Chapter 29 Chapter 29
"My help? But why?" I wondered.
"I have no idea." She moaned. "I'm so confused. I don't know who to ask for advice, so you're the only one I can confide in." Her eyebrows were curled upwards in worry.
"That makes me feel... good?" I smiled and nodded, glad I was worth someone to confide in by my pack member. "Okay. How do you think I'll be able to help you?"
"I have no idea. You're the Alpha's slave, you should at least know a bit." She poured like a child.
"You're the Alpha's Beta and previous best friend. You should-"
"Still his best friend, not previous." She frowned.
"Sorry. I meant, you're his best friend. You'd know better than an ordinary slave." I shrugged.
"Seriously Jane? You felt the best you could do is to not help me?" she lifted an eyebrow at me. "I'm confused and need help!"
"I know you are."
"Just at least let me know you'll help me out even if you won't." She heaved a sigh.
"Okay, I'll help you out in the best possible way I can."
She grabbed her tray from the table to have her meal.
"I forgot to serve Alpha's breakfast, I have to go now!" I jumped to my feet and scurried out of her bedroom to the kitchen to serve Alpha's breakfast on a tray and took it to him.
"Fine, we will...." he trailed off from the conversation with someone over his laptop, staring at me. The fury in me towards him awakened again and plastered a frown on my face. I dropped the tray on his table.
"Uhm... hello? Is there a problem?" the person asked. Alpha Keegan still had his attention on me while I arranged his meal and drinks on the table. "Maybe we'll discuss it later Mr. Keegan."
"Uh?" he snapped his head back to the screen. "Yeah, yes, we'll schedule it for later. Bye." He ended the call. "Omega, step closer."
His voice made my stomach feel like it twisted into knots, both because it sounded somewhat charming and also because it made me feel very mad. I pretended to not hear him and started walking away.
He groaned and after a while, he yanked me by my arm. His hand had brushed against one of the bruises on my arms and made me hiss in pain again.
He frowned and let go of me. "You're still in pain. Why didn't you go to Crystal?" His amber eyes glistened with an emotion that almost looked like worry. Who was I kidding? Worry? "Let me see them. How terrible are your injuries?
"I was whipped for more than a week. How'd you expect my skin to be?" My tone was venomous, filled with intense hatred. Remembering that he was the Alpha and I couldn't risk being punished again, "I'm sorry for my rudeness," I lowered my head, still maintaining my frown.
"What is this? You've never been mad around anyone your whole life. What has gotten into you?" His tone was surprisingly still calm. I'd have expected him to flare up and punish me again for speaking to him in a rude manner.
"I already apologized. Can I leave now? I need to attend to my other duties at the pack house." I tried to not sound rude but was failing at it.
"Omega, what are you up to? What are you doing to me?" He narrowed his eyes and inched closer. As I took a step backwards, he grabbed me by my arm and pulled me against his chest, peering into my deep blue orbs like he was trying to read them. His intense gaze and being this close to him sucked the air out of my lungs. "Spit out what you have in you head." His emotionless voice was even more scary than when he was angry. I gasped when he placed his hand on my waist, running his fingers along my face and it seemed like his face was leaning towards me. "Jane! Where the hell did that mutt go again?" I heard Mrs. Bea yell as she passed outside the room door.
"I-I ha-have to leave now," I stuttered. Alpha Keegan let go of me. I scurried out of his room, catching my breath again before leaving to attend to Mrs. Bea.
\- KEEGAN ~
My frustration knew no bounds. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about the omega and her- would I call it grumpy- attitude kept bothering me.
It was evident that she didn't want to speak to me, she was mad at me. I couldn't place my finger on the exact reason for her being mad at me, and that bothered the hell out of me.
'Why do I feel this way? Why am I bothered by an ordinary omega's actions?' I asked Drex who kept quiet, ignoring me completely and leaving me to deal with my exasperation alone. The omega was the only thing on my mind recently. She was looking even more beautiful, her injuries felt like they burned my skin, I wasn't complaining about her rude words to me, and I was even frustrated that she didn't want to speak to me.
"Omega?" I stopped by her room door, surprised to see her in it and laying a blanket on the floor, ready to sleep on the blanket.
She lifted her face to me and quickly scattered the blanket like she was committing a crime. As I approached her, I could feel her heart beating faster. Was she really scared yet sulky?
"Why are you in here?" I frowned at her.
"It's late, I need to go to bed."
"Go to my bedroom. You're not safe alone." Because she was my pack member, I didn't want her safety to be threatened in any way; however, this just an excuse to have her around me. What the hell was wrong with me?
"No Alpha, I'll be more comfortable being alone." Her heart rate was slowly normalizing. "You're hurt. Sleeping on a hard surface will only worsen your bruises."
"I've learnt how to attend my pain on my own. I'll be more comfortable in my own way."
"Go to my room right now!" I demanded with the
Alpha authority tone. "Are you trying to disobey me?" A frown formed on my face and I locked my clenched fists behind me just to seem dominant. "I can never disobey you." She frowned, gathered the blanket around her arms and walked away. "Why do I even care? This is so frustrating?" I shook my head and left the room to resumed walking around and making sure everywhere was safe. After a while, I was interrupted by giggling noises from the opened balcony door.
"I'm so glad right now!" Mason smiled at Crystal, it was probably the first time I had ever seen him smile. "Me too! We're going to be parents." Crystal grinned. He knelt in front of her and lifted her shirt, rubbing her tummy. "Our little pup is growing there. I feel so great now. I'll finally be a father!" He wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her belly. "I love you so much."
"Me too."
"I'm so glad the moon goddess blessed you as my mate. My life would've just been surrounded by darkness and nothing but my coldness if you didn't step into my life as my mate." He rose to his feet and kissed her.
"Me too. I love you so much and now that we'll have a pup, we'll train him or her to be strong and confident and also sweet, not like the grumpy idiot you always were."
"Ouch. I'm still mostly grumpy, I'm only sweet when I'm around you." He pouted, taking me aback. My frigid Gamma was fucking pouting like a child. I had never thought about the fact that Mason also had a life apart from being my Gamma. He was always so stern, not caring about anyone's emotions, never smiling, so this was a big surprise to me.
I took my leave before they noticed my presence and walked around the pack house again for both protection and a stroll. Different thoughts, related to my work as the Alpha and mostly related to the weirdness I felt towards the omega, ran through my head.
When it was almost midnight, I was feeling sleepy. I was about to take the elevator when it opened and Mason was in.
"Alpha, good evening. I thought you had gone to bed." His facial expression was back to its usual sternness unlike the sweet faces from earlier.
I only stared at me, still pondering on whether or not I could ask him questions. I never really had a relationship with Mason as friends. Scarlett had become my Beta because when my pack formed, her father, a close friend of Mom, was the second strongest wolf and was the beta, which made Scarlett and I friends till I had complete control over my pack, after which Scarlett took over as my beta on her 18th birthday because she possessed the blood of a beta and became the second strongest wolf after her father.
However, Mason has become my Gamma because he was the strongest wolf after Scarlett's father and has passed the trust test. There was no friendship between us or anything, so it felt strange to consider speaking to him without assigning duty to him. As an Alpha, I still have my confusions and there was never anyone for me to speak to to clear my confusions. Mason was a man in my age group and could probably understand what was wrong with me. Could I trust him enough with personal thoughts?
"Uh... do you need anything Alpha?" He ended the awkward silence, calling me out of my thoughts. "I've never seen you maintain this much silence at once. Is anything wrong?"
"uh... no... I mean, yes, yes actually." I cleared my throat.
"What is it? Is there any document I need to review?" "No."
"Oh. A new patrol?"
"No."
"Is it be a new mission?"
"No."
"Alpha Vladimir? Is that it? I knew I was forgetting something. I'll start working on his intentions right away." He started walking away.
"No, Mason." I frowned, making him stop in his tracks. "Then what, Alpha? Have I committed any offense?" He quirked an eyebrow at me.
"Let's head to the balcony on the third floor for fresh air." I suggested.
"Oh, okay." The way he curled his eyebrows expressed how much he was befuddled and curious to know what I was up to.
I maintained silence as we used the elevator to transport us to the third floor and left for the balcony. I rested against the rail, still maintaining silence and contemplating on whether or not to ask him for help. "Is there any problem?" He broke the weird silence again.
"Not with the pack. Just a personal problem, if you don't mind answering." I cleared my throat, maintaining a bold stance.
"Not at all." He replied with a blank expression. "Okay. So... I might've seen you with Crystal earlier and how happy and different you seemed. I thought your whole life revolves around being a Gamma like mine revolves around being an Alpha."
"It's just towards Crystal. I can assure you that I'm not friendly towards-"
"I need help and I'm not receiving it on my own." I cut him off before he panicked. "The omega has been acting a little strange around me. Firstly at Vladimir's, she was being... flirty? I think Chloe advised her to seduce me..."
"If you're not comfortable with her actions, then I'll
make sure to caution her to stop it." He had his arms behind him, still possessing that Gamma aura. "I need you to be calmer. I need to speak to a man, not the Gamma of Dark Stone pack. Her seduction didn't bother me. Her attempts were almost equal to terrible. The problem right now is the fact that my thoughts revolve around her. I'm unable to do anything because of her. After we returned from Vladimir's pack and she was in the pack prison, I felt like I was going crazy and couldn't do anything to stop her punishments. I even strategized for Liam to reduce her punishments. I really don't know what's wrong with me.
"Secondly, she has been acting very rude to me since she returned from prison. She acts like she's mad at me and my presence irritates her. I'd normally not care and be mad at her, but it's bothering me. My attention is always drifting to her. With my high hearing sensitivity, I find myself straining my ears to listen to her voice, I can hear and feel her heartbeat, her bruises are affecting me, like I can feel her pain." I gazed into his eyes, squinting my eyes at him. "Do you think I'm going crazy?" back a smile, his eyes were dancing with delight. "I feel so honored that you've expressed your
He held inner concerns to me." He said with a smile and also cleared his throat. "Well... I might've experienced something similar to this."
"You have?!" I quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes. You're gaining romantic attraction to her and the only reason you feel this way around her because the mate bond is effective. You didn't accept her rejection and you aren't experiencing rejection pain because of your strength, so the bond is still effective instead of the rejection pain."
"What the hell?" A frown was glued to my face. "Does this mean she feels it too?"
"I don't know. She might not. Love can make you do crazy things and the attraction of the mate bond is very strong, stronger than an ordinary love bond; it can drive you crazy beyond control." "Everything makes sense now." I nodded, glad there was at least an explanation to this madness. "Drex was right all along. The omega is still our mate." I didn't want to be romantically attracted to the omega, and also didn't want to be weak and stupid by accepting her rejection- I either had to accept her rejection or accept her as my mate.