Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“Why are we going up here?” Warrick asked as soon as the SUV started to wind its way up the extremely long driveway that led to the castle.
“This is where my house is.” I adamantly refused to call it a castle right now. I don’t need to deal with that right now.
“You live hidden in the woods?” Clovio’s eyes were filled with surprise when he asked me that. “Hidden away from the world like I was when I was growing up.” He looked back out the window and I wasn’t sure how to interpret that last part of what he had said. Did he mean that he wasn’t allowed to leave the orphanage when he was growing up? Not for school or anything? That would suck.
“WHAT THE HELL!?” Warrick’s words were loud when he saw the castle on the other side of the massive fence.
“THAT IS CASTLE, NOT A HOUSE!” Clovio was just as shocked. “Rika, why does your family have a castle?” He was so confused about what was going on that I just wanted to cry. I was the reason this was happening. I should have just ignored him when he asked me out. I should have just known that my wolf was telling me that I was not meant to be with Clovio and left it at that. I was stupid. I had wrapped him up in this and now it was all my fault that my parents were going to have to deal with this. I felt so bad. Why had I been so stupid?
“Yeah, it’s a castle. And this is where Rika grew up. Deal with it and shut up, you moron.” Westin snapped at Clovio in an angry voice.
“Excuse me Sir, but why do you hate me so much?”
“Why do I hate you? Hmm, let me see, you are the reason that Rika was put in danger. You don’t think that I didn’t see how that scene was unfolding? You think I don’t know that those other guys, those friends of yours, weren’t trying to cause trouble. And think about it, if you can put her in danger like that, then you would be able to put her in danger in many other ways. You are not worthy of the princess, and I will have no problem telling you to.”
“WESTIN!” I snapped at him for having used my title.
“Princess?” Clovio’s voice sounded confused. “Is that what you call her? Then I see that she means a lot to you, Mr. Westin.” OH GODDESS NO! Clovio thought that Westin and I were a thing. This wasn’t good at all.
“I care for her the way that any bodyguard would. She is my responsibility and I will protect her. And if that means that I need to keep you out of the picture, then I will.” There was more anger and heat in Westin’s eyes than I thought was possible. “Now shut up and get out.” At that moment, Lucas had pulled into the underground garage and parked near the elevator. This was it. My life was literally about to end.
Westin pulled the door open for Lyssa and I to get out. After that, Clovio and Warrick climbed out of the back seat and stood next to the two guards.
“Rika, lead the way to your mom’s office. And do not even think about getting us sidetracked or delayed. We are heading straight there. If I need to call in backup, I will.”
“I know.” I sighed as I spoke. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I could practically taste the fear that was coursing through me. I was terrified of what was to come, but I wasn’t about to let it get worse by trying to fight it. I wouldn’t survive if that were the case. “I am going to go straight there, Westin. I am sorry that this happened. I didn’t mean to cause problems.”
“It’s too late for that now, Rika. We just need to try and fix things from here on out. Let this be a lesson to you though. You need to grow the fuck up and stop acting like a petulant child. Rules are in place to keep you safe, whether you like them or not. Now, get walking, please.” He softened his tone just a little bit at the end of that. I knew that he was a good man and that he didn’t like being this mean to me. He didn’t want me to get in trouble or anything like that. It was my fault though, and he wasn’t going to let me off the hook. Firm yet fair, that was a good way to describe Westin.
I led the way to the elevator and pressed the button for the offices. The only rooms that were on this floor of the royal tower were my parents’ offices. My mom’s office was the biggest one since she was the one that was in charge, but my dad needed his. And so did those that had official positions like Uncle Vincent and Uncle Gabriel. They were all part of this whole political world that my parents lived in. Heh, maybe I should study politics more than business. Then I could learn how this whole thing worked.
When I got onto the elevator with everyone else, I turned to look at Clovio and Warrick. They were shocked by what was happening, but something in their eyes told me that they weren’t feeling completely blown away by it all. They had handled all of this better than I thought that they would. That was good.
“Clovio, Warrick, I want to apologize. This is all my fault. You are here and in trouble like this because of me. There is a lot about me that you don’t know. I am sorry that I never explained things to you completely, but I am not just a normal college girl. I hope that at a later time, you will allow me to explain things to you. I want to make this up to you both. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.” My heart was feeling heavy. I had tears that were stinging my eyes. My throat was tight and stiff. It was so hard for me to process all of this and still maintain my composure. As it was, I thought that I would end up losing that composure very soon. I would probably lose my cool the moment that my parents started to yell at me. I hated when they did that. I hated when I disappointed them. I didn’t like that I was going to be seen as a failure in their eyes.
Finally, the elevator came to a stop, dinging to let us know that we had reached our floor. There was a lot of noise coming from the door that led to my mom’s office. She was in a meeting at the moment. This could go good or bad. I could get reamed in front of everyone, or the whole thing can be thrown out because it wasn’t as important as the case that they were working on. I was hoping for the latter of the two.
鈥楶LEASE GODDESS! LET MY PARENTS SAY THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS RIGHT NOW!’ I screamed the prayer inside of my head, hoping that it would help me before things got out of hand.
****
Rika
****
I watched as Westin stepped a little closer to my mom’s office door. He was listening to see what was going on. That was probably normal for a guard like him, but in my mind, it was an invasion of privacy. I hoped that he didn’t do that to me. I would hate it if he listened in on the private talks I had with my friends. I was a boy-crazy teenage girl, and he was so far removed from what was happening to me that it wasn’t even funny. What was I supposed to do if he heard me talking about the boys that I liked? Or about how I made out with Clovio? That was just scary.
“Come on.” Westin interrupted my thoughts about him and pulled Clovio toward my dad’s office. “We will wait in here. Lucas, please ask the king and queen to come to this office. Tell them that Rika and Alyssa are here and that perhaps King Dietrich and King Shawn should come with them as well.” While he spoke about royalty, Westing dragged Clovio into my dad’s office and threw him onto the couch. Lucas led Warrick to the office and once his hands were free, Westin took Warrick’s arm and pulled him in as well.
“I will be back shortly.” Lucas nodded and left. He always seemed to be deferential toward Westin for some reason. It was like he was somehow acknowledging that Westin was the stronger of the two of them. I didn’t know how I felt about that. I mean, I knew that a feline was strong, and that in most cases, depending on the breed of the cat anyway, a feline could be stronger than a werewolf. It all depends on the man though. My dad was the strongest man in the world, but that had to do with the blessings of strength that he had been given, and that he was naturally strong as an Alpha.
Clovio and Warrick were looking around the office like they were curious. They seemed to think that this was the most surreal thing to ever happen to them. I mean that was probably true. They were taken by force to a castle hidden in the mountains. Once there, they started hearing different titles like princess, queen, and king. They were probably thinking that we were all pretentious rich people. I didn’t want Clovio to think that about me. Even if he broke up with me, I didn’t want him to think that I was some sort of horrible person.
…..
“Clovio, this isn’t-.”
“This office is different than I expected.” He cut me off with a smile and his smooth voice. “I was imagining something much darker and sinister.” He laughed at that like it was the funniest thing ever, but I saw that Warrick was looking nervous. Was talking like this Clovio’s way of coping? Was he nervous and taking it out verbally like this?
“Shut up.” Westin snapped at him. “I want no talking, from any of you right now.” He looked at me when he said that too. I was the one that had started the conversation, I guess. He was just not wanting to deal with me or the others right now.
It was uncomfortable, but a moment or two later I heard a loud voice call from the other office. It was so loud and angry that I was able to make it out from here perfectly.
“WHAT!?” That was my dad. “SHAWN! DIETRICH! COME HERE!” What followed that was a loud stomping of feet. I knew that was my dad. My mom, no matter how angry, wouldn’t stomp like that. My dad, though, wanted to make sure that we knew that he was coming. It was an intimidation technique, and it was working. At least it was working on me and Lyssa. I saw that she was also cowering in fear as we listened to our parents approaching the office.
Those steps continued quickly out of my mom’s office and across the hall. The moment that I heard them right outside the room, I saw the door to the office door fly open and splinter from the force with which it had been struck.
“RIKA SARAI GRAY!” My dad bellowed at me which caused me to squeak in fear.
“Eeep!” I was trembling when I looked up into his eyes. “U..uh..uhm, h..hi Daddy.” I reminded him that I was in fact his daughter and that he shouldn’t kill me. He was supposed to protect me.
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!” He was still screaming at me as he spoke. I started to cry on the spot. I hated this. I never should have done this.
“ALYSSA SHANA ASHER-CONRAD, EXPLAIN YOURSELF!” Uncle Dietrich came barging into the room next, calling out to his daughter who was just as scared and nervous as I was. Lyssa was crying harder than I was and I wanted to make her feel better. I couldn’t though. I just couldn’t.