| CHAPTER 36 : FRIENDS? |
The room was unfamiliar. A small yellow-lit bulb being the only source of light that did nothing to light the room. Dark deadly-looking wines entwined together, wrapping themselves on the thin pillars like a snake. A small rattle of a heavy chain caught my attention making me turn around.
A young boy sat on his knees with his head hung down. His arms were held up by heavy metal chains. Dried dark blood scrawled down his wrists to his arms like veins. His body wasn't moving, seeming almost dead. No sign of life or strength showed making me wonder if he was already dead or not.
For a moment, I hesitated whether to open my mouth or go help him.
My thoughts shattered when a heavy clung of bolts banged loudly. The thick metal door flew open and standing on the threshold was a man holding a tray.
His features matched King Alpha's which made me confused for a while thinking if he was King Alpha or not. He wasn't. His similar icy blue eyes pressed firmly on the young boy bound by the chains.
He was Alexandros.
Can he see me?
He stepped forward into the room, movements mechanical and syncing. His body stood upright with a blank look on his face. There was no emotion in his eyes, no light, nothing. He looked...lost.
With the same mechanical movement, he strode towards the boy, bending down with his back still straight as a stick, and he placed the tray filled with minimal food in front of the boy's head.
The boy's finger twitched in the smallest gesture possible. His fingers twitched more before he curled them into fists. Slowly, he lifted his head, straining himself against his own strength.
His eyelids opened to reveal dull glistening ice blue eyes.
King Alpha.
He's the boy.
His eyes slowly rose from the tray on the ground to the man's feet then to his face. A plain tired look etched on King Alpha's face as he barely was able to keep himself awake. He's weak, fragile, and beaten up. Completely different from the current King Alpha. He looked so small and powerless, looking no more than seven.
"Venit tempus tuam. Resurgemus. Tunc cadunt." The man chanted in a language which I surprisingly understood.
'Your time will come. Rise. Then fall.'
The young King Alpha gave a pained expression, his chest heaving as if he couldn't bear the pain.
"Alexandros...please..." King Alpha murmured his voice weak and shaky.
"Venit tempus tuam. Resurgemus. Tunc cadunt." Alexandros who I remember from last time chanted again.
He looked much more affectionate, bright and...alive in my previous vision. His hair which used to be caramel brown lost its colour. His eyes which held light was now replaced with darkness. A deep black hole.
He's enchanted.
He's under a spell or hypnotized.
That has got to be it.
"Emorior, et facie irae." Alexandros continued.
'Fall, or face wrath.'
Elias gave a tired sigh, dropping his head low.
Alexandros continued speaking but King Alpha didn't seem to be listening anymore.
The image in front of me shattered disturbingly when a loud sound like a blowhorn rang near my ear.
I woke up with a scream, jerking up in my place into a sitting position. Strands of hair around my face, sunlight stabbing me in the eye, body over-heated.
I didn't have time to look around my surroundings when the airhorn rang shrilly in my ear again. With another scream from my mouth, I tried moving away but my legs were caught up in the covers and my upper body ended up hanging off the bed.
"What the hell?" I screamed.
"Wakey Wakey, Rubber Ducky."
Two legs appeared in front of me, and I strained my head to look up at King Alpha looking down at me. He wore a plain white vest with grey joggers and in his hand...behold...the fucking air horn. My eyes latched onto his outlined muscles which could be detected through his vest. Mmm...those pecs...
A shriek came out of my mouth when King Alpha grabbed me by the back of my t-shirt and pulled me up on the bed.
"What the hell—"
HONKKK!!!
My hands flew to my ears when King Alpha blew the air horn near my ear.
I scowled at him, "What the hell is wrong with—"
HONKKK!
"Sto—"
HONKKK!
"Ow stop—"
HONKKK!
I reached out to snatch the airhorn from his hands but him being King Alpha, moved easily right away from my grasp.
HONKKK!
The airhorn blew behind me.
"Okay, that's it!" I stormed off the bed, balling the covers and throwing them frustratingly onto the bed. I placed my hands on my hips, glaring, "What is your problem?"
He smiled mischievously, standing across me, "It's 6 in the morning."
I gave him a baffled look, "What?"
"6 o'clock on the tick-tock, Blondie."
I gave him an even more confused and frustrated look, "SO?!"
"It's workout time," He stated, blowing the airhorn.
HONKKK!
I winced at the sound before giving him a look, "Workout time?"
"Yup."
"I don't 'work out'." I stated.
"I know." He muttered, his eyes gazing at my body from down and up. A glazed look crossed his face before he dismissed it and went back to having the smug smiling jerk face.
"We need to get you strong and fit and work on that hazardous magic of yours." He continued, "Don't want you grilling anyone's ass as long as you stay here."
"W-wait," I gave him a wide-eyed look, "I'm staying?"
"Yeah." He said then muttered 'unfortunately'.
"And you're not going to kill me?"
"Ditto." He gave a small honk on the airhorn. "Now get your ass freshened up and meet me in the gym room." He said then called out two names.
Two maids immediately rushed in towards me as I almost screamed at their sudden invasion. King Alpha walked out of the room as the maids made me wash and dress up into white shorts, a black sports bra and a grey tank top. They pulled my hair into a low ponytail, securing it tightly with a scrunchie.
I wandered along the hallways, not sure where the "gym room" is.
"Hello!" I called out hoping for King Alpha to hear me from anywhere, "Me, Ezlynn! Ezlynn not know where gym room is. Ezlynn need directions!"
A voice replied right after two seconds.
"Mon amour, comment ça va?"
I jumped and turned around, looking at Drew's bright cheery face.
"Drew," I said.
"Things went well last night?" He asked in a hopeful voice.
I shrugged.
Things hadn't gone as I expected. Not sure what I was expecting. But things definitely took a big turn last night.
"I didn't get answers but instead I got to stay here without King Alpha wanting to kill me," I replied.
"That's a step."
"Yeah, now where the heck is the gym room?" I asked.
"Gym room?" Drew gave me a look that seemed as if he was trying to stop laughing before he quickly straightened, "Venir, follow me."
We entered the gym room, and the room immediately came familiar to me.
"Ah memories." I smiled sarcastically. "Where I had my first experience with knives being thrown my way."
"You can stop squealing." King Alpha said, leaning against a wall at the far end of the gym room. He wore the same white vest and black joggers but this time, accompanying his airhorn was a dagger.
My eyes lingered on the dagger. It was the same dagger that King Alpha had pulled out from Alexandros's chest in my vision. It was the only thing that can truly kill a Royal.
Why does he carry that everywhere?
The gym room was obviously huge, no spoiler. High ceilings, every type of gym equipment, weights, dumbbells and mats.
"Nice shorts," King Alpha smirked.
My cheeks flamed against my will, "Your maids didn't give me a chance to refuse the clothes."
"How could they?" He pushed himself off the wall, walking towards me, "I was the one who picked them."
The next few hours of my life were...how do I say this? Horrible. Yup. Plain absolutely horrible.
I went through a round of fifty push-ups, fifty squats, fifty sit-ups, fifty crunches and one minute plank. When I was done with one round, King Alpha would bark at me to repeat it.
He wasn't even doing anything except having a nice chit-chat with Drew in a corner, seated on a leather chair.
If wanting to stay here meant having to go through this? Na-uh, I'm not doing this.
After four rounds, I finally mustered up the courage to yell at King Alpha to let me go from this infuriating workout. I opened my mouth but immediately went silent as the dead when he shot me a look with his icy blue eyes.
The workout continued for two more hours with me repeating the same thing over and over again. Sweat dripped down my body enough to fill buckets and my limbs ached all over. My body smacked on the floor when I couldn't move anymore.
"Where's," I could barely talk, breathing hard, "my dang white flag?"
"I didn't tell you could rest, blondie," King Alpha said in a flat tone.
"Cut me...some slack," I breathed, too tired to even move to look at him, "you didn't even...move from that chair...since I started working out."
"I have more important things to do."
"Oh yeah?" I scoffed. "Want some teacups for the...tea party you're having...with Drew?"
Drew looked all but amused. Why isn't he acting like my saviour right now?
"Sure," King Alpha shrugged, "if you can move to get them that is. Right now, you look like a dying fish."
"I am dying."
"And you know what happens after that?" His long legs appeared in front of my eyes from where my head was still planted on the ground, his tone was firm, stern and held a sort of authoritative voice, "Creatures won't hesitate to attack you. They will not blink or stop. They'll get their hands on you, hurt you, tear you apart and then they'll kill you. All because you got tired and can't move. Now get up." He demanded harshly, making me stiff immediately. "And I want to see you punching those bags, Boxer."
I didn't move.
"Get up!"
I sprung off the floor in less than a second. I even thought of giving him a military salute but stopped myself.
The half of the day went by with me punching the punching bag or repeating the same routine of workouts.
King Alpha held a stern face and barked orders at me as if I was one of his werewolf warriors.
I thought I would talk to him and get to know about his crazy jumbled family of his, but he kept no room for me to even breathe properly. His face closed off, which also trapped me in a box where I couldn't talk freely.
How can I help him when I can't even talk to him or even breathe?!
Somewhere around noon, he closed off the workout by giving me a time-out sign. My body didn't waste a second welcoming the ground with open arms as I fell on top of it.
Everything ached. My muscles, my lungs, my head and I didn't even have breakfast! My body was heated all over with sweat pouring out and I wished someone would bathe me in ice right now. My hair plastered itself onto my sweaty skin.
"If you're done spoiling my mats, you can get up." King Alpha appeared in my vision, looking bland and passive.
"You can cut off with that look, you homicide!" I scowled. "Workout is over!"
"And I should also carry you to my room and coax you and pat you on the back telling you how well you've done, princess?" He asked with a sarcastic smile.
"At least gimme water." I breathed.
"Water hmm?" He raised an eyebrow. "You think your enemies will give you water? You think they'll give you a few seconds to breathe when you ask them for a time-out?" His tone was harsh, "No! They won't. They'll use your weakness as opportunities. And you'll be happily and miserably be handing them those in your current state."
I frowned, "What is wrong with you?" I snapped, "It's literally day one of training and you're already expecting me to fight like hulk? Breeze out, buddy. I'm not some strong, magical creature who has super metabolism, super strength and super speed. The least I asked you was water and you're being a jerk for that too."
He squatted in front of me, snarling, "You think you'll survive with that attitude of yours, Blondie? You won't even last a second if I put you out in the real world."
I somewhat sat up straight without looking like the need to die, "You can't talk to someone like that who's experienced the real world for only a month. I've lost many things."
"You want sympathy? A Congratulations?" He growled.
"What I want you to be is a little bit more cooperative." I fired. "You've lived the worst since seven hundred years. Fighting someone is like breathing to you. For me, it's something new, okay? I have zilch experience and no clue."
"Exactly." He stated. "You're dumb, weak-minded, pathetic, naïve, I can keep going on describing you. You won't last out there." He stood and held out his hand for me to take. "That's why, you'll need this training, experience harshness, a drop of the reality before you set foot into the real world."
I ignored his outstretched hand, standing up on my own. Something about his words sparked a challenge within me. I tried matching his powerful stance by crossing my hands against my chest.
"I'm only half of what you think of me, King Alpha," I said, finding this newfound courage scary, yet it felt so good getting it out, "I'm not dumb, I'm not weak-minded, I'm not stupid. I'm just lost like how any other normal person would be after being left in a new place. I bet you'd sob yourself if I left you in a lady's saloon."
His nose flared in irritation, but I could actually make out a slight excitement, the slight expression of impressment glistening in his eyes.
"What we need," I continued, "is an agreement, a sort of alliance. We can't keep going on or work together if we're closed off or can't cooperate together."
"What are you saying?" He raised an eyebrow, taking a step closer to me.
"I'm saying," I ignored how my body heated all over again just by him being this close to me intently looking into my eyes. "We should start over and be friends."
He blinked.
I could swear he almost cackled down laughing.
"Friends?" He tested out the word, rubbing a hand on his jaw, keeping his expressions passive.
"Yup," I said. "We start over from the beginning, forget all that happened that you tried killing me and I tried escaping you."
"I offered you a clean slate before." He stated flatly.
"That..." I gave a small sheepish laugh before shrugging, "I didn't know your true intentions or something."
He gave me a dry look.
"All that matters," I said immediately, "is that we start over and forget this all happened."
I put out my hand like a schoolkid for him to shake.
He didn't look at my hand. He was looking at me. His expressions lay unreadable making me nervous out of my skin about what he was going to do. My expectation, he was probably going to bite off my hand. He continued giving me a blank yet thoughtful stare.
"I mean unless you're too scared..." I challenged with a smirk despite my body stiff and my brain mentally banging my head against a wall, "Elias."
His eyebrows shot up. A wild maniac-type look glowed golden in his eyes before he seemed to take control over it. If King Alpha was angry, he didn't show it. Instead, he looked rather impressed.
"You're posing words someone as small as you shouldn't." He grinned, showing all sharp teeth and that little crooked one at the end.
Before I could speak, he put his hand in mine, giving a firm handshake.
"Deal." He said.
A breath of relief escaped my mouth. He didn't bite off my hand.
"So that means." He said, leaning in closer towards me until we were breathing the same air, "I can't touch you like this?" He lifted his fingers, trailing them along the bare skin of my arm. My eyes widened at the contact and my body froze.
"N-no." I replied, not having it in me to move away.
"Mmm or like this?" His fingertips trailed to my jaw, brushing my skin teasingly.
"No," I breathed, biting my lip.
"I didn't hear you." He leaned closer, his face beside mine, nose trailing along the side of my face. His scent filled my nose, the heat radiating from his body penetrating my skin brightly. His hand held my waist softly.
"Hmm you act so fucking bold, Ezlynn." He breathed in a small husky growl, his hands sliding further until he wrapped my entire waist, jerking me closer until our bodies were touching. His lips trailed soft kisses down the side of my neck making me grit my teeth so as to not lose it completely. My eyes fluttered close, feeling his warm skin and hot kisses against my skin.
His lips moved up, towards my jaw then my ear. His teeth pulled on my earlobe teasingly making me inhale sharply. If he weren't holding me by the waist right now, I would have melted to the ground right there and then. His lips moved to the corner of my mouth.
Before he could bring his lips to mine, a loud voice interrupted us, making me jerk back from my place and for King Alpha to cuss out loudly, his hands falling from my body.
"Should I be crying that you fellows completely forgot I was in the room?" Drew asked, his mouth lifted into one solid smirk.
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Date: 21 August 2021