Chapter 66 - The Alpha King and His Second Chance

Six months later....

Unknown

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Shut up already...." I groaned at my obnoxious alarm. I hit my nightstand a few times trying to get the darn thing to shut up, only to knock it onto the floor. I sighed and reluctantly got out of bed to silence the alarm and get ready for class.

I was studying to be a surgeon, though I wasn't sure about what specialty yet. I was in my second year of many so I had plenty of time to decide. I lived in a rented house a few miles away from the college with two other roommates. We split the rent, making it more manageable for us to live there as opposed to on campus or a shoebox apartment. It was cool living with Chris and Darren, they were nice guys. They loved to party. Our house was usually filled with people on the weekends. During the week, it was pretty quiet. We all had school and work to get to. I was thankful I had roommates like them. They were serious about their futures but also liked to have fun.

The only downfall I had with them was sharing a bathroom in the morning. Chris always took forever and Darren would stink it up. So I set my alarm early so I could avoid both problems. I finished getting ready in record time, hopped in my beat-up junker car, and headed to class. It was a long morning filled with painfully boring lectures, but I got through them without falling asleep. I ran home and did as much of my assignments as I could before I had to leave for work. Thankfully, tomorrow I can sleep in and do nothing. It was a rare occasion that I didn't have class or work on any given day. But for now, it was time to head to work.

I worked at the bar down the street from my home. It had its perks, but I mostly stayed for the tips and flexible schedule. I quickly punched into the time clock on the computer and threw on my nametag, heading for the bar where I would be for the next eight hours.

"Hey Trey, you here all night?" My coworker Sandy asked.

"Yep. Now till closing, minus my lunch break." I chuckled.

"Cant forget the lunch break." Sandy laughed, knowing how much I loved to eat.

The first half of my shift was less than eventful, but it was still early. After my break, things would start to pickup until we practically had to kick people out at midnight. I ordered a steak dinner for myself to eat during my lunch break and an order of mozzarella sticks. The owners gave us a massive discount on food and I took full advantage of that luxury. My break went by faster than expected, I was almost late punching back in. While it wasn't a big deal to the owners if we were a minute or two late, I felt guilty. My punctuality affected the other servers who had to cover for me.

The bar was packed when I came back, I was swarmed with drink orders right away. I didn't mind though, it kept me busy and made the time go by faster. I especially liked people watching. So many strange and interesting people come here.

"Hey, I need three beers and a water." Sandy said, flying past me with a tray full of empty glasses.

"Water huh? At least someone is responsible tonight," I snorted.

"Its for that girl over there." Sandy flicked her head towards the corner booth. "She came in by herself. She seemed upset."

"Huh," I said, filling the drink orders. Typically, when someone comes to a bar past 9pm by themselves while they are upset, water was the last thing they asked for.

"Thanks!" Sandy said, taking the drinks and delivering them.

I went about my night. Nothing unusual happened besides the girl in the corner booth ordering water and nothing else. Sandy eventually brought over a water pitcher for her so she wouldn't have to go back and forth to refill her drink so often. I found myself looking her way more than once, feeling perplexed. I had to push my thoughts aside though and start to shut everything down. It was my job to close up tonight and I still had a few things to put away. There were also a few stragglers who were just starting to head out. Sandy cleaned their tables and left shortly after, leaving me and the water girl behind.

"Miss?" I called from the bar. I saw her head cock slightly but she didn't answer me. I rounded the bar and headed to the corner booth where she was sitting, determined to get her to leave so I could finish locking up and go home to enjoy my lazy day tomorrow. "Excuse me miss, we are closing now. I'll need you to leave."

Her head was down, her brown hair covering her face. I heard her sniffle. Was she crying? I looked at the empty water glass at her table, her hands clutching onto it for dear life. Her knuckles looked cut and bloody. Her dress was torn too. Jeez. Who did she beat up in the parking lot?

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked. Praying she wasn't a crack addict that I would need to kick out again.

"I-I.." Her voice sounded raspy, like she was sick or something. She cleared her throat. This time her eyes met mine. They were red and puffy, probably from crying, but that's not what caught my attention. What caught my eye was how vibrantly blue hers were. I had never seen such beautiful eyes.

"Why don't I make you some tea? It might help your throat." I said, heading to the kitchen to put on a pot of water.

Part of why I wanted to be a surgeon, the biggest part, was to help people. The owner might not be too happy if I kept this place open much longer, but this woman seemed to be having a hard time. She wasn't drunk, and I was pretty sure she wasn't on any drugs either, so I wasn't worried about her going nuts in here and blowing the place up. A cup of tea wouldn't hurt. Come to think of it, she has been here for several hours and didn't order any food. There were some leftovers in the fridge...maybe she would want something. The extra food usually gets tossed in the morning anyway. The cook never served 'leftovers' as he referred to them. I found a crock of chicken noodle soup and a few rolls. It was something at least. I heated those up with the tea, then grabbed our first aid kit, and took everything out to her. Her hair was tucked behind her ears, her eyes a little less puffy.

"Here is the tea. It's lemon with some honey. And I bought this too, in case you were hungry. It's chicken noodle." I said, sitting across from her.

"Thank you." Her voice croaked. She didn't hesitate to eat the entire bowl of soup and all the rolls, she even downed the tea in record time. Her hands shook as she ate, probably from hunger.

"May I?" I asked, holding the first aid kit and pointing to her hands.

She hesitantly agreed and placed her hands on the table for me to take a look at.

"So what brought you here?" I asked, trying to make small talk. I opened the first aid kit, threw on a pair of gloves, and got to work on cleaning and bandaging her wounds.

Her face fell at my question, but she cleared her throat and began speaking, her voice clear sounding. "It was the first place I found." She said cryptically.

"Are you lost?" I asked.

"I don't know...I cant remember anything. I woke up in a glass box in the forest. I broke out of it and ran, but I cant remember anything."

"Jeez...Sounds like something out of a horror movie. Should I be worried?" I laughed nervously, trying to break the tension. "You don't remember how you got there or where you live or your name or anything?" I asked.

"No, nothing." She sighed, her eyes getting glassy.

"Well....you could crash at my place. My roommates and I have a spare bedroom we were thinking of filling. You could stay with us until we figure out what to do." I offered. Hopefully, the guys wouldn't be too upset. We were thinking of making the spare room a game room, not filling it with a complete stranger.

"Really?" She said, her expression looking hopeful.

"Sure. But I need to lock up here first though. It'll only take me a few minutes," I said. I finished bandaging her up, then closed everything down in record time and led the water girl to my house. Lights were on, I figured both guys would be up. I guess there was no waiting to tell them about our new roomate.

"It looks nice here." the water girl complemented.

"Thanks." I said, even though I had no part in the aesthetics or curb appeal. "Hey, before we go in, maybe we should pick a name for you? I might call you water girl by accident if we don't soon." I laughed nervously.

"That's probably a good idea." She laughed. "What do I look like?" She asked, shrugging.

"Hmm...how about Sophie?"

"Sophie....I can work with that." She shrugged and smiled.

"Alright, well then, Sophie, let's go meet your other roomates. I'm Trey, by the way." I said, holding out my hand for her to shake.

"Nice to meet you." She smiled, taking my hand in hers. Her eyes looked funny for a second, but it could have just been my eyes seeing things. It was dark outside. She pulled away quickly, looking confused. "Who is Sandy?"

"Sandy? She is a girl I work with at the bar."

"Girlfriend?" She asked.

"No, why?"

"It's nothing, ignore me, I'm crazy." She shook her head and followed me through the front door.

"Nice" Chris said, looking over Sophie like she was a meal. He had a habit of frequently bringing home women at night that would then leave before breakfast.

"Chris, this is Sophie. She is going to be crashing here for a little while." I came right out.

"Umm..." Chris said, dropping what he was doing in the kitchen and coming over to me.

"Dude meeting!" Darren called from the living room, having overheard my introduction.

"I'll be right back, make yourself comfortable." I said to Sophie, who now looked very uncomfortable.

We went to my room, the guys bombarding me with questions as soon as I closed the door.

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" Chris asked.

"I thought we agreed to make the extra room a game room?" Darren said frustratedly.

"Okay, look, I met her at the bar tonight..."

"Ugh!"

"Here we go!"

"No listen guys, she doesn't remember anything about herself. She isn't a drunk or a druggie, from what I can tell. She just needs some help. I plan on calling the police station tomorrow morning for missing persons reports. This won't be long term." I reassured them.

"Trey.."

"Come on Chris, you bring more girls through here and don't even know their names! And Darren, you plan your video games in your room most of the time anyway."

"Alright, point made. But since she's not your girlfriend, alright if I tap that?" Chris asked with a devilish grin.

"Fine" Darren agreed. "But I hope she can cook."

"Shit! My food!" Chris said, bolting for the kitchen. Darren and I followed him out, a delectable aroma filling the air.

"I hope you don't mind, I kinda took over." Sophie said from behind the stove.

"What smells so good?" Darren asked.

"The chicken was a bit over-cooked looking, so I added a few things so it wouldn't taste too dry." She shrugged. "Try it." She said, holding out a spoon with sauce on it to Chris. He let her feed it to him, immediately, shamelessly flirting with her.

"Welcome home." Chris smirked.

Although I didn't want a relationship at the moment, I felt a pang of jealousy. I took her home. Technically, she should be mine if I were to want her. Finders keepers. Chris got to have anyone he ever wanted and more. This was the first girl I brought home in months, and she didn't even remember her own name. Figures, that would be my luck. I guess I'll just have to play the game better than Chris.

- - - - - - -

Sophie

After a long night of tossing and turning, I finally got up and decided to make breakfast for everyone as a thank you for letting me stay here temporarily. All night I felt like I needed to leave here, but I didn't know where to go. The guys seemed nice, the house clean, no overly alarming red flags. I just didn't feel at home. Hopefully, whatever was stirring inside of me would eventually spur my memory on. I got to work making a massive breakfast fit for a king, or three college guys in this case. Within minutes, they started to emerge one by one, drooling over the smell of freshly cooked bacon.

"Good morning beautiful, sleep okay?" Chris asked. He was obviously interested in me. I don't know if I could say the same. Something just didn't feel right about it.

"Not especially, actually. Hopefully tonight will be better," I answered honestly, ignoring his flirting.

"You should have woken me up, I would have stayed up with you," Chris continued.

"Not necessary." I dismissed, again.

"Woah! This looks amazing!" Darren said, already grabbing a plate and loading it up with food.

"You didn't have to do all of this." Trey said, taking a bite of bacon.

"I wanted to. I appreciate you helping me."

"About that, was thinking we should stop by the police station today and see if anyone filed a missing persons report on you." Trey said.

"Um...." I dont know why, but the idea of getting the police involved seemed like the wrong thing to do. Hopefully, I'm not some mass murderer and I just don't know it. But I couldnt be. I told Trey I was in a glass box, which wasn't totally wrong. The box just happened to be a glass coffin. Next to a statue of a wolf. Whatever I was, however I got there, I doubt it was from killing people.

"Today is Saturday. Wait until Monday. Why dont we go sight seeing instead?" Chris suggested.

"That sounds nice." I said, taking the bait.

"Be ready in an hour." He winked.

I chuckled softly. His shamless flirting might work on others, but apparently not me. Maybe I already had someone out there. It was strange and scary, not knowing anything about myself. What did I like? What did I hate? Did I have a family? A mate? Mate. That word rung in my head. I repeated it over and over and over again in my brain. Just one word, one small word. But it felt like it held so much meaning. Mate. Mating. Mated. I felt myself getting frustrated, not knowing what that word meant to me. It could have so many different meanings, but what did it mean to me?