Slaves to the Moon | DRAFT

X ■ The Italian Diviazione

A couple weeks later--

"I don't understand why anyone would ever want to eat this," Gabriel mumbled as he attempted to eat his beef flavored Ramen Noodles.

So far, he had been struggling to get the noodles to stay on his spoon and on a few occasions had even resorted to using his fingers. I, on the other hand, was well versed in the art of twirling. The sight of the Royal Alpha, eating and slurping away like some sort of cursed barbarian had my sides nearly bursting from laughter.

"It's not that bad," I smiled. My own bowl of Creamy Chicken Ramen almost gone. "Sometimes, this was all we had to eat for weeks."

I shyly snuck a glance at the King. I had been careful not to use Freddy's name, but I was sure Gabriel was smart enough to figure out who the 'we' were in my previous statement. Thankfully, though, he didn't get angry. He seemed too preoccupied with trying to figure out my technique.

"That's it!"

With a snarl, Gabriel grabbed his bowl and quickly downed the rest of its contents. A second later, he slammed the empty dish back down, but the look on his face was anything but satisfying.

"I'm still hungry," Gabriel grumbled, before placing a hand over his stomach. His cheeks blushed a bright crimson as it rumbled loudly in agreement.

With a guilty glance towards the refrigerator, Gabriel asked, "this was really all you had to eat?"

The intensity of the pity that he stared at me with was exasperating. I had told him before, my life with Freddy hadn't been that bad. I certainly didn't require his sympathy.

"When you're a rogue," I snapped, "food doesn't come all that easy."

I quickly snatched up our bowls before heading over to the sink. Even though I had been secretly craving the cheap boiled noodles, it was a foolish mistake to think a King could ever enjoy such simplicities. For the past few weeks, I had stuck to Gabriel's deal-- at least, I hadn't made any escape attempts that he knew of-- but it was moments like this, where I missed Freddy terribly. No matter how hard he tried to keep me here, I would never love Gabriel.

As I scrubbed furiously at the white, ceramic bowls, I suddenly felt his heated presence next to me. Despite my wet hands being full of grime and soap suds, Gabriel grabbed hold of my arms before spinning me towards him. I hadn't even realized I was crying until his large thumb swiped at my cheek.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Alexis."

My eyes roamed over his broad chest, noting how the chocolate cable knit sweater strained to stretch across the large expanse. They examined every square inch that was in their immediate sight, but never once did they drift up. They refused to look up.

"I can't even begin to imagine the things you must have gone through."

I gave a slight nod of my head as his thumb drew small comforting circles along the tops of my arms. It was extremly evident, that Gabriel and I were two very different people.

"It really wasn't so bad," I admitted with a sigh, quickly wiping away a few stray tears. "For the most part, we lived in Chicago amongst the humans," I told him. "We worked with them, we ate and lived with them-- and they were much more forgiving than any one of your kind."

Taking a deep breath, I placed a loose strand of hair behind my ear before looking up. It was important to me, that Gabriel understood what I was about to say next.

"Twice a year, we would head out to upstate New York, so Freddy could shift before his wolf drove him mad."

I paused for a moment, searching Gabriel's face for any signs of anger.