Alpha Luna Diary: My Personal Obsession

CHAPTER 4: The Alpha King at My Door

Open this diary only if you’ve ever looked out your window and realized that your ordinary life had quietly packed its bags and left without saying goodbye.

Because that was exactly how I felt.

As if the world I had known for seventeen years had suddenly cracked open, and something strange, terrifying, and impossible was crawling out of the darkness.

I stood frozen by my window. The curtains trembled in my hands. Outside, beneath the old tree in our front yard, stood Jack, the one boy I couldn’t seem to get myself with. And beside him… was that man, the man with the glowing blue eyes, the man who looked so much like Jack that I didn’t need anyone to tell me they were related.

He seemed taller than Jack, broader and his presence felt more intimidating. Even from up here, he looked like someone people obeyed without question.

The moonlight seemed to avoid him. The night itself felt smaller around him. I swallowed hard because, aside from being afraid, I was confused as to why he would come openly to my house, amongst all the list of houses. He is a noble, so it is only natural that he should appear before his peers like Gabriel or Eliza. My family is one that can’t be mentioned in terms of wealth and status. So, the question is why was he here? Why was he staring at my house?

No.

Why was he staring particularly on that night at me? For one horrible, terrifying second, our eyes met, and my entire body went cold.

I don’t know how to explain it. It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, like one wrong step would change everything.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound came from downstairs. I jumped so badly that I nearly tripped on my own feet. “Marionette!” my mother shouted from downstairs. “Are you expecting someone?”

“No!” I shouted back. Another knock came louder this time, and more impatient. I heard my father muttering to himself. “Who visits people this late at night?” he grumbled.

I heard footsteps. The front door opened with a screeching sound.

Then suddenly, silence. A long, terrible silence.

Then again,

Crash!

Something shattered downstairs. My mother’s sharp gasp filled the house. I didn’t even think, I just ran because I practically flew down the stairs.

When I reached the living room, I stopped so suddenly that I nearly fell to the ground. That is the extent to show how worried I was. Did something happen? This question was what was on my mind.

Jack was standing there, and beside him stood the stranger. No, it was not a stranger anymore, because somehow…I knew at this time who he was. The resemblance was basically impossible to ignore.

My father looked confused, my mother looked pale. Actually, pale wasn’t enough, she looked terrified. I have seen my mother angry before, I have seen her tired, I have seen her cry when our dog died, but I have never seen this expression before on her. It looked like she had seen a ghost.

The older man’s eyes slowly moved toward me. Then he stopped breathing. At least, it looked like he did. He stared at me for a moment. Jack stood beside him, like someone compelled and in trouble.

At that moment, I suddenly became painfully aware of my pajamas, and my messy hair, and also the fact that I probably looked ridiculous. Then he took one step forward at me. The first word from him to me sounded strange.

“No…” he whispered. The sound of his voice made me shiver. “You have her eyes.”

I blinked because I was sure he was referring to me. “My… eyes?” I repeated softly. His expression instantly changed with shock, disbelief and something that almost looked like pain.

“Exactly the same,” he murmured. Before I could say anything, my mother stepped in front of me. “No,” she said sharply. I stared at her because she never sounded like that.

Never.

“Stay away from her,” my mother said again, her voice trembling. The man looked at her quietly. “It’s been seventeen years, Anna,” he said softly.

I frowned. Seventeen years? Does that mean that they had known each other before? Is that what the visit was about?

The strange man continued facing my mother, “You should have known this day would come.” My mother looked as though she might cry. “You promised,” she whispered.

“I promised many things,” he suddenly interrupts her, making her unable to finish her plea, I guess. The room became silent for some seconds. I looked from one adult to the other, then to Jack and then back again. I felt like everyone had been given a script except me.

I had absolutely no idea what was happening, so I raised my hand slightly. “Excuse me,” I said weakly. “Am I missing something?”

Nobody answered me because they seemed to be pondering on a past that I was not aware of. Wonderful, I continued. “Because I feel like I’ve accidentally walked into the middle of a movie.”

Jack almost smiled, but almost but regained his regular composure again when the man stared at him. I noticed that, of course, I noticed. I always noticed everything about him which was honestly becoming embarrassing.

The older man finally looked at me again. “I am Max Briggs,” he said. I blinked for a moment, because it felt oddly similar to something I had heard before. The name sounded familiar.

Then my eyes widened, “Briggs, Briggs. As in… Jack Briggs.” I slowly looked at Jack, then at the man, then back at Jack, then back at the man.

“Oh.”

That was all I could say. I have finally understood their relationship now.

“Oh.”

Because my brain had officially stopped functioning before. Max Briggs. He is a billionaire, a famous businessman, a man whose face occasionally appeared in magazines and newspapers, regarded as one of the richest men in the country.

Who was now standing in my living room? I suddenly became aware of how small our house looked, the peeling wallpaper, the old sofa, and the cracked picture frame. I wanted the floor to just open up and swallow me.

“You’re Jack’s father?” I asked softly. “Yes,” he replied. So Jack was protecting me that night from his father?

I looked at Jack, then back at his father, then at our house, and then at myself. This somehow made me feel even more ordinary than I already did. Of course.

Of course, Jack came from a rich family. People who looked like him didn’t come from ordinary places. I suddenly remembered all the times I had imagined standing beside him, and now I just wanted to laugh at myself. How ridiculous, how absolutely ridiculous, I was just me, Marionette Miche, the girl with a diary and a broken umbrella. And he was… this.

I lowered my eyes. A familiar feeling settled inside my chest, that old feeling, that painful feeling, the one that whispered: You could never belong in his world, and you are not his type.

“Marionette.”

I looked up. Jack was watching me doubt myself the whole time before his father. There was concern in his eyes. I quickly looked away. I didn’t want him seeing my face. I didn’t want anyone seeing it and how embarrassing it was now because suddenly, for reasons I couldn’t explain, I felt very, very small.

Max sighed and told my parents. “She doesn’t know anything.”

“No,” my mother said quickly. “And she never will.”

I looked at her. “What?” My mother looked terrified. “Mom?” I called to her but she didn’t answer.

She shook her head. “No.” I was confused because I am practically the only one here, possibly still in the dark. “Mom… what is happening?”

Her eyes filled with tears. That frightened me more than anything else, because my mother was strong, the strongest person I knew. Seeing her look afraid made my stomach twist.

“I wanted you to have a normal life,” she whispered. I frowned, confused and sober slowly the more I hear this from her. “What does that mean?” I slowly asked her.

She didn’t answer. I looked at Max. He looked strangely sad. “Your mother once knew our world,” he said quietly. I blinked at that statement, “Our world?”

“The world of wolves,” he simply added.

Silence.

I stared at him, then at my mother, then back at him. Then I laughed, a nervous laugh, a very nervous laugh.

“No.”

Nobody laughed with me. I slowly stopped smiling. “Oh.” I swallowed, realizing it now. “You’re serious,” I said. Nobody answered, which was the answer enough. I looked at my mother. “You know?” My voice sounded almost broken and betrayed.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. “You know?” I asked again. She nodded once very slowly. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t even think, I had spent seventeen years believing I was ordinary and, apparently, my mother had been hiding an entire secret world from me.

I didn’t know whether to cry or scream. Then Max’s expression changed. He suddenly looked toward the front door. Jack did the same. The room became strangely tense.

“What is it?” I whispered. Nobody answered me. Max looked at Jack. “How long?” he asked quietly. Jack frowned and replied him, “Not long.” Max’s expression darkened. My heart started racing.

“Someone tell me what’s happening,” I said. Just then, a howl echoed outside. I froze hearing it too. Another howl answered it, then another, and another. The sound made every hair on my body stand. My mother went pale, my father looked terrified, Jack’s eyes hardened and Max slowly closed his eyes.

Then he looked at me. For the first time, I saw something frightening in his expression: Fear, real fear. “They found her,” he said quietly. I blinked again him who he meant. “Found who?”

He looked directly into my eyes. “You.” The room suddenly felt too small, too quiet, too cold. Then, something scratched against the front door. Once. Twice. Three times.

I stopped breathing because I panicked. Whatever was outside… It wasn’t human, and somehow… I knew it had come for me.