Chapter - 6

Chris' POV

The more I thought about the conversation I'd had with Ivy moments ago, the more I realised what I'd done was right. While what I had said in there about her house being dangerous for her as of now had been driven by the fact that I wanted her to stay here with me, I was now realising that it was all in fact true.

If it had been that easy for two of my men to break in and abduct her then she clearly wasn't safe there. Besides, if I had been tipped wrongly about her father being the one behind the creation of the venom, then it was definitely a possibility that others had been tipped off of the same as well. And who was to say they wouldn't try and break into her house to investigate? And who was to say that they wouldn't try and hurt her in the process?

For a reason unknown to me, I felt fiercely protective of her. So naturally, I wanted to keep her here with me where I could protect her, take care of her, cherish her.

And figure out why the hell I felt this way about her.

I was hoping the witches would be able to help me figure out the answer to that.

Right now, however, I had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like why the anonymous note had been directed at Ivy's father and not anyone else. There were thousands of scientists out there. Then why was he the only one who had been targeted? Why not others?

My men hadn't been able to find a single thing connecting him to the venom even after a week of thorough investigations. 

Was it possible that his wife knew something? And that she'd fled with the evidence?

Suddenly, finding Ivy's mother seemed much more important to me now.

Soon enough I had reached my office for our early morning meeting.

My council rose as I entered, sitting only when I had taken a seat at the head of the table.

"Mateo, I want you to send a small team of your best warriors to Pennsylvania and find Jonathan Emerson's wife. While we have not found anything of importance with the man himself, it is quite possible that his wife has fled with all the information. I want her found and brought straight to me as soon as possible," I ordered Mateo, the head of my military.

"Right away, Alpha," he agreed, bowing his head at me respectfully.

I nodded at him, satisfied with his response. The rest of the meeting continued as per usual for the next two hours or so.

Finally, once I had given orders as I saw fit, I ended the meeting, ready to go see Ivy now.

On my way back to my room, I figured I'd go check up on Lily and see how she was doing.

It felt a lot like déjà vu when I entered the infirmary to find Ivy sitting there by Lily's side. 

"...but that's not exactly why I wanted to leave," Ivy was saying, while Lily nodded at her, listening carefully.

"I understand what you mean. Change is good sometimes," Lily whispered before Ivy picked up a spoonful of soup from the bowl she was holding and fed some to Lily.

One of the doctors had noticed me standing at the door and walked towards me. Bowing his head respectfully, he said, "Alpha, the woman has been here for almost two hours now. She has been feeding Lily and taking care of her. We thought that since she had come in with you yesterday, she was allowed to come visit anytime."

I nodded at the doctor. "How is Lily's condition?"

"The herbs given by the witch have helped ease her pain a little but she is still very much frail and keeps going in and out of consciousness a lot. We reckon she has until tonight at the most."

I sighed internally before nodding at the doctor, wishing I could somehow help save her. 

Dismissing him, I zoned in on the conversation of the two girls.

"And see, it's finished now!" Ivy said suddenly, her smile so radiant it seemed to light up the whole place.

Lily gave her a soft smile in return. "You tricked me into having it."

Ivy gasped. "I would never!"

"But it's okay. You could only do that because I let you," Lily mumbled at her, seemingly not having heard or seen Ivy's reaction for that matter as her eyes fluttered close.

Ivy looked towards the nurse worriedly, still not having noticed I was in the room. "This is the third time she has lost consciousness ever since I've come here. Is she going to be okay?"

The nurse shook her head sadly. "Her condition hasn't improved since yesterday. But we appreciate all you're doing to ease her."

Ivy waved her off as if caring for a girl she barely knew was nothing and got up, smoothening her clothes down. "It's the least I can do. I really hope she gets well soon, though."

The nurse opened her mouth to say something but closed it shut almost instantly when her eyes fell on me standing near the door.

Noticing the nurse's gaze, Ivy turned around, her eyes widening almost comically when she noticed me standing there.

I couldn't even bring myself to get angry at her for leaving my room when I had told her not to after what I'd just witnessed. It amazed me how kind hearted and pure this girl was. It wasn't everyday you encountered something like that, at least not in the world I lived.

I walked further into the room, keeping my eyes trained on Ivy. 

"Uh, I was getting bored in the room so I decided to explore a little and found this room, so I stopped to spend some time with Lily," Ivy hastened to explain.

I nodded at her. "I can see that."

Her shoulders sagged in relief when she realised that I wasn't particularly angry.

"You ready to leave?" 

She looked confused for a moment before it dawned on her what I was talking about. "Oh, yes. Yes, I'm ready. Let's go."

"Come," I said before turning and leaving. Ivy followed behind me. 

When we reached the main gate, I grabbed my coat, realising that Ivy didn't have one. She'd freeze to death if she went out without a coat on. 

I handed her my own. "Here, wear this."

She hesitated. "But what about you?"

"I can manage," I told her for I could. I could probably go out in a shirt and not feel cold but she didn't need to know that.

She nodded a little before shrugging the coat on. It swallowed her whole, coming to her knees. I had the strangest urge to chuckle at her as she folded her arms across her chest almost defensively.

"Don't you dare laugh at me," she told me, lifting her hand, probably to point her finger at me. But since the arm was too long, the sleeve of the coat ended up falling limp from where it wasn't supported by her hand. 

She looked at it with a frown on her face. "Stupid, long coat. Why did you have to literally swallow my arms whole?" she muttered under her breath before wriggling her hands out of the coat. 

I watched the scene unfold, thoroughly amused. "If you're expecting an answer from that coat, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Last I checked, non living things don't talk."

Her cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink at my remark. "I know they don't. I'm not an idiot!"

"Could've fooled me," I muttered before opening the side gate and walking into the garage.

"You!" Ivy stomped after me like a child, probably looking for a suitable enough come back, settling to sticking her tongue out at me when she couldn't come up with one.

Goddess, could she get anymore adorable than that?

Not giving her a reply, I slipped into a large black SUV, beckoning for her to follow.

"You have an abnormally large number of cars," she mumbled as she pulled her seat belt on, probably referring to the hundred or so cars parked in my basement.

"They're not all mine," I said as I started the car and pulled it out of the basement. "Only half are."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see her shaking her head in disbelief. "Only half? How comforting."

I smirked at her reply, focusing on driving instead. 

Soon, I was parking in front of a clothing/ departmental store I owned. 

Casually, I strolled in with Ivy by my side, a respectable distance between us.

"Pick whatever you wish to," I told her, trailing behind her as she began to browse the aisles.

I mind linked the manager to bring us a cart and moments later, a large cart came rolling from behind his.

"Ma'am, you may use this," he told Ivy, who turned to look at him surprised.

"Oh, thank you," she told the man who nodded at her before scurrying off.

None of the people in the store dared to come near us, not wanting to disturb their Alpha. Good. I did not like unnecessary social interactions anyway.

Then why did you put yourself in a position where there were so many chances of that happening? Why did you bring her shopping when you could've easily told any of your men to do that? A voice nagged at the back of my mind.

I ignored it, focusing on Ivy instead.

"Do you want to buy something for yourself too?" she asked me.

"Not really, no," I replied. She nodded before she continued browsing. I watched as she grabbed a few items of daily use off the shelf and soon enough we were heading off to the clothes section.

She grabbed a few pyjamas, jeans, a few coats and floral tops and put them into the cart neatly without trying anything on. "Don't you want to try them on?" 

She shook her head. "I've chosen pretty simple clothes and they're the right size too. I don't like changing clothes again and again, it takes way too much time."

I raised a brow. Weren't girls normally supposed to like that sort of thing? Trying on new clothes and all that?

I simply nodded at her. When she still hadn't moved, I looked down at her. "Why aren't you moving?" 

"I have to um.... I have to buy some undergarments."

"Then let's go buy them. What's the-" Oh. I stopped mid sentence when I realised the implication of her statement. I wasn't going to accompany her while she bought those.

I cleared my throat. "Right. Come find me at the front once you're done."

She nodded frantically before practically running off in the other direction, her cheeks pink.

I shook my head in amusement before going to the front.

Ivy joined me a few minutes later. I grabbed the cart and began walking out.

She hurried after me. "Wait! We need to pay for those!" 

"We don't." 

"Why not?" 

"Because I own the place." 

"Oh." 

The cart was barely halfway full. I noticed that she had only brought the bare minimum while unloading all the items into the SUV and yes, said items included her underwear too. And I must admit, she had pretty good taste in that department.

And then we were off to go back home.

"Ivy?"

"Yeah?" 

"I'm going to go see someone tomorrow. It's a few hours drive and I thought it'd be nice if you accompanied me. I mean you'd only get bored sitting at home so you might as well come along," I told her. I needed to take her to see the witches. I couldn't tell her the truth of course so this was what I had come up with. It was simple and logical enough.

"Sure, I don't see why not," she replied and my shoulders almost sagged in relief. 

Good.

That took me one step closer to figuring out the mystery that was Ivy Emerson.