Healer For Alpha

Come And Go

{ Rio }

"Hey Luna, Luna," I say, moving her body from side to side until she groans and starts to wake up, "Hey, don't get up. I just want to tell you that I'm going to go talk to my grandfather, okay? I have to leave you here alone but I'll be back soon. You'll be alone for a while, make yourself at home."

"Mhhm," she replies, half asleep still. Her short hair is sticking up all over the place, "Come back soon."

"I will," I promise and for some reason I bend down to kiss her before I leave. Just on her cheek, even though everything inside me was suddenly screaming at me to kiss her lips and finally taste her. I must be half asleep too, still dreaming about s**t I shouldn’t be f*****g dreaming about.

I swallow and shake my head to get rid of those thoughts as I stand up, taking one last look at Lunanci, who settles again to keep sleeping, now with a smile on her face and looking completely happy. I like that.

I raise a hand to my chest because it suddenly feels tight and take a deep breath before leaving the room to meet Laurent.

He’s wearing formal clothes and his hair is combed back away from his face as he only wears it when it’s strictly necessary.

I have to press my lips together to keep myself from smiling and teasing him as I normally would.

"I'm ready, we can go," I blurt out, motioning towards the door. Laurie gets up from the couch with a heavy sigh but doesn't say anything else, he just follows me out with the same awkwardness that was there at dinner yesterday.

I hate that things between us are like this, but I seriously can't shake the anger, especially since he still won't open his mouth to tell me whatever it is he's hiding from me. Even if I told him not to, he f*****g has to. Or we’ll never be okay again.

"Do you want to talk to him before me or after?" Laurie asks as we're walking into the chapel.

"Are you giving him good news or bad news?"

"Good news," he replies with a slight smile, "You want me to leave him happy for you?"

"Yeah. I'll go in after you," I reply and sit in the waiting room outside his office. I wait here impatiently for almost forty minutes until the door opens again and Laurie comes out, looking more relaxed than before he came in, "All done?"

"Yep. He’s waiting for you," he says and lifts a hand to tousle his hair to mess it up as usual, "By the way, I don't have anything to do after this... can we… do something? Anything. Maybe run and play?"

Like when we were kids? When we still loved each other and there were no secrets between us? That would be nice.

"I don't think so, I have to get back to Lunanci as soon as possible," I mutter as I stand up and walk into the office before waiting for an answer, I close the door behind me without looking back at him.

My grandfather is standing beside the desk reading a paper, but as soon as he sees me walking in he leaves the paper on the desk and walks over to open his arms to me with a smile.

Maybe I'm a full grown alpha who doesn't need anything or anyone, but I immediately bury my nose in my grandfather's shoulder to fill my lungs with his familiar scent that I've missed so much.

I seriously hate being away from all my family.

"Oh, pup, what's going on with you?" he asks, tightening his arms around me, "We're finally going to talk about why you're angry and avoiding all of us?"

"It’s all because of my mom. She pissed me off, she always thinks she knows everything. She took my money away and talked everyone out of helping me," I growl into his shoulder before forcing myself away from him, wiping my wet eyes quickly, "She thinks Alex is more independent than me, but she's wrong. She thinks I'm a stupid useless pup, but not Alex. Never Alex. You know he's her favorite, right? She loves him more than me since he presented. Everyone loves him more than me now, even if he ran away.”

"That's impossible. We love all of you the same," he starts, but I roll my eyes.

"That's not true, it's always the same. Even you are like that, you love your omega children more. You traumatized my mom because of that and now she’s traumatizing me."

"Of course not, Rio. It's not about loving someone more or less just because of their designation, it's simply in our nature to care a little more for the omegas. Besides, your mother is right. You're not very independent... I mean, Alex isn't the one leaving Tallahide in the red, is he?" he mutters with an amused smile, making me look down for a second in embarrassment. Maybe I took a little too much money from Laurie, "We all have flaws, you're more dependent than your brother. Your mom is a hard-headed aggressive bull. Alex is stubborn and idealistic like his uncle Oliver. Laurie is extremely lazy. And I could go on about the whole family, I could go on about my own flaws all day long, but that serves no purpose. The important thing is that every day we try to be better than the day before and you have your whole life ahead of you, Rio. We all love and miss you, especially your mom.”

I can't help but roll my eyes again. I don't believe that for a second.

"She worries about you, she's worried all the time, even knowing you're here safe and sound, she hates that you're keeping yourself away from her. Alex is her omega son and even then all she can talk about is how she’s worried about you. Anyone would think you’re her favorite."

"Pff, yeah right," I mumble, but a part of me lights up a little, "You also think Alex can survive in the human world but I can’t?"

"Yes," he answers immediately. He doesn't even have to think about it, "I always knew there was something different about Alex, different from you and Laurie, a sensitivity and emotional intelligence that you two don't have yet. I think, right now, Alex is safer among humans than he would be here, hating his own designation. As long as he's with humans he's safe, he's stronger than all of them and I know he won't be reckless. But you... you are an absolute alpha. Overconfident, impulsive, not very mature. Fortunately, you didn't get into trouble, but you were very likely to do something stupid thinking you’re invincible."

Damn. I totally did something stupid.

"Yeah, you’re a little right. I know Alex will be safe out there," I mutter and take a deep breath, "Well, what I wanted to talk to you about has nothing to do with my brother, can we stop talking about him for just a second? Can we focus on me for once?"

"If you stop being so f*****g sensitive, sure," he blurts out with a smile. Before my presentation, my grandfather treated me differently too, he would never have cursed in my presence, "What is it?"

"You know I'm at the academy with Laurie, right?" I start, he looks at me with confusion but nods anyway, "The truth is, I'm just there to please everyone and be left alone, but Grandpa, that's not what I want. Even if I graduate and all that, I don't want to be part of security. Ever. Just because I'm an alpha doesn't mean I want to protect the clan, okay? That's not me. I think something got mixed up in my dad’s tummy and my alpha desires got passed on to Alex or something, because the last thing I would want is to be running around the clan looking for danger or whatever. That's not what I like."

"Okay," he crosses his arms across his chest and nods with a thoughtful look, "What do you like?"

"I like making cookies and desserts with my grandma and dad," I start, my grandpa looks even more confused, "I want to open a bakery."

One blink. Two. Three.

Then laughter.

"Grandpa," I whine, "Don't tell me you're like my mom. Things are changing, an alpha can own a damn bakery! Just let me follow my dreams.”

"Rio..." he's still laughing, he has to scrunch up his face to calm down. I'm not very amused, "Okay, okay... I'm so sorry for laughing. I've never heard you say that before. Although, I can't deny, I've noticed how much you like to keep your grandma and dad company when they're in the kitchen. I've tasted your desserts, they're good."

"Really?" I ask with a smile, he nods and finally stops laughing like this is a joke, now he just looks at me deeply, "So here's my business proposal: if you put up the capital so I can open my bakery… I will in return give you my infinite love and loyalty, forever. And when you're a really old man who can't fend for himself, I'll be by your side and take care of you."

My grandfather laughs again. And then he keeps laughing some more.

"I really missed you, pup," he blurts out once he manages to stop laughing, "But that sounds like a good deal to me. I’m in."

{ Lunanci }

Kingsley and Laurent love to eat out and I can tell because there is nothing of substance in their fridge. The only thing I can eat for breakfast is leftovers... meat and carbs. There’s not a single fruit in sight and of course no oats, not even milk.

I force myself to eat a little bit just so I don't have an empty stomach and then I spend some time cleaning their apartment because it's pretty messy.

Once I'm done, I plop down on the couch to answer texts from my family and let them know that I'm still in Toronto, living the good life and being happy. Then I talk to Julie for a while. Even if I can't heal her anymore, I listen to her problems and try to make her feel better from a distance.

A few minutes later, the door opens and Laurie walks in.

Alone.

I sit upright and try to look normal. I try to remind myself that I'm not scared of him. Maybe he's a giant, intimidating man, but he's not going to do anything to me yet. At least I hope not.

Still, he walks right up to me.

Baby face. Dumb rich kid. Younger than me. That's all he is. Even if he feels so... powerful.

"Hey, you," he spits out, eyes narrowed and shoulders tense, looking down at me.

"Hi?"

"What's your goal here, huh?" he asks, looking... hurried. Or stressed. I don’t know, but he’s not relaxed at all.

"What do you mean? What goal?"

"I mean all of this, being here even knowing you’re in danger, spending time with Rio... what do you want out of it? Just money?"

"I don't understand," I reply and get up from the couch so I don't feel so much like prey under his intense, evil eyes, "Why are you asking that? I thought you knew… me and Rio are good friends. And I want to see the werewolf lifestyle before I have to die, that’s all.”

"Nah, I think you're nothing more than a scammer and you’re planning something," he blurts out and my blood runs cold. If I had a dollar for every time someone has called me a scammer, I'd have about 78 bucks, "You’re a very lucky scammer. You found yourself a naive, sweet guy with a big secret that could be worth a lot to your people. So what is your goal, recognition and fame? Or do you just want the money?"

"What would you do if I said money?" I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow, "Would you give me money to make me disappear?"

"Of course not, i***t, I'd just kill you. I'm going to kill you either way, but I seriously want to know what the hell you're trying to accomplish here," he growls looking completely annoyed, "I hate how you try to look like such an innocent little girl. I really hate how you've completely fooled Rio into thinking you’re actually friends. Even Kingsley thinks you're a good human, but I know that's not true."

"Why would I defend myself to someone who already thinks so badly of me? And who’s going to kill me anyway? Believe what you want to believe, I'm just here to have fun for a while until you decide to kill me. That's all."

"Really?" he scoffs, crossing his arms and looking even more like the brat I know he is, "So you're just here, happily waiting for your death?"

"Pretty much."

I'm actually enjoying something magical and lovely with a guy who... who I'm very fond of. A guy who is sweet and kind even when he’s being a pain in the ass. But why would I say that to Laurie? f**k him.

"Well, I don't believe you. I don't think humans are this dense and have zero preservation instinct. You don't look suicidal and you've been living off Rio for a long time now, you're obviously trying to scam him and brainwash him," he growls and takes a step closer to me. Even though I try to tell myself not to, I step back in fear, looking up at him. His energy is screaming unhinged, "You've been trying to seduce him or something and forcing him to stay away from us. He’s acting different and it’s all your fault. I can't let you keep poisoning my cousin with your... human witch seductions."

"You think it's my fault he's estranged from his family?" I ask with a laugh, he nods quite confidently, "Well, it's not. It's YOUR fault. You did that by hiding things from him. I've been ready to come to your clan and die for weeks now but Rio didn't want to come back. He didn’t want to see his backstabbing ex-best friend who’s keeping secrets from him.”

Laurie is very clearly not happy with my words and I know it because his presence gets even heavier and he takes another step, making me fall backwards onto the couch as he towers over me, looking ready to kill me.

And despite what I just said, I start shitting myself in fear because... I'm not ready to die. At least not this very second.

I have to say goodbye to Rio. To Alpha.

"Please don't kill me yet," I beg, losing my brave act and putting my hands in front of my face even though I know it won't do any good, "Let me talk to Rio before you do, please."