Malachi about my conversation with Raphael, but I didn't think it would turn into this.

"I didn't tell him to go and do that though. We did not have a conversation about telling the public about me being pair bonded."

"But you did have a conversation about me?" Malachi inquired.

I nodded not knowing what to say. It was like I had accidentally stepped into fire and didn't know how to put out the flames. Even thinking about Malachi being upset at me made me want to puke.

"He got me an early valentines gift thinking that I'd receive it well and in confidence I told him about you. He then proceeded to tell me about your ex and how things went down between you and him. I should've told you that I knew about your ex, but I didn't know how to talk about it without it being this big thing. But now it's..."

Malachi stopped me from rambling by pulling me into a hug. "Does me having an ex bother you?" He asked in the most gentle voice he could make.

I didn't want to answer yes. That would mean that I was a jealous of something that didn't exist anymore, which made me crazy. Honestly, it wasn't even his ex that made me jealous, it was the fact that they shared some sort of intimacy that I had yet to even dabble with. I wanted Malachi so physically that it literally hurt.

"Well I think I should be the one to tell you about him with the most accurate information, so everything is clear. His name is Ben and he left me because someone else made him feel better than I ever could. We were together for 2 years and for those 2 years we had never gone past kissing and cuddling. I've never mated with him or anyone else and I've never been with anyone else. Truthfully I've only ever really had the desire to be like that with you," he admitted. Within seconds I felt like the dumbest person to ever walk. Now it was starting to make sense why Malachi was being so hesitant. He had gotten his heart broken and thought nobody wanted him. He even thought I wanted nothing to do with him at a point in time. I guess he needed time to process things before making any permanent decisions with me.

"This whole time I thought that maybe you didn't want me," I admitted.

"Are you serious? I've never wanted something this bad in my life. I even told Blair that I don't think I'm good enough for you. I mean, I'm not Raphael. I don't have the perfect family. I'm not the most dominant alpha. I just...I want to be the thing that makes your life easier and I don't think I can," he said as if any of that mattered.

"I don't care if my life is easier or harder. As long as I get to have you in it I'll be okay." We both stared at each other for longer than we should've because the sound of Blair clearing her throat startled me. I looked in her direction and turned my head to the side in confusion. She was still standing near the dressing room door, however the look on her face read nothing but mortification.

"You still have the microphones on," she whispered.