Chapter 41: Chapter 41

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

RYKER

I was exhausted from having to deal with Pack issues and I stayed up late, resolving it, totally forgetting I had a meeting to prepare for the next day.

My only intention was to go straight to bed but I guess that changed when I opened the door of my office to find Roxanne standing there looking nervous as ever.

I fixed my eyes on her and watched her cheeks heat up. She looked cute in her little outfit but her hair as always was a mess. But I didn't care.

“Huh, hi. I need company,” she said and gave me a small smile.

I shrugged and shut the door of my office behind me. “It's late. You should be in bed by now.”

She crossed her arms on her chest defensively.“Well, I don't have a bedtime, so I can stay up as long as I want.”

“Read a book,” I said and began walking away but she was faster. She blocked my path with her tint frame, as if I couldn't shove her aside.

“First of all Alpha Ryker, I'm an adult. Secondly your people are having their combat training, directly where my window is, making it hard—”

“Close your windows.”

“Shh let me finish,” she shushed, hands on her hips.

The audacity of this small woman.

“It's making it hard to sleep. So you have only two choices. You should be grateful I'm offering you two of my choices by the way, usually I just order and that's it. One, it's either you tell them to use another space or two, you spend time with me.”

This fraud!

I shook my head in disbelief. “I'll tell them to use another space. Now if you'll excuse me, you're blocking my path and I'll like to leave now.”

She pouted. “You really won't talk to me because of some seer shit. Okay fine, I admit it. I'm not sorry I told you both to get the fuck out because I mean, it doesn't make sense. But I need company.”

“There's a lot of people within the pack house,” I said. “Talk to any of them. I've got work.”

I shoved her aside but she pushed her tiny legs again and stood before me. “Don't make me force you.”

I was exhausted. I didn't know how someone could be this hyper at night. All I needed was my sleep and I was also getting threatened for wanting it.

“Fine,” I said. “Two minutes.”

“Thirty,” she said.

“A minute.”

“An hour,” she said and hugged me before quickly withdrawing. “We have a deal.”

I stared dumbfoundedly at her. I didn't remember having such a bargain but who was I to protest?

***

I frowned at Roxanne who lay on the sand, staring at the sky with a wide smile on her face. She pointed at the sky.“You see that one that's tiny with the brightest glow? That's my girl and her name is Mercury.”

“How would you name a star after a planet?”

She scoffed. “There weren't any rules attached.”

I stared at the star she was talking about and nodded. “You like to outshine?”

She pursed her lips and then met my gaze. “I won't call it outshining, though. I'd say I like to stand out. I like to be exceptional. It could be me being an exception lazy person, an exceptional dullard, an exceptional sleepy head—”

“Or an exceptional foodie.”

She grinned. “That too.”

We stayed in silence and I knew if we continued this way, I was going to end up falling asleep outside. “So err… you brought me out here to stargaze?”

“Yup.”

“You know you really don't need company to do that, right?”

She sighed. “I know, but I didn't want to be alone. I'm more comfortable when I'm with you or Beta Miles. Besides, you should try something different than staying in your office the whole day.”

“I'm not complaining.”

“Nature is,” she said flatly.

I was bewildered. This woman said the most absurd things and what did nature have to do with me working?

“You're pale,” she said as though she had read my mind.“Obviously.”

She sat up and touched my cheek lightly while examining my face. I gulped as her soft fingers caressed my face. “You weren't like this, weeks ago but you're almost a vampire from staying indoors. Try coming outside sometimes.”

“To do what?”

She slapped her hand on her forehead. “How unbearable can you get. Respect nature, okay? Stare at the sunset or at the stars—”

“Already doing that,” I chimed.

“Stop interrupting me. It makes me want to rip my hair out.”

I chuckled, watching her frown in annoyance. I did know how to get on her nerves.

She sighed and twisted her fingers in her laps. “Try something different. Live, experience. Don't be boring. At least make your future Luna happy.”

My breath hitched in my throat the way it did whenever she spoke about my mate. “I'll be going in soon.”

“It's not an hour yet. It's just been fifteen minutes. Once it's thirty, I will let you go.”

“I hope I'm not stargazing for the next fifteen minutes?” I inquired.

She laid back, “I don't know to be honest. Just tell me what you'd like to do.”

“I'm not a fun person.”

“I give up,” she said and laid back on the sand.

I chuckled. That was Roxanne. She was always direct. “Is there anything about you I should know?”

She shook her head. “We're not doing me today, I'm sorry. I feel like you know a lot about me but you, I barely know anything about you.”

I smirked. “Are you so into me that I pique your interest?”

“You're so full of yourself,” she said and turned her back to me.

I sighed. I didn't like to talk about myself. There was nothing fun about my childhood till now. I was different from other kids but since she chose to be bored to death, then I was going to give her what she wanted.

“I didn't have a fun childhood,” I started and Roxxane sat up, looking into my eyes with her hazel ones.

“Unlike you and other kids I wasn't allowed to play because my father thought that would be embarrassing for a future Alpha. It was just me and Selina but she lived differently. She had everything— the freedom mostly.”

She nodded in understanding.

I sighed. “I was made to read books.”

Her hazel eyes lit up with excitement and now they looked golden under the moonlight. “You did? Did you like reading though?”

“Calm down,” I coerced. “When I said read books, I wasn't talking about the girly types you all get. Not the romance, horror, thriller, or fantasy stuff. I'm talking about Pack books. I was made to read books that talked about leadership as an Alpha.”

She pouted. “That sucks.”

“Not exactly,” I said.

She frowned. “Then crack a smile when you talk about it. You look depressed.”

“It's like a kind of torture,” he said. “And I don't like reading. I mean, who likes doing what they're forced to? Growing up, I had to lead by example. It was hard at a young age but I had to do it.”

“Trust me,” I said. “I cried so many times. I threw a fit and told my dad I didn't want to be an Alpha. I told him to adopt a son and force him to take up his legacy.”

She chuckled and looked at me with smiles in her eyes. “That's really funny.”

“Don't judge me, it was a lot to handle and I didn't want to be like my father.”

I froze when those words left my lips.

Roxanne scrutinized me as if waiting for me to proceed but I didn't. I forced myself to my feet. “I should go in.”

She grabbed my wrist and forced herself up. “Ryker,” she called softly. “Talk to me.”

“I'm sleepy, Roxanne,” I said and swallowed.

She shook her head. “You were about to say something. Are you going to keep running from yourself? Remember when I opened up to you, I was scared. But I did it. Because you let me.”

I stared down at her small, innocent face and she blinked, her big hazel eyes pierced into mine, wanting to know more.

She sulked and wrapped her hands around my waist. “I won't let you go.”

“You know, doing that when you know I can move you away with a hand is funny. Your head is barely grazing my stomach.”

“Hey!” She said and poked me in the chest. “I was 5 '9 the last time I checked. You're the one who is a freaking giant.”

I watched her. She was perfect. I loved her small frame against mine. She was someone I wanted to love and protect. She sighed. “I don't want to push it, Alpha, but I don't want you to remain a mystery to me.”

“Because I know about you now?”

She sulked, “I feel cheated. But it's fine. You don't have to tell me though.”

I sighed deeply. “I never wanted to be an Alpha. I didn't like my dad either. He was– he was never there for us or so, that's what I thought. But he was always so busy and never had time for my mom. And my mom couldn't do it all. She—” I trailed off as my breathing became unsteady. “My mom wasn't normal.”

Roxanne watched me and I hated the look in her eyes. It screamed pity. But I couldn't stop now. “My mom was sick.”

“How sick?”

“Very sick. She was kept away so we barely saw her,” I sighed deeply. “And um when my mom died. My dad wasn't around.”

Roxanne swallowed and blinked fast— too fast like she was trying not to cry.

“I hated my dad because of that. I was eight when I saw my dad kill someone. He forced me to watch. I saw the blood and the merciless glint in his eyes when he slashed their throats,” I closed my eyes as the vivid memory came back. “It was a man. A man who had a family. His wife and kids stood on the side, crying— pleading.”

Roxanne caressed my back but stayed silent. It wasn't an awkward kind of silence but a comforting type.

“I begged my father but he didn't answer. He told me people had to be punished and sometimes if they couldn't, they had to be killed. I was traumatized and I swore I would never be like him. I didn't want to be an Alpha. I didn't want to kill people.”

“It's okay,” Roxanne said, her voice barely a whisper and I saw the teardrop.

I sighed. “You know what's crazy?”

She shook her head.

“I'm now my father. I'm now what I hate the most.”