Her Maneuver

Chapter Two Of Book Two

"You have never loved me like a damn man."

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"I see you're awake... About time." A droopy  voice slurs  in the distance.  Chapped lips are pressed to my ears constantly muttering the same two words, "Get Up."

My hands clutch on my head unwillingly desperately trying to pry away my headache. I look upwards to find a body hovering over mine. A sick looking man, with a foul breath and greyish teeth looking down at me skeptically.

"What do you want?" I ask my voice slightly rising.

He shrugs as if he is used to people shouting around at him.

"The Alpha wants to meet you."

At his sudden answer I straighten up in shock. I am beyond confused but still utterly raged as I recall the dump I've been thrown in.

"You need to come with me now." He says again, his eyes glaring.

I stand up in a daze trying to maintain my composure but I miserably fail.

I look at him curiously as he shows me a dusty key which he inserts in the lock of the blackish door.

He has something about him that is eerie. A gloomy look and a lousy walk. I cast my eyes downwards as I silently follow. The moment I step out of my prison cell, I can smell the change in the air and view the scattered rays across the hall. Although we were still walking underground among other locked doors, I could still sense a difference that calmed my wolf down a bit.

The boy dragged himself on the stairs lazily settling with mumbling directions on the way in an extremely high pitched voice.

As we climb the steps leading to the ground floor, I asked him. I was an Alpha, I knew what I had to know and I just asked, "Are you a werewolf?"

His head sharply moves so that his gloomy eyes meet mine but he stops midway only settling with turning his neck to the side, as if he has always avoided eye contact at such a situation.

"How did you know?" He asks in his screechy voice.

"I just know." I replied bluntly.

"So the rumors are true, eh?" I could know he's smirking as he asked me that and I wandered about those "rumors" he said. However, I wasn't really interested in any sort of 'rumors'. I never have been.

Instead, I asked, "Why? A human but working for werewolves like this?"

He remains silent, pushing open a door that revealed an empty study room. We were on the ground levels now.

"Adventure. Everything seems cooler here."

"You don't seem like a guy of adventure, or cool either." I huff.

He doesn't reply, he probably got a lot of these comments as well. I think you could tell right away that he was a slack. A guy to be ordered around. Merely a boy, never a man.

"I mean, this just makes you a coward. You couldn't handle a normal human life, so you settle with being a slave here."

"We are almost there."

The way he walks, the silence he has engulfed himself in is strange and almost pathetic.  I shake away my thoughts as I follow silently.

"My name is Theodore." He says trying to clarify his voice, so that he wouldn't have to repeat himself again.

"Good." I reply.

"And what is your name?"

"If I wanted to tell you, I would have already."

He nods slowly, "I know that."

"Then why are you asking?" I huff.

"Now I'm sure about them rumors."

Before I could react, he pauses in front of a double door made of cherry wood and aligned with gold on the edges.

"We're here." I whisper.

Theodore turns to look at me, his eyes search my face as if trying to send some sort of message. He looks so focused and I feel a slight pang in my head, then all my thoughts go blank.

'Good luck and take care.'

His voice rings in my head and I'm frozen on the spot. How could he do this? He's a human, he must not be able to contact a werewolf.

The double doors open suddenly snapping my thoughts and stopping me from questioning Theodore.

I look sideways and Theodore is gone.

A gruff voice is heard, "Alpha Glenn. I've been expecting you."

The Alpha of Silver Woods aka Alpha Glenn, has his hand extended towards mine, I shake it swiftly, his hand is rough and cold matching his outer appearance. He seems old, in his late 50s or something. However, his eyes hold a certain sparkle of silver blue that can be mistaken with friendly.

"Come in." He orders, stepping aside to show the massive study he owned. Endless rows of books, expensive wood, clipped notes on the side of the smooth desk. Everything in the study is spotless, not one single flaw.

"I must say, you look quite familiar, but rogues aren't my type of friends anyway."

He takes a seat in his plush leather seat. He seems relaxed as he points to a carved wooden chair facing his.

I merely nod at him in response.

"So what is your name love?" He starts questioning me in a cold boring tone, as if he has done this uncountable times before, which again he could have.

"Vivienne."

"Last name?"

"I don't remember. I'm a rogue, been left alone for a long while..." I answer almost instantly, not wanting to reveal the truth of what I am. I have been running away for months.

"I see. Where do you usually settle?"

"Anywhere, in the woods."

His eyes are narrowed as he speaks to me, he is trying to catch a glimpse of doubt in my face, or the slightest tremble in my voice, or the hint of an increased heartbeat. But, he finds nothing.

"What brings you here, Vivienne?"

"Been tired, rolling around, ended up here. Nothing specific." I shrug.

"How old are you?"

"Almost twenty."

"Well, you see..." He speaks, his tone changing up a bit. I pick up on the alteration and listen to him intensely. This is it. He could actually kill me, he will do something to me. Rogues are intolerable.

"You are pretty damn good at this. But, I know who you are."

Shock courses  in my body at his words. What does he mean?

He leans towards me, steady on his chair, "Well, you see,  your father and I, we were best friends- brother I never had."

I don't need to recall my father now. I really don't need to.

"What has happened to you? To your pack? You don't belong here."

Before, I could explain or mostly deny his words, he beats me to it.

"I insist you stay Vivienne. It's a must after everything your father has done for me. You are a Swarvskon, just like your father."

His eyes are no longer focused on me, but are trailing to the other side of the room, "Alpha Vivienne Swarvskon." He says my full name along my title so softly, that I can imagine my father saying it in the same tenderness.

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