Amira's Secret

Chapter 21 |Unedited|

"What's so amusing?" I ask him, becoming agitated. 

"You are" he says, kissing my hands. I try to hold him in place and aim for his lips again, but he escapes from my grasps effortlessly. He kisses my cheek in return. Such a gentleman.

 As we're walking back to our bedroom, I stop to speak to him, my desires are being ignored, it's almost been a full day and he hasn't touched me. 

"Leonard...."

He stops, facing me with worry  "Yes, Amira? Is something wrong?" 

 "Yes, very" my agitation has peaked with him. I hate that he pretends to be so clueless. Is he not attracted to me-to us I mean? I look at my refection in the glass mirror posted in the hallway. My curly hair is tied up into a messy bun, I styled it this way on purpose so my neck is exposed. I'm wearing emerald earrings and a tight black dress that exhibits my body. I took my time getting dressed this morning and he's taking my efforts for granted. He must notice a difference in the way I look.He hasn't complemented me at all. Is he really this cruel.  

"Leo, I'm famished. It's been a while since I've been fed, don't you think?" I say this with a sultry voice, hoping he can read between the lines. "If you're hungry, I'll make us dinner reservations for later today. Hopefully you feel better after eating" He answers swiftly and continues walking. I groan, I guess he can't. 

"Why do you insist there is something wrong with me though I've said otherwise? I don't need rest, I feel FINE" I tell him combatively. There is some truth to what I said, I am still "Amira", I'm just the feral side of her. 

He's about to say something until we're interrupted by Salina's wolf . 

"Amira!" I'm yet to know how to interact with her. She approaches me with excitement, but I'm discomforted when she embraces me. She's noticeably disappointed when I don't reciprocate her affection so I try patting her head to make up for my lack of enthusiasm, but it seems to make things worse. 

Salina's cheerful demeanor quickly changes to a despondent one, but Leo comes to my rescue  when the silence between the two of us goes unnoticed. 

  Leo leans down so he can speak to her. "Is something bothering you?"

She shakes her head at him "No uncle Leo, I just wanted to see if Amira is feeling better, but she's still acting strange" 

Her eyes water while looking at me, Leo looks between the two of us and whispers something into her ears. She nods and stares at me with sad eyes before walking away. Her facial expression tells me she's not happy. I feel like a menace all of a sudden. She's obviously aware I'm not Amira,

"Is she okay? Did I say something wrong?" I ask Leo concerned. I feel terrible for having been the cause of her tears. I wonder what he had said to her. 

"She's just worried. I told her you still aren't feeling well and that you need some rest." He pulls out his cellphone and taps on the screen before looking back at me"I made us reservations for 6pm today. I hope you like Italian"  

He dismisses himself for a work meeting. He says he'll pickup me up later in the day and leaves me dumbfounded in the hallway. 

 I'm also disappointed that he would leave without showing me any form of affection. Is he not affected by me? I scoff at the thought, thinking myself crazy. I look at Amira's image in the mirror again, assessing her features. She was truly stunning. She was made to feel ugly by those envious of her beauty,  the ones who made her feel undesirable because of her pigment, but her physical attributes are far beyond comparison to any of the women here. It pains me to know she thinks less of herself because of the biases of people here. We argue about it all the time, it's another reason we're always in strife. She never listens. 

"Amira...Hi" Not her again. 

"Becky" I don't fake a smile this time. I want her to know I'm not pleased to see her. She's always lurking, approaching me at the worse times. 

Her brows furrow and a growl escapes her lips "I would appreciate it if you refrain from calling me that. My name is Beck, short for Rebecca, please refer to me as either, but not Becky." 

My brows raise in defiance as I step closer to her with arms crossed, leaning forward and whispering in her ear "Then stop acting like one. You can't fool me like you have the other buffoons in this pack." I snarl purposely provoking her. 

"There's no need for you to be threatened by me, Amira. I'm not your enemy. Why don't we become friends?" She forces a smile and  puts in hand in front of me, for me to shake.

I snicker "Threatened?" My brow raises, I glance at her amused by her assumption. "And what exactly should I be threatened by? Humor me."

She sighs, stepping away from me " What's humorous is that you call me pretentious, but you're nothing like people describe you to be. You're much uglier up close, inside and out." She smirks bumping into my shoulder walking past me. She thinks she's won. 

"That's comical, because you're exactly how people describe you, a mateless escort. It might do you some good to spend some time looking for your own mate instead of chasing after mine. Besides, you are way past your prime. At least chase men your own age."

  Although I'd never heard anyone refer to her as such, her reaction to my comment let me know I'd won. She was hurt, I can imagine she's questioning who would speak so lowly of her. 

She turns away from me, leaving without further comment. I thought I'd heard her mumble something as she walked away from me, but I let it go. I had a dinner to get ready for. 

I'm dressed in a satin white crop top, paired with a navy pencil skirt containing a mild slit on the right hem, and black heels for tonights dinner. I decided to straighten my hair. It took two hours to do so, but the end results made it worth the effort and of course I'm hoping my mate takes notice. 

"You look lovely" Leo appears from behind me, kissing my cheek and motioning for me to take his hand as he leads me to his car.

During the drive to the restaurant a realization came over me. Was this a date? A smile creeps on my face at the thought. I'm glad I'd dressed up, hopefully tonight ends on a good note and the food isn't the only that I get a taste of. 

"You seem excited, hungry?" He chuckles, placing a hand on my thigh. 

"Starving" I tell him, gripping the hand he'd placed on my thigh and pushing it upward. 

"Good, I have something very special I'd like you to try for dessert" I swear I saw a cheeky smile on his face before his back faces me.

 My eyes beam in excitement. Does that mean what I think it means.... "I look forward to it." 

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..... And I'm back and thank you for the comments. 

XOXO