Taken and Trained ✔️

Chapter 2

Hey everyone! Thanks again for reading! I'm on a roll with this story, and I'm really like it so far :) I hope you are too! Feel free to let me know what you think!

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There was a definitive difference between the applause she got now, and the applause she'd gotten at the show before this one.

Lilia's heart just wasn't in it.

Once again Johanna stood and let out a loud whistle, waving her hands wildly through the air. Lilia blushed and made her way off stage as quickly as possible. Though she didn't want to go home, she did want to get off the stage. She knew what was waiting for her at home.

It had been about three weeks since Alpha Howie had last visited. It wasn't that long for him, but she had a horrible feeling he'd be waiting for her at the house. She wanted to enjoy her last day of freedom, but had messed up her performance. To her it seemed to be a sign of the bad day to come.

Johanna found her backstage after everyone had left.

"Lilia? You usually meet me at the car." She sat down next to Lilia on the floor, crossing her legs the same way Lilia had. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine," Lilia answered. The hardest part about what she'd have to do at the house would be telling her mother and her aunt that she would be accepting Alpha as her soulmate. Just the thought made her shudder and her eyes water.

"Is this about your performance? You did great!" Johanna smiled.

Lilia smirked and let her hair fall over her face. Her aunt wouldn't have said that in the first place if her performance had bene up to par. It was fine. She'd be fine. She didn't want her last moments with her aunt to be spent arguing.

"I know, Aunt Johanna. I just want to go home. I lost track of time," Lilia blurted out an excuse. It was believable, apparently, because her aunt stood and held a hand out to help her out. Johanna grunted as she pulled Lilia up to her feet.

"You're not as light as you used to be, kid," Johanna laughed. The comment earned a small chuckle out of Lilia, but silence ensued as they made their way to the car. Aunt Johanna's car was a little too small for Lilia's legs, but it was all they had. Lilia knew she would miss this when she went with Alpha Howie. "Are you sure everything is alright, Lilia?" Johanna probed.

Lilia simply nodded her head. She knew if she told anyone about Alpha Howie's proposition, consequences would come upon the family. She would make it seem like it was her decision and her decision alone.

"I'm alright, I promise," she assured. She was anything but alright, but her family would always come first. In order for them to live comfortably, she would spend the rest of her life with her Alpha. She gulped.

The trip back home seemed faster than ever, she noticed, and found herself frozen to her seat when her aunt put the car in park and opened her door. The Alpha's scent immediately washed through the car. Lilia was dizzy. Could she really do this? She would have to.

"Lilia?" Her aunt linked her. She was watching her from the doorway of the house, her eyebrows flickering back and forth between the car and something inside. Lilia knew exactly what—or rather who—it was. She shivered.

"I'm coming, Aunty, I'll be there in a minute," Lilia whispered back to her through the link. Johanna looked at Lilia in confusion. She really only called her Aunt Johanna "Aunty" when she really wanted something. This time, for the first time, Lilia just wanted her aunt. She just wanted to stay.

Her eyes watered when Alpha Howie's smell practically consumed her head when she stepped out of the car. Once again her body froze. Alpha Howie had wandered out of the house and pushed her aunt inside before glaring at her so strongly her body began to shake.