The Alpha's Lover

Torment

Coming back to Ivaylo's home turned out to be more stressful than I had considered. The first thing I saw when I stepped into the house was Andrey with his hands tucked deeply into his front pockets. Grey blue bags hung under his eyes and he had the queerest look on his face.

"You're back." 

He gave me a steady stare and waved his right hand towards my luggage followed by a quick rub to the back of his neck, "Everyone left me here alone."

I bit the inside of my cheek and focused on drowning out the sound of my irregular heart beat and the blood pounding in my ears. My skin flamed; underneath the delicate contours of the epidermis, heat scorched me from the inside out, and I struggled to breathe decently.

How was it that I hadn't thought about seeing him again after it happened? It was stupid of me, so stupid to leave him there alone and naked. But...he looked ok. He looked fine. 

I wasn't.

My chest heaved, and I pressed the tips of my fingers against my collar bone, "I uh. Um...well, wasn't the C-cook here?"

A light laugh, something I hadn't expected, caressed my cheek.  His downy head of curls brushed against my jeans  as he bent and stood up with my luggage in his right palm, "Yeah, but no one my age. I love my mom, but I want to chill with guys," he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second and shook his head before opening his eyes in apology, "or girls my age."

"But I'm not your age..." He was, as he had always been, at the very least four years older than me, but that part didn't interest me for too long because I latched on to a keyword I'd allowed to slip by, "mom?"

"Yeah," he said over his shoulder as he mounted the stairs. I followed behind him, careful to keep my distance in case I caught a whiff of his natural scent. I didn't want to go primal again and risk uncovering my deceit.

He'd felt so good and...

I licked my lips and counted to ten in my head. I would be ok, I would be just fine.

"No one ever talks about it, but wolves don't care too much for humans do they?"

"Wow," I inhaled sharply.

 She was human. I definitely hadn't seen that coming.

"So that means you're a..." I watched from my bedroom door as he set my bag against the wall and looked around. He wiped his hand against his mouth as if he'd just taken a drink of water and stared listlessly at me, "Hybrid."

It was happening again--that electric moment, the connection, the soul searching through my eyes.

I looked down at my pink toe nails.

"Hybrid....? That's cute. More like mutt. The only reason I get respect around here is because I'm the current alpha's brother and the former's bastard son."

There was scorn in his voice, a bitter truth and self-pity, "This shit," I spared a glance at him in time to see his hardened face and his hands motioning this way and that, "It's nothing but a lie. We're such a family right? And my mom's reduced to serving Ivaylo."

"Maybe," I dared to open my lips and when his eyes zoned on me I was forced to continue, "maybe she doesn't mind."

"The hell she doesn't," he sank to the floor and sprawled his lanky legs out until the tips of his battered moccasins touched the left and right jambs of the door frame, "she hates it here, but she stays because of me. This shit can all go to hell, but only after I get her away from here first. It's going to happen eventually, but right now?" he shook his head, "We're all Ivaylo's prisoners. Sick sadistic bastard."