Yes, My Alpha: Mother of an Empire

Chapter 42

Making her way to the edge of the camp, she saw LeRoy standing there with two small groups. One of the cadets pointed out Ophelia and LeRoy turned around and waved. "Hey over here!" he called, Ophelia adjusted her bag and slowly approached. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you where we were meeting. It's great that you figured it out though." LeRoy said with a relaxed tone.

Ophelia shrugged quietly not feeling up much for talking at the moment. She just wanted to get this over with so she could get back to the tent sooner. After all, Darius wanted to eat dinner together. LeRoy stared at her waiting for a response, "You don't talk much do you?" He asked, Ophelia stared, "I talk too much, to be honest." She replied firmly. The small group of men looked at each other silently. Ophelia figured she might have made things awkward but that was fine. She wasn't really hoping to get on any of their good sides.

"Anyway, Reeds you'll be with Scouting Group B, they'll be going eastward around the mountains. Scouting Group A will be going westward. I want you guys to check for any signs that there are enemy armies nearby. The commander wants us to pick the path of least resistance-!" LeRoy briefed them before cutting himself off. Ophelia who had moved to go stand beside the others was grabbed by LeRoy.

"General?" Ophelia asked startled as he pulled her back and sniffled. "LeRoy what the hell?" Another cadet questioned looking concerned. "Why...?" LeRoy narrowed his eyes as Ophelia turned to look at him. "Why do you smell like Darius?" Ophelia's blood ran cold at that question but she didn't let it show. LeRoy's usually relaxed expression formed into a scowl with a protective glint in his eyes.

Ophelia could tell what he was thinking, that she had been harassing Darius or that she had tried to do something weird or was doing something weird. Panicking silently Ophelia blurted out the first thing she could think to say. "Who the hell is Darius?" She spoke in the most confused tone she could manage. A chill ran down her spine as if she sensed that Darius sensed the offense she just committed. The commander would surely kill her if he heard her say this... But it was all she could think to do under so many scrutinizing stares.

It was a tried and true method of playing dumb. It had worked before for her and it seemed to be working now. LeRoy was nose to nose staring at her trying to suss out if she was lying. "That's the commander's name." He replied, "It is?" Ophelia pulled back from him rubbing her arm as if he had hurt her though it really didn't. "Yeah... Do you not know what his name is?" "I hardly know who he is." Ophelia retorted, "Is he the short one with blond hair?" Ophelia questioned purposely cocking an eyebrow and tilting her head. "Yeah... Wait how do you not know? You're like best friends with Lionel!" LeRoy called her out.

Ophelia folded her arms, "We usually talk about swords." She shrugged, and she then lifted her surcoat to her nose. She nearly groaned when she smelt Darius's scent all over it. Did he scent her before she left? He was all over her... He probably didn't even realize he did it. These days more and more Darius just loved making sure she smelled like him. Whenever Ophelia brought it up Darius looked like he didn't believe that he was doing it. The act seemed almost instinctual based on what Ophelia seen out of him.

The smell burned in her nose... Ophelia pulled away noticing it linger in her nose. It was so damn strong she wasn't sure how she didn't notice it. Maybe she had gone a bit nose blind over the past few days? Had he done that to all her clothes? "Does the commander smell like flowers or something?" She asked acting confused, her mind ran through several excuses before settling on a fairly legitimate sounding one.

"Yes. You smell exactly like him." LeRoy spoke taking a step towards her, at this point the other men caught on to what he was implying and seemed to glare at Ophelia. Judging by their expressions it was clear they thought Ophelia was either doing something weird to Darius's clothes or had tried something on him. Ophelia kept calm from being in this situation so many times by now. She took a deep breath smelling the scent again. "Weird..." She spoke up, "He smells just like my perfume then." She spoke out casually as if she hadn't noticed the threatening aura coming off all the men.