Alpha Luna

6. Lunch

Kayleigh surveyed herself in the mirror as she pulled her hair back in its ponytail. Cherry had good taste in clothes. She was just deciding what she would do next when she heard a soft knock on the door. “Cherry?” She asked, going to the door.

“No.”

She paused, “Go away, Wesley. I do not feel like talking to you at the moment and I don’t think I ever will.”

“I am not here to talk. I…Open the door, Kayleigh.” He asked.

“No.”

Damn stubborn woman.

“I thought you’d like to have lunch.” He finally sighed and her stomach groaned at that. She was hungry. A part of her wanted to ignore him, but then she needed energy if she wanted to escape, so she opened the door and like the first day she saw him, he took her breath away.

Snap out of it, she told herself.

“This way.” He led her downstairs to the dining room and, right from the door, the smell of the food made her mouth water. The dining room had room enough for eight people and she waited until Sky took his seat at the head of the table before she went to the chair farthest from him on his right. She did not take the opposite, as seeing his face would ruin her appetite. “I was not sure what you liked.” He explained when he noticed she was staring at the wide range of food. Without looking at him, she grabbed a serving spoon, took what she needed, and started eating.

He contented himself with watching her. He was not hungry. Not for food anyway. He had a hard time figuring her out and had always considered himself good with people. He had to be. So why was she a puzzling case? He would have to get more information on Valkyries and maybe even refresh his knowledge of witches. At the very least, he was glad she was not from a rival pack, it would have been a rendition of Romeo and Juliet and he was not keen on that particular love story.

But it would have made it easier if she was like him. Well, not completely like him, he thought wryly. It would have been easier if she were a werewolf. She would understand his need to protect her and she would feel as he felt. The fiery possessiveness, the longing.

Her tongue peeked out to catch the drop of moisture on her lip and he held his breath as his thoughts found a new focus. He had been trying very hard not to think about his needs, to not think about how pink her lips were or how her body curved softly in all the right places. But his thoughts ran wild at that one action and they tried to break free. He gripped the edge of the table until he felt splinters pierce his skin. She looked up. Her eyes more blue than grey.

“You are creeping me out.” She informed him calmly and he took a deep breath, calming himself, before answering.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“No.”

“If I had asked you on a date, perhaps that first day, would you have said yes?”

She blinked at him, not surprised that the answer came easily. It would have been a big yes. But she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that. She stood up. “I am done here.” She declared and as she exited the dining room, she almost barged into a black American man with thick dreadlocks that reached his shoulder.

“Whoa, little lady.” He backed up. “Didn’t see you there?”

“Right.” She tried to bypass him but he stepped in her way. He stepped in her way.

“I haven’t seen you before. Are you one of Cherry’s friends? I swear the girl has more friends than anyone else in this world.”

“No, Harry. She is one of mine.” Sky interrupted, coming to stand beside Kayleigh, who leaned away from him. He tried not to let that hurt his pride.

“One of yours?” Harry frowned. “I thought I was your only friend. Now you have gone ahead and replaced me with…sorry, what’s your name?”

“I want to leave.” Kayleigh looked up at Sky and he sighed, then gestured for Harry to move. He did after a heartbeat of hesitation and then she walked away without looking back.

“She is cold,” Harry declared with a shrug. “I thought you did not sleep around anymore. What happened to waiting for your mate?” Harry asked, going to grab a piece of garlic bread from the table.

“She is my mate,” Sky told him, going back to his seat. Harry laughed.

“Yeah right. I am sure she is not a werewolf.”

“She is not. But she is my mate.”

“Dude, Alphas’ mates are always werewolves. Only commoners like us sometimes get humans.”

“She is not human.” He answered, getting himself food.

Harry paused, looked at Sky, and asked as seriously as he could manage. “She is not human nor werewolf. Dude, are you f*cking around with a f*cking vamp?!” He would have shrieked.

“Let me ask you, Harry. Who set up the Vampire detection system on the pack’s land?”

“I did.”

“And what does it do?”

“Puts them in overwhelming pain.”

“Great. Did she seem to be in pain to you?”

“No.” He answered sullenly as he sat. “Well, so long as she is not a vamp, she doesn’t matter. I’m just glad your self-imposed celibacy is over.”

“I don’t see how the woman who is going to be your Luna fits under the definition of doesn’t matter.”

“Come on you’re kidding.” Harry raised a brow at him. “But then, you are not the type to make those types of jokes, so maybe you are not kidding. Was I just checking out the Luna?!”

“I don’t think that is something you want to admit to me,” Sky warned, but Harry waved him off.

“And worse. She hates me. F*ck. What am I supposed to do if the Luna already hates me? Dude, you’ll stand by me, right?” He genuinely looked worried.

“She does not hate you.”

“Then what was the scowl on her face?”

“She hates me.”

“She can’t hate you, she’s your mate,” Harry argued and Sky took a sip of water with a shrug. “Sh*t. If you’re right and she hates you, then the pack is in jeopardy. What if she leaves? And you never find her again?”

A glass shattered.

“Harry?” Sky’s voice was tight. “Shut up.” When Harry swallowed and nodded, he took a napkin from the table and wrapped his bleeding hand.

“But what is she doing here if she hates you?”

“Malik’s men found out about her and she is now a target. She’s here so I can keep her safe.”

“But if she followed you here, does that not mean that she does not hate you?” Sky gave him a pointed look. “Unless, of course, she did not follow you here.” He slumped in his chair. “I would not like to be you right now, Alpha.”

***

Kayleigh looked out her window as she had been doing every five minutes. The five men stationed outside them were still there.

Damn you, Wesley.

She retreated back into the room as she thought of a plan. It would have been so much easier if she had her powers or at least her ruby. But all she had, she thought, clutching the three pink pearls at her neck, was an outdated, emergency-only energy source, but she was not the type to give up easily. After all, if they caught her, the highest they would do was take her back.

She watched the men for about an hour until she got their pattern. There was a point where she had a two-minute window. The problem was now how to get from the second floor to the ground and into the trees about 400 meters away.

Whatever, she thought and the next time the window opened, she jumped down. She controlled the wind to slow her fall and, without wasting time to look around, she made a run for it.

Almost there…almost there.

She heard a rough growl just as she reached the forest and before she could react, she caught a whiff of curly blonde hair and then she was on the ground.