My Lord Alpha

Solace II

"I am yet to receive my 25% as stated on our contract, I told you I needed the payment up front" she reminded him.

"I can have it given to you immediately, as gold or dollars, finely packaged in a box" he stated.

She made a tsking sound with her teeth as she shook her head slowly "Ah ah, Mister fast guy, I do not trust you. What would stop you from overpowering me and collecting it back once my time here was up?"

Wayne raised an eyebrow with a "What do you want me to do then?" silent question.

"I want the money to be taken to my world and paid into my personal account, then bank statements printed appropriately and brought to me as evidence," she said smiling sheepishly.

Wayne shrugged nonchalantly. "Consider it done. How do you want me to go about it?"

Candice tapped her chin for a few seconds thinking, then she clapped her hands together. "Yes! I know what to do. Take it to my friend Bernice, she is my next of kin. She can access my account; she will deposit the money and print my statements."

"Sounds easy. So how do we convince her that you are alive and well, so she can go about her task without worry?" he inquired.

"It would be easy for me to just do it myself," Candice said, nibbling on her bottom lip.

"I can't let you leave for now, it's not safe" he refused.

"Okay fine, we have a secret phrase we use to run a raincheck on each other whenever we need urgent attention". She offered.

"And that would be?" he probed.

"'Don't forget to brush your teeth' Once you tell her I said that, she would know it is coming from me," she told him.

A giggle burst from his lips as he threw his head back and laughed. Candice had never seen him laugh before, the reaction was unexpected, yet it was heartwarming. He seemed genuinely amused, the fine lines around his eyes wrinkled and the edges of his mouth were spread in a wide smile, for a minute she could see a gorgeous man with a cheerful soul.

Her heart twisted in her chest at the sight.

Then his laugh began to quiet down as he wiped some tears that had escaped his eyes. "You must be very fond of your friend for you both to have developed such a juvenile strategy," he rasped.

"Yes, we are like sisters. We grew up together in an orphanage home. Been living together all our lives," she said through her teeth.

A fleeting shadow of sympathy crossed his face before it quickly vanished. He rose from the bed. "I see. I will instruct Rojan to get right on the matter" he said strolling to his closet by a corner, after a few minutes he re-remerged wearing a long navy-blue robe with matching pajamas. He went to the balcony to shut the glass doors, drew the white linen curtains over the glass to block out the sunlight, and returned back to the bed.

Then he sunk into the mattress beside her and drew her into his arms, like a bear, cuddling a teddy bear.

She squirmed away "Let go of me" She tried to push him away, but she could not budge him.

"Be still little one, I am not doing this for my own benefit. You seem cold and I can provide you with the required heat you need" he chided her.

Despite still feeling sore that he had worked her up last night, only to shackle her and abandon her for hours. He had a point; she was indeed feeling very chilly inside and out. At this rate, she could come down with a serious case of pneumonia. On the other hand, his body was very warm, even though he had been drenched in the rain previously. He felt like a heated blanket, wrapped around her, his body heat suffused her, sipping into her very core like she was being incubated.

Within his embrace, Candice had a weird feeling of being protected, safe and cherished. It was a weird feeling because she had never truly felt cherished by anyone. She had grown up in an orphanage being run by the state government, where no one truly cared about her. All she had known were people who were doing what they were being paid to do, no special treatment or attention was given to her. Even when she had been bullied in school, her teachers had turned a blind eye to it. Too occupied with other children who actually had 'parents' to stand up for them, than her, a daughter of no one, whose parents had abandoned her at birth.

It was only Bernice who had stood up for her on one occasion and that was the beginning of their life-long friendship. When they had turned eighteen, they had left the orphanage to start living on their own. Bernice was always the bold one, taking the first step. She had first secured a bartending job and ensured she too got hired. She got admitted into college and continued to study hard with her till she also got admitted. Now they were making their way up the ladder in the real estate sector…only for her life to take a drastic turn. Throwing all her and Bernice's hard work into the wind.

Well, she would look on the bright side and consider this a fortune, rather than a misfortune because she would soon be twelve million dollars rich in a few days and a multimillionaire in a few months.

All because of him, her eyes gazed up at his face. He was now fast asleep, snoring softly. His breathing was labored as his chest rose and fell in a rhythm. Her eyes roamed all over his body, taking in every detail. She noticed a weird pattern of small letters drawn in the form of a tattoo across the blades of his back. They seemed ancient but familiar. They were old Germanic letters, popularly known as runes. She remembered them from her college days in history class, but she could not decipher their meaning.

There was a lot of ambiguity around this man, a lot of things she did not yet know or understand about him. He was a complicated man with a heavy burden on his shoulders; being king was no small feat. His decisions and actions affected this entire species of unique people in one way or another.

Now he was sleeping so peacefully, like he had no care in the world. This man, who was so ruthless and cruel to others, was soft and gentle with her. She knew it was all due to some universe match-making compulsion, but if she was not cautious enough, she could get used to this lifestyle. To being protected, being cherished…perhaps loved?

That would be a grave mistake on her part.

She would only be setting herself up to be heartbroken to expect much from life.

There was no such thing as a fairytale ending in the real world.