My hands were clenched into tights fist.
Breathe in.
1-2-3
Breathe out
1-2-3
Breathe in
I flinched when the car door was opened next to me, Alpha Allen reaching in to get me out of the car. I pulled away before he could even touch me, my ribs aching from the sudden movement, making a whimper escape my lips.
"Are you alright?!" he asked me, panic filling his eyes.
I nodded. "Please, just let me... walk on my own,"
The corners of his mouth fell down, a quiet sigh leaving him, before he took a few steps back, giving me space to get out of the car.
I carefully put my feet to the ground, my knees almost giving in under the strain of my weight. How long has it been since he last let me walk on my own- further than to the bathroom at least?
I walked slowly up to the front door, the two jelly-pillars carrying me wobbling as I walked. After several attempts, I finally gave up resisting, and let Alpha Allen wrap his arm around mine, letting me lean into him for support.
He opened the front door for me, chills running all the way up and down my back as I entered the hallway.
"Do you wanna go straight to your room, or would you like a tour around the house?"
I took a deep breath, trying to straighten out my legs just a bit. "I'd just really like to sit down," I whispered.
He nodded leading me towards the stairs. I forced my left foot up on the first step, almost falling when I tried to get my left foot there as well, had it not been for him holding me.
Out of habit, I turned my head to thank him, to find his eyes looking beggingly into mine, his plea being pretty obvious.
I hung my head, needing a moment for my pride to pass through my esophagus. "Could you please carry me up the stairs?" I whispered, so low I doubted he could even hear it. I turned my head slightly to the side, to find him with a big, yet still a sad smile on his lip, his head moving just a bit in a nod.
He carefully put his arm behind my back, the other one finding its way to the back of my knees. He carried me softly, clearly making an effort not to press me any closer to him than absolutely necessary. He carried me past the doors I knew led to the library, and up the second flight of stairs. My heart rate picked up the closer we got to his bedroom door, my hands shaking in my lap.
"Don't worry, Love, as I told you, you'll be getting your own room," he told me, as we passed by the door to his bedroom, and then a few more. e finally stopped in front of a large, white, ornamented double door, that despite the classic style still matched perfectly with the modern house and furniture.
He pressed down the handle, my mouth falling open.
The wall on the left mostly consisted of a large, wall-to-wall window, the headboard of the bed pushed against it. My eyes traveled along with the room, landing on another door - probably a bathroom- to a large bookshelf with a 90o angle, pressed into the corner of the room.
The last bit of air in my lungs left as I caught sight of the beautiful white fireplace on the right wall- straight across from the bed. A large couch, grey couch and matching armchair standing 6 or 7 feet away from it, a massive tv mounted to the wall above the fireplace.
He carried me up to the couch, sitting me down onto it carefully. He stepped back for a second, throwing out his arms, an odd... well, if I didn't know better, I'd say an insecure look on his face. "Do you like it?"
I stayed silent, looking around the room, which was at least two times larger than my apartment, taking in all of the small decorative items, the flowers in elegant glass vases, the mirrored black-and-white images of famous capital cities; Paris, London, Tokyo.
My eyes eventually found their way back to Alpha Allen, who's arms had fallen down, making him look a bit... lost. "If there's something you don't like, just tell me, I'll fix it right away, just, tell me exactly what you want, and I'll get it for you as fast as possible," he said, his voice becoming weaker by each word he spoke.
I licked my lips, a small smile appearing. "It's perfect... thank you," I told him, my eyes drifting away again, trying to take in everything in the room at once.
He smiled widely, his eyes widening. "Oh, and uhm, well,"
He walked up to the fireplace, picking one of those vintage bottles... like the bottle version of a mason jar, filled with a clear, yellowish liquid. He popped it open. "You just pour a little bit of this-" he turned the bottle upside down for a quick moment, pouring out just a bit onto the small stones all collected at the bottom of the fireplace.
"-and then," he said, putting the bottle back on the shelve where he found it, letting his hand run along the inside edge of the fireplace, "You press this little button here-" a quick 'click' sounded, the stones in the fireplace suddenly surrounded by flames.
"-and voila, fire in the fireplace," he said smiling proudly.
He pointed to the bookshelf- or well, more general shelve, most of it was covered in books, but there were also a few boxes, baskets, and decorative items here and there- clutter. "There carpets and pillows in the baskets- I noticed you like being wrapped up in a blanket," he said, another... insecure... smile covering his face.
I couldn't help the small smile spreading as I nodded. Alpha Allen's smile widened suddenly, turning into one flashing his perfect, white teeth. "Wait here," he said, vanishing in a less than a second, leaving the door open behind him.
Nestling back into the soft couch, I stared at the flames dancing in the fireplace, the stones at the bottom reflecting the light.
My eyes turned back to the door when I heard a footstep, to find Alpha Allen with the largest smile I'd ever seen him with, both of his hands behind his back. He walked up to me slowly, his smile widening with every step- so much than when he finally reached me, I doubted he could even see out from his eyes.
He slowly moved his hands from behind his back, revealing a rectangular box in his hand, wrapped in dark blue paper, a silver gift band nicely tied around it. He held it out to me with both his hands, and I somehow imagined that this was exactly what my parents saw every year on Christmas morning when I was a kid, all excited for them to open the present I'd made them.
I took the gift from him, croaking out a quick 'thank you'. He sat down on the armchair, his eyes shiting between me and the gift in my lap, expectedly.
The not untied itself when I pulled the gift band carefully, putting it onto the coffee table in front of me. I turned it over finding the edges of the paper, carefully pulling on the tape. When I pulled the paper aside all I saw was a perfectly white box. I removed the paper entirely, turning the box over in my hands.
I looked up at him- the stupid smile still on his lips. "Well go on, open it,"
I crapped around the lid, pulling it off the box, I put it aside, looking down at a black surface. I pulled it out of the box, and that's when the realization hit me.
"A phone?" I asked him, looking up from the electronic device in my hand.
He nodded, the hopeful smile returning."Yeah, I figured that this way, you can call your parents and your grandparents whenever you want- I know it makes you uncomfortable to ask for permission to use mine, so... this was an easy solution to the problem," he shrugged.
His face fell. "Don't you like it? I figured that it would... make you happy. I'm so sorry, Love, please don't cry, I just wanted to give you a gift, I didn't mean to upset you..."
My hand moved up to my cheek automatically, and true to his words, my cheeks were wet with tears. "It did, I... thank you, I've wanted to talk with them for so long..." my voice broke at the end. I looked back down onto the phone, gently tapping the screen with my finger. 'Enter passcode'
I looked up to the armchair, but Alpha Allen was nowhere to be seen. My eyes traveled to the door. He was standing there, the gift paper in his hand, smiling. "The password is 0001, but you can change it to something you can remember better," he said, before walking out, closing the door behind him.
I looked back down on the screen, carefully tapping in the passcode, going straight for the little phone icon at the bottom of the screen. A number pad came up.
I put the phone up to my ear, the familiar waiting tone ringing twice, before being interrupted.
"Hello, who is this?"
I sobbed into the phone, my heart glowing with happiness. "Papa, it's me,"
***
I talked with them for almost two hours, up until they had to go to work. I stared at the phone in my hand running my thumb over the screen, a smile covering my face.
A knock sounded on the door. "Come on in," I said, looking up, and almost having a heart attack when I realized that it wasn't Alpha Allen in the door, but a woman, smiling warmly at me.
She walked in closing to door behind her, before going up to me, extending her hand for me to take. "Miss White, my name is Mary-Anne. I'm head of household management," she furrowed her brows, and in that second I realized who she was, and it looked like she did too.
"We met in the hallway at the night of the mating ball, didn't we? You had gotten lost after using the bathroom... or did you?" she asked, one of her eyebrows rising slightly.
My lips pressed together as I shook my head, my ears turning red from the embarrassment of being caught in a lie. When I looked back up, she was smiling.
"Don't worry about it. Well, I just wanted to come up here to introduce myself, bid you welcome on behalf of the staff, and also, ask you what you'd like for lunch?"
"Oh, uh... thanks, and nice to meet you. Honestly, I'm not really hungry so-"
She cut me off. "I'm afraid that Mr. Allen insisted that I should make you something, despite possible protests," she recited, an overbearing smile playing on her lips.
I nodded to myself. "Just some toast please... and some sparkling water, please, if you have any,"
She nodded her head before walking out the door once again.
My eyes shifted to the coffee table in front of me, or rather, the remote on top of it. I picked it up weighing it in my hands a few seconds, before pointing it to the TV, pressing the red button on top.
The TV turned on, all sorts of icons coming into view. I looked through them slowly; Netflix, Youtube, HBO, 'Movie Library', 'Music Library', 'Photo Library', 'Video Library', 'Game Library'.
I turned on Netflix, mostly in fear of messing something up if I opened one of the programs I didn't know and breaking it somehow. I put on 'Lucifer', another series I'd enjoyed during my time in the hospital.
Another made came in to serve my food, bowing her head as she placed it on the table in front of me. I'm living like a princess around here- It's creepy.
I looked at the toast in front of me, my gag reflex kicking in at the thought of eating while I wasn't hungry. I sighed, picking up the bottle of sparkling water next to the plate, gulping down half the bottle in one take.
A sigh left me when I looked back at the plate. Forget it. I stood up from the couch for the first time, walking up to the bookshelves. I pulled out a random book, with a black hardback cover. 'The Gathering- Kelley Armstrong'. I put it back in its spot and picked out a new one. 'New Moon- Stephenie Meyer'. No. New one; 'Simon vs the Homosapiens agenda-Becky Albertalli' I've been meaning to read that one. I put it back on the shelve and pulled out a new book. 'Fifty Shades of Grey- EL James'.
"Eeeeew, ew ew ew," I whispered, almost dropping it in my eagerness to get it back into the damn bookshelves.
A chuckle sounded from the door. "I can't believe I trusted my sisters on this one,"
I screamed, turning around, instinctively covering up my privates, even though I was still wearing the hoodie and sweatpants that Alpha Allen had given me that same morning.
He put his hands up in a 'surrender' position, lowering his head. "I'm sorry, I figured you'd heard me..." he furrowed his brows. "Actually it makes sense that you didn't... I don't spend all that much time with humans," he said with an apologetic shrug. "I'm sorry about that-" he gestured to the book.
"I told my sisters to pick out some of the books they like and just order them all for delivery at my house, but I didn't think to go through the list of books the picked out. I would've picked some out myself, but when I was 16 I read two things, classics, and uhm... magazines..." he lowered the voice at the last word, pink spots appearing on his neck. Oh, those kinds of magazines. I felt the blood rushing to my ears, the redness thankfully being hidden by my hair.
Alpha Allen walked up the couch, gesturing for me to sit. I limped to the couch, throwing myself down so heard I felt it all the way into my ribs.
He looked at me with a worried frown, his eyes scanning me up and down, before apparently deciding that I was alright. "First off I have a question to ask you; you do want to continue your education, right?"
"Yeah... why?"
He smiled, his hand reaching out to take mine. I tried to keep my hands still, but I couldn't help but pull away when his skin came into contact with mine. His face fell for a second before he composed himself.
"Well, you've already missed three weeks of school by now, so it would probably be an idea to get you back as soon as possible... however, you can't go back to your old school," he said, his voice growing more hesitant towards the end.
"Why? Not that I'm complaining... or well I'm gonna miss Avery and Wess... but still..."
"Well, I looked into it, and the buildings your classrooms are located in are basically pure asbestos with Eternit ceiling- and I'd rather for you not to get cancer. So, right, on the top of my head, you've got three options;
A: You finish your high school education online
B: I get you a bunch of great tutors, and you'll finish high school from home
C: You join a-" he held up his fingers in quotation signs,"-'mate class', which is basically like a regular high school, except it's more private, the teachers are more qualified, and the classes consist of humans who's mates don't feel comfortable letting them go back to a regular high school, like me. Oh and yes, the buildings don't give you cancer,"
I fiddled with my fingers. "So, it's like a normal high school, just without the romance drama, bathroom... blowjobs, and pregnancies?"
He shifted his head from side to side. "Well yeah, except for the pregnancies, from what I've heard, that's far from uncommon, but at least the babies are wanted in that case, and there are no bailing baby daddies. And yeah, there's no romance whatsoever, or well, there sure won't be for you, and if there is, I'll rip off the fuckers head to fright and warning for everyone not to touch you,"
I nodded slowly, trying not to freak out by the tone of his voice. "Right... so I can start at any time?"
"Basically."
"Alright then, I'll... I'll do that I guess,"
"What do you wanna do after? Like, what would you like to do? Work with?"
I crossed my legs, my cuticles suddenly looking very interesting. "It's stupid and very unrealistic, and it's probably gonna sound weird, but I've wanted to become a midwife since I was like, 8,"
"It's not stupid, it's sweet. I haven't looked into your grades, but you seem intelligent, I think that if you work hard... you could become the best midwife in the entire country, I'm sure."
He smiled at me, and everything became quiet again.
After a few minutes of silence, he got up from the couch. "I'll... call the guy in charge of the mate class program, you'll start Monday, yeah?"
"Alright,"
He closed the door behind him, and I threw myself back onto the couch, my eyelids closing on their own accord.
A/N
Not much to say since last, so...
Question for you guys: You religious? If so, what religion?
My answer: I'm an atheist- I don't know, I just have a hard time believing that there's supposed to be someone looking out for us when the world is in the shitty state that it is.
I cant come up with any facts atm, so shoot- ask me anything you wanna know.
Thank you all for reading, I love you all so so much <3