Chapter 4

The Connection

“Mother, he freaking attacked me! And you still want him to be my mate? He’s a пoddamn psychopath!”

“No, Alice, don’t say that. Your father wants the absolute best for you.”

“No, he does not! He hates me! To think I’d actually agree to mate with a lunatic like Dominic.”

“Alice,” Linda called out sternly. 

“I’d rather become one of the Alpha’s Omegas and suffer than end up with a psychopath like Dominic.”

“He is not a psychopath, Alice! He is your chosen mate,” Linda thundered unwittingly, her eyes shut. When Alice didn’t retort, she opened her eyes, realizing the damage she had caused between her and her daughter. 

She exhaled tiredly, rubbing her temple. She was drained out by Alice constantly complaining about Dominic when she was sure he didn’t have a problem, and her daughter was being stubborn and overreacting to the whole situation. She wanted the best for Alice, and she knew Dominic was the best for her daughter. 

“I honestly don’t know why you’re making this such a big deal, Alice. Your father and I want the absolute best for you. Why don’t you see that? Why do you always see the bad side of things?”

“So, I’m the problem?” Her tears blurred her vision as her throat clogged. She was so angry and disenchanted. She thought if her father wasn’t thinking straight, there was no way her mother would have those same unreasonable thoughts. But she was wrong. They were both on the same page and were about to take her to her grave before it was even her time. “What do you see in this Dominic guy? Why are you both so obsessed with him?”

She hated how both her parents were licking under Dominic’s feet. He was no good. They couldn’t just see it yet. 

“No, you’re not the problem; no one is. And we see future and potential in him. With Dominic, I know my daughter would be safe, and nothing would happen to you when you’re with him. Don’t you want to be a Luna anymore? I thought that was your dream, Alice. I thought you wanted to be your own spearhead.”

“You don’t understand, mother. Dominic is not what you think he is. How could you just trust someone out of our pack with your daughter? When did we start becoming friends with other packs? I thought we hated each other. I thought we were nemesis!”

Linda gently grabbed Alice by her shoulders and lightly squeezed them. Alice was sobbing uncontrollably; her heart was in chaos, and the more she thought of Dominic being her mate, the more she crashed down. 

“We never hated any packs. We were never enemies, Alice. We only protect our packs from any sort of danger when we have to, even if it means killing someone from our pack. The Alpha’s priority is protecting his family, his pack. So, disregard the thought of being enemies with other packs. And in Dominic’s case, you refuse to give him a chance and to, at least, get to know him before you judge him.”

She hesitantly nodded, not because she was convinced or was going to give him a chance. He had already proven to her that he wasn’t stout enough to be her mate. He was weak—hurting her for just stating a mere fact. What would he do to her if she did something contemptible? 

He was short-tempered and abusive; she could never handle that. 

An hour later, Alice was wandering around the woods when she caught a glimpse of something. She stooped low and picked it up; it was her journal. Muddled, she looked around. She knew the guy she saw last was the one that picked it up, and she always saw him reading it while resting in her favorite spot. 

She shoulder-shrug and scaled onto the rock. It has been a long time since she last came out here. It felt relaxing to be here again. Looking around, she exhales softly. Relishing every bit of her isolated space. 

She kept the journal beside her, brought her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. 

She was turning eighteen in just a few months, and she never thought in her wildest dreams that she’d stay this long without a mate. Maybe because every werewolf in their pack was afraid to approach her, thinking they’d be punished to think of mating with the Alpha’s only heir. 

‘Or maybe because you’re stubborn and chase away all the perfect ones that want you.’ 

Alice shook her head, trying to disregard the pathetic thoughts she was having at the moment. She still had some time, and she knew the perfect mate was coming. Some delays are a blessing in disguise. 

“Hey.”

Alice jumped in horror, tumbling down the rock, but he luckily caught her before she hit the hard ground. 

Their eyes met and locked, and he could swear her orbs changed the moment they shared a look. His face was so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath fanning her face. His emotions were telling him he needed more of their connection or that she needed it, though, in reality, it was both of them. 

His eyes showed her something—they were softer than she knew eyes could be. His eyes were the ones that loved deeply. If it was anyone, she could drop her gaze, but with him, she was somehow drawn in closer, wanting more of him. 

Then he finally spoke. 

“I’m sorry I scared you...again. Are you alright?” She nodded, taking in every moment for her memory, knowing it was the medication she needed to survive the next few days. 

He helped her stand on her feet and freed her. They stood there, not saying a word to each other. For so many reasons, she didn’t feel the urge to run from him this time. She wanted to be with him. She felt connected to him after feeling his strong arms around her. 

“You found your book?” He looked behind her at the book on the rock. She looked back and nodded before returning her eyes to him. He was so mesmerized by her eyes and her lips. It made him feel the urge to take her in his arms and crush her lips with his till their feet couldn’t take them anymore. 

“I sort of misplaced it the other night when I was looking for you,” he said, smiling shamefacedly. He held the back of his head, feeling mortified for some reason. She made him feel nervy. No girl has ever made him feel that way before. 

“You were looking for me?” Her eyes widened, almost sparkling. She knew he always came out to the woods, but she never knew he was looking for her. If not for her book, she’d think he had forgotten about her. 

“Every single day.”

Suddenly, a thunderstorm came.

Alice gasped, almost falling onto him. She looked up. How did she not notice the clouds becoming dark and low-spirited? 

“I have to go,” she told him. His eyes never left her sight. He was afraid if he looked elsewhere, she’d run. 

“No, please stay. I have a place we could stay until the rain stops.” 

She looked into his eyes and there wasn’t a single massacre thought behind those brown eyes of his. 

She nodded her head. She didn’t know why she trusted him, but she felt safe around him. He clasped their hands together and led the way to an unfinished building. He discovered the place a couple of weeks ago when he was looking for her. He sometimes went there when it rained and sat by the open window and watched the rain falling from the sky and dropping on the leaves to the hard ground filled with dead leaves.  

“Are we alone?” She asked him as they walked deeper into the house. He nodded his head as he offered her a smile. 

“I doubt if even an animal comes in here.”

They stood by the window, staring out the woods as rain poured down from the sky and met the ground with a calming noise. 

Alice breathed out, almost smiling. She always loved it when it rained. It calmed her down, and she felt at ease hearing raindrops. 

He looked down at her, still feeling as though she wasn’t real. She’s beautiful—almost too good to be true. 

Her Amazonian figure sat well on her wafer-thin body. She had a decanter-shaped waist, and her complexion had an impeccable, ochrous hue. Her pencil-thin eyebrows eased down gently to her black, beetle’s-leg eyelashes. A sculptor could not have fashioned her seraph’s ears and pixie’s nose any better.

When she broke into a smile, her beguiling, oyster-white teeth lit up the room. It could jolt you like an electric current when that megawatt smile gave you her full attention. Filed to perfection, her Venus-red fingernails ran through her nougat-silver hair. 

Spools of it plunged around her photogenic face and hid a swan’s neck, elegant and smooth. He loved her nebulous, ocean-blue eyes, which were a sparkle with the ‘joie de vivre’. They were like two beryl-silver jewels melted onto the snow.

He bet her calamine-pink lips tasted like rose petals. It surprised him that they were plump and botox-boosted as she had a demure, timorous personality. She whispered to him in a dulcet voice as sweet as any songbird. Her voguish clothes still kept captive an aroma redolent of cinnamon and meadow-fresh mint. It lingered in the room long after she had gone.

“Alice.”

He flickered back to veracity. 

“Huh?” 

She looked up and settled her eyes on his face for a moment before returning her gaze to the rain falling. 

“My name is Alice,” she said yet again. 

“Oh, oh, yes. You have…a beautiful name. My name’s Aaron, Aaron Peter, though I’ve told you before, and now I think I should stop talking.”

He halted when she returned her gaze to him and sent a smile his way. It made his body shut down completely. 

“I know your name. And your sister’s name is Lily. She’s cute. You have the same color of eyes, hazel brown, but sometimes gives a touch of grey,” she told him calmly and yet again took her eyes off him. 

“So, you think I’m cute?” He spoke jokingly. She gave him a quizzical look. “Don’t push it,” she said. 

He smiled sheepishly and nodded. “I won’t.”

How would he want to ruin things with her when she had just mentioned he was cute? Not that she said it straightforwardly, but he knew what she meant. 

“I live in a farmhouse with my parents and little sister, just a few steps away from here,” he said to her. She stared at him for a moment. Did he trust her enough to tell her about his territory? He seemed calm about it. 

“We moved here from Virginia.”

“Where’s that?” She asked, baffled. She has never heard of a place like that. Heck, she knew nothing about anywhere but her home. 

“Uh, the Atlantic coast. It’s along the line that divides the north and south,” he paused when he reckoned he was mystifying her more. 

She shoulder-shrugged and looked away. 

“I only know my home, which is here. I’ve never been out beyond my home because I’m not allowed to.”

He stared at the side of her face as she spoke. His heart sunk—was she sort of being locked up?

“My father is super protective because I’m his only child. He’s not brutal, I promise,” she clarified, knowing he’d be worried when she told him she wasn’t allowed to go out of her zone. 

“Well, I just have a curfew. That’s all.”

She smiled and nodded, not sparing him a glance. 

He looked over at her hair. He wondered if she dyed it or if that was her natural hair color. Her brows were the same color as her hair. On her right eye, her lashes were grey, whereas her left eyelashes were black. She was like art—a beautiful art he wanted to take home and stare at it every day. 

“Do you ever wish you could just leave home and start a life on your own… far away from home if possible?” She always wanted to ask that question, and he seemed perfect for her issue. 

“Haha, all the time. I wish I could afford to get my own apartment and start a new life, you know—far away from home, as you said.”

“You can leave home when you have all you need?” Her brows shot to the roof when she asked the question. 

He nodded at her. “Of, course. When you turn eighteen, you can decide to leave home when you feel like you can afford it. I’m twenty and a college dropout, but…still working on it.” He felt like he had said too much, but he trusted her enough to tell her his darkest secrets. 

She furrowed her brows and lowered her gaze. She was turning eighteen in a couple of months and had yet to find her mate.

Aaron noticed how her mood had suddenly changed. He used his index finger and raised her head up by her chin. He bored his eyes into hers, and she found out she couldn’t keep up with the stare. 

She closed her eyes and managed to smile. He ran his fingertips up her forearm, leaving trails of goosebumps. He inched closer and circled his arms around her. She shivered, feeling his fingertips circling her back. It felt so good at the wrong time. 

When he stopped, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. His eyes were already glued to hers. She moved her hands to his face and caressed his cheeks. 

“You have baby cheeks—so soft,” she admitted, gently stroking them with her thumbs. 

He couldn’t help but chuckle, closing the inch between them. Slowly, he bought his lips down on hers. His breath was hot as his kisses trailed down her neck. His hands held her back as she arched, begging for more. 

He moved back and looked at her. They shared a smile and kissed again. He moved his lips in unfamiliar patterns that she tried to mimic with her own. His kiss was soft but urgent. 

“Aaron,” she mumbled breathlessly against his lips. He groaned and pinned her against the wall as he laid kisses against her neck, her hands weaving through his hair. 

He kissed her, long, deep, wanting… and she responded by arching into him more. 

This was a new feeling she never knew her body was capable of having. It felt good, and she wouldn’t trade it for the world. She wanted more of it.

He suddenly stopped and shifted back, turning his head around. He looked at his fingers to see if he had shifted. He has…it always happened when he felt tense, and Alice made him feel that way. 

He had just shifted because of how intense he felt. He breathed in and out rapidly. And before she noticed, he finally calmed down and shifted back to his form. He heaved a sigh and turned to look at her. 

“Are you okay?” She asked worriedly, moving closer to him. He nodded as he moved in and wrapped an arm around her. She observed his eyes as if to see something. 

“Uhm…it’s getting dark, we should…I should accompany you home.”

It was at that moment she remembered who she was. She shook her head as she shifted back. 

“N—no! No need. I have to be on my way now.” 

She freed herself from his hold and hurried out of the building. He didn’t go after her. He wouldn’t want to push things too far between them, not after what had just happened. 

He bit his lower lip and ran his fingers through his hair. 

“Damnit!” 

If Alice found out he was half werewolf, he doubted she’d want to be with him. He had just met her, but it felt like forever, and he wouldn’t want to lose her.