Chapter 8

Anna's pov

The next day was…different. Couldn't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was the way he said good morning first before I could.

That was a novel experience I had never encountered in our unconventional relationship or maybe it was the way he offered to cook rather than complain about me cooking breakfast.

It wasn't much, just a few little things here and there. Someone might think that I'm making a big deal out of nothing but with Lucas it feels like great progress and it was hard to bury the smile that wanted to wrap itself around my face.

I waited at the dining table after setting it and was soon embraced by the enticing aroma of a freshly made omelette with vegetables and pancakes with maple syrup generously dripping.

My eyes caught on that his pancakes were fewer than mine.

“Lucas, I think you gave me too many pancakes by accident…” I said getting up and reaching for his plates to correct it but he held his own plate close to his side.

“It wasn't a mistake,” he seemed to mumble below his breath.

“But my pancakes are more than yours, now that I'm even taking a good look I see my omelette seems to be bigger than yours too…”

“Just eat, I'm not that hungry.” He said, “why are you fussing over this? It's no big deal!”

I was about to keep pressing on when it certainly struck me, what he was trying to do, and this time I wasn't fast enough to stop the cunny smile that tugged at my lips.

His eyes followed me and noticed this.

“What are you smiling about?” He was trying to sound aggressive, while looking like a kid that was caught in an act of theft. I smiled freely and sat down.

“Oh, it's nothing, I just remembered an old joke.”

“It must be really funny,” he commented but didn't ask any questions. We ate in a welcomed silence, though occasionally I could feel his eyes on me. It became more drawn out the longer the breakfast lasted.

Finally we were both done, that was when I received a text from my mother; the Alpha wanted to see me as soon as possible.

I showed the text to Lucas outside, while he was inserting the key into the ignition hole and he just nodded.

“I guess we're both headed to the same direction,”

“Yep,” I affirmed, “Which means that I'll be hitching a ride with you,”

He paused momentarily.

“Wait there…”

He said then he got out of the car and walked all the way to the passenger seat and then opened the door for me. That was another first but I didn't allow myself to be tempted into pointing it out, I guess he was aware of some courtesy while others flew over his head, but this was thoughtful of him.

We drove over to the pack house where the Alpha and his family resided. Lucas would have to meet Ray while I would be meeting directly with the Alpha.

“I'll call you if anything happens, remember to call me too…” I told him, pinching his shirt with my fingers which unintentionally led to me sliding my fingers over his clothed washboard abs.

Memories of last night flooded my mind, I thought he would pull away with disgust and make me relive his awkward but understandable rejection again.

He didn't exactly reciprocated but I could hardly say he was disgusted. He looked away, his chest seemingly constricting as he forced out some words.

“Just go ahead…I need to sort out something,” Another accidental glance at his lower regions told me exactly what he needed to sort out and my cheeks turned to cherries as I opened the car door myself and bolted through.

Last night both of us had crossed a boundary and it looks like there was no going back, we had both poked at our primal dormant feeling and now it was overwhelming both of us.

I don't know how I made my way to the Alpha's office, I just found myself standing in front of a large door with golden rims and two bulky guards planted by the sides of it, they were already familiar with me so all I had to do was take a knock and step inside.

The alpha had been glancing through some documents until I walked in, then he carefully pushed them to the side as if they couldn't matter any less.

“Anna, my dear, why haven't you dropped by to visit this old man in such a long time?”

I laughed, the tension I expected to fill the air from publicly rejecting his son was not there but deep inside of me I still had my guards up. Honestly ever since I had been reborn it never went down, no matter how relaxed I convinced myself I was, no matter how safe any situation felt, it was always high up; never faltering.

After all, I would be a fool if I got played twice.

We exchanged casual pleasantries but I knew where this conversation was really headed and finally it got there and the Alpha chose to address the matter.

“Anna, there's something I've been meaning to bring up with you. I've watched you grow up and I take you like the daughter I never had…you understand right?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“I know you would, you see, ever since the mating ceremony I have been hearing all sorts of unsavory rumors and if I wasn't so bundled up in work I would have summoned you sooner than this,”

I was hoping that he would get to the point quicker, in my last life I had seen the Alpha like a second father and while he had not cruelly hurt me and buried me alive like his son he wasn't all that innocent either.

“Alpha, I don't know if I can remain with Ray. He–”

“I'll talk to him, don't worry, I'll get him to change his ways. He loves you. It's just that young men like him tend to go through this rebellious face even after puberty. He’ll get over it eventually,”

With assuring words like that he would push me back into the pit of my suffering just while I was digging myself out.

So in a way, he was just as guilty as his son who buried me like a dog.

“So what do you want to ask me?”

He looked at me sternly and asked, “Anna, are the rumors true?”