The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

29

Ariel had no idea what was going on or what was happening to her. She felt like she was Alice through the looking glass. Lost in a world that no longer made sense and wasn't playing with any of the rules she ever knew or understood. 

Binh took away the nightmares. He didn't leer at her, he ran a diner with happy supportive staff, paid generously; He hadn't done anything that made her feel afraid. Ariel looked back at the raven perched on the headboard. Binh without hesitation had allowed a wild raven into his very expensive looking penthouse. Did not seem phased at all that a raven appeared to be obsessed with her.

Ariel experienced an out of body experience, watching herself wriggle to make room, her hand patting the mattress as she invited Binh to join her in bed. He was there impossibly quick, moving faster than the hyena's ever had. She had been startled by the motion, but it was over so quick, and he was laying on top of the blanket beside her. Ariel turned around curling her body up. Binh moved to be behind her, hands to himself, on a separate layer of blankets. Ariel let herself fall back asleep. Whispering, "Don't take the nightmare of my last day with my mom, its all I have left." She was tired, falling asleep quickly.

The next morning she awoke to Binh returning to her room, gentle sunlight filtering through the drapes. A loaded breakfast tray that looked very similar to what she had ordered her very first morning at Binh's diner. Everything she had ordered, including the exact jam choices she had made for her toast. Impossible to think he had been paying attention to her even then.

Binh only had the one plate of breakfast. Ariel eyed him with suspicion. "Your nightmares were more than enough for me, I trust you slept well?" He said, arranging the lap tray on the bed for Ariel to enjoy breakfast in bed. A simple luxury he was confident she had never enjoyed or been treated to in her life. The smile she gave him was as sustaining as her nightmares had been.

Binh sat down on a chair next to bed while Ariel ate every single bite of her breakfast, aside from what she shared with the raven. Apparently feeding the creature was not going to be an issue, a slight relief. Though considering the tinder box of magical energy that Ariel was at this moment, any ease of possible stress points should be taken as blessings.

When Ariel had finished the entire plate of breakfast, Binh took the tray up from her lap. "You are taking a sick day. I am going to go into the restaurant to check in and I will be back soon. The bathroom should have everything you need. I will see you soon?" Binh told her. Ariel nodded. Repeating back to him that she would see him soon. Binh deposited the breakfast tray into his kitchen and went to check out he diner, and let Beth-Ann know 'Jenny' would not be in as usual. Ariel needed a personal day. Maybe a couple depending on how long it took her magic to spark.

Binh was glad when he heard the bath in her room start to fill before he left. He wanted her to relax, to treat herself to a luxurious bath. He wouldn't be gone long. He would be back soon. Hopefully Ariel would just take her time enjoying a bath and he would be back before she finished. He knew he could never ask her to stay, or tell her that she couldn't leave. She would flee even faster than she had last night the moment she felt trapped.

Make a plan, and the goddesses all laugh. Ariel knowing how to relax long enough to have a truly leisurely bath would have been too easy, that wasn't how things went for Ariel. She got into the bath as it was filling. Letting the hot bubbly water rise around her. Then when the deep soaker tub was as full of water as it could be, she had felt overwhelmed by the luxury and the heat. Quickly working through washing herself and her hair and getting out of the tub.

The water had been perfect. Hot and full of nice floral scents from the bubble bath she had added. It had been so nice, felt so good. It had been too much of a very good thing too soon. Then she had felt bad, and broken and unsure what to do with herself. She did not want to stay in Binh's home without him there with her. So she had gotten dressed, in her overalls, flannel, and stolen menswear coat. Adding a belt from her slightly increased clothing stock and a gray cloche hat Beth-Ann had needed to part ways from.

Her hair tied in a simple long braid, not unlike the one that Binh wore. Coiling the braid and hiding it under her hat. Deciding she would take herself for a quick walk around the block. Get herself some fresh air. She needed to stay active, try and build muscle and stamina. She wouldn't do either sitting on her ass in a penthouse like a house cat. She also needed to confirm that she was free to leave. Binh had not told her to stay inside, just a promise that he would return as quickly as he could.

She would not be gone long. He always worked longer hours than she did at the diner. He would have important things related to running a business to attend to. She had time for a quick walk around the block before he would return to even be aware she had stepped out.

Ariel looked at herself in the mirror. The dark bags that she had come to think were permanent were gone. Her cheeks were still too narrow, she did not look healthy by any stretch, she did give herself a little smile. Even without Beth-Ann's masterful techniques with makeup, Ariel was starting to look more like what she remembered herself looking like. A skinnier older version of herself.

Ariel saw a spare set of keys hung on the hook by the door, her name embossed on the keychain. Each key labeled for which door to the building it would grant her access to. Ariel's smile grew even bigger. Proof she wasn't a caged bird. Binh was not going to treat her like she was still Tuesday. Binh knew her as Ariel, who sometimes pretended to be Jenny the waitress.

Ariel let the raven out through the door to a large balcony that seemed to have a raised vegetable garden at the far end for her to investigate upon her return. Meeting back up with her raven on the city streets. The weather was crisp without being cold as she walked. No one looked at her strangely in the bright morning light. Her raven was calm. She was safe. Just getting fresh air and getting exercise.

She was less familiar with the neighbourhood than she thought she was. A turn she made did not follow the trajectory she had expected it to. It had instead come to a kind of dead end, leading to a concourse underground. Built like a mall, there were shops, and restaurants, and even things like offices for travel agents or dentists all hidden underground. She tried to picture how she had come in, and where she wanted to go, but her special talent wasn't working. It was like the earth wasn't aligned right now, everything flowing in one direction that did not make sense for where she wanted to go. 

She became disorientated in the crowded underground shopping, dinning, thoroughfare to help pedestrians avoid walking over a busy highway. Confused why she felt drawn away from Binh's Instead of choosing a path that would lead her back to the surface. She let her feet guide her. She ended up in a long featureless corridor that seemed to stretch on far too long. Until thankfully she saw another door ahead of her, that opened to a parking garage. 

Ariel headed directly for the sunshine she could see. Her gift still did not come back. She burst onto a deserted sidewalk. grateful to feel the sunshine on her skin again. The only entrance to anything she could see was this parking garage. Nothing but concrete, brick and stone walls all around the narrow dead end street.

Ariel was gladdened when her raven appeared before she had taken more than ten steps in the sunlight. He seemed at ease, which she was going to take to mean she was reasonably safe. Ariel walked slowly, trying to find the sense of direction she had always relied on. It should have been easy to return to Binh's apartment building. When she knew where she wanted to go it had always been easy to find her way. She wanted to get back to Binh's. Regretted ever wanting to get fresh air or exercise.

It was eerie how quiet this area of the city was when she had so recently felt like there was no where in this entire city where someone could be alone. She should have turned around. Just done the smart thing and turned back, retraced her steps and returned to Binh's that way. Even if she wasn't certain which exit to take from the underground mall, it would be closer than where she was now to where she wanted to be.

Ariel made it to where the dead end street met the connecting street. She turned to what she thought would be the right direction to return to the apartment. When she made the final turn, setting her foot down confidently on the concrete of the sidewalk- She crashed into twin walls of muscled chests. Looking up to see the two men her raven had told her wanted to mate her.

Ariel panicked.