the alpha's mate [English version]

6.

POV ASH

I spent the rest of the day in my new room. I had no desire to run into that woman again. I kept myself busy mainly with the book I had borrowed from the library. It was very exciting. In between, my lunch was brought to my room. I was glued to the book until I finished it. Then I decided to check out the walk-in closet, since I hadn't done that yet. When I walked in I immediately noticed that it was a huge mess. Out of boredom, I began to clean everything up.

At exactly six o'clock there is a knock on the room door. I have just finished the walk-in closet and walk up to the door. A servant is waiting for me. 'Dinner is served sir.' I thank him and walk through to the dining room. I am so hungry.

In the dining room I see a whole buffet ready. My mouth starts watering when I see the food, but to my dismay there is no vegetarian option. Zelos is the only one present at the table. I sit down stiffly opposite him. He gives me a smile as he scoops up food. 'How was your day?' He asks interestedly. His eyes pass over my face inquiringly as if he were a mother checking her child for injuries.

I begin to scoop up mostly some vegetables and mashed potatoes. 'It was okay.' I tell him. I decide to leave the incident behind for now. I have no idea how he would react to it. What if this woman really means something to him? An uncertain feeling creeps up on me, but I push it away. 'Why don't you have some meat?' He stares at my plate for a single second and then begins to eat himself. 'I'm a vegetarian.'

He drops his cutlery on his plate. He immediately begins to call some people together. They are commanded to prepare vegetarian food for me. I try to stop him, 'You don't have to. I'll eat this.' Zelos shakes his head. The servants walk back to the kitchen after apologizing.

I am eating some carrots when Zelos says something again, 'How old are you anyway?' We really don't know anything about each other and we live together. What a weird situation. I think to myself before answering. 'I'm 21, my birthday is on August 18.' He nods at what I say. I ask him the same thing back. '24 and my birthday is November 8.'

The cooks soon return with some food for me. They take my plate and put another in its place. It looks delicious. I begin to eat contently . Zelos is already grabbing a second plate. I look at him carefully from under my eyelashes. He is actually really beautiful.

He has thick, black hair that lies perfectly in shape on his head. His eyes are dark brown, almost black, thick eyebrows lie above them. He has a sharp jawline. A few small freckles adorn his nose and cheeks. My gaze slides to his lips which are quite red. Suddenly I notice that he is also staring at me. I immediately begin to blush. He chuckles softly.

'Uhm I uh notice that dark green often recurs in your decor, is it your favorite color?' I stammer out to break up the awkward moment. 'Yes, it reminds me of how the woods look at night. I often go running through the woods at night. It calms me down.' He tells me. The answer surprises me. He looks at me for a long time. I shove some food in my mouth again.

I almost never change into my wolf form. My parents always refused to take me running. 'You can't smell anyway, so why should we teach you?' They would say. Amira is the only one I go running with every now and then. She's also the only one who taught me these things.

I look around the table and wonder where Oliver is. Why are we so alone? Does he normally eat alone? 'Can I maybe call my sister in a moment?' I ask uncertainly. Zelos is still looking at me and has stopped eating. 'Yes, of course. Don't you have a phone?' I shake my head. 'Yup, but I lost it.'

My food is almost gone. Zelos makes no further move to eat. We talk a little more about our hobbies. I tell him that I do iceskating and make origami figures. He seems very interested and immediately asks if he can come and have a look. No one has ever asked me if they can come and watch, except my sister, so the question takes me by surprise. I nod in response to which he immediately gets excited. He in turn tells me that he doesn't really have any hobbies due to the busyness of his work.

We have finished eating. I'm already starting to gather up the plates. 'We have servants for that.' Says Zelos smiling. 'Oh but it's no trouble.' Stubbornly I keep piling everything up. I walk to the kitchen with it and put it in the sink there. A couple of servants look at me confused. As I walk back into the dining room I see that everything else has already been cleaned up.

Zelos stands leaning against the doorframe waiting for me. His gaze glides over my body. I curse myself for starting to blush again. 'I'm free tonight. Do you want to watch a movie?' Ideally I would have said no since I still find it weird to be with him, but I figure I better make the best of the situation. I nod at him.

We make our way to a cinema room. It's a room with a giant screen. There are two rows of two-person seats. On each seat are a number of pillows and blankets. I choose one myself. Zelos comes and sits next to me. We browse a bit through the various movie choices.

'Where did you get that white hair?' My hair is hanging half in front of my face again. I look at it as I answer. 'I was born that way.' He nods. 'You're really special though.' He whispers in a sweet way.

We pick out a movie. It's a comedy. Zelos quickly gets some more snacks. We start the movie with both a bowl of popcorn in front of us. He drapes some blankets over us. The movie is very funny. I notice that I'm enjoying this moment we're having together. We talk about the movie and especially laugh a lot about it. When our popcorn is finished we eat some ice cream.

The movie was pretty long so we decide to stop after it. I ask him for a phone and he hands his own to me. I feel slightly honored by this gesture. It means he trusts me. There must be a lot of important information on it. I quickly key in the number and then wait impatiently for Amira to answer.

'Hello?' says the voice on the other end of the line. I want to cry spontaneously when I hear her familiar voice, but I don't since Zelos is still sitting next to me. I talk to her for about ten minutes. She tells me that our parents are very confused about the situation and that it's chaos at home. They can't understand that I am the the alpha's partner. This may be the only time in my life that they're really proud of me.

In turn, I tell her what I have been through. I assure her that everything is okay. Then I end the conversation and promise to call her back tomorrow.,'You can have visitors, right? Or come for a visit?' Is the last thing she asks me. 'Of course.' We say goodbye. I give Zelos his phone back.

We return to his room, my room, our room, whatever you want to call it. It still feels too uncomfortable to say 'our room'. Like the previous night, Zelos sleeps on the couch and I sleep in the bed. I ask him just to be sure if it's okay. He says it is unless I want to sleep together. I immediately turn down the offer. I am totally exhausted so this time I fall asleep immediately.