Forbidden Mating With The Alpha

Chapter 10

Some time came to pass while Lucy was still in the bathroom, and the entire time, she had been looking ahead at the reflection of the mirror. The more she looked at her face, specifically her pale, smooth skin and the blonde hair that was parted at the center of her head, the more she found it difficult to believe that was truly her.

The synchronized blinking and rising of her chest as she breathed were the only things that allowed her closer to facing the reality that it truly was her in the mirror. She attempted to convince herself so many times that the only reason she felt so strange about looking at herself was because she had no memories of what she looked like before.

It was akin to being reborn in a new body and having to adjust to a new life with it. Creed called her beautiful many times to count but in her eyes, she was as plain as plain could get. She did not realize her own beauty and perhaps that was a good quality she possessed. Even with her eyes still puffy from crying and her face flushed because of the weird thoughts she had about her fiancé, she was beautiful in the sense of the word.

After waiting a few more minutes, she decided she had stayed in there for too. Her eyes were puffy and the thoughts she thought she could push out of her mind were persistently dwelling there. The only way to clear her thoughts was to wash her face with cold water, and hopefully the red around her eyes. She no longer cared for the makeup. Ida would reapply it later if she was feeling up to it.

She walked up to the sink and as she stopped before it, she glanced out of the window when she heard a soft rumbling from the distance. She could not see much of the sky because of the nearby buildings that obscured the view, but what little she could see showed a few gray clouds in the sky. It was safe to assume that it would be raining later in the evening.

Not that she had much of a problem with it. She found the rain to be extremely comforting—and the clouds to be like blankets that protected her from the vastness of what was behind the blue hue of the sky. If possible, she wanted to sit by the window and watch it rain to her heart's content. It would disturb the festival outside but just for one night, she needed a good distraction.

She opened the tap to turn on the cold water and let her fingers flow through the liquid. It felt good, like taking a nice, warm bath. She cupped her hands and let the water pour into a small puddle in her palms, but before she could splash the water on her face, the opening of the tap started to gush out more water than she anticipated.

She began to panic and tried to close the tap, but as soon as she did, the water started to gush out in a small explosion that splashed into her face and hair. She was almost drenched to her skin and the water would not stop flowing. In a matter of seconds, the sink was filled to the brim and water was now on the floor. She did not know what to do as the tap was already turned off.

The only thing she could think to do was to go out and call for help, however, as she turned on her heel, she slipped on the water and fell to the floor, screaming from the pain when she softened the fall by landing on her right arm. The pressure on her wrist from the weight it had to carry was so great that it felt as though it were broken. She clutched on to her wrist with her left hand to ease the pain and watched as more water flowed to the floor.

Confusion and fear were the only emotions that she felt at the moment. For some time, she even forgot about the pain in her wrist. Not long after she had screamed, the door burst opened and the figure of a woman entered the room. It was Yelena, who seemed to have been in a haste. As soon as she saw Lucy laying on the floor and the water flowing in the sink, she rushed to the sink first.

She pressed her index finger against the mouth of the tap and the water instantly froze over, closing the opening. Lucy watched in bewilderment and amazement at the same time.

"What happened in here?" Yelena asked as she crouched down on the floor besides her. The entire floor was covered in water but she did not care for that as she got down on her knees and soaked her dress.

"I-I... I don't know. I just opened the tap... I don't know what else happened," she was stuttering because she was shivering, no doubt from the cold water. Her hair and dressed were soaked. It was not normal for water to gush out of the tap at that rate, even if it was fully turned. If anything, it was similar to when a dam wall would be opened to let out some of the water in the dam.

If Yelena had not been well versed on the topic of magic, she would have guessed that there was something wrong with the pipes. But that was no simple error in the plumbing; it was more than that. And indeed it was, because back at the breakfast table, a playful grin had formed on Layla's face.

"Get up. You need to get changed before you catch a cold," Yelena said next and grabbed Lucy's right wrist to help her stand up, but Lucy winced in pain and quickly pulled it away.

"I'm so sorry! Are you injured!?" Yelena asked apologetically. She looked down at Lucy's wrist and saw that a red ring had formed around it, indicative of a bruise.

"I hope it's not broken," she said and Lucy shook her head, twisting her wrist slightly.

"It's not. I think I just sprained it," she said. Yelena picked up her right hand, gently this time, and Lucy could not help but notice how cold her hand was. It was not something she could ignore. It felt as though as ice cube was being pressed against her skin. In no time, the coldness soothed the pain and she was able to stand up with Yelena's help.

"The swelling will go down in no time. You should get your wrist fixed if you feel that you can," was Yelena's advice as helped her get to the door. Lucy somewhat understood what she meant. She was very familiar with pain though she could not explain or understand why. Maybe it had something to do with her past.

As they walked out the door, they came across Dante who was about to come in and check on the scream. He heard Lucy the moment she did scream, but because she was in the bathroom and Yelena was close enough to hear, he decided to let her go in instead.

"Is everything alright?" He asked and Yelena was the one who responded, as Lucy was too shaken to properly speak.

"Yes, it was just a small problem with the water," she said, opting to not explain to him that she suspected foul play because of what happened the night before with Layla's punishment. She would rather not have that happen again, no matter who it was.

Dante watched as the two women walked away and he furrowed his eyebrows. He was not naive and he, too, sensed something in the room the moment the water went out of control. But unlike Yelena who suspected that it was foul play because Lucy was a human, Dante believed there to be more than meets the eye.

The explosion of energy came from the bathroom and could not have been created elsewhere. He started to fear that Lucy might be losing control of herself because of her lost memories. As for Layla, she caught on to Dante's suspicions earlier that morning. She did not do anything to the water because she could not be bothered with childish games.

And when she saw Yelena leading Lucy through the room to the stairs, she scoffed to herself. Ida, who had stayed behind to give Lucy some time to think to herself about what happened earlier, followed behind the two and up the stairs.

"What happened?" She asked and Yelena retold the story to Ida. They both helped Lucy with getting settled by taking her to the baths first where she changed out of her dress and Ida brought in a new, more casual one. Her hair was dried and as soon as she was completely dried, Ida helped her to get in bed.

"You're still shivering a lot. I want you to stay in bed, at least until the evening. I'll bring up your lunch," she spoke as she returned with a tray carrying a few, small metal canisters, each fitting in her hand. She opened them and pulled out a lighter, then transfered the flame from the lighter into the canisters before closing them.

The flame had no medium of staying light such as a candle wick and just floated about in the canisters. It reminded Lucy of the floating lanterns she saw in the sky when she entered the town with Creed. Ida placed the canisters in various spots underneath the mattress so that they could keep Lucy's body warm.

"Thank you, Ida," Lucy said before she sneezed. Ida cracked a small smile that wasn't visible unless one closely looked at her face. Without another word, she left the room so that Lucy could rest. She never imagined that the day would go on like that. She had been excited before to start her new life and to sit by the window to enjoy the rain, never suspecting that something like that would occur in the bathroom.

She did not want to think too much about it anymore and fell asleep to the warmth of the flames keeping the bed warm.