The Exiled Alpha | ✓

13 | Are You Jealous?

I had started to fall asleep in Riot's arms. My eyelids began batting slowly until they closed. Barely awake, I feel him squeeze me closer to his body. The electricity between our skin lulls me into tranquility.

Except this time reality doesn't come back like a slap to the face. He doesn't drop me as soon as we get to the cabin like last time. He carries us through the door, up the stairs, and down the hall further than I've been before. He turns into another bedroom, this one with black walls and white trim, basically the opposite of the one I'd slept in.

He sits me down in the middle of the room, the plush carpet soft against my bare feet. He starts rummaging through dressers, plucking out articles of clothing.

Soon he walks over to a door on the far side of the room, opening it. He holds out the handful of clothes to me as I approach.

"Everything should be in there."

With that he all but shoves the clothes against my chest, walking out of the room.

His latest nice streak is now over. But at least it lasted longer that the previous ones.

I step into the bathroom and lock the door behind me. Undressing is simple since the only thing I had to cover me was his shirt.

I lay the clothes he'd given me on the counter after quickly looking through them. A black v-neck and grey sweatpants, both which smell like him.

• • •

Riot didn't talk for the rest of the day, which left me on my own. And of course, leaving wasn't an option. While I spent most of my time playing solitaire with a deck of cards I'd found, he was pacing around the house, restless. A lot of the time he was outside, just watching the woods. I suspected Nathan had put him on edge and he probably expected him to send more wolves after us.

I'd made the living room my home for the day. It has a typical hunting lodge feel to it. There's high windows that fill it with natural light and various animal mountings, the main spectacle being an enormous moose head hanging above the grand stone fireplace. The floors are wooden, stained with a dark varnish to perfect the look.

Despite the beautiful room, there was something strange about it. All of the furniture was wrapped in plastic, as if to keep the dust off of it. This made my mind reel. Was the house abandoned and he just found it? Or was it his and he only used it on special occasions, such as a kidnapping? I had uncovered part of the large leather couch, allowing enough room to let me sit comfortably, sinking down into it.

As I reach forward to move another card on the coffee table, the same words go through my head for the millionth time. "Tried to take my pack... It must be lonely in exile."

I haven't been able to get my mind off of it.

Exile. A word I'd heard all too often lately.

As if on cue, the door opens and closes, signaling that Riot is back. He'll stay for roughly an hour, and then he would leave again. That's the pattern he's following all day.

I feel his presence moving across the room behind the couch, ignoring my existence like it's nothing. It bothers me. It makes my chest crawl with a fear I want so badly to forget the feeling of. I haven't said anything to him being brought back here. And I don't want the chance to be voiceless again. Not to him.

"You wanna play?" I ask, anxiety pooling in my belly along with anticipation, "I'm tired of beating myself."

I wait a couple seconds, hopeful, but he keeps walking. The saliva in my mouth goes cold.