Filed To Story: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Keith’s voice pulled Talia out of her thoughts.
She shook her head. “Thank you for your concern, Keith. I would like to be alone.”
She took a step away and Keith grabbed her hand.
“Allow me to show you a perfect spot to be alone.”
Talia had no idea where Keith was going, but other than wandering into the forest, she didn’t have any other destination in mind, so she followed after him.
Four streets later, Keith stopped in front of one house.
“Give me just a minute…”
He dashed into the house and a few seconds later, he returned with a six-pack of beer.
“This will come in handy.”, Keith said.
Talia looked at the beer in his hand. “Do you want to make me drunk so that I spill my grievances to you?”
Keith shrugged. “Beer and talking are optional. I will not let you be alone when you are like this. I promise to stay as far as you want, but I insist to keep an eye on you.”
He extended his hand to Talia, palm up, in a silent invitation to accept his offer.
Talia looked into his eyes full of concern and then she put her hand into his.
They walked in silence down the street, away from the noise of the festival.
…
…
In the packhouse…
Dayson was sitting at the head of the conference table with six other Alphas.
Alpha Maddox and Axel were there, representing their packs.
They were discussing the latest movements among rogues, but Dayson couldn’t focus. He would often look at the time and his frequent forehead-rubbing was a giveaway that he was getting impatient.
“You look like you need to be somewhere else.”, Alpha Christian said to Dayson.
Christian is the Alpha of the Spring Leaf pack which shares a border with the Shadow Fang pack on the North.
“I was thinking that we will finish by now.”, Dayson said bluntly and when he saw a few frowns directed his way, he added, “I didn’t expect that we have so many things on the agenda.” Or that some of you will talk so much. Many of these could have been an email!
“If you have something more important than this meeting, we can reschedule it.”, Maddox said to Dayson in an obvious provocation. Maddox had a good hunch that the urgency Dayson was feeling was somehow related to Talia.
“What do you mean, reschedule?”, Axel cut of Dayson’s response before he could say anything.
“Why are you talking like it’s easy to gather so many Alphas in the same place?”, Axel asked Maddox.
Maddox agreed. “That’s true. It’s rare that we can all gather, so I suggest that we focus on the matters at hand and make the most of it…”
Dayson couldn’t object to this because everything Axel and Maddox said was true. But there were a few more topics on the agenda, and the ache in his chest was getting unbearable.
His instincts were telling him that something is wrong with Talia, or to be more precise, with her feelings toward Dayson. At the same time, Dayson knew that if he just leaves this meeting, he will offend a lot of people and lose allies, and that will put his pack in danger and in extension, Talia as well. Damn it!
Dayson was not sure how long he sat in that meeting. It could have been minutes, but it felt like hours.
His ears were ringing, and his wolf said something but Dayson couldn’t hear him.
Dayson was not sure what’s the cause of this emotional turmoil that affected him physically, but every cell in his body screamed for Talia’s proximity.
Abruptly, Dayson stood up. “You will need to finish this without me.”
Dayson dashed out of the packhouse and went straight for his black armored Lexus SUV.
‘Maya! Jaeden!’, Dayson called thorough the mind-link. ‘Where is Talia!?’
Talia sat on the soft grass as she took in the sight of the seemingly undisturbed nature around her. It was peaceful.
The tall rocks formed a natural shelter at the back and curved slightly on the sides, opening up fully to a majestic view of the lake in front.
The light noise from the festival that was on the other side of the lake, felt like it’s miles away.
“This is where I come when I don’t want anyone to disturb me.”, Keith said while taking a seat next to Talia.
Keith made sure he doesn’t sit too close to Talia because he didn’t want to risk Talia chasing him away. There was enough space for a bulky person to sit between them.
“What do you think of this place?”, Keith asked.
“It’s beautiful.”
Talia always loved nature. Plants and animals were better than people (and werewolves), in Talia’s opinion.
Talia didn’t feel like talking.
She hugging her knees while staring blankly at the lake in front of her, and her mind was in a semi-shutdown mode which she perfected for situations when the reality was too harsh to bear. She used to space out like that when someone bullied her at the Red Moon pack, and she didn’t think that she will end up in such a state after moving away.
Keith really wanted to know what’s going on in her mind. What made her turn so distant and sad? Talia was right there, next to him, yet she was a hundred miles away.
Keith could see that Talia was upset and he was brainstorming ideas on how to cheer her up without being intrusive. He created a million virtual scenarios, and all of them ended badly.
The sunset hit Talia’s face, making her copper-colored hair and honeyed eyes glow like they are made out of gold. She looked like a Goddess and Keith was lost in a daze.
Eventually, Keith broke the silence, “Beer?”
Talia nodded in agreement.
Keith opened two cans and gave one to Talia before turning to face her.