The Alpha and His Magical Bound Luna

Chapter 4

****Lexi****

I wake with the sunlight shinning into the room. I don’t remember falling asleep.

I don’t know what time of day it is. I feel like I’ve slept for days while not having slept at all. I remember last night, Nate.

I scramble for some jeans, throw them on and open the door, quietly, not to wake him.

I creep downstairs, I smell bacon, he’s in the kitchen, cooking, he looks up as I walk in.

He’s shirtless, pants slung low on his hips, his hair tussled from sleep, he smiles at me crookedly, I’m staring again, he knows it, my mouth goes dry.

‘Morning’ he says, his voice low, gravely, like he’s not long awake, like he knows full well the effect he’s currently having on my mental state.

I blink back to life. ‘ Hi’ I whisper and walked into the room.

‘Hungry?’

‘Erm, sure’ as if on cue my stomach grumbles loudly, traitor!

He smiles, passes me the coffee pot and some bacon.

I’m absently playing with the coffee mug when I feel like I’m being watched. I look up and see that flicker in his eyes again, and just as soon as I see it, it’s gone.

‘So, you make a habit of sleeping half naked in a strange man’s bed waiting for them to join you?’ He asks with a hint of teasing.

I choke on my coffee

‘Maggie. Last night. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. She offered me a place to stay, said you were away, it was the best room with the best bathroom, I’m sorry for intruding.’

He looked at me, a hint of sorrow in his eyes. A look I’ve seen many times before. Poor me, lonely girl with nowhere to go, relying on strangers to put her up, no money, no home.

I almost curl into a ball with the embarrassment of how pathetic I must come across to this beautiful man, in his beautiful home, with his beautiful eyes.

Suddenly, he’s at the side of me, placing his hand under my chin to lift my face to look at his. ‘Don’t be sorry, never be sorry, not to me’

The words feel heavier in the meaning than they should, like there is more here, more than two strangers who met only hours ago.

The feeling of being caged, trapped, rises again, the need to be set free. My nightmare from last night comes back to me, crying for help.

He strokes the side of my face with his thumb and I feel calmer. Why does this feel so familiar, so soothing, so natural?

We both jump from the knock at the door and he drops his hand, a hint of annoyance radiates off him, in walks Maggie, cheerful as ever with a plate of food, oblivious to whatever she has walked in on.

‘Morning’ she chimes before she looks up and sees us both in the kitchen.

‘Nate!’ ‘I didn’t know you were coming home! When did you get back? How was it? Why didn’t you call?’ She rushes over to him and hugs him tight, her small frame barely reaching around him, on her tiptoes trying to reach him, a smile spreads across his face as he bear hugs her back.

‘Hey mom, I got back late last night. It was a last-minute plan. I would have called, especially if I’d known you’d been renting out my room’, he says jokingly.

Maggie spins with horror, ‘oh Lexi, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I hope he didn’t give you a fright, walking in without warning!’

‘Fright?’ He says in mock disdain. ‘It’s my house, remember? I’m all for home-coming gifts, but leaving a half naked girl in my bed is a bit much, don’t you think mom?’ He says laughing as he goes to grab another cup of coffee.

My face burns bright, looking at Maggie, who bats his arm as he walks away.

‘Don’t worry hunny we have plenty of room, you can come over to the main house’. She’s barely finished speaking before Nate interrupts.

‘There’s enough room here’ he snaps.

They’re both silent, like some unspoken conversation is happening that only they can hear. Maggie seems to jump a little and then suddenly remember I’m there too.

‘Well, whatever you’re more comfortable with dear, I’ve got a busy day. Don’t forget to stop by the house some time and say hi, Nate, you’ll need to speak to your dad sooner rather than later’ Maggie rushes off out the house like someone has told her she'd left the stove on.

I sit there confused. Looking at Nate for clues as to what just happened. What the hell was that? He looks at me with those piercing blue eyes, ‘so, where are you from?’

The question catches me off guard.

‘Oh. No where, every where, you know’

‘Family?’

‘Don’t have one’

‘Your parents….’

‘Dead’, I say, before he has a chance to finish.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean….’

It’s fine, I cut him off. Better to get that aired sooner so we can move on.

‘I don’t remember them, it was a long time ago, it’s fine’

He looks at me intently, as if trying to figure something out.

‘I should probably leave.’

‘Wait, what, no.’

I still, confused by his reaction.

‘You don’t need to leave on my account. Besides, you said you had nowhere to go’

I feel a pang of sadness as I realise he must think of me as some poor homeless stray just wandering the streets looking for scraps.

The reaction on my face must give my thoughts away as he starts scrambling, nervelessly, tripping over his words.

‘I mean, I could use the company, been away, alone for a while, big house, single guy, you know’

‘I’m not looking for some hook up! Pay my way through other means’ I snap, angered that he’s just like every other guy I’ve ever met, think they can get what they want from me because I don’t have money and they look like a Greek God.

‘What. No! That’s not what I meant at all. I just meant. I live alone. I am alone. I’m not with anyone. It’s nice to have some company around here’ he talks quickly, he seems panicked, like he doesn’t want me to think of him that way, like he wants me to know he’s single.

I blush at his response. I didn’t mean to get so defensive, but at the same time, I’m pleased to learn he’s single too.

Not that I’d ever have a chance with someone like him, but at the same time, the thought of anyone else being with him enrages me like I’ve never felt

‘Mine’ I hear a growl in my head again. Why does that keep happening? I’m losing my mind!

I realise we’ve been standing here silently while I’ve had this internal conversation and I feel my face redden again in embarrassment

‘Sorry, it’s just, you know, normally that’s the kind of situation I end up dealing with but I shouldn’t have presumed’

I see a flash of anger come over his face and that hint in his eyes again. What is that? I’m not close enough to see properly.

‘You’re here now, those days are over. I need to shower, go see my folks properly, do you have any plans today?’

‘Erm, well, I hadn’t really thought I’d still be here to be honest…’

‘Will you stay? Please? If you’ve not got somewhere to be, I mean, if you do, I could drop you off first?’

‘I have nowhere I’m going. I was just going, but I can stay I guess.’ I don’t really want to leave and I don’t want to leave him.

I can’t explain it, but the idea of not being near Nate seems almost unimaginable, not that I’m going to show him that side of my crazy any time soon.

He seems to visibly relax at this. ‘Good, I shouldn’t be too long, make yourself at home and I’ll come back and get you in a couple of hours’. With that, he grabs a shirt out of his bag on the sofa and leaves.