Chapter 6 - Dinner with the Alpha

Those words were the final push I needed. I jumped up to my feet and walked over to Grannie Alba.

“I'll go with you, please don't hurt her.”

Our goodbyes were rushed and robotic. Grannie Alba avoided my eyes deliberately, and I couldn't blame her. She had just watched a massacre in her living room.

My gaze remained trained on the two bodies on the floor until we walked out the door. 

Just as I expected, a small group of people were outside, watching from a distance. No one dared come close. 

Our window was wide enough to have seen what happened to the last person who did.

Tears blurred my vision as we walked towards the SUVs that were parked outside and I didn’t bother to wipe them off.

I glanced back at the house one more time, hoping Grannie Alba was at the door, but she wasn't. She still sat shaking on the couch, staring at the crimson stain that covered the floor.

I watched life as I knew it, end right before my eyes.

——

I cried all through the drive, no one showed any concern.

I thought of Grannie Alba who was now alone, Freya now dead because of me, and her family who’d soon hear the news. Her two-year-old child who'd grow up motherless, and the thought broke me all over again.

We suddenly stopped and my tears ceased abruptly. The Beta, who sat beside me was looking straight ahead, but he had his eyes slightly glazed over. He was speaking to someone via mind link.

“Get down,” he said suddenly, leading me to another vehicle. 

The second SUV which the Alpha rode in was parked just a few meters ahead of ours and the man walked with me until we got to it.

“Now's my chance, I could escape,” I thought to myself.

Without further thoughts, I broke into a run but I didn't get very far. Before I could turn to see how far I had gone, a rough hand caught my arm.

The force spun me sideways, slamming me against the cold metal of the second SUV.

“I'm sorry, please,” I begged.

Alpha Romano appeared in front of me. “I will kill you without breaking a sweat,” he said. One look at his face told me it wasn't a mere threat. 

I slipped in shakily through the opened door, trying my best to ignore Alpha Romano who sat on the other side.

I was ordered to change into a different set of clothes which I did, well aware of the Alpha's presence beside me. 

I wiped the tears and smudged mascara from my face with a towel, caught my reflection in the rearview mirror. My eyes were red and puffy, my skin pale, but I looked presentable.

For a moment, I thought I caught a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“How old are you?” Alpha Romano asked, breaking the silence.

“I just turned twenty-one,” I replied, trying to maintain a firm voice.

He mused. “Twenty-one. You wouldn't want your life to end at twenty-one.”

The car stopped suddenly and the doors opened, revealing a building that was nothing short of a palace. I was led through a gate and into a wide hallway. 

My eyes were darting across the place when Alpha Romano's voice cut me off. “My Beta will show you to your room.”

I stayed muted, staring blankly as his threat rang fresh in my head.

“Join me for dinner by 7,” he instructed, turning to leave when a lady's voice made me halt. 

“Enzo? Who is this?”

A stunning woman stepped out from a corner, radiating Hollywood glamour. Despite being my height, she held herself with such icy superiority, I was in awe.

My fingers instinctively clenched the shopping bag. I felt like a pale shadow next to her, invisible.

 “Isabella,” Alpha Romano said, sounding unimpressed at her grand entrance. 

She shrugged and circled me with a broad smile. “Selene, I guess, the mate I've heard so much about.”

Alpha said nothing, clearly unimpressed.

“I'm Isabella, the Alpha’s cousin. Welcome to your new home.”

Her words were meant to be harmless, but a chill ran down my spine. The memory of my old home flashed in my mind.

I forced a tight smile, my throat tightening as I fought to push back tears.

“You're a lot younger than I thought,” she said casually, like we were old friends. “Although that makes sense, someone older would have already been mated.”

I wondered if she sensed my dormant wolf, or saw me as just a weak twenty-one-year-old.

“You'll love it here, I assure you. Most people are nice, you'll fit right in,” she said.

“You can get to know her later,” Alpha Romano said to Isabella, his tone sharp with unspoken dismissal.

 

The Beta, who hadn't said a word all that time, gestured to the stairs again and this time, I took his arm eagerly, almost running up the stairs. I was desperate to get away from them. From him.

“I’m Silas. Beta of Romano Crest pack,” he introduced when we got to the front of a door. 

He opened the door. 

“If you need anything at all, let me know,” Silas bowed and left without another word. 

I shut the door without going in and leaned against it, my heart pounding from everything I’d just endured.

It was insane how I went from a girl who was about to see home movies with her grandmother, to being the cause of two people's death.

Alpha Romano appeared at the top of the stairs. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed him climbing them.

“My room is on the other end of the hallway. Make sure you don't wander in that direction,” he said. “I'm sure you have never come across so much space in one floor.”

My cheeks burned from his words as I hurried inside the room. I locked the door and sank against it, gasping for breath.

I took a shower with tears tracing paths down my face. My body felt detached. It was almost seven and I was dressed in the same dress from earlier. I stared at my reflection in despair before walking out.

A different man stood outside my door when I opened it. 

“Good evening, Luna. I'm to escort you to dinner,” he said, holding his arm out for me to which I refused to take.

Luna. The word left my ears ringing.

My legs moved like they had a mind of their own, following the man's movements until we arrived in an exquisite dining room. 

Alpha Romano's eyes were fixed on me from the moment I walked through the doors. 

“You’re late!” he growled, slamming a fist on the table, making me flinch. 

I swallowed hard, avoiding his gaze. “I'm sorry, it won't happen again.”

He pointed to the other end of the table and I took my seat.

“Is this how you intend to look as Luna?” he asked, voice sounding like a deep rumble.

My cheeks burned in embarrassment. I was all too aware of the slightly damp hair stuck to my face and forehead. I didn't have the time to dry them.

“Never show up in front of me looking like a disgrace again,” he said, voice cold.

My chest was rising and falling rapidly with each breath, and he could tell.

“Now, my rules are simple….”