Healer For Alpha

Running Away

Knowing that Laurent is really on my side now gives me a glimmer of hope, but I won't let that make me delusional.

I won’t be looking forward to everything magically coming together because that will make everything more difficult if Rio never decides to 'go for it' as Laurie put it.

I'm just going to enjoy the fact that from now on I'm a real citizen of Tallahide. I'm going to enjoy that I'm now considered part wolf... I don't feel like a wolf at all, but I'm not going to admit that out loud ever, if these people think that, I'm just going to enjoy it.

I take the money and keys Rio left me on the small table and get out of there.

The first thing I do when I'm inside Rio's car is check the location Aaron sent me and head straight there. Surprisingly, it's much closer than I expected. All this time we've been fifteen minutes away from Alex and Rio has no idea.

I don’t know what I’m going to say to him, I have no idea what he’s like, all I know about Alex so far is that he's being more unhinged than usual and that he hates being an omega.

When I get to his street, I start to create a little speech while I try to parallel park this car in a tiny spot even though I've never done it before and I have no idea how to because my dad’s driving lessons never got this far.

I’ve been cursing this car and my inability to park for five minutes when I see a familiar figure stomping down the street, carrying some bags and dragging a suitcase behind him.

I know that's not Rio because he's probably still locked in that bathroom, so this has to be his identical twin.

The car isn't perfectly parked yet... it's completely perpendicular instead of parallel, but this guy is clearly leaving in a rush with luggage, so I get out of the car before he leaves. I can’t waste this opportunity.

"Hey!" I yell, running to him. Maybe I look like a crazy person, but from what everyone is saying about him, he is too, "You're Alex, right?"

He stops and turns to me in a panic, then looks around as if he's expecting someone else to suddenly appear.

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Lunanci, I'm your... I'm your brother's girlfriend," I lie, because it's just simpler. Alex frowns but he keeps walking and unlocks a red car like he couldn’t care less. I follow him, "Can I talk to you? Just for a minute? I know you're pretending to be Rio, I need to tell you something. It’s important.”

"I don't think so, I really need to go. I'm clearly making an escape," he replies, looking around again, "Does my brother know what I'm doing? Because then I need to make my escape even further than I thought."

"No!" I blurt out, raising my hands at him like I'm trying to calm a wild beast, "He doesn't know anything, only me. Laurie told me. Uh... can I come with you? I'll help you put the bags in the car, just help me park mine? It's actually Rio's, though."

I point to the perpendicular car.

"Actually, that's my dad's car," he says, still frowning but he seems to be considering whether he should take me up on my offer or not. I don't think he wants to waste any more time though because he simply nods, "Give me the keys."

"They're still in the car," I reply and Alex runs over to it to park it properly in that little spot while I load all his stuff into the car he was about to get in. Once he's done, he runs back again and I climb into the passenger seat while he starts the car and pulls off as if someone is chasing him.

This was rushed and not how I was planning to met him, but at least we’re in a place where he can’t run away from me.

Alex looks exactly like Rio at first glance. They're both tall, both blond and both very handsome, but now that I'm examining Alex up close I can see some differences. Alex is not as buff as Rio. His features are soft instead of sharp, his nose is prettier and his face looks smooth, not a sign of facial hair. Also, his lips are naturally red instead of pink.

Omega Rio, how cute.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Alex asks once we're away from that street and he finally relaxes a bit, he turns to look at me with judging eyes, "And who are you even? I've never seen you before."

"You know how you went to a human town called Vaughton to get a cool tattoo of your wolf right here?" I ask pointing at my own chest, Alex looks even more panicked now, "Well, Rio was following you. Somehow he lost you, ran into me, tried to kill me because back then I was just a human but then a bunch of stuff happened and now I'm here, I'm a healer and a half wolf.”

Half wolf is a little too generous, but I've decided that's what I'll tell people.

"How the f**k do you know I have a tattoo?"

"We were looking all over for you and we found your tattoo artist, that doesn't matter," I wave my hands in front of me, Alex looks completely confused, "I just wanted to see you and.... ask you to please stop ignoring Rio?"

"No. I'm ignoring him for a reason."

"What's the reason?"

"The reason is that I don't want anyone in my family to know what I'm doing, so you better keep your f*****g mouth shut," he growls at me. If he decided to threaten with killing me, I really wouldn't be surprised. It seems to run in the family, "Rio especially can’t find out. He'd make a whole drama, ruin my plans to 'protect’ me, everyone would be on his side and then all my work would have been for nothing. I can't let that happen."

"I understand and I respect that," I begin, "But, how much longer are you planning on ignoring him and everyone? Because that doesn't seem very sustainable. Your family is very close, isn’t it? They’ll figure it out sooner or later, so you could start by communicating your feelings and…”

"What I do isn’t your f*****g business,” he stops me, giving me an annoyed side eye, “I’ve tried to communicate and I’ve been ignored and dismissed by all of them. They think I should stay quiet and safe like some little prince, so f**k them.”

“Having a family who loves and cares for you is not that bad, trust me. You could have no one and that would be worse,” I say trying to sound profound. Alex makes a fart sound. Dear god.

"Okay, can I be honest? As your sister-in-law?" I push, Alex snorts a rude laugh. Again, I'm not surprised, "I get you want to do your own thing, but you should at least let them know you’re okay once in a while? And maybe trust that your brother won’t f**k you over?”

“You’re a human and you sound like you don’t have a big family, you don’t know what is like. You don’t know what is like to be a freshly presented omega,” he spits, “Everyone thought I would be an alpha so they treated me like one before, but as soon as they knew I wasn’t, they all switched on me. Suddenly I can’t even go out without them asking a million questions, my mom completely changed, my dad was buying me all these new ‘cute’ outfits, my alpha uncles stopped wanting to hang out with me like before and I was forced to stay with the omegas and hear them yapping about how fun it was that I was one of them. How lovely it would be when I started dating alphas, when I started f*****g thinking about having pups. It was absolutely the worst month of my life. So, f**k them. And f**k Rio for not understanding why I was mad. He just doesn’t get it.”

“You could help him understand,” I whisper, unable to unpack all of the other stuff he said because he’s right and I don’t get it, “He loves you so much and he wants you back in his life.”

“Not my problem. And it’s not your problem either.”

“But it is, I’m…” I try to find my words, he seems unreasonable and I’m panicking, “He’s just so lonely. And he’ll be even lonelier now that he kicked me out and won’t have me around. Just…”

"Girl, you're confusing me," he stops me, "Are you his girlfriend or not? Because right now you're just a very nosy stranger.”

I take a deep breath and blurt out absolutely everything, especially about our one sided bond and the way he just broke up with me. Alex was listening looking annoyed at the beginning but he suddenly turned pale.

"s**t," he blurts out, looking deeply at me in a different way, "He found his mate… that’s so f*****g creepy.”

"That’s not creepy,” I complain, “Why would you say that?"

"I found my fated mate, too, around the same time,” he admits in a whisper, "And I just ran away from him. It's creepy and scary how even away we are the same.”

"What?!" I exclaim, "Who's your mate? What happened? Why did you run away?”

"Stop now, you're not really my sister-in-law yet so don't go poking your nose where it doesn't concern you," he replies and takes a left turn so hard that I crash into the window, "It must be hard for him to know that you're not his real mate..."

"It’s hard for his wolf, Rio doesn’t care," I reply and let out a sigh, "Still, Alex, I don't want to leave him all alone and sad. Please... at least send him a text?"

"I can't do that," he replies, shaking his head and making weird sounds suddenly, like he's having a fight with himself, "f**k!"

"What's going on?" I ask, starting to worry. He looks frantic and his fingers are starting to shake, "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay, but I will be soon, I just need to shut this f*****g wolf up," he growls through his teeth and stops the car, "I'll be back."

He gets out before I can answer and walks briskly into an empty laundromat. I frown as I watch him because I don't think he came all the way to this place just for clothes? But it gets even weirder when he walks into a private door and disappears.

I take a deep breath and try to meditate for a second. Alex seems determined and stubborn. Convincing him is going to be a hell of a lot harder than I imagined, but... it's not like I have much to do these days, right?

A few minutes later, Alex comes out of the door with a glass in his hand and a bottle of pills. He pulls one out, passes it with his drink, and sets the glass on top of a washing machine before walking out and heading back to the car.

"What was that?"

"Medicine," he lies, but I just squint at him, "Inhibitors. I need them for the academy and now I need them to stop my wolf from whining all day about his mate.“

"Why are you so against your bond?" I ask, "What's so bad about your mate?"

"He's a man," he growls with an ugly face, "A very… alpha male. I wanted to live with him to... to be like him, to copy his behavior, not to be f****d by him. That backfired."

"Okay, I'm sorry," I mumble, "But, back to the main topic, Rio..."

"I understand that you love him or whatever," he rolls his eyes, "But stop pushing me before I decide to throw you out of the car. For the first time I want my life to be about me and not him, okay? Everything is always about Rio and I'm just the other twin. The omega twin that no one expected. I want to be my own person now. "

Should I tell him that's exactly how Rio feels, too? Or would that be invalidating his feelings?

"I understand that, but how is sending a text adding to that? Don't you love him?"

"Of course I love him," he explodes, "But I can't have him around right now, not when I'm feeling so jealous and salty. He has everything I've ever wanted, even a girlfriend now. He just... He's the image of everything I thought I was going to be. But I'm not. He just keeps getting bigger and stronger without having to lift a finger and I stayed as skinny as I was before my presentation. I keep getting smaller, actually. My changes were only bad ones."

I don't think he's skinny at all, he's very fit, but I guess he has a point. Rio is thicker than he is and it's true he doesn't lift a finger. I've never seen him do anything physical unless it's running to get something to eat.

"Okay, if that's how you feel, that's fine. I just wanted to try," I blurt out, deflating my body, "I worry about him now that I won't be able to be around him and heal him when he's feeling lonely or angry."

Alex swallows, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

"And I'm so sorry for popping up in front of you like this, but Rio talks about you so much that I feel like I know you. Rio's always like... Alex is so nice and funny and beautiful, he's so cool and..."

"Okay, stop that manipulative s**t because I know Rio wouldn't say that," he stops me with a scoff, "He called me a b***h, didn't he? He loves that one. He loves it even more now that I'm an omega and he can't call me that."

"Well... maybe he did," I mutter and now he lets out a real laugh, though it sounds a little sad, "But I'm not completely lying. Rio never said those things out loud, but in his mind that's how he sees you. And he needs you. He feels you're his guide, he feels pathless without you. He feels empty and alone. You have a bond to each other, too, you know? So I know deep down you must feel the same.”

Alex stays silent.

"I miss him too, but I can't risk everything," he finally says and starts the car again, "Are you going back to Vaughton now that Rio kicked you out?"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll stay in here hiding from him just like you."

"Why?"

"Well, I have a small hope that he'll reconsider everything and want to be with me one day. And I love this clan. I can't go back to Vaughton. I don't want to, I'd rather die."

"You're a brave girl," he lets out a few seconds later, nodding slowly, "I respect that. I kinda like you.”

“I kinda like you, too.”

“We both need to find a place to stay, right? And we're hiding from the same person..."

"I’m down. Whatever you’re thinking, I’m super down."