Chapter 11: Chase
Rhys’s P.O.V
"That went well," Zyane sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Yes it did," I agreed, amused.
But that amusement was soon wiped off my face as soon as I looked back at the spot Mikalya had occupied not long ago. "Holy Shit!"
In her place hung a punching block made of metal alloy, but the only difference was that the long solid block in the shape of a cylinder was now crushed beyond recognition and there were slight red stains on them indicating that she had done it by bare hands.
"Maybe you have actually found your match, Rhys!" Zyane slapped my back before whistling at the deformed block and going back the way he came. But even though he didn't admit it out loud, I knew he was thinking that Mikalya was far more than just my match.
I circled around the deformed block a few times, assessing the damage. Okay, so maybe I was guilty of admiring it as well. I sure had one hell of a mate.
Mate.
Such a strange word, I thought to myself. In the past I’d often thought what my mate would be like. Will she be shy or bold or outgoing or introverted, or maybe the creative kind or someone who likes to nurture others? In my teens, the idea of a woman cooking meals for me and looking after my cubs had sounded heavenly, that’s how my father had described my mom and I hadn’t thought anyone could be better than that. Then I’d become Alpha and I had wanted nothing more than to find a mate who knew how to manage my pack in my absence, how to bind everyone together. But out of all my fantasies, I have a warrior as my mate. I know I told her that I'll be looking if the pack was innocent, but actually I wanted more time to know about her. I have to find out more about her, it’s the strongest urge I’ve ever had.
I already know that she killed those spies to protect the pack. Even the thought of those measly little bitches laying eyes on my mate was enough to make my blood boil. Aiden and Devon shall never know of her or her pack, God forbid if they even get close to her as long as I’m alive. But most of all, I need to take advantage of the time I have here to convince her that she belongs by my side, as my Luna.
My stomach rumbled loudly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Time to find the kitchen," I murmured to myself as I stalked out of the training room.
I roamed around endlessly down a few corridors and hallways, trying to find the kitchen, but all I came across were several locked doors and living quarters and more locked doors. Finally, I huffed in defeat at having found another similar hallway and no sigh of the kitchen. So I took another sniff of the air.
But this time, instead of smelling more wolves, the most wonderful aroma of roasted stake with rosemary and spices hit my nose. It was faint but it was an improvement from the smell of sweaty wolves at every nook and corner of the hallways.
I took in huge gulps of air into my lungs, trying to get as much smell as I could while my stomach kept on rumbling. God, how many days has it been since I last ate? Did they give me any food while I was passed out?
Soon enough, I was rounding a corner, where the smell was at its strongest and I entered a huge hardwood kitchen.
I stood there and watched as about twelve wolves ran around the kitchen, doing God knows what, but it sure as hell smelled delicious. Amongst the twelve people, about seven were men...err...boys; they looked to be in their late teens to early twenties. And in the center of all the commotion was an elderly woman, who looked to be in her early 60's with dark brown hair and silver threads in them and lovely grey eyes. She was a bit plum but had an aura of authority to her. In reality, she had to be at least five hundred years old.
She was the one barking orders to all the others. To say that I was surprised to see so many boys cooking, would be an understatement. In my pack men never entered the kitchen, if it wasn't to eat or order their food. I had set up kitchen duty as punishment for the juveniles for not following orders and the results had been astounding. Since then, no juvenile had ever disobeyed me. That had been an impressive reaction but the case was completely different in this kitchen.
I watched in awe as a young boy with light brown hair and dark brown eyes, probably eighteen years of age, nearly threw a big pot of boiling broth all over himself, but all he got in return was a tongue lashing from the old woman. That, made me angry.
“Hey!" I yelled out loud and all activities in the kitchen came to a sudden halt. "He nearly got scorched and all you do is lash out on him! Are you blind!"
"Who do you think you're yelling at! That's my grandmother you're talking to!" I was stunned into silence as the boy I just defended, snapped at me.
"I just defended you, kid. The least you can do is thank me!" I snapped back.
"Did I ask for your help? Don't poke your nose where you don't belong!" He growled back.
"Alright, you two, quite!" The old woman yelled at us, shutting us up. What surprised me was that even I couldn't dare to open my mouth, she had that much authority over me. "Kushal, get back to work, and you," she first spoke to the boy and then turned her fierce grey eyes on me. "I don't know which pack you come from or the way you were brought up, but this isn't your pack, so don't go barging in like you own this place!"
She stared at me with a disappointed look and I don't know why but I lowered my head like a guilty child. If that wasn't embarrassing enough, my stomach decided exactly that moment to let its presence be known, and growled out loud. I heard a few of the kitchen staff snigger and I gave them my most menacing glare, making them shut up instantly.
“Kushal, bring the boy some sandwiches from the fridge and don't forget to reheat them!" The woman told her grandson, whose name I now knew was Kushal.
Kushal nodded in reply and went to do his job, as he was told. Meanwhile, I moved towards the table as the woman called me over.
"I'm Belle, the head chef, and you are?" she asked me as she sat opposite to me on the table.
"Rhys, Rhys Valkyer. I'm the Alpha of the WildRain Pack," I told her and dug into the sandwiches that Kushal had just placed in front of me.
"Ah! You're Nafisa's boy!" She said with a sad smile on her face.
"You knew my mother?" I was surprised that the Head Chef of such a small pack up in the middle of nowhere would know about my mother. She had died giving birth to me, but that was pack knowledge. No one outside the pack knew that we’d lost our Luna so early. "How?"
"I belonged to your pack at first, back when Rick was still Alpha." Belle had a faraway look in her eyes. "Your mother was died during childbirth and you father lost his will to live. But then the rouges attacked…and my mate died fighting them and it became too much for me to bear. So I left." She finished with a sigh.
"What did you do after you left?" I asked intrigued by her story. I was sad that her mate died, I had a feeling that if she hadn't left, then she would have been the mother figure that I lacked, instead of being raised by other male members of the pack. My father had not only been a great Alpha but also an excellent dad, but he was a man without his mate and he had already started to fade away. I haven’t seen my father ever since I became the next Alpha. He now roams the earth in search of what he had lost.
"You know…" she gestured with her hands as I finished my sandwiches."I roamed around for a couple of years. Went from town to town. I was searching for something to bring that old spark back in my life but there was nothing...until I found this pack. Or, should I say, she found me."
I didn’t have to watch Belle gesture behind me to know who was at the door. I could recognize her scent anywhere I went; it was now permanently engraved into my brain, that smell of roses crushed on ice. Cold. So, so cold.
She had changed into a full sleeve grey sweater and a pair of wash jeans, and she still managed to look gorgeous, with her silver hair now tied into a fishtail braid with a few strands hanging loose around her face. She marched right in and went to the counter, I thought she would start barking orders to everyone but she surprised me yet again by giving them a smile.
I watched her, mouth agape, as she hopped on the kitchen counter and talked and laughed with all of them. She had the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. Her eyes seemed to light up from within as she smiled, making her eyes look electric blue, and she had dimples!
"You know...you'll have to work a lot harder to get her to even look at you without having murderous thoughts," I had forgotten that Belle was even here, until she spoke in my ears.
"Really now?" I smirked, but I was still looking at Mikalya.
"Yes. She likes men who know how to treat their women right. She’s really strict about discipline, but everyone here doesn’t follow her because they fear her, they follow her because they respect and love her. Almost everyone in this pack had been rescued by her in one way or another. Which means, she isn’t that easily impressed," Belle gave me a knowing smirk, her eyes dancing with mischief. But there was something else there too, a hit of loss, of pain. I didn’t quite understand why.
As if sensing me for the first time, her head snapped towards me and she glared with so much passion in those ocean blue eyes that I felt like I might melt into thin air anytime now. But then she turned back to the other kitchen staff and told them something which had all of them doubling over in laughter. I would’ve caught her words too if I wasn’t so distracted by the sight of her. Then she hopped off the counter and stormed away. Gosh, does the girl ever known to walk slowly?
"Aren't you going after her?" Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Hell yeah!" I told her and got down from the stool, immediately chasing after her as I heard Belle yell something about doing the dishes after me.
I followed her from afar, not wanting her to know I was there as I followed her scent. But I had a feeling she already knew I was chasing after her.
"Let the chase begin, Miss Female Alpha," I smirked as I took off in a sprint when her scent began to fade from the air.