Chapter 16 Unexpected encounter
TARA:
My face was immediately rid of blood. I could swear I was turning white.
“Alp…Alpha?” I pretended as though I didn’t hear what he said.
“You heard me loud and clear, Tara.” He stood and walked to me, closing up the distance between us to a few inches.
“You had it, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you're talking about, Alpha.” My voice shook as I spoke. I looked anywhere but at him.
He held my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“I know you're lying.” A smug touched the side of his lips. “Of course, you wouldn’t accept it.”
“I’m so sorry. It was the book I was reading. I didn’t mean to.”
"So, what did I do to you in that dream?" He enquired.
"Nothing," I gulped. I could feel my eyes dilating from tension.
“That looks says a lot of things, Tara. You’re so easy to read, you know?”
I thought that would be it.
“Are you a virgin?” He popped the question.
Ground, can you open up now?! I don’t think I can take this anymore.
“Yes,” my voice was low as I nodded my head.
“Untouched, I see.” He let go of my chin and headed back to his seat. Only then was I able to breathe well.
“Make sure to keep it that way, no matter what? Understood?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“You may leave.” He said. After bowing, I ran for my life. Gosh, he makes me so nervous.
As I approached the living room, I met Mason and Rose discussing. My heart did a backflip. Hope they didn’t hear anything I discussed with the Alpha.
“Oh, there she is.” Mason beckoned me to go over and I did. My legs never resisted an invitation.
“This is my sister, Rose. The one I told you about.”
I knew it. Mason had mentioned his sister who liked to eat.
“Nice to meet you, Tara. I’ve heard so much about you from Mason. You’ve been through a lot but I'm glad you're here.” We shook hands. Rose always smiled, like Mason. Guess it runs in their blood.
“Well, I can’t promise you that there will be good people but we’ll be nice to you, that’s for sure.” She sounded reassuring. “Thank you.”
“Now, time for shopping.
Mason drove us, his sister in front and me at the back, to a shopping plaza. I had never been to one before but from the stories I heard from Ellie, it was a big place filled with beautiful things money could buy.
"I forgot. We haven't even redeemed the check!" Rose blurted all of a sudden, hitting Mason on his arm.
"Can you remember something without hitting me?" He groaned, rubbing the spot she had hit him.
"I'm sorry. It just happens." She snickered.
"There's a bank close by. Let's redeem it from there."
I sat quietly at the back until we arrived at the bank.
"We'll be back," Rose said, the two of them alighting from the car. I watched them enter the back. Why didn't the Alpha give them cash? Was the money really that big?
I remember Diana fussing over the sum on the paper. If it was as big as she said, then I didn't understand why the Alpha would spend so much on me.
While I was lost in my own little world, I saw a kid on the street. He stood by the road, begging for food. I didn't know if he was saying anything but he kept pointing to his mouth. But everyone who passed by just ignored him. I felt moved by his gesture. I knew what it was like to go hungry and ravage for food to eat.
He looked tattered, with torn clothes and rough hair. I didn't know when a tear slipped down my cheek.
"Wish I could help but I don't have any money."
It was right then that it hit me that I still hadn't eaten the food that was given to me by the head maid.
I looked at the bank to see if Mason and Rose were coming out but there was no sign of them.
I opened the door and shut it after I stepped out. I made sure to look carefully before crossing the road. Slowly, I walked toward the boy.
Even though people were passing by, he didn't bother stopping them. It was as though he had already given up.
"Here," I stretched the food to him.
"Really? Are you sure?" He looked up at me. His once dead orbs came back to life when he saw the packaged food in my hand.
"Yes. Go ahead," I was expecting him to roughly drag the food from me and run away. But he did the opposite. He took the food gently and slowly walked toward the wall, sat on the floor, and began unwrapping the meal. I watched how slowly and carefully he ate.
Impulsively, I went and sat beside him on the ground.
"Madam, your clothes will get dirty if you sit here." He had a frantic look on his face.
"Oh, this. Trust me, I don't mind. Do you like the food?" I asked and he nodded.
"Why are you out here? What about your parents? Or relatives?"
He solemnly shook his head and continued eating. He was like me—alone and abandoned—someone with no place to go.
If I had a house of my own, I would have taken him in.
"Do you live around here?"
"I sleep wherever I see. No particular place to call home. I ran away from the orphanage because it was hell there. I'd rather die than go back there."
There were worse people than me out here. At least, at my former pack, I was fortunate to have a place where I could rest my head.
"That's terrible. I wish I could do more to help you."
I sat there with him. I had already forgotten why I was there in the first place.
"Tara, where have you been?!" Mason called out. He seemed upset. "And why... Why are you on the ground?"
I quickly stood up.
"I came to give him some food and we ended up talking."
Mason pinched his forehead, shaking his head slowly.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was? What would I have said to the Alpha if you had gone missing?"
The little boy stood, his eyes on the floor.
"It's my fault, sir. She only wanted to help me out. I'm so sorry."
Before I could react, he ran away.
"Wait!" I wanted to run after him but Mason held my hand, stopping me.
"Let him go, Tara. Have you forgotten what the Alpha told you to do?"
While he pulled me back to the car, I was absent-minded. I kept thinking about the boy and how he would be faring.
"The world is a dangerous place, Tara. For goodness' sake, it could have been a setup. You could have been hurt." Mason lectured me after we had gotten into the car.
"I just couldn't leave him like that. He reminded me of..." My eyes mistakenly met with his own in the mirror at the top. Why was he looking at me like that?
"I know but please, be careful."
Rose sat there, not saying anything. Not like I expected her to. The shopping plaza wasn't that far from the bank, so we got there in no time.
We ladies stepped out while Mason drove away, instructing Rose to call him when we were done.
She waved goodbye to him until his car disappeared from sight.
"Now, Tara, may I ask who you are to the Alpha?" She wasn't smiling this time. Her voice dripped with seriousness and intimidation. Now, that's a gamma right there.
"What are you talking about? I am nobody to him."
She hissed and looked at the money in her hand.
"The Alpha doesn't give a 'nobody' such an amount of money. Nobody, I repeat, nobody has ever received this amount for just shopping. Not even his girlfriend."
Girlfriend? The Alpha was in a relationship?!