The untamed Alpha and his human mate

Chapter 26: In hiding

Amaya

I withdrew cash from the atm when I got off the bus, the machine hummed quietly in the cold night air, fluorescent lights flickering above me. My fingers trembled as I stuffed the notes into my pockets, glancing over my shoulder every few few minutes scared Clayton would jump out at me from the shadows.

I chose Emerald city to go to, I knew he couldn’t enter this city and even if he dared to try I could still hide because this was a big place. The city was alive even at night, neon lights reflected off wet pavements, the distant hum of traffic blending with voices and laughter.

The air smelled faintly of rain and street food and I hoped all of this could be a confusing distraction to Clayton’s heightened senses.

I used cash to book a hotel for a few days until I could figure out living arrangements, he couldn’t trace my whereabouts if I used cash instead of his card.

With the collar around my neck it wasn’t difficult for me to find a job that accepted slaves, it was cleaning in a hospital and didn’t pay much.

The corridors smelled constantly of antiseptic and bleach, the floors hard beneath my feet as I worked long hours under harsh white lighting that hurt my eyes. But it was just enough to afford a small apartment for myself, I didn’t want to rely entirely on Clayton’s money and the less I needed to use his card the safer I was of not being found.

I set up my own bank account, I knew they only did it for fear of Clayton’s wrath if they didn’t, every time they thought about saying something negative I saw their eyes flick to the collar around my neck, saw the fear, heard them swallow nervously.

I took myself to a doctor’s appointment and got checked over, everything seemed good they said and they gave me folic acid and some other prenatal medications.

I was settling in well by the third week and each and every day I was growing to love this baby more and more.

I felt even more vulnerable being pregnant and I managed to find a martial arts class. I was shy and awkward but I was also determined to do my best to keep me and the baby safe so I forced myself in there and sighed with relief to find the instructor was a really friendly and helpful man who didn’t care whether I was a slave or not.

He was an older man in his mid fifties but still looked early forties, he was a weredog which made sense to me why he was so friendly, I hadn’t even known there was such a thing as weredogs, I learnt from him that they were extremely rare along with werecats.

The martial arts studio smelled faintly of sweat and worn mats, the sound of fists hitting pads echoing through the room, it became a comfort over time.

I was so shy at first but the group of people who attended were always nice and polite too and I soon got used to being in a class full of people, the hardest part was sparring or doing the moves I had practiced in front of everyone while they sat and watched, but slowly I found it built my confidence and it helped that no one ever judged or made faces at my scarred face either.

I learnt all the punches, kicks, throws, everything there was to learn and I became good, really good, my instructor whose name was Oliver also gave me extra private lessons that I paid for because I needed to be the best I could be.

I didn’t tell anyone I was pregnant, I knew they might not let me join if they knew or they would be too gentle with me, I needed rough and real sparring to even stand a chance against someone in real life, so I kept it quiet which worked for about four months and then Oliver noticed the change in my scent, it had grown stronger I suppose over time and then there was my ever growing belly, I showed early.

As I feared, he did allow me to stay but he made sure everyone was more gentle and careful with me, I still attended and when I wasn’t practicing in class I was doing it at home alongside what Clayton had taught me.

Everything seemed to be going well, so well I started to relax and at the weekend I decided to be brave and go to the cinema to watch a movie I was desperate to see, it was the new alien Romulus movie and it had been out for a quite a few weeks now.

The building was dimly lit, cosy, I could smell popcorn thick in the air. I was relieved to find it wasn’t too busy in the cinema and took my seat a little less than halfway close to the screen, the low murmur of people settling into their seats was comforting, bringing memories from before the war.

Even though the film was good and I was enjoying it, I had chosen to go in the evening and with the pregnancy making me feel all kinds of hormones from being more horny and aroused to feeling sick to being more irritable, I also found I was tired a lot more and I ended up falling asleep towards the end, I never slept during a movie, especially at the cinema where I had paid for it.

When I woke up I was annoyed I’d missed the ending, some people were leaving and others were still seated waiting to see if there would be any end credits, halfway through the film I had felt someone sit behind me, maybe a couple but I didn’t think so because no one spoke and it sounded like only one person had sat behind me, they were still seated now but I was too shy to turn and look back at them.

I was waiting for everyone else to leave but apparently the person behind me was too because they didn’t move, when no end credits came up I bent to grab my bag off the floor and felt someone tap me on the shoulder, turning to look behind me my heart felt like it lodged in my throat and would drop to the floor. Clayton blackthorn was sitting there, arms folded on the back of my seat with a hint of a cruel smile on his lips.

“Enjoying your freedom?” He asked.

My heart felt stuck in my throat and I managed to breathe, “how are you here?”

Standing up to his full height he towered over me and said, “do you really think anyone can keep me out of a city? I chose not to come, but all bets are off if my baby is here, I won’t lose another child of mine and miss out on their life.”

“Where’s Bliss?”

“Don’t you worry about Bliss, you worry about yourself.”

“Excuse me, you need to leave now so we can clean up,” a man said but his mouth shut when he saw the collar on my neck and he looked at Clayton standing beside me.

“Apologies, we were just leaving,” Clayton said and he walked out of his aisle of seats and waited for me to do the same.

I slowly dragged my feet, I knew a big argument was about to happen because I was not going back with him without a fight.

I quietly followed him as we moved through the crowd of people buying their food and drinks before going to watch their movie. I looked around for any exits I could slip to but when I spotted a fire exit my heart rate must have given me away because without even turning to look back at me he grabbed my hand and discreetly held it tight so I couldn’t get away.

When we were outside I pulled my hand away and snapped, “I’m not going back with you.”

It was hard to be strong and firm when he looked so good, he was so damningly beautiful with his perfect nose, perfect chiseled jawline, cheekbones, full Cupid bow lips, skin more perfect than any filter on a photo could do, and if he that wasn’t enough he had the most stunning almond shaped eyes with that strange mix of light blue eyes with a touch of lilac to them.

I shouldn’t even be focusing on his looks but it was ALL I could focus on right now, he was wearing those slim fit black leather trousers with the big pockets that I loved on him, and a grey frilly shirt that looked vampiric yet he somehow made it his own style, he left the first few buttons undone leaving some of his muscular chest exposed and he wore an olive green gauze scarf that he had left undone with a black leather jacket on top, he looked pretty much the same as he had the first night we met, drool worthy.

I was still looking at the rest of him, his wild black messy hair that couldn’t decide between wavy and curly and fell into those stunning blue-lilac eyes.

He was wearing the wolf pendant necklace he always wore and I noticed had on a leather three in one bracelet and a black ring on his index finger.

He was so damn sexy and beautiful I wondered how Bliss got anything done with him around looking like that, she was one lucky lady. What I wouldn’t give to have some gorgeous hunky god with perfectly sculpted looks so unnatural there wasn’t one blemish to be seen.

No! I couldn’t think like that, he didn’t deserve it. I didn’t want him, couldn’t want him, he wanted me dead for crying out loud.

“Amaya,” he said cold and firm.

“Huh- what?” I asked dumbly.

“I said you will return with me whether you like it or not.”

Anger at his words helped me come back to my senses and I sarcastically replied, “Will I now?”

“Yes, you will,” he snarled, he went to grab my wrist but I blocked it and punched him in the face, I might have peed myself a little and if looks could kill I was killed a hundred times over in his eyes, gulping I turned and ran.

Wiping his bloody nose he ran after me, terrified I ran faster down the streets, it was late and pitch-black outside with no one else really around the cold air hurt my lungs but I didn’t slow down.

I ran blindly and found myself at a fence for a second time, I went to climb as there was no barbed wire, I got halfway up before I felt my hair being grabbed tightly.

Clayton yanked me by hair off the fence and spun me around ready to punch me but his fist froze when his eyes fell to my small bump, dropping his fist he growled, “don’t you ever f.ucking hit me again!”

Grabbing my elbow he dragged me roughly back towards the cinema parking lot and towards his car, I struggled and fought but he was too strong, ignoring his warning I kicked him in the side of his leg at his weak point, he stumbled and lost his grip on me and I ran away again.

I didn’t bother running for crowds or help, Clayton wouldn’t care about grabbing me in front of anyone and no one would dare help if they knew who he was.

I threw my scent all over the place and instead of just running I hid in the shadows and behind cars, big recycle bins, whatever I could. I managed to lose him by some miracle and I jumped on a bus that was pulling up at a stop. I only lived a fifteen minute walk away but the bus would mean he couldn’t follow my scent.

Even sitting down at the back of the bus, and seeing the doors close after I had gotten on I was still nervous and looking around making sure he wasn’t somehow on here, my chest was heaving as I caught my breath.

I kept looking out the windows expecting him to be running alongside the bus or randomly being at the next stop even though I knew that was impossible…right? Hard to tell with a god.

At my stop I thanked the driver and jumped off and ran down the street probably looking like a maniac to him and the two other passengers that had been on the bus. Turning left I ran down towards the end apartment and quickly let myself in and locked the door behind me.

I was panting and breathless as I slid down the door exhausted and feeling sick from all the running while I was pregnant and still suffering with morning sickness.

What was I going to do? If he found me once he would find me again.