False Mate, True Mate

Chapter 11

Angelique awoke to shadows around her. There was still a foot resting under her hand, and another under her side. They felt... nice. Soothing. She had not known a touch that was pleasant for a long, long time. Why does his touch feel good?

Looking around, she was partially enclosed in some sort of box. Light leaked in from the floor, and his legs, for she knew they had to be "Alpha"'s, were blocking her in. She heard a rhythmic clicking noise above her that had no particular meaning for her.

She became aware of the usual discomfort that attended waking up. "There's a bathroom down the hall. Second door on the left," his voice came from above. His legs moved backwards and she could see he was sitting on a wheeled chair.

Climbing out from the space, she saw his attention was on a laptop. Her father had sometimes let her play games on his laptop, and she felt a spike of sadness. She hadn't thought of her family in a long time.

"Are you okay?" She glanced to his face, to see his attention had shifted to her, staring so intently it was as if he wanted to pierce her mind with his gaze. She nodded slightly and removed her hand from his arm as she left. She hadn't realized she was touching him.

Two doors down, she found the bathroom. Why did he stop me? Does he like being stressed? Does he not like me? Then why claim I'm his mate? Why keep me close to him?

She stared at the mirror, with no answers, when another question, more troubling, hit her. Why am I allowed to walk freely? I could run away, and he'd lose me. Or is this a test? Or does he want to chase me down, have an excuse to chain me again?

Confused, she exited the bathroom and found herself standing in the hallway. Where am I supposed to be, now? Where should I be? Maybe now is the time to flee, but where? I don't even know where I am. She looked in the direction of "Alpha"'s office. She could hear him working. Her nose picked up the scent of cooking food from the other direction. There were four doors on either side of the hallway, and stairs on the opposite end of the hall from his office.

Angelique stood in the hallway. What does he want me to do? Her ears picked up an abrupt silence from his office, followed by his door opening. He's huge. She didn't know how tall she was, or how tall he was, as a result. She stared at him silently, waiting to see what he'd have her do.

He approached her with nearly silent footsteps. She could pick them up. "Are you okay?" he asked has he rested a massive hand on her shoulder.

Huh? Am I okay? I... What's the right answer? What am I supposed to tell him? Her mouth got tighter as she pondered his question, trying to understand the way through it. Al always wanted her to be okay, but "Alpha" seemed to think she wasn't. It was something in his expression...

"Woah, stop," he gently admonished her. "You're thinking too hard." He lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. His fingers under her chin felt good. "I just want to know if you're okay. If not, maybe I can do something to help."

She didn't think it was a trap, or that he was angry at her, but she had no idea what it meant to be okay. She shrugged.

"Are you hungry?" She nodded slightly. "Then let's get that taken care of."

Taking her hand in his, he slowly walked her to the end of the hall and down two flights of stairs. His pace was slow, making it easy for her to keep up while taking in their surroundings. Though the stairs went down further, it was clear they were on the ground floor, now.

Fourth floor is his bedroom. Third floor has his office. Ground floor has the kitchen and TV room. He lead her into a massive kitchen and sat her down on a stool. The Cheryl person was in the kitchen again, cooking a lot of bacon and sausage while wearing panties and a T-shirt. "Morning, Alpha," she greeted him, then looking at her, "Luna."

Angelique's eyes widened as her heart rate sped up. Luna? Me? No! No, no, no, no, no! Oh, no! No, not Luna! I can't be Luna.

Hands caught her face, which had started shaking back and forth more and more violently. Softly, he said, "Calm yourself. If we knew your name, we could call you by that instead." Her eyes focused on his as a sense of calmness and peace... and hope, warred with the panic she felt.

The strange emotions caught her attention. She had not felt any of those in a long time. Every time he touched her, she felt strange emotions, alien emotions. Frowning slightly, she very, very gently pushed his wrists away from her face.

At first, he didn't move, but then he allowed her to move them so his hands weren't touching her face.. At the same time, both his face and the alien emotions were confusion. When she released his wrists, the alien confusion disappeared.

She touched his hand. Confusion and curiosity. She stopped touching him. Gone. She touched his hand, amusement. She stopped. Gone. Her eyes shifted to Cheryl. Easing herself off the stool, she made her way around "Alpha" to the woman who was cooking, but had glanced at her as well.

Lightly, she touched the woman. Nothing. Going back to "Alpha", she touched him. Smugness. Satisfaction. Back to the woman. Nothing. Finally, she stared at "Alpha", face wrinkled in confusion.

"What's with her, Alpha?" Cheryl finally asked.

"She's just figured out she has a connection with me she doesn't have with you. She's sensed it before, I'm sure, but she's now making the realization."

"What, you mean the..." Her question was cut off by a soft growl from "Alpha" that had Angelique reeling away from him and left Cheryl silent. She didn't appear to be afraid of him, but Angelique was in a panic.

"Come, touch me, little one," he said to her softly, holding his hand out towards her. His hand was open, palm down, loose. She eyed it warily as her heart beat slowed down. A glance told her Cheryl was watching them in complete confusion, in between flipping sausages. "Come," he said again, softly.

Cautiously, Angelique approached, and, with an outstretched hand, touched the back of his hand with the very tip of her finger, ready to flinch away. There was a sense of irritation from him, but not anger. There was also affection... and amusement.

She withdrew her finger and scooted back again. She wasn't feeling afraid, but she was wary. What's going on?

"Alpha" watched her for a few moments, before he shifted his attention back to the other woman. "Cheryl, she's been held captive by a rogue for a very long time." The woman nodded slightly. "And they only keep captives for one reason."

The woman's brows scrunched up in confusion, before she suddenly said, "OH! Got it. No problem, Alpha," and turned away from him to resume cooking as if nothing had happened.

They're all crazy! They're crazy, and I'm trapped here with them.

At that moment, the outside door banged open and five people, three male, two female, all mostly naked, came into the kitchen slapping each other on the back and laughing.

Angelique screamed and dropped into a quivering ball squatting on the floor.