Revelations to an Alpha

Chapter 3, Revelation: no faith

Lucas had managed to peel the islanders off him and climbed to the platform.

“Are you ok?” He asked, resting his hand on my arm. I tilted my head slightly and looked into the eyes that looked too concerned to belong to Lucas. It reminded me of what Phoenix had said.

“Do you worry about me?” I asked, too overwhelmed to be subtle.

Lucas looked taken aback for a second, and as he searched my face for answers, his hand fell from my arm.

“You have an immortal queen hunting you down, Cathy, of course I do.” He said, as if it were common sense.

“But apart from the immortal queen bit, are you worried about me?” I didn’t quite understand what I was asking, and I didn’t know what I wanted to hear, but the words left my mouth.

“I,” He inhaled, and then looked at the trees behind us, as if he wasn’t sure himself. “Of course I worry about you. Not in the same way I worry about Phoenix, not in the same way I worry about Necker Island. I worry about you because you’re so small but you act so damn strong and sometimes I think that you might explode or cease to exist and that scares me.”

My eyebrows raised at the babbling Lucas. I watched as his eyes began to smile, and then the rest of his face did too. “But of course you don’t need me to worry because you’re Cathy, right? You’re the girl that began a rebellion against the queen.” He laughed, and then rubbed his head as if it were unbelievable, “You have an army, you have people fighting with their lives for you. I don’t need to worry, but I do. Because you’re my mate. And it’s as simple as that.”

As Lucas stood on the spot, half talking to himself and half explaining it to me, I couldn’t describe how angelic he looked. The bonfire on the beach lit up his hair, and he flickered along with the flames.

“And when I first met you, the first thing I thought was how I would have to protect you. And how little and fragile and completely scared you looked. I didn’t know you, but no one did, not really. You didn’t need an alpha to hover over you every second of the day, and you didn’t need the omega status, because you weren’t the weakest. Not at all.” He was still talking, but I listened to every word because it felt like he’d rehearsed them for a while. “And then I thought of how weird it was to feel someone like I had, I could feel it, you know, in my heart. I asked the rogues if this was what it felt like to have a mate and they said yes. And I realised that I liked it. And I wanted it. And I needed it. And I worry about you because if you were to explode or cease to exist then I’d become as lost and as woeful as Phoenix. And that, that is scarier than anything I’ve ever felt. Apart from this, whatever this is.”

He suddenly stopped, and realised he’d been talking for quite a long time. “Sorry.” He blushed and looked at the floor. He looked so vulnerable, and I couldn’t help myself.

I felt like I had to protect him, like he wasn’t safe on his own, in his blushing state. I crashed into him, wrapping my arms around him so tightly that if a tornado or a hurricane were to appear right now I knew that I’d never be separated from him.

I looked up at him, and when he looked down at me he no longer looked vulnerable, he looked strong. He looked like I had felt: strong.

I loosened my arms around him slightly, so he could actually move. And when he did move, he lightly held my chin and drew my lips to his.

It was warm on Eustatia, but the warmth on the island couldn’t compete with the exploding, firework kind of warmth I felt on his lips.

When he pulled away, a little too soon for my liking, he kissed my forehead. “I think you should tell them now.” His lips moved against my skin, and then he turned and walked away.