Filed To Story: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Maya didn’t say more, knowing that Dayson’s interest in Talia went beyond the one of a pack leader, and his reputation in that area was horrible.
Maya hummed in satisfaction at the sight of Talia’s hair that was parted in two neat braids.
“All done.”, Maya announced.
Talia touched the braid that fell over her left shoulder. “Thank you, this is wonderful.”
“You are welcome.”, Maya responded and inched closer. “You have beautiful eyes. Will you let me put some makeup on you?”
Talia blinked. Unsure how to respond to the compliment or to the makeup offerings.
Seeing that Talia was flustered, Maya patted her shoulder. “We will do makeup next time. We need to head out now.”
Maya told Dayson through the mind-link that they are ready to go, and it took him a minute to reach the hotel room.
Dayson stood frozen at the door and stared at Talia who was collecting fruits, cheeses, and granola bars from the food carts, wrapping them in napkins and arranging them in a paper bag Maya gave her.
Eventually, Talia noticed Dayson and paused.
He didn’t say anything, and she started squirmed under his unreadable gaze.
Did he not approve that she was packing food? Or was it because she didn’t wear the clothes he told her to put on? Or maybe it was something else?
She touched her hair and straightened the t-shirt nervously. “Is something wrong?”
Dayson cleared his throat. “No. Everything is fine.” More than fine.
Now that her hair was tidy and she wore good clothes, Talia was a stunner, even with those bruises. Her citrusy sweet scent of freesia made Dayson slightly dizzy, amplifying his visual enjoyment, almost like he was intoxicated. She was intoxicating.
Dayson barely registered Maya giggling and patting his shoulder.
“You are welcome…”, Maya said to Dayson, before walking out with, “We are going to check out and meet you by the car!”
“Maya kept things in your suitcase.”, Talia said. “I hope that was OK.”
Dayson nodded absentmindedly.
“Is it OK if I pack leftovers? There are plenty and you already paid for them. It would be a pity to let them go to waste. We can have them on the road.”
Dayson nodded again and gestured for Talia to go ahead. “Take your time, we are not in a rush.”
He leaned lazily on the doorframe and watched her without a word.
Talia was confused. Maya said that they are in a rush and that Alpha doesn’t like to wait, yet Alpha told her to take her time. But it was not her place to question Alpha or Beta, and she was grateful that he approved her request, so she got busy.
Dayson noticed how Talia handled the food carefully. So far, none of the women around him would pack leftovers.
Of course, Dayson is loaded, so paying for a meal that won’t be consumed is not a big deal, but only now he realized how those women took him (and his money) for granted.
Those women would always order the most expensive dish and be super-picky about what they eat, while Talia ate whatever he gave her, without any complaints. Actually, Talia treated every bite like it’s a scrumptious treat and Dayson loved it.
When Talia finished packing, Dayson grabbed the suitcase and headed out, with Talia two steps behind him.
They were halfway through the hallway when he stopped abruptly and snatched the bag with leftovers from her hand without an explanation, and she wondered if she should say ‘thank you’ or not.
Talia decided to keep quiet because Dayson was acting strange again.
They sat in the car and this time Talia didn’t fall asleep.
She was looking through the window and listening to the music from the radio, occasionally finding something in the bag to munch on.
They were driving through the night with stops on every few hours.
Dayson was frustrated. Talia was mostly keeping to herself and a few times when she spoke, it was with Maya.
He felt neglected.
Dayson wanted to hold Talia’s hand or maybe to make her lean on him, but without her dozing off, he didn’t have any excuses to get closer without appearing like a creep.
After the second stop, Jaeden and Dayson switched places so that Jaeden can get a shuteye.
Dayson took the driver’s seat, and he was visibly disappointed when Maya moved to the back, leaving Jaeden on the front passenger’s seat.
Maya snickered and spoke to Jaeden through mind-link. ‘Can you believe that he is so prideful that he doesn’t want to ask Talia to join him in front?’
‘Hmm?’ Jaeden yawned. ‘I wanted to go in the back with you, but the girl seemed uncomfortable so…’
‘She wouldn’t be uncomfortable if Alpha Dayson asked her nicely to come to the front.’, Maya responded.
‘You think so?’, Dayson interjected into their conversation and Maya’s eyes widened in horror while cursing herself for not triple-checking that the mind-link was only between her and Jaeden. She scrambled her brain while thinking if she said anything inappropriate.
After a few exceedingly long seconds of stiff silence, Maya responded, ‘She is obviously interested in looking outside, and the front seat gives a better view.’
Dayson nodded at this.
“Why did we stop?”, Jaeden grumbled while checking the time.
They had a stop less than half an hour ago. Everyone used the restroom and stretched their legs. Unless something went wrong, he should be able to nap at least two-to-three more hours.
“I need to get something…”, Dayson said and dashed into a small store by the road.
He came back with a bag of chips and a container with mixed nuts.
Maya noticed that the top two buttons of Dayson’s shirt were undone, and she wondered what he was doing inside. It was not that warm.
Instead of going to his seat, Dayson knocked on Talia’s window.
“Do you want to sit in front? The view is better and Jaeden can sleep in the back.”
Talia hesitated. Sitting next to Dayson was not the most appealing offer, but she understood that it will be better for Jaeden to rest in the back with Maya, so she agreed to switch places.
Maya watched as Dayson gave newly purchased snacks to Talia while saying, “I feel like eating these, but my hands are busy driving. Can you feed me?”
“What happened with, my hand is hurt?”, Talia asked Dayson and showed her bandaged wrist.
“That was for using utensils. You can put food in my mouth. Right?”
Maya couldn’t believe that Dayson was this cheeky. But it confirmed that Dayson wanted to be close to Talia.
Jaeden didn’t miss this exchange. He pushed himself forward, sticking his head between Dayson and Talia.
“I want to have some also. Aaa…” Jaeden opened his mouth wide, waiting for Talia to put some chips inside while ignoring Dayson’s glare.
“Don’t you need to sleep?”, Dayson grumbled. “If you are energetic, how about you drive some more?”
“It’s just one bite. Why are you making it a big deal?”, Jaeden asked innocently, and his eyes flashed in approval when Talia put a handful of chips in his mouth.
“Tfank you…”, Jaeden mumbled his thanks to Talia before leaning back into the seat with a big grin on his face.
“Stop feeding him.”, Dayson said impatiently to Talia and then glared at Jaeden. “That’s for me.”
His expression softened as he turned to Talia. “You can have some also, if you want.”
Maya and Jaeden exchanged knowing looks.
It’s not uncommon for Dayson not to share, but he was willing to share with Talia. And it looked like Dayson was more upset that Talia was feeding Jaeden compared to Dayson losing his snacks.
Dayson would open his mouth occasionally, and Talia put chips without a word spoken.