CHAPTER 7 — The Stranger
703 Words
Rena could not sleep, she laid on her back looking at the ceiling, "he asked after you" kept playing back.
She turned onto her side, her back pulled, she turned again.
No one had ever looked for her before, in all the places she had been moved through, not one person had come asking for her, name and face did not matter in the trading grounds.
"Who is he and why did he come?" she muttered, looking for answers, she closed her eyes for a while.
It was a chilly morning, Rena poured water on her face, got into the dark yellow dress, and headed to the kitchen.
Elara handed her a task, she was to carry water from the well to the main house using four large buckets.
The well was at the edge of the courtyard, she lowered her bucket, pulled it up and poured, her arms were still weak but she managed.
On her second trip back, she passed the gate and slowed down, two guards stood there, one young with a thick jaw, the other older with his arms crossed.
Rena stopped, "the man who came yesterday," she said, "the one at the gate."
The young guard said nothing.
"What did he look like?" Rena asked.
The older guard looked her up and down, "short," he said, "he wore a dark coat and didn't give a name."
"What did he say exactly?" she pressed.
"he said he was looking for something that belonged to him," he said, still staring.
The carry pail felt heavy, "something that belonged to him?" she muttered.
"Did he say anything else?" she asked.
"No, we told him to move on."
"Okay, thanks," she said softly.
Rena kept walking, "something that belonged to him," she whispered, not someone, something.
She was in the storage room attending to dried grain when she heard his low voice in the hallway, Darien, he was talking to someone, she kept her hands on the grain sacks and stayed still.
Then the voices stopped, she heard footsteps.
The storage room door was half open, she saw him walk past, he held something in his hands, he did not slow down, but his eyes shifted, for a second he saw her through the gap.
His eyes were on her, almost entering but he caught himself, moving backwards like he remembered who he was, as soon as she looked up, he was gone.
Rena stood there with a strange feeling she could not explain, warm and dangerous, she placed the sack down and went back to work.
At midday Rio found her eating bread alone, she sat beside her, they stared at the courtyard.
"Did you ask the guards?" Rio asked.
"Yes."
"And?"
Rena told her what the guard had said, something that belonged to him.
Rio's face tightened, "Rena, listen carefully."
Rena looked at her.
"There are people outside this pack who move Omegas around, they are not traders, something worse," Rio kept her voice low, "they don't sell, they collect, and they don't stop looking once they have marked someone."
The bread in Rena's hand fell.
"How sure are you?" Rena asked.
Rio did not answer directly, her eyes said there was more she wasn't ready to share.
"A man who says someone belongs to him and says he will come back would not forget."
"I am safe here, I am inside the pack walls," Rena said.
"Yes, so he cannot get in," Rio said, then paused, "he might not get in through the front gate," she whispered.
Before Rena could ask what that meant, footsteps came fast across the courtyard, a young pack wolf stopped a few meters away.
"Alpha wants you," he said, catching his breath, "now, in his study."
Rena stood up, her heart skipped.
She crossed the courtyard, behind her Rio called out, "Rena."
She stopped and turned.
"When he speaks to you," Rio said, "ask him about the man at the gate."
Rena nodded and kept walking.
She pushed the heavy door, the hallway was dark and quiet, Darien's study door was open.
Rena got in, someone stood beside his desk with her arms crossed and a slow smile on her face, it was Alice.
- Writer
