Russian Alpha Queen

08

Zeno was laying in bed that night, his thoughts completely focused on his extraordinary Alpha. It made him smile, thinking back to her laughing at his jokes and smiling when he complimented her at the mall earlier. She had really warmed up to him and Alexi, even if she still stayed more than an arm's width away. She had no problem with Karine touching her it seemed - the girl had spent half the afternoon treating the Alpha like a redhaired Barbie, and was hyping her up every time she left the dressing room. She was a good friend to have, and Zeno was glad she'd taken a liking to Mila.

Mila. His wolf had howled and jumped around excitedly when he heard her say to call her by name. After laying in bed for a while, deep into his introspection at why he and his wolf were acting so giddy and devoted towards her already, he was pulled from his thoughts by a soft knock at his door.

Running a hand through his hair, he rolled over in bed and looked at his clock. 3 AM. Who the hell would be at his door at this hour? Rolling out of bed and grumbling bitterly to himself, he made his way to the door, opening it just as Mila was turning to walk back to her room.

"Mila?" he asked breathlessly. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

Mila bit her lip, realizing how it looked for her to be showing up at an unmated male's room at three in the morning. She hoped he didn't have the wrong idea, and quickly tried to shut down any presumptions he might have made.

"I came to talk," she rushed out. "About last night."

It had been a very long time since Mila had been able to have any kind of conversation with someone besides Ivan, and that was usually just her mouthing off to piss him off. Conversations about anything of substance were so long gone to her that it had taken her hours to get her thoughts together. But now that she was standing in front of Zeno, she found it wasn't quite so easy to say what she'd thought a thousand times.

"Come in," he replied, though his face looked tense as he gestured for her to enter his room. Looking around, Mila was surprised by the room. It was the same layout as her own room, but the décor didn't look as modern or bachelor like as she would have thought. The room was fairly empty, a bed and entertainment stand with a tv and gaming console on it to the left side of the room, two armchairs, a bookshelf, and a small table sat on a rug in front of the three windows. It was unique, she assumed, in the fact that he had a small minifridge near the bed. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing to the chairs she had just been admiring.

"Coffee?" Zeno asked, making his way over to a closet and retrieving a coffee pot and grounds.

Eyeing the objects in his hands, Mila nodded. "I've never had it, but I'd like to try some. It might help me move past the confusion of you having a whole kitchen in your bedroom. Where are you hiding the stove?" she asked teasingly.

"Oh, that's in the closet too," he replied with a chuckle, taking the coffee pot to the connected bathroom to fill it before returning and placing the grounds in the filter and starting it up. Taking a seat in the open chair, his eyes fell on Mila, patiently waiting for her to start. Brushing her bright red hair hair behind her ear, Mila blushed a bit under the intensity of his gaze, and she had to fight to keep her eyes from falling to the floor.

"About last night..." she started, but Zeno cut her off, worried she was going to say he'd upset her.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about last night as well, if you don't mind." Mila let out a sigh of relief, nodding her head and gesturing for him to go first.

"I wanted to apologize again. I could see that I made you uncomfortable." Mila went to tell him not to worry about it, but Zeno continued. "I don't want to confuse you or anything. I'm not looking to be romantically involved with you, and I'm sorry if my actions made you think that, or if I'm just being presumptuous."

He shot her a look showing he felt a little awkward if that was the case, but Mila merely nodded for him to keep speaking. "I just feel very strongly about protecting you, as weird as that sounds after having only known you for two days. As wonderful as you are Mila, it's not totally about you being Alpha or being a girl, a lot of it has to do with my own drama, as selfish as that sounds."

Mila looked confused again at this point, so Zeno took a deep breath to steady himself. He hadn't talked to anyone but Alexi about this, and he'd been wrestling with himself on how to talk to her about this, or if he even should. While she didn't really seem like that kind of Alpha, his actions could allow her to kill him, and nobody would blame her. Taking another deep breath to steady his resolve, he felt the panic continue to bubble up within him. Maybe this was a bad idea.

Mila put aside her confusion and sat patiently as she studied the look on Zeno's face. He looked like he was really torn up about something, and clearly arguing with himself. Whatever he had to say, it had taken him a lot of courage to decide to talk about it, and Mila had no intentions of rushing him. Taking one last deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, Zeno ran a hand through his long brown hair and sighed, finally looking up to meet Mila's eyes and as he possibly got himself killed.

"Ivan was my uncle. He raised me after my parents were killed by rogues when I was two. Back then, he wasn't Ivan the Terrible, he was just my uncle Ivan, Alpha of around 200 in his pack. It was a small pack, and because of this, everyone was very close knit. He was a kind, fair Alpha, and everyone loved him."

Zeno felt horrible for sharing a story that seemed to empathize with the person who'd done so many horrible things to her, but he wanted her to fully understand where he was coming from. He'd seen the stress and confusion he'd brought upon his Alpha with his way of showing so much concern so quickly, and he didn't want to cause her any more grief. His only intention had ever been to protect and hopefully befriend her if she was willing, and he needed her to know that the past hadn't changed that.

"He was a great man and mentor back then. My aunt was a kind and compassionate Luna and mate, and he'd apparently become a better man once he met her. The whole pack loved her for how she treated everyone as equals, and would always stand up against elitism when she saw or heard of it. Even though she was sweet as sugar, she was terrifying when she was angry. You remind me a lot of her in that regard," he added, looking at her for the first time since he'd gotten past complimenting Ivan. He was afraid she'd be angry but that wasn't what he saw at all.

Sadness, pity, and empathy swelled up within Mila and splashed across her face. She knew Ivan didn't have any immediate family, neither Alexi or Karine said anything about their connection, and hearing him talk made it clear Zeno didn't have any ill intents towards her. Even with her newfound fear of men, she found she trusted him, and was smiling softly in encouragement as he went on with his story.

"The thing is, they weren't true mates. They'd grown up together and each gone around the world looking for their mates, only to come back empty handed. They began a relationship after a few years of supporting each other as they were still alone in their 20s, and the rest was history. When I was eight, there was a big Alpha meeting in Rome, and all the Alphas had to bring their Lunas. My aunt's true mate was there, and when he tried to demand she go with him in front of everyone, she rejected him on the spot. The guy was like ten years younger than her and had just become Alpha. She already had a family there, which just infuriated the guy more.

"He came back and took advantage of her right in front of Ivan as he was forced to watch. Then he just left her there, killing all our strong fighters so we couldn't retaliate. When she found out she was pregnant, she killed herself. She couldn't live with the shame of having had another man inside her, and she didn't want to live a world where there was proof of that." While Zeno hadn't noticed them, Mila had seen the tears that washed across his cheeks as he spoke. She wanted to comfort him, but the mere thought of touching him made her skin burn and her heart beat faster. But looking at this man pouring his heart out to her, she truly felt she had to do something to return the gesture. Slowly, she reached out her shaky hand and set it on his.

Zeno's eyes shot from the floor to her hand, and up to her face as he felt the contact. Just yesterday she'd be so afraid of him that she nearly jumped out of her skin to get away. Now here she was, softly patting the top of his hand to comfort him. His face lit up in a smile as he saw his Alpha make progress. Taking another deep breath to calm himself, he carried on.

"That's when he became Ivan the Terrible. He started killing off one mate and leaving the other alive because he hated the whole concept of given mates. He started hurting people in his pack, and he became very abusive towards me. I started to hate him, but he'd taken me in and I had nowhere else to go, so I stuck around. He started really going crazy two years before he took you. I tried to stop him from doing some of the worse things he did, but I was still a child. I could only do so much while he committed these atrocities, and all I could do was watch. Every time I spoke out, he'd beat me worse and worse.

"Eventually I became his Delta, and I tried using my title to help people, but nothing changed. He continued hurting our pack. He kept killing people, taking more and more territory. Alexi and I had been best friends since I moved here, and when he saw how bad I was getting beat for trying to help, he fought for a rank so he could help me. He made it all the way to Beta. Dimitri wasn't willing to directly go against Ivan because he said he'd kill Lada if he did, but he was willing to throw the match so we could all try to help the people.

"The three of us worked behind the scenes for years, sneaking food and medication to the pack members that needed it, helping the Omegas with the mile long chore lists he'd give them. Whatever we could do to help, we did it. But one day I tried to help someone I couldn't, and he beat us both until we almost died..." he trailed off, his body sitting right beside her, but his mind miles away.

Mila gasped, her hand that was on top of his flying to her mouth as she put tried to piece their conversation together with the memories that were flooding back to her. "It was you," she whispered. "You were the boy in the wall - the one that tried to help me escape." Zeno nodded, his eyes meeting hers and holding them this time as Mila found herself thinking about the past.