Avoiding Alpha

Chapter Thirteen

Hi, i'd just like to take a sec to say thanks, to all those that have commented on previous chapters! :D and of course for all who have voted so far :P lol

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The shopping centre was very busy. People were hurrying from one place to the next heedless of where they were walking; knocking into people, and not minding little Tim who stood but three feet off the ground. Ray had taken to manoeuvring inbetween Tendra and Tim, putting one hand around Tendra’s waist - his finger curling around her side, while his other arm was draped over the shoulder of Tim so he could guide them through the crowd and stop them getting bumped into and knocked away from him.

                He took Tendra to the first shoe shop he spotted to get her a pair of shoes. He refused to even let her see the price tag and insisted the shop assistant didn’t even tell her. She frowned at him but accepted the shoes in the end. Tim was practically bouncing all around the shop looking at the kids shoes. He liked the latest ones, the ‘cool’ ones that had Tendra paled at the thought of the price but Ray did not mind. Not only did he have enough money with his job as headmaster at the school, but he was Alpha and with that came money. He was more than comfortable in life and a pair of shoes to him meant something a lot simpler than it did for Tendra. She was endearing to him, her worry on what was to him a trivial matter. He wanted to explain this more fully to her, but he also didn’t want to seem like he was belittling her experience in life.

                Ray let Tim try on about five different pairs of shoes. The little lad enjoyed the attention he was getting, a female assistant was putting the shoes on, fastening them for him and even going along with what he was saying about them being fashionable, and cool and very important for ‘big boys.’ She checked around the edges of the shoes, measured his feet first and made sure they fit perfectly before asking him to walk around in them and then proceeding to do the same with all the other pairs Tim managed to find and liked.

                At Tendra’s warning voice, that one that had an edge of sternness in it, she told him to choose a pair. He did so quickly because that edge could very quickly become a full on stern voice and he didn’t want to upset Tendra. Tim had seen her upset too often the last few days. He chose and Tendra didn’t even get a chance to say a word, or even frown before they were picked up from the floor and plopped down on the  counter by Ray whose card was already in the machine ready for him to enter his pin number and pay.

                The sales woman was smiley and sounded very cheery to them but it only aggravated Tendra. Anything to get the most expensive things sold. They walked out of the shop the same way they had come in, with Ray wedged in the middle of the siblings guiding them along. And this is where the real problems came.

                He insisted on clothes for both of them and while ignoring all protests steered them into designer shops. The truth was, Tendra was in danger of actually liking this treatment. This feeling that she was special to him. That she meant something to him and he actually wanted to buy her these things. She found herself admiring the designer clothes; the feel of the material, the cut of the dresses and the t shirts that would show her figure off to its fullest potential. She was in danger of actually wanting to pick one up and see if Ray would pay for it for her. But at the back of her mind was a constant niggle – what would he want from her at the end of this? Things in life did not come for free. She had worked too long in her short life - this fact had been something she had learnt very early on.