Alpha Mates for the Omega

The Voice

Tory made her way down to the dining room; she was emotionally exhausted and could think of nothing worse than facing Sebastien and Damien over dinner.

The dining room had a small but significant refurbishment done to it. The walls which were previously adorned in a dark red wallpaper that made it feel like a room straight out of Dracula's house were now white. Dark wood panels still decorated the bottom half of the walls were the main focus, displaying its history and giving the room its warm feel. A ten-seater round table adorned the middle of the room was the same; much of the furniture was the same. Her mum sat with Graham, Sebastien next to his dad and Damien on her mum’s side, leaving an empty seat for her between them.

She had avoided Sebastien’s gaze since she walked in; she could feel the power of his stare. She had always believed this to be such a cliche in novels but being the recipient of such a heated look was no joke. She had tried but failed to do the same with Damien; his gaze beckoned her. Maybe it was due to the heated kiss they had shared moments earlier, a kiss that had left her breathless and reeling. No man had ever kissed her like that, but none of the boys she had kissed could be considered men, not in the way Damien was all alpha male. He was like the lead in one of her paranormal romances, that made you all wet and tingly on sight.

‘Honey, come sit.’ Her mum called.

He looked away when her mum spoke, and she was relieved for the interruption, she would have never been able to release his gaze on her own.

She took her seat between her mum and Damien. The minute she sat, Magda came out with the food and placed the tray before them.

‘Are you not joining us tonight?’ she asked Magda as she realised no more seats had been arranged at the table.

‘No my dear, we will eat in the kitchen tonight’ Magda patted her shoulder ‘we wanted to leave you all to have a family dinner.’

‘I told you that you are part of the family’ her mum said.

‘Thank you Mrs.Lydia’ Magda smiled and patted her mum’s shoulder before leaving the room.

‘Seriously when will they stop calling me Mrs.Lydia’ her mum huffed ‘no matter how many times I tell them to call me Lydia, it’s like it goes in one ear and out the other.’

‘They will come around my dear, they are just very used to certain formalities’ Graham said as he held her mum’s hand and took it to his lips and gave it a kiss before placing it back on the table.

It was cute but also cringe-worthy to be witness to such affection directed at her mum, she almost said Ewww out loud.

As she turned away from them, she was arrested by Sebastien’s gaze on her. She had tried to avoid him, not feeling up to being the source of his resentment. But what she saw in his eyes wasn’t resentment. No, it was something else anger definitely but so much more showed in those eyes pain, guilt and desire. He looked away as if she had slapped him, he hadn't wanted to show her his feelings, of that she was sure.

She looked down, confused and upset, only to notice her plate had been miraculously filled with a large portion of Shepard’s pie and salad. She looked at her mum, confused at how she would have done this without her noticing. Her mum was so engrossed in Graham; she was sure she didn't even remember she was there. Looking to Damien, who was shovelling food into his mouth.

‘Eat’ he grumbled while tipping his head towards her plate.

‘Thank you’ she whispered so low, but she knew he heard her.

Dinner went by without much incident, she could feel the looks coming from Sebastien, but she never lifted her head unless the conversation was directed at her.

As soon as she could, she excused herself, exclaiming to be tired and wanting to have an early night.

Dinner had been tough on her, her emotions were all over, and all she could think about was the kiss with Damien. The looks she felt coming from Sebastien didn’t help the blush that had taken on a permanent residence in her cheeks.

***

The next morning she woke up at 5am, after much tossing and turning she decided to just get up and take a walk around the property.

The house was in slumber, no sound echoed with its walls even her footfalls were muffled by the carpet. She made her way out the side entrance, making her way to a trail into the woods.

She wrapped her coat tighter around herself and enjoying the icy cold breeze on her face made her way further and further into the woods. The morning was so cold her breath came out like smoke. As a child, she would pretend to be smoking, like so many adults she saw. As an adult, she blew out hot air to create the clouds, the only difference was she no longer thought of it as, smoking.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the peace and quiet that the forest brought. She loved getting out of the city and being one with nature, no cars, planes or human noise to interrupt the beauty that was the rustling of trees and birds chirping. Taking a deep breath, she stood there, absorbing the calm and allowing her troubles to seep out of her.

Her mind was empty of everything, only the sounds and smells of the forest were allowed in. This was her form of meditation and something she had missed while she was avoiding the Campbell’s, or more accurately one specific Campbell.

She must have stood there for ages in her zoned out state until other sounds started filtering in. Heavy footfalls and crunching twigs echoed in the silence, she knew on instinct that it wasn’t the footfalls of a human. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around, but nothing was out of the ordinary, and the sound she heard seemed to disappear.

She was so sure of what she heard, almost felt the pounding on the earth and could have sworn the animal was a mere meter away.

Her heart was pounding, and her breathing frantic, her mind wrestled with her senses. She felt a need to run, but nothing around her indicated a sign of danger.

It took everything she had not to go into flight mode. If she ran all the way to the house and someone saw, she would have no plausible explanation for what she sensed, they would think her crazy. She couldn’t stay her body was to tense to let her relax, and that feeling in the back of her head had never let her down.

She turned and made her way back down the path. Where before she had enjoyed the walk. Now, she was trying to stop her body from plunging into a sprint.

The walk seemed to take longer, it hadn’t felt like she had walked that deep into the woods, but what had taken 20 minutes now felt like hours.

The niggling feeling in the back of her head wouldn’t calm down and only seemed to get worse as time went by, she was sure she was close to the mansion, but something stopped her in her tracks.

She felt caged, surrounded with no escape in sight. Again her mind wrestled with what she saw and heard, which was nothing the forest seemed just as calm as when she had first stepped in.

That voice, she didn’t understand and on many occasions been afraid to acknowledge, but it was there maybe not the way her thoughts were, but she sensed it. The way it tried to take over her body, scared her, she felt so out of control, but she was glad for it. Many a time it had saved her, warned her, yes we all had a radar that warned us when danger was imminent. Still, it was different at times; it was like it knew things before the signs were even visible.

When one day on her way home from Uni, it had told her not to go through the park, like she always did. The next day there was news of a girl being assaulted in the same park. Or when she was young, and the voice had told her to wake her parents and get out of the house, there had been no signs, but the carbon monoxide would have killed them. She had many experiences, where listening to the feeling had saved her life. She had learned to trust it even if it scared her, how it always tried to take control of her body and how she had to fight it.

This time she had known it was right even if no signs were present like every other time. The problem is that explaining to people how she knew certain things always brought looks and questions she couldn't answer.

Now she stood frozen, unsure what to expect but knowing that whatever was out there, would hurt her.

She tried to calm her breathing and slow her heart, if it was an animal, it would be able to smell her fear a mile away.

She closed her eyes and listened to the forest around her. At first, all she could hear was her pounding heart and rapid breathing, but as she tried to calm herself down, other sounds started filtering in. She caught the crunch of twigs and knew that whatever it was, was circling her.

It’s breathing was calm, and she could see the fog in her mind coming out of its mouth. She was being analysed by this creature, it was judging her in what was the best method of attack, she had no doubt that it would attack.

Her brain scrambled frantically looking for an escape. She had no phone, the only weapon available would be a stick, which would only serve to enrage the animal more.

‘Let me’ her eyes snapped open, and she looked around.

The voice sounded as if it was right next to her, she was hearing things now. There was no one in sight, deep down she knew who had spoken but admitting it would be crazy.

She needed a plan, maybe climb a tree and hope someone would come looking for her, that was her best bet at this time.

She looked around, for the best tree. She wasn’t a climber, and it would have to be something relatively easy, with enough branches that she could boost herself up. On the second turn, she finally saw it, but it was farther than she would have liked. If she ran, the animal would give chase.

She took one step towards the tree, and at the same time, she heard a growl coming from her left and away from the house, it was a warning, she froze on the spot. He saw her, he knew what she was planning.

Her heart started pounding again, she didn’t have to concentrate, to hear the crunch of twigs under the animal’s foot. He was getting close, and he was playing with her, letting her know that he could take his time because she had no means of escape.

He stopped and howled, but unlike the growl, this sounded more frustrated than angry. He took off, the pounding of feet on the ground so loud in her ears, she was sure she was done for. Until she realised they were moving away from her.

She felt faint and exhausted and her legs game out, just as she was about to hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around her.

‘We’re safe’ the thought came to her, but it wasn’t her own, or was it?

‘What are you doing out here alone’ came the gruff voice.

The arms around her shifted, one supporting her back, the other going under her knees lifting her off the ground. She came face to face with her Saviour, Damien. He wasn’t smiling at her like she was used to, his jaw was clench and lips compressed into a hard line, he was angry.

‘I came out for a walk’ she told him.

He had already started walking, never spearing her a look.

'Umm, you can put me down.’ She said as the trembling stopped and she became aware of the situation. He never acknowledged her.

He was angry with her like she had committed a great offence. She tried to concentrate on something other than the man who carried her. He made it look like she weighed nothing, which she didn’t, a few pounds overweight if her doctor had anything to say about it. She flushed at the thought.

The walk back was awkward and filled with tension. She didn’t know what to say to lighten the mood, there was a reason she worked with animals and not humans.

They finally reached the house after what seemed like an eternity, he dropped her off at the side entrance.

‘Are you OK?’ she could hear the effort he made to restrain his anger at her.

‘Yes’ she said meekly, unsure of herself and what she had done to anger him.

'Go inside' he said before he turned and walked back into the woods.

She wanted to call after him, stop him from going back in there with the dangerous animal. But before she had the nerve o voice her worries, he had disappeared into the forest.

***

After taking a shower to rid herself of the chill and shock of the morning, she went down to the dining room. Her mum and Graham were already there, Graham gave her a strange look when she walked in assessing her.

‘Good morning’ she said while making her way to the seat next to her mum.

‘Good morning dear, did you sleep well?’ her mum asked.

‘Yes,’ she replied, she was too shaken to keep up a conversation, but luckily no one would find it strange if she didn’t talk.

Magda brought her coffee and scrambled eggs on toast.

‘Honey, where are the boys?’ her mum asked Graham, her interest peaked.

‘They went for a run in the woods’ he replied, and from the corner of her eye, she saw him looking at her. ‘They should be back soon.’

No sooner did he finish his sentence and Sebastien and Damien walked in.

Sebastien took the seat next to her, while Damien nodded and walked back out.

‘If you’ll excuse me I have some business to attend to.’ Graham stood, kissed her mum on the head and walked out.

Magda appeared once again like magic, with a cup of coffee and a plate full of sausages, bacon, eggs, beans and toast. Sat it in front of Sebastien who mumbled thanks before attacking the food.

‘Tory, are you listening?’ she snapped her head towards her mum.

‘No, sorry’ she could feel the blush forming in her cheeks 'what was it?’

‘I was asking if you would like to go into town with me, I’m sure you didn’t bring anything suitable to wear for the party.’ She said.

‘What party?’ she was sure this had never been mentioned and with good reason. She hated parties.

‘Well it’s not so much a party as a small gathering’ her mum said quickly ‘Some family and friends, come over for Christmas, so you will need something nice to wear.’

‘I have clothes I don’t need anything’ she said.

‘Sweetie, you can come with me and give your opinion, or you will wear whatever I buy for you today.’ She threatened. ‘I’ll meet you at the front entrance in an hour.’

Knowing she had won, Lydia got up and made her way out of the dining room.

She didn’t know why she bothered, her mum would make her wear the outfit whether she liked it or not. She didn’t like the idea of wearing and outfit picked by her mum in front of Sebastien. Knowing the dress would be more revealing than she would be comfortable with, that’s what her mum would choose for her if she didn’t go with her.

On that thought, her eyes went back to him, his plate was almost empty. Had he lifted his head since the food had been placed in front of him?

Releasing a sigh, she made to get up but, a hand on her arm stalled her.

‘You haven’t touched your food.’ He said, his clipped tone showing his resentment towards her.

‘I’m not very hungry’ she said.

‘Eat! or are you one of those people that likes to waste food?’ every word out of his mouth irritated her.

He was right; she shouldn’t waste food. But a part of her, a very childish side, wanted to stomp out of the room.

She picked up her fork, and he released his hold on her. They ate in silence, and once she was finished Magda once again appeared to clear their plates.

He was out of the door before she had even realised.

She spent the next hour wandering from room to room losing herself in the art pieces, becoming fascinated and intrigued as to why so many of the paintings contained wolves.