The Secrets Between Us | ✓

|9|

After having the snacks Lisa had prepared for them, Anaya told her to get someone to clean Icarus' room and throw away all the bottles. She didn't want him drinking anymore.

He smiled at that and walked her to her room which was on the same floor as his.

"Take these and rest." He handed her the medicine, and after making sure she was feeling better, he tucked her into the bed and turned around to leave.

She quickly grasped his wrist and he paused to face her with a questioning look.

"So..." she drawled out. She wanted to ask him some things and this seemed like a perfect time but she didn't know how to begin. Or maybe she didn't want him to go just yet. But she will never admit that to herself.

"Hmm?"

She bit her lip and stared up at him. When minutes passed, and she didn't say anything, he seemed to sense her hesitancy. He climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged opposite her, nodding encouragingly for her to continue.

Anaya took a deep breath. This is it. "I have discovered peculiar things about you, so I want answers." Her voice was quiet as she gauged his face for some sort of reaction but he was calm, his eyes solely trained on her. He knew what was going to come next.

"Go ahead." He made a promise to himself to be truthful to her about anything and everything. He wanted his mate to know him inside out. He hated lies, and he sure didn't want to begin a relationship with one.

"Where are we?" she started with the simplest one, and she watched his lips tug upwards, a small smile forming on his face.

"We are in the forest of Meghaba. Miles away from where you lived before."

She knew this already and her stomach flipped in response at the confirmation but she couldn't decipher if it was from fear or thrill. Her feelings were going out of control and she couldn't stop herself from rethinking. Am I making a mistake?

She did say to him she was ready to stay here, but two weeks could turn into forever, and forever was a long time, longer than one ever lived to count the number of days.

"Why were you around my place at such an hour?"

"Well, my brother owns Midnight Street bar. I visit the place now and then, which reminds me, what were you doing there?"

"Wow." She couldn't hold back the gasp. If she remembered correctly, that bar was a popular one, its branches extensively spread all over the world. His brother must be pretty rich then. "My friends invited me to join them for a fun night."

"Oh, but I saw you alone there."

"We all were dancing. You must have seen three other girls with me."

His eyebrows furrowed. "I must have overlooked them."

She nodded. "Where is your family?"

"It feels like an interrogation." He chuckled. "They live a few hours away from here. I visit them three days a week. And my mom calls every morning."

So, there wasn't a family estrangement. And the way he spoke, he surely adored them. Anaya heaved a relieved sigh.

"I do have a lot of questions. Will I get to meet them?"

His smile widened and a secretive glint appeared in his brown orbs, which made her eye him quizzically. He surely was expecting her to ask something else. Well, they were getting there. "I haven't told them about you, but I'll announce once you are ready. They all are going to be very pleased to see you."

Her heart warmed at his thoughtfulness. He was holding her hostage, but he was giving her complete freedom at the same time.

"Why don't you all live together?" She was curious.

"I love my family, but I prefer my privacy, and now that we're both together, we'll need a lot of time for each other." His stare became so intense and meaningful that she felt the heat crawl up her cheeks.

She swallowed hard and lowered her eyes. "Together?"

"Yes. I know it's hard to believe, but you're mine as much as I'm yours."

"Does Nick live nearby too?" she asked him, trying hard to not give any thought to what he said despite the butterflies in her lower belly.

His broad shoulders stiffened and his eyes narrowed at her. She blinked as his expression morphed from playful to stoic in seconds. "Yes, Nicholas works for me, so it's convenient. Why do you ask about him?"

"No reason." She shrugged off, taken aback by the steely tone in his voice. "Why do you have so many guards?" Her eyes landed on the jar of chocolate chip cookies on the nightstand, lighting up immediately and she eagerly sat up, sending a quiet thank you to Lisa.

He watched her with amusement when she opened the jar and popped a cookie into her mouth. Damn this man and his temper. "Some want me dead. It's not like I can't protect myself, but now that you are here, they may use you to get me."

"Who are they?"

"I cannot tell you... for now. You won't believe me."

With a frown, she offered him the jar. He shook his head. "Why do they want you dead?"

"Let's just say they don't like me."

Involuntarily a noise of delight left her lips and feeling his stare on her, she said, "Don't judge me. Cookies are my weakness and these are so good. You aren't somebody high up, are you...?"

"Kind of."

Her frown deepened at his vague response. She opened her mouth to ask him to elaborate, but he prompted her to ask the next question.

"That day when you punched the wall, you weren't hurt. How?" Her mind hadn't stopped replaying the scene.

"Well, I'm kind of important like you said, so I'm powerful to some extent."

She huffed. Again not the answer she wanted to hear, but she let it be and asked the question that was nagging her the most.

"This one's about what Lisa calls you."

"Sir?"

She slowly shook her head. "I have heard her slip up twice, so I feel sir is just a cover-up for some other word, perhaps along the letter A, which I guessed could be Alpha but that sounds pretty absurd."

"Very perceptive." His thumb wiped at the corner of her mouth and her lips parted slightly. "It is Alpha."

"Um..." For a second she forgot what she wanted to say. "Alpha as in the fast-moving doubly charged helium ions?"

He laughed. "No, my physics geek. Alpha is a high-rank title."

"If it's a secret mafia code for the boss, it sounds horrible." She stuffed another cookie into my mouth.

"I'm not a mafia boss." Icarus scowled at her.

She gave him a sheepish smile, her eyes apologetic when he didn't look too happy about her endless presumptions. "Then, what is it?"

His breath hitched and his face grew serious as the words rolled off his tongue. "I'm a werewolf and leader of the Imperial pack."

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