13. Wake Up, Annatoria!
"Gaius?" Annatoria muttered, throwing her glance on Asher. Annatoria was worried if he had heard about what she was talking about. ...No one apart from her late Father knew.
What was he doing there? Spying on them?
"It's me, Alpha" He admitted, bowing to the ground. He had already been caught. Nothing apart from lies could rescue him.
"For how long have you been there?" She asked, taking a deep sigh, her face becoming fierce.
"I've been there since some morning. I was here, making research on what herbs could treat wounds of ferals" He lied, his heart racing.
"Soo?" She scoffed, as she watched him kneeling down.
All the while she interrogated him, Asher stood beside her, admiring her pretty face. Everytime he looked at her, something about her beauty kept calling him but, it wasn't as easy. He had become so obsessed with staring at her for so long.
"Hold on, what did you study at University ?" Asher interrupted the interrogation, noticing he was already saying something different from what the records said about him.
"Veterinary medicine, sir" He stuttered.
"That's a lie! Veterinary medicine?" Annatoria scoffed, smacking her hands together.
She was already suspecting his lies but, decided to keep her cool.
"Why did your record say you majored in Arts?" She yelled, bending to the ground.
Well, Gaius eventually came up with a lie that seemed to capture their hearts.
"I actually managed to study both. I studied Arts because I wanted to but concerning the veterinary, it's always been my choice. I always wanted to study veterinary before anything" He paused, then crocodile tears began to stream down his eyes.
Annatoria wake up!! Wake up!!!
Only if they remembered he was a rogue, would they have decoded his lies.
"Let's go!" Asher ordered, while Annatoria felt guilty for making the "poor boy" cry.
He was asked to walk before them while the two walked behind, side by side.
Their hands kept hitting each other and the thought crossed over Asher's mind.
"Hold her hand,"
For minutes, he didn't want to but as she spoke, his hand slowly glued to hers.
Something about her yellow eyes seemed to obsess him–probably the fact that he was only after her happiness.
Whenever he saw the reddish-brown color, he knew she was feeling pain and sadness but whenever it was brown, he knew it was just sadness.
He was expecting her to yell at him but, she didn't.
Instead, she held his hand tightly. His eyes popped as she held it. He wasn't expecting it.
Different thoughts kept colliding in his head. Should he have said "thank you"? Should he have said something about it?
Gaius was already walking as fast as his legs could carry him.
He'd turned and noticed that their hands were locked in each other's.
There it was! There was the information he was to report to his boss, Loreen.
He was almost exposed but because he was wise enough, he wasn't caught.
"Are they pretending to no longer remember that I'm homeless? How could a rogue have studied Arts and Veterinary Medicine?" He quietly muttered, after ensuring he'd walked quite a distance away from them.
"Let's walk faster," Annatoria smiled at Asher who was on obviously lost in thoughts.
Even though he liked Annatoria, opening his mouth to confess to her was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever do..
He wasn't ready to see her tear up. Knowing well that she still thinks about her son.
He wanted to ask her about her son but, he suddenly remembered that others might be watching her like Gaius did.
"Do you want to say something?" Annatoria asked, pausing her movement.
"Of course but, that'll be when we get home" He returned his smile.
Asher is one transparent and pure Lycan. His body and wolf are so connected. They relate so well unlike others.
Even in instances where his body was weak, his wolf took over.
His facial expressions were always showing exactly what his wolf was thinking, making it easier to notice if he had anything to say or not.
Of all that, a virgin. He'd kissed but not fucked.
Finally, they were home. It was a really long walk.
Where's Gaius? He'd disappeared to only where Selena knows.
"Oh my days! You should have told me, you cow!" Jessica yelled at him as soon as he narrated everything that had happened.
He had lied but the problem was that, he didn't even have a single idea about whatever he said…..not even in Arts.
"You would be grounded by Madam Loreen" Jessica rolled her eyes, taking out her cellphone,attempting to make a phone call.
He begged her to cover him, convincing her that it could be a better plan.
For a minute, Jessica stood to process and reason how their plan could work.
Gaius narrated the full story and plan and voila!
It was a nice one,indeed.
For four good years, Annatoria was with Radolf. She entered his house, on the exact day she clocked 18. It was a mixed feeling for her. She was sad and happy on that same day. She lost her Father, and got the freedom she'd always wanted– to be with the man she wanted and not some "Alpha Danbury" who her Father had decided was the best match.
The hospital was the one her Father ran in her name but 2 years after he died, she saw no importance in continuing it. No one knew about that business of hers–no one knew.
Her Father used to run it for profit but when she stepped there, she made everything about it free.
Her identity remained unrevealed to the public…not even Radolf knew she was the owner of the Large Kenwood Animal Hospital.
"I have a son, Asher." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Asher's breath hitched. He had imagined it, suspected it, but hearing it from her lips was different. A storm of emotions crashed inside him—shock, curiosity, and something deeper he couldn't yet name.
(But what else was she hiding?)"