Crimson Heart

11| Don't Touch Alexei's Baby

"Leave Alexei alone Waylon. He doesn't need this stress in his life," Dante says before walking out of the bathroom to face the people making fun of me. The tears clouded my vision as I grabbed my things and darted out. Rushing down the hall at top speeds to my dorm room. 

Shutting the door and turning on the small lamplight, I threw my stuff on my desk and crawled into bed. Curling up into a tiny ball of sniffles as I tried to stop the tears from flowing. 

There's a large commotion and screaming coming from a few doors down but I don't pay mind to it as I curl my head into my pillow. Taking off my tear-stained glasses and placing them underneath the soft cotton, turning over until my face pressed into it. 

'He doesn't need this stress in his life' Dante had said to me and maybe he was right about that too. 

Alexei probably doesn't need a boyfriend right now to stress him out. That's all I'll be to him anyway, just a ball of stress. I should have just been friends with him instead. God, he's right, I'm so needy. Too needy and he's just too nice to say it. He's so flipping nice, I really don't deserve him at all. 

A sudden knock on the door startles me as I quickly wipe away my tears. Juniper would never knock so I know it can't be her. She's probably out still doing whatever it is she finds fun on a Friday night. 

"Hello?" I quietly ask through the door while trying to snuff out my sniffled but it wasn't working fast enough. 

"Wei? It's me baby," Alexei's voice calls back and I instantly unlock the door and open it. My vision blurred slightly but I could see enough to find Alexei holding Dante hostage at my door. I opened it further, letting him in as he dragged Dante by the collar and threw him down in the center of the room. 

The entire upper left side of Dante's face looks red and swollen with a cut on his lip that was bleeding pretty bad. The sight of the man who threatened me suddenly looking up at me with pure fear in his eyes was a change but not a very good one. 

"Waylon, I'm sorry for taking your necklace. I never should have touched you and I never should have assumed you weren't Alex's boyfriend," Dante apologizes like he had it well-rehearsed but the very angry gaze of Alexei tells me if I don't say it's okay that Dante will be hurt further. That's not what I want at all. 

"It's okay, I didn't tell you," I quickly forgive Dante and he looked relieved, to say the least.

"Leave," Alexei commands. Dante rushes back out without so much as a goodbye leaving Alexei and I by ourselves once more. I quickly step on my tippy toes just to gently peck the underside of his chin as he growls at the door like Dante would come back and hurt me again. 

"I'm okay Alexei," I remind him and he calms down a bit. Putting his arms around my waist, he turns me around and I feel the ring return to my chest as he lays the necklace around my neck. 

"You've got to stop letting people push you around baby. I can't be there to protect you all the time and you'll only get hurt if you let them win," Alexei warns, only proving Dante's point. 

"I'm sorry," I squeak as my lip trembles with the tears balancing themselves on my lids to keep from coming out. 

"Don't be sorry, you just have to start practicing my love. You're the prince of this entire nation and my future Lunos. That's two big roles that need a strong person to fit them," Alexei says and presses his lips to the top of my head when he finishes the clasp. I hate to ruin the moment, but he only leaves me with more questions and less confidence. 

"I thought only your mate can be your Luna or Lunos?" I ask and slowly turn around to find him shaking his head with a look of disbelief. 

"You are my mate Wei, I'm 90% sure of it because I can smell your scent now. Which means, well, I'm sorry but it looks like you're stuck with me for life," He sighs and I clasp his ring in my hand. My own little way of calming down when I'm really nervous.

If he really is my mate, I know for certain I finally have a best friend and I'll never be alone again.  

"You really think so?" I ask as I look at Alexei and can't possibly see myself with anyone else. Kissing anyone else would feel like a sin against god. Even being this close to anyone other than him would be crossing a line. 

"I know so," Alexei says as he just rests his head on mine and I feel bad cause I'm so short he has to strain his poor neck. I pull away from him, holding his hands in mine as I do so because I don't want to break the connection between us. 

"Well good, because I want you and only you," I confess and his soft smile made all my embarrassment in putting these feelings into words completely worth it. 

"You're so sweet peaches," He says and I take pride in him having his own little nickname for me. Pulling him back to my bed, I hop up first and yank him on top with me. Although my small tug does next to nothing compared to his strength, he caves in and lies down with me.

Alexei cuddles up to me with his arm wrapped around my waist as he pulls me in as close as possible. I warm up my cold sniffly body on his strong chest, relaxing with every breath he took in and out. 

"Babe, do you think having me as a boyfriend is stressful?" I asked and he takes in a deeper breath than before. 

"To be honest, yeah it is but in the best way possible," he says and I tilt my chin up to look at his expression which was muted with his eyes closed. 

"What do you mean? How is being stressed a good thing?" I ask and he just shrugs like it's nothing. 

"Well, it's stressful in a way because it's not just me I have to worry about anymore. But I think that's the true beauty in it," 

*******************************

AN: If y'all have Nintendo switches and animal crossing drop me your friend code so we can be friends and I'll delete the comment when I add you lmao

ALSO I'M NEED OF Y'ALLS OPINION!

I was asked to submit few books by Wattpad to Wattpad. I have no real hopes or expectations of anything but if I get paid to write chapters bruh, I need it cause I need a new laptop so badly  :'(

Obviously you guys would be first to know. To be honest though, I don't exactly like the whole paid stories thing.

 Like yeah, it's great for me! Because if you think about it this is like a 2nd part-time job. This chapter alone took 5 hours to write and publishing daily (Well took a teensy break cause I had a really bad day) But that's like 55 hours that's gone into this book alone. 

(TBH I take all of your comments as my payment lmao)

 But what about the people who can't afford it? I want my work to be available to everyone. 

There are also other platforms I could use in conjunction like Patreon to raise money for a new laptop cause this one is worn out (Maybe offer exclusive chapters, create covers for people, give writing advice, Merch? I dunno) but the logistics of that are complex and I need time to look it over and do it right. 

I dunno, I'm on the fence. 

But your views are the most important so PLEASE tell me what you guys think about it cause Animals is growing super fast and I'll need to make a decision soon. 

You're friendly neighborhood author

~Ryley Kalem