An Alpha's Favor

Chapter 2: The Escape

-Angela-

Lucian was watching me, as I went through my sixth burger. We had stopped by McDonalds because I was so hungry, I couldn’t wait for us to get to an apartment Lucian had in the city, or was borrowing. I didn’t really listen, as I was handed the food, and just ate through five burgers, fries, two milkshakes, he gave me his and twelve chicken nuggets.

“When was the last time you ate?” he asked, as he sat in a leather chair beside the couch I was sitting on.

There were floor to ceiling windows behind him, but I barely really noticed anything about the apartment or even him, as I ate myself full.

“I … am not sure,” I told him with my mouth full.

I hadn’t even cleaned up yet and was still in my filthy clothes. I had not even washed my hands. Food first!

“Sh*t, Angela … Where the hell have you been?! We have been looking f*cking everywhere for you!” he said, his green eyes holding mine, as I took my time to swallow, so I could speak.

“Canada,” I said.

“Canada?”

I nodded.

“What the hell were you doing there?” he asked.

“It was not like I wanted to go,” I said, and took another big bite and just enjoyed the taste of the burger.

I didn’t eat junk food that often, but it was an emergency. It truly was. I was just so damn hungry! It had been hell getting back here to Seattle when I had no passport and barely any cash. Good thing wolves could easily pass through. Only humans needed IDs.

“So, your father took you to … Canada? To do what?” he asked.

I continued to eat the burger, and he patiently waited, as I took the last bite and crumbled the paper wrapping and threw it in the bag with the rest, then I turned to him and swallowed the last bit of the burger.

“Hiding.”

“Hiding?” he asked.

“For now, at least. I am the one thing besides my mother that he could use against Chris. He is really not very happy with my brother, but I also know he fears him. He knows the support Chris has and how little power he actually has over him anymore, now that he has joined the king and his pack,” I told him.

“So, your father just took you away because … he is a vengeful assh*le?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“No, he has a friend up there, and he planned to make a powerful alliance through me. One strong enough to grant him support to overthrow the king,” I said.

“That isn’t possible! The council-“

“The council won’t matter soon enough. Not with the help my father is getting …”

“I don’t understand …”

“I barely do myself, and I was there the whole time!” I told him and went to stand, but the world started to spin, and I had to fall back down on the couch.

Lucian quickly moved to my side, steadying me. His hand was warm on my shoulder, and it was nice to be looked at so concerned, after being around my father and the other cruel alphas, he kept meeting with.

“The alphas weren’t just from Canada, I believe he was meeting with people from other parts of the world. It is not good Lucian,” I said.

“How did you get here?” he asked. “I mean how did you escape him?”

I looked down at my hands, not liking to think about that night, but I couldn’t keep it a secret either. If I wanted his help, I needed to be honest.

“My mother … she … helped me,” I told him.

He looked shocked, and why wouldn’t he be? He had met my mother. He saw how meek she was. What my father had turned her into. I had been surprised too, but I also knew my mother held power. She was a luna after all.

“And then what? You got out and then …”

“I got out, yes, but it wasn’t so easy. They quickly discovered I was gone. One of my father’s pack members got to me and I … I just didn’t want to go back …” I said and started to cry, my lower lip wobbling a bit, and Lucian quickly pulled me closer.

“Shh, you’re okay. You don’t have to talk anymore …”

I clung to him. It felt so good to feel his warmth. It had been a while since I was hugged, and then by a powerful alpha as well. They just had this feeling of security around them, or they should have, but not males like my father. No, they liked to use the fear of their power instead, and that just made them intimidating and scary.

“How did you call me?” he asked, slowly running his hand down my back.

“I got an addict to let me borrow their phone, and I paid a homeless person for his clothes … or some of them,” I told him.

“You memorized my number?” he asked and pulled back a little.

Lucian and I had been in contact after Chris and Kate had run away to be together, and, well, the number stuck with me, or maybe it was just my desperate state that had me remembering it, but I nodded and there was this strange look suddenly in his eyes that I couldn’t quite read.

He moved back a little, coughing strangely and then getting up, smiling reassuringly down at me before turning to a room a little further away.

“There is a bedroom in there with a bathroom. I will go find you some clothes while you shower,” he said.

He was about to walk away when I grabbed his hand, and his eyes instantly went to where we were connected. I pulled my hand back, fearing he didn’t like I had grabbed him like that. We didn’t know each other that well, even if his cousin and my brother were mates.

“Just … don’t tell my brother, okay?”

“Why exactly shouldn’t I?” he asked.

I understood my request was strange, but if I had heard right from the times I had been listening in on my father being updated about everything that went on with the king and the rest, then my brother was a father now, and I didn’t want to bring him into anything dangerous. My father would come for me. In one way or another … he would come.

“Chris and Kate … they have … a child, right?” I asked.

“How do you know this?”

“My father has him watched. He has everyone watched … I heard it.”

“If he has the king and the rest watched, we need to tell them,” Lucian said.

I stood up, even if the world spun around me and shook my head.

“Please! You can’t!”

“Angela,” he sighed, putting his hands on his hips.

Sh*t, he had really grown, I realized, and not gotten taller, but broader. So much broader! He was a f*cking alpha. The shirt he wore under his jacket could barely contain him, and the leather was stretched out around his strong thighs. I even saw the glimpse of a gun inside his jacket before he let his arms fall. He had changed so much. What or who else had changed?

“We can’t keep it a secret,” he said.

“We must! My father is insane! And he wants me back! He won’t let anyone stand in his way and Chris is a father now! He has a kid! You think my father cares? That kid could be an orphan in a matter of days if we tell them the truth!” I almost but shouted.

He was still shaking his head, but he seemed to understand what I was saying, even if he didn’t look very happy.

“Just … go shower and I will get you some clothes. We will figure out the rest later.”

“Wait Lucian!”

He stopped again, looking at me a little tired, and I knew I was asking a lot from him, that was why I was so grateful for what he had done for me.

“Thank you.”

He seemed to soften from my words and then walked closer, placing a hand on my cheek and surprising me, as his thumb slowly ran over the skin.

“I was really worried,” he said, his green eyes so intense, I couldn’t help but stare at them.

“I’m sorry …” I whispered.

He shook his head gently.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault, okay?”

I just slowly nodded before he took a step back, giving me a small smile before leaving and letting me shower in peace.

When I came out of it, it seemed like he had done some late shopping. I was surprised that a store was still open, but I was happy to get changed into some clean clothes, which consisted of a white shirt, some black slacks and … I smiled as I saw the pink socks he had gotten me. He somehow knew.