Filed To Story: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Talia stifled a laugh when she realized how silly that sounded. “No, no. My legs are aching due to sore muscles after yesterday’s exercise, and hangover medicine was for the aches, so…” Talia paused because Keith was laughing so hard that he was holding onto his belly. “What’s funny?”
“Ah… ah…” Keith struggled to catch his breath. “You said that warmup from yesterday gave you sore muscles.”
Talia pouted. “Warmup for you. Strenuous exercise for me.” She really was useless.
“It’s not what you said, it’s more how you said it…”, Keith said. Talia was talking about her yesterday’s brisk walking with importance like it was a monumental activity.
“I apologize. I won’t laugh at you.”
“You better not, or I will get a different personal trainer.”
Keith smirked smugly. “You are out of luck, girl. I’m the only one in Darkbourne, so you are stuck with me.”
“That doesn’t make you indispensable.”, Talia fired back. “I can always find someone online.”
Keith hummed in agreement, and they continued walking in silence.
Keith was thinking if it’s appropriate to ask a question that was bugging him since lunch. Eventually, his curiosity won.
“Talia?”
“Hmm?”
“Is there something going on between you and Alpha?”
This time, Talia didn’t ask, ‘which one’, because she knew that Keith was asking about Dayson.
Talia shook her head, dispelling any fleeting thoughts that were forming. “There is nothing.”
“Are you sure? The two of you looked close.” Very close. Especially when they went on the side, after lunch. Keith saw that Dayson leaned closer to whisper something to Talia, and Dayson pinched her nose, and Keith also saw the way Talia smiled at Dayson. That was definitely something.
“Of course, we are close.”, Talia said right away. “I don’t know where I would be if not for him.” Maybe still in that attic, or somewhere much worse. “Alpha Dayson is making sure I go to my doctor’s appointments and sometimes he scolds me when I miss my meals.”
Keith paused. How can Dayson know about Talia’s meals, unless… “You are staying in the packhouse?”
Well, that would explain why Alpha Dayson would take Talia’s trophy and jersey with pins, but it would NOT explain why Alpha runs errands for a low-ranking girl. Alphas don’t do that. They are Alphas because others serve them. Even if Alpha Dayson wanted to help Talia and ease her hands of burden, he would get someone else to do it, instead of handling it personally.
A mix of emotions washed over Talia at the thought of her living arrangements, and her smile faded. “I’m at the packhouse until Doctor Travis says that I recuperated enough to move in with Omegas. I’m underweight and…”
“It’s OK.”, Keith interrupted Talia. He saw that her mood dropped, and he assumed that he crossed the line. “You don’t need to talk about it if it’s uncomfortable. I’m sorry for making fun of you because you got sore muscles.”
“Don’t be sorry.”, Talia said quickly. “I will eat and exercise and soon I will build my strength and stamina so no one can laugh at me. Not even famous coach Keith.”
Keith liked her enthusiasm. And he liked that she labeled him as famous.
At that time, they reached the training center, and Keith said, “Change clothes and meet me on the mat. Since you are sore, today I will show you stretching exercises that will ease aches.”
Talia nodded earnestly and she didn’t want to tell him that the moment she enters the dressing room, she will take two pills of hangover medicine which she has in her insulated bag. It won’t hurt to learn how to stretch. She wanted to learn everything that can be learned.
Talia walked into the women’s dressing room and Keith stood frozen and looked at the door that closed behind Talia.
Why the hell did he ask if there is something between Talia and Alpha Dayson? That’s none of his business. What if Talia misunderstands and thinks that Keith wants to hit on her?
Does Keith want something to happen between him and Talia? Keith was not sure. But he knew that talking to her was easy and he craved more time with Talia.
He was thinking about Talia as his customer, a friend, but now… Keith was not sure.
During lunch, Talia was sitting at the table between Dayson and Maddox, with Axel on the other side, all three Alphas were looking at Talia with interest, and Keith was suppressing his urge to go there and take Talia away.
If he went there, Keith knew that he would fail miserably.
Keith sparred a few times against Alpha Dayson, and it’s an established fact that Keith can’t win even if Dayson doesn’t use his aura, because just Dayson’s Alpha aura is enough to make it painful to breathe.
If Keith dared to challenge Dayson and two more Alphas at the same time… Keith hated that he was helpless to save Talia from there. Did she even need saving?
How Keith saw it, Talia was like an unspoiled flower, with three nasty Alpha wolves breathing down her neck, each eager to ruin her, and Keith found it difficult to stay away.
Keith didn’t understand. So far, other than his sister, he never felt the urge to protect a woman.
A lot of things related to Talia were confusing, and the more time Keith spent with Talia, the less sense everything made.
‘Was Katya right?’, Keith wondered. ‘Do I really like Talia?’
Do werewolves have crushes? Sure, Keith was attracted to many women before, but it was purely physical and this was different. Keith wanted to know everything about Talia and to protect her and she was cute and… Keith pinched the roof of his nose.
Damn it! He has a crush on Talia!
Based on the internal waves that amplified his emotions, Keith understood that his wolf approves.
Keith chided himself. During lunch he was thinking badly of three Alphas who were wanting to woo Talia, yet here was Keith, just as bad as they are.
“I’m ready…”, Talia said when she exited the dressing room, surprised that Keith didn’t move from the spot since she left. “Is something wrong?”
Keith was staring at Talia who was wearing only black shorts and a red exercise bra and he swallowed hard. He saw girls that were taller, plumper, curvier, with less clothes than what Talia was wearing, yet he found himself out of breath.
He still didn’t adjust his mindset to the fact that he likes her, but here she was, adorably ignorant of the things that were brewing within him.
Considering that it was just the two of them in the training center, Keith knew that this will be difficult.
“Keith?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”, Keith stumbled over his words. “Wait for me on the mat. I will just go and drink some water..” And splash cold water on my face.
Talia noticed that Keith was stiff and absentminded when he returned.
Talia assumed that he was thinking about something, or someone related to the festival because he was fine before they came to the training center.
She remembered how Keith was reluctant to accept coming here today. After all, everyone is at the festival (or preparing for it), and because of that, only Talia and Keith were present in the building.
Guilt swelled within Talia. Considering Keith’s popularity, he probably had a lot of things to do and many people to mingle with, yet he left all that behind only to help her exercise because she wanted to come today.