Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 3 - The Presence in My Thoughts

Chapter 3 - The Presence in My Thoughts

At some time around dawn, I feel the bed shift, and I jerk my eyes open.

"It's just me, Ari," I hear Dylan whisper. "I'm going for a morning run, so I don't have to run into anyone here. Go back to sleep."

"Ok," I murmur, rolling onto my other side and trying to slow my startled heart back down.

Dylan quietly walks to the door, and I hear it softly shut.

As I resituate the covers to provide me with a warmer cocoon, I feel the all too familiar pressure in my skull. This early? The pressure grows, and I work at keeping it down and trying to go back to sleep. Soon, however, the effort causes me to begin to sweat.

After around 10 minutes, the pressure fades. 'Guess he wasn't determined enough today,' I think. I roll over again, facing the window this time. A few minutes pass in which I try to slow down my breathing while looking at the rising mist. Finally, sleep takes over again.

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Later, I wake to Dylan clapping in my ear.

"Wakey wakey," he says.

After slapping his hands away from my ears, I turn away from him. "What time is it?"

"8 o'clock," Dylan responds. "The whole house is up, and everyone's eating breakfast."

My hands grab the covers and pull them over my head. "I don't care about breakfast."

"Ok," Dylan says, trailing off, "but you do care about how everyone might think you'd be a lazy alpha." "Did you hear?" he mock whispers to the air. "That rogue chick doesn't even get up before noon."

Shit, he's right. I get up without saying a word and head to the bathroom.

Within five minutes, I'm walking down a flight of stairs in a fresh wrinkle-free v-neck and maroon sweatpants. Dylan follows behind me.

"Alpha Jackson saw me leaving your room this morning," Dylan says. "It was really awkward."

Great. Just great. Now Mateus probably thinks I'm sleeping around.

"What'd he say?" I ask Dylan, probing for any sign that Mateus might have been pissed off.

"He just said good morning," he states. "But he didn't even bother to smile. I'm beginning to think he doesn't know how to show any emotion. Yesterday in the meeting he looked like a statue."

Alright, at least Mateus didn't try to rip Dylan's head off. This is a good sign; he may have believed me when I pretended we weren't mates.

Dylan leads me into the kitchen and dining area, and once again, I find myself in front of a large table of mainly males. This is beginning to become a recurring event in this pack. Hoping to ease the awkwardness, I give everyone I can a large smile but avoid eye contact with Mateus, who sits next to a few faces I recognize from yesterday.

Following the delightful scent of pancakes, I head to the kitchen, which houses a couple of every kind of appliance and a large fridge. It's way more hectic in this area, and no one seems to notice Dylan's and my presence. While Dylan stacks pancakes onto his plate, I grab one and an assortment of fruit.

"Dylan! Don't grab too much," I tell him. "We don't want to be a bother."

An older woman behind me speaks up."Oh honey, you're not a bother. I've been feeding wolves all my life. I always have enough"

"See?" Dylan says. "Hungry men like me need as much sustenance as we can get."

She smiles, and her eyes crinkle at the edges from years of repeating the same action. "So are you two the people everyone has been talking about?"