Raised For The Alpha

Sunset

I can scent him as soon as he walks into the kitchen. Oisin walks up behind me and quietly says ‘If you’d come with me, I’d like to take you out each time Father is away. I can’t show you the world but I can show you a small part of it.’

Tears begin to fill my eyes as I nod. I can’t speak or say anything because I know the sob which is stuck in my throat will escape. ‘Is that okay? You don’t have to come if you don’t like.’ He exclaims.

‘No, I’d love to.’ I whisper. ‘Sorry.’ I go to explain as I go to wipe my tears away, but before I get the chance, Oisin has his thumb under my eye as his hand caresses my cheek. I lean into his touch before realising that I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be agreeing to go anywhere with him but how can I turn down that opportunity when my life has felt so meaningless?

Oisin smiles as he removes his hand from my face and steps back. ‘I want to give you new experiences and memories. You don’t deserve the life you were given, but I can try and make it better.’ He says, and he doesn’t realise that him just being here is what makes it better. It doesn’t matter where we are.

Hazel walks into the kitchen at this very moment with a face like thunder. She glares at us before shaking her head with disgust. I deserve to have a friend. Alpha Magnus has never said I couldn’t have a friend. Surely, it would be good for me to learn to socialise before I become Luna?

As I sit in my new room, getting ready to go out somewhere with Oisin, I spot a huge black wolf prowling the rocks by the waterfall. I angle myself back so that I can’t be seen but can still see out of the window. Could it be a Gamma wolf on patrol? Do they know I’m here? I begin to shake uncontrollably with the fear of being caught.

‘I can’t do this. No, no. I can’t.’ I whisper as my voice breaks and my hands tremble. I’m about to go back up to the attic room I was given when I hear a light knock at the door. I walk over to the door and catch the scent of Oisin on the other side. Through shaky hands, I manage to unlock the door and let him inside.

His eyes trawl my body before landing on my face. That’s when he really looks at me, confusion and worry evident on his features. ‘Bonnie, is everything okay?’ He asks me. I point to the window, but when Oisin looks out of it, the wolf is no longer there.

‘I think there was a wolf outside. Are there patrols out there?’ I ask him as he looks out to try and see what I’m talking about. He guides me away from the window and sits on the bed next to me. Concern etched on his face.

‘There shouldn’t be any patrols in view of your window. There’s no way anybody can get to that point, so they don’t patrol there. Are you sure that’s what you saw? If it is, I’ll need to bring it up. I just. I don’t know how to say how I know.’

I glance at the window again and back to Oisin. He believed me without hesitation when I was unsure of myself. ‘No, it was probably just my imagination. There’s nothing there.’ I say as I reassure both him and myself.

There were rumours about how my Mother went crazy. She would see things which weren’t there. In the end, it led to her taking drugs and selling me to fund her habit. Is this the way my life is going? Am I following in her footsteps?

I worry as I get into Oisin’s truck that others may see me. What if they tell Magnus? I’m looking around as I fasten my seatbelt and duck my head. ‘Don’t worry. They know they may work for me one day. They have the sense to keep everything I do quiet.’ He says as his lips tilt. His teeth show as he smiles.

I think he’s wrong about that. I know why they don’t inform Magnus about the things which Oisin gets up to. They don’t want him to get beaten. We all heard the years of cries and screams which would make me flinch each time. Then one day he stopped crying and it was the sounds of the hits we could hear instead, or his bones being broken.

I don’t say this. Instead, I say ‘They care about you. Truly, they do.’ And I’m not lying. It was never his own father who taught him to ride a bike, build a snowman or have compassion. No, his father taught him how to be cruel, and merciless, to fight and to survive when you’re beaten. Luckily, only two of those seem to have stuck.

We arrive in the human lands near a wide path next to some sand. ‘This is called a promenade, prom for short.’ He opens the car door for me and holds out his hand to help me out. ‘And here’ he says as he points to a wooden hut painted in lemon and sage green. ‘Is where you’ll have the best ice cream you have ever tried in your life.’ I smile but don’t mention how it will also be the only ice cream.

We walk down the path together and I feel the warmth of his skin as his hands brush mine with every step. I glance his way to catch him staring at me and the heat in my cheeks rises as I smile and look away. When we reach the hut, a blonde human lady who looks around the age of a mother welcomes us. ‘Hey darling, you’ve brought a friend.’

She looks at me with curiosity and then back to Oisin before grinning from ear to ear. ‘Nice to meet you.’ She holds her hand out to me and I take it as I shake her hand and smile, without saying a word. I chose a flavour which looks nice, cherry ripple it was called but I don’t know what the name means. Oisin chose something called thunder and lightning and I’m guessing it doesn’t have that inside it.

He laughed when he saw my confused face at the name, wrapping his arm around my waist as he tugged me into him and kissed my head. Oisin kept me close to his body as he took our ice creams and passed me mine, thanking the server. He said his goodbyes and then took my hand in his as he led us away.

My hand was burning from his touch. Not burning painfully though, it felt right. I tried to suppress the smile which wanted to take over my face as he led us up a small path between long grassy bankings and through a little wooden gate. My body was tired when we finally made up the hill but when we reached our destination, the view was breathtaking.

I stopped and stared in awe at the red sunset as it shined onto the sand below us. Oisin sat down on a grass bank near the edge of the cliff and I joined him. My hands were sticky from the melted ice cream but he didn’t seem to care as he took my hand in his once more.

‘It’s beautiful.’ I told him before we sat in quiet for a while. Listen to the ocean waves and watch as the sun sets over them. We didn’t speak much but the silence was comfortable. Oisin picked up two rocks and began to scratch words into a large flat pebble-shaped one with the pointed edge of another.

He wouldn’t let me see what he was doing but once he was finished he passed it to me. I gasped at the beauty of it. It was all in white against the dark rock but you could see what it was supposed to be. Two wolves sat together in front of a sunset. ‘It’s for you. To remember this moment by.’ He smiled and my tears began to fall.

I'd never received a present before. This felt different to him giving me clothes and even the room. This was something he had made for me. A proper present like others receive for their birthdays or as ‘just because’ gifts. Not that Oisin received those, but I’d heard his friends speak when they visited.

‘Thank you.’ I managed to get out as I clutched the rock to my chest hoping I don’t rub off the drawing. Oisin pulls me towards his chest as he wraps me in his arms. Being with him has never felt so right as it does right now, and that worries me. Do friends hold each other in their arms?

As we walk back down and head back to the truck, Oisin stops us and looks at me. ‘I’ve never brought anybody here before. If there’s ever a time when you’re unable to come with me, then I can come here and it will remind me of you.’