The Alpha's Secret

Trapped

Moria

I wake up to a banging headache that convinces me that I have not indeed died and gone to heaven and to the sound of arguing voices.

One of which is distinctly female.

The events at the old people’s mansion come rushing back and my head threatens to split itself in two.

I decide not to open my eyes.

Maybe if I keep them close for long enough this will all go away.

But it doesn’t.

God, whatever this is, it cannot be happening.

Maybe they thought I was the daughter of the house owners and wanted to kidnap me for ransom?

If so, boy had they wasted their time.

It would be funny if I wasn’t probably going to lose my life in the process.

Making sure to keep my breathing steady so it looks like I am still out of it, I start to listen.

The female voice sounds ticked off.

“I still can’t believe you did that.”

“Axe said I couldn’t hit her.”

Even though I’d only heard it once, I instantly recognized the calm, authoritative voice of the man who had moved like lightning.

The one who had tried to kill me.

The assuredness in the way he speaks. Each word controlled and measured.

It grates on my nerves.

Mostly because I do not hate it enough.

And you’re not supposed to like the voice of the man who tired to kill you.

Obviously I wasn’t the only one irritated because whoever the female talking to him is, she is nearly shouting in exasperation.

“My bad, sometimes I forget what an act of chivalry drowning is”

I hear him grunt in response.

“It got her here didn’t it? Besides, we both know she can’t drown. If she’d stopped holding her breath she’d have realized she could breathe under…”

“Yes and faint from shock so either way you get to drag her here”

Even with my eyes closed, I can almost feel his shrug of indifference and it makes me want to open my eyes and claw at his face.

But before I can make any stupid decisions I hear movement to my right and the sound of a parting curtain. “What’s going on, I could hear you shouting a mile away.”

I recognize this voice too.

Ghost hands.

The one who dragged me through the wall.

“Has she come around yet?”

I hear the female start to respond but Mr. Would be murderer interrupts her.

“Yes, she has. But she’s too busy pretending to still be unconscious even though she’s breathing so loudly the windows are shaking. We don’t have time for this. I’m going outside.”

That…jerk.

My eyes fly open, a few choice insults on the tip of my tongue but the bastard is already walking out of the room.

Leaving behind Ghost hands and the female who immediately floats towards me.

I blink and blink and blink.

My lids feeling like sandpaper across my eyes.

But the scene in front of me remains the same.

She is actually floating.

Legs levitating above the ground.

I hold my throbbing head in my hands.

I may not have died, but something was definitely wrong with me.

Maybe I had finally snapped and gone crazy.

I shut my eyes tightly, hoping against all hope that when I opened them I’ll be lying in my bed back at home, wondering what a stupid dream the whole night had been.

“I’m afraid closing your eyes isn’t going to make us go away.”

His voice is every bit as authoritative as the other one except his seems to hold a constant thread of amusement.

Almost, like he is fascinated by me.

Like I am a pet zebra at a zoo with three legs instead of four.

Well screw him.

I ignore him and keep my eyes closed.

My hands clenching themselves in tight fists.

A soft, smallish hand rests itself on my forehead.

“You poor dear, these brutes must have frightened you half to death.”

The coolness of the hand on my brow tells me what I am already starting to realize.

I am definitely not dreaming.

My heart rate immediately doubles.

I slowly open my eyes and back away from the girl hovering over the bed.

She looks…tiny.

About 4 feet 11 inches, the floating making her seem even smaller.

A kind face with soft features and a full length of snow white hair and bright blue eyes.

My brain scrambles to find the word.

Ethereal.

That’s the one.

Somehow that frightens me even more

People did not look like this.

At least average people didn’t.

And they most definitely did not hover 3 feet off the ground.

They also didn’t run at the speed of sound.

Or pass their hands and drag people through solid brick walls.

She is speaking again and I force myself to listen.

“I’m sorry they sent two cavemen like Axe and Tristen to come find you and that Tristen, you know, tried to kill you. I promise we’re not all like that”

Tristen, so that was his name.

I have to try twice to make my voice work and when it does, it comes out a little hoarse.

“Not all cavemen or not all trying to kill me?”

From his scoff and what hovering fairy over here had just said, I can tell he must be the one named Axe.

He points to his split lip and plastered hand.

“We should be the ones getting an apology.”

I almost cannot believe my ears.

“You were trying to kidnap me, through a damn concrete wall! Was I supposed to be like oh cool, let’s listen to the guy who can pass through things and his homicidal buddy who runs like flash on steroids and has a penchant for flinging women around?”

He shrugs and smirks.

“That would actually have been the smart decision given how much stronger we are compared to you.”

It was my turn to smirk. “Tell that to your busted lip.”

The floating…princess fairy from the magical land of rainbows hovers in between us.

“Okay knock it off you two.”

Axe pouts and folds his arms “She started it.”

I look at him disbelief.

Clothed in leather from head to toe, silver gray hair falling down to just below his brows.

Eyes that had terrified me by that gym pool a while ago, were now focused on the wall in a petulant huff.

Ghost hands was pouting.

Princess la-la-land rolls her eyes at him before I can.

“Oh grow up Axe.”

And then she turns to me again.

“I’m Chryseis by the way”

Honestly while I’d been expecting something like Gwen or Buttercup, I couldn’t give less of a s**t right now.

I struggle to speak around the lump in my throat.

“So when you say ‘we’ you mean there are more weirdos like you?”

Axe plops his legs on the bed and leans his chair backwards.

So much so that I am convinced he is going to fall.

But Karma is trash and he doesn’t.

“Say that outside and Tristen trying to drown you will be the least of your problems”

I scoff.

“So… even more psychotic weirdos then”

He exchanges an exasperated looked with Chryseis. “Your funeral”

I smile sweetly even though I am feeling anything but.

“Don’t worry, you’re not invited anyway. And on that note…” I swing my legs off the bed and get up. “…I think I’ll be leaving now.”

Chryseis glances at Axe as if expecting him to say something, to maybe stop me from leaving.

But he says nothing.

Just c***s his head slightly to the side and tries to hide a smug smile that makes me want to punch him in his beautiful face.

Chryseis floats to block my path.

“Where are you going?”

I throw up my hands, twisting my face into the most sarcastic look I can muster “Uhmmm, I’m not sure Tinkerbell. Where do you think I’m going?”

To her credit Chryseis looks so genuinely confused that I am unable to even keep glaring at her.

I grit my teeth.

“I’m not sure what’s going on here or why you and your creepy ass friends kidnapped me but right now, I’m going home.”

She frowns slightly. “But you are home.”

I laugh.

Harsh and bitter.

“Okay princess Buttercup, I think it’s time for you to get out of my way.”

Axe takes his legs of the bed and gets up with the unhurried nonchalance of one who has all the time in the world.

I instantly feel my defenses come up.

Tristen is the one with the speed and he isn’t here.

So ghost hands and floating abilities aside, if they tried to stop me, so help me god I’d bust more lips and claw someone’s eyes out.

But rather than trying to tie me down he shrugs at Chryseis. “Let her go.”

Both our heads swing toward him.

“What?”

“You’re letting me go?”

The incredibility in Chryseis’ voice was mirrored in Mine.

It made no sense.

Why go through all the trouble to kidnap me and bring me here…just to let me go?

But then nothing about any of this makes any f*****g sense.

Those old people must be involved in some dubious s**t.

Could 70 year olds join cults?

Axe slides his hands into his pockets. “You are not our prisoner Moria.”

I frown even harder.

I hadn’t told anyone of them my name.

But I am also not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Besides, most kidnappers tend to know the names of their victims.

I start to head for the entrance before he changes his mind.

I swing the curtain like material out of my way and a startled gasp bursts its way from my lips.

It seems to simply melt away, disappearing on either side like it was never there and revealing the rest of the room.

Jesus flipping christ.

What the hell is this place?

Did they give me drugs after knocking me out?

Refusing to let whatever craziness is going on stop me, I steel my nerves and march decidedly towards the large double doors to my left.

I reach out to push them open, then my heart stops.

Floating people and curtains that disappeared when you opened them.

Who the f**k knew what else could be behind these doors.

Floating heads, booby traps, a four headed dog hungry for its next human meal,

Tristen, waiting to try and kill me again?

Axe quips, suddenly closer than I realized. Close enough that I can feel the heat off his body.

“What’s wrong Moria, forgotten how doors work?”

In my driest voice I throw back.

“Ah ah, aren’t you just hilarious. How do I know your murder hungry friend isn’t waiting for me outside this door?”

He quietly reaches from behind me and pushes it open. His hand brushing against my arm.

I fold my arms across my chest. “That proves nothing, he could be hiding… somewhere.”

This close to him, his presence is palpable.

An effect that intrigued and irritated me in equal measure.

He raises one brow. “Are you always this distrusting princess?”

“Maybe you’ve never been kidnapped before, but that tends to be a f*****g side effect.”

He laughs lightly and I think I bare my teeth at him this time around.

Chryseis throws her hands in the air obviously tired of the both of us and floats out of the room.

“Oh for Neptune’s sake. You’re both acting like brats.”

Not exactly reassured but with no options, I walk out of the room and into an absolutely stunning hallway.

The walls are made up of a blue, simmering glass like material. Swirls of light moving and mesmerizing in a way that makes it look…alive.

Yep, I was definitely high on something.

“Careful, you’re starting to drool.”

Axe’s amused voice snaps me back to reality and steeling myself against all the beautiful out worldliness around me, I make my way following Chryseis.

We take a left and walk down a flight of stairs till we arrive at a foyer and the largest front doors I had ever seen.

It is so high, I have to raise my head and bare my neck before I could see where it started.

It swings open on its own.

My mouth feels dry and my heart is beating so fast my chest is starting to hurt.

“It’s okay Moria.”

I look up Chryseis. At the quiet assurance splattered across her face.

And then I step out.

I’d half expected to step into a world where the grass was purple or the trees was alive.

But nothing like that seems to be the case .

Until I lift up my eyes to look at the sky.

The wind is knocked out of me so violently that I almost fall over.

Immediately, I realize why Axe had let me come out.

“Where on Earth am I?”

Chryseis lays a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“You’re not on Earth anymore Moria.”

I stared slack jawed at the sky too stunned to argue.

The two large suns in the sky were proof enough.

I can’t breathe. I can’t…breathe.

Axe walks past me, down the marble steps and to the lawn below.

He stretches out his hands, like a tour guide at a museum.

“Welcome to Xesperia Princess.”

The tone of his voice confirms what I had been afraid of since the moment I opened my eyes in that room.

That I was trapped. In this place.

And that I would never see my home again.