My favorite alpha [chanlix]

5. A single flower

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　☆　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Felix did not dare to venture out to the gardens on the very next night despite having been the one to indirectly inquire to see the northern alpha again, shamelessly pulling a promise off of Chan's pretty lips just before he left with the beta. A promise that Felix was obviously not going to uphold himself. Cowardly? Yes. Was he trying to keep his sanity? Well, yes, that too.

Now, Felix would be a complete and utter fool if he flat out denied the magnetic pull that had caused him to lean subconsciously into the direction of the red haired alpha where he had stood next to Felix in the shadowy garden the other night, making him sway closer, just like a withering flower looking for a sliver of scarce sunlight, yearning to be noticed, to be loved. The smoky scent of fire and sandalwood had enveloped him like a warm, cozy fur in the crisp autumn air, enticing his piqued senses and causing his fingertips to tingle. It had sent a rush of vibrant anticipation through him, pooling all sticky and sweet like burnt sugar in the pitch of his stomach and poisoning his usually sensible judgment with pure, reckless bliss. In that brief moment everything had been right with the world, all silly concerns and grievances falling away, dispersing like mist into the chilly night air and leaving Felix with a tight knot of something shimmering and bright inside his chest. Twisting. Growing.

Felix licked at his bottom lip and swiped a shaky hand through his blonde hair as he paced around his sitting room, burning tracks into a luxurious, woven carpet imported from foreign lands.

The longer he thought about this, about the northern alpha, the more painful the knot inside his chest was becoming. It was almost unbearable to breathe at this point. Felix clutched a curled, white-knuckled hand to his silken clad chest. Golden bracelets tinkled in the loaded silence, sparkling around his pale wrist in the flickering light that spilled across the shadowy room from the fireplace.

Yes. Yes.

There was definitely something more there beyond the mere notion of Felix finding the alpha undeniably attractive with those wide, built shoulders and sturdy thighs, the determination in his heavy steps and the glimmer of intelligence in his smoldering eyes but also the youthful innocence that had flickered across his handsome face when he had stared in awe at Felix, ready to fall to his knees at Felix's feet under the pale moonlight. This thing, whatever it was, had practically been tangible in the space between them, slithering through the shimmering air like a living thing with a mind of its own throughout the length of their stilted conversation. Felix's wolf kept yapping some nonsensical, romantic gibberish at him but he refused to believe it, stubbornly putting up a wall between his mind and his fluttering heart. It was just too strange to be true. He did not dare to believe it, really. What were the odds that Felix's true mate, a soulmate essentially, would be amongst the visiting party that came down the northern mountains once every hundred years? Zero. Nilch. Impossible, right?

Felix paused mid-thought. A conflicted frown fluttered over his youthful features, causing the soft eyelashes to flicker rapidly.

What if... what if the northern alpha was trying to lure him into some kind of a trap? First weasel his way into Felix's good graces by toying with his fragile heart and then literally put a sack over his head and haul him off, like some livestock to be sold off for slaughter. He knew too well of the shady dealings happening outside of their territory borders, on no man's land, where rogue bandits had their hideouts, where shunned omegas and frail betas were brazenly auctioned off into slavery to the highest bidders. Slavery and human trade was widely forbidden by many major clans but there were no sufficient regulations against entering or exiting any of the borders with, say, a new spouse or a new servant. Families – well, packs – that in numbers formed a whole clan, were quite a private matter and it took a lot to get a case stemming from exploitation of a pack bond to be brought up in court with a head Alpha, especially when omegas and betas were considered to be below any alpha. If this was still an issue in the South, then Felix could not imagine how it was handled in the North. It made him sick to his stomach to know that something like this even existed, never mind that it could happen to himself. Felix would be a real fool to walk into such a trap willingly. His brothers would laugh at him, and then they would rip the northern alpha to shreds.