Hiding from the Alpha

Name

Riley's POV💫

I slowly drift back into consciousness as the light of the rising sun burns into my closed eyelids. I turn my head out of the light and blink tiredly as I stretch my arms and release a yawn. My arms graze over smooth silk and I suddenly realize that I'm not in my normal bed. I jolt up to a seated position as I look around the dimly lit room. My attention is suddenly shifted as the door creaks open, revealing the true owner of this huge room.

He doesn't notice me looking at him as he quietly walks through the door carrying a large tray of food and gently pushes the door closed behind him. When he turns back around to face me, our eye contact takes him by surprise. A warm and sad smile crosses his face as he makes his way over to the bed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He says softly. I almost don't know how to act. This behavior of kindness between the two of us is so foreign and strange, it feels like I'm dreaming.

As he places the tray down in the center of the bed next to me, the memories of last night surge through my mind. Remembering the fiancé, the chase, and the promise; the promise that we would both try, for each other.

I look up at him and admire his handsome features in the orange light of the dawn. "It's okay, you didn't wake me. What's all this for?" I say referring to the large variety of foods sitting next to me.

"Well I figured you would be hungry when you woke up, and you'd have a hard time going down to get breakfast yourself." He says with a hint of sadness in his tone as he gestures to my ankle wrapped up in a cast, something I hadn't noticed until now.

I feel a smile take over my face at his thoughtful gesture. "Thank you." I say genuinely.

I expect him to sit down on the other side of the tray and share this mass of food with me, but as I turn towards the food and look at him expectantly, he just remains in his place standing next to the far side of the bed. He seems to be in some kind of trance, staring at me with an expression that shows how hard he's trying to hold back.

"Are you going to eat with me?" I ask hopefully. He is suddenly broken out of his trance, but it is only replaced by an expression of sadness as he suddenly glances at his seemingly expensive watch, and then looks back at me.

"I can't, I have a meeting and then I'm leading a training session." He says hesitantly, looking at me.

I can tell just how much he wants to skip his duties and stay here, and I want that too, but he knows he can't and I know it would be selfish of me to ask him to. So I just give him a nod of understanding and a small, encouraging smile.

There's a sudden moment of awkward silence in the air. His hands are balled into fists at his sides, probably to stop his urge to reach out to me; the same thing I've been doing since he walked in the room. I can tell he doesn't want to just leave, but he doesn't want to make me uncomfortable. To relieve some of the awkward tension and to stay true to our promise to try to break down our walls, I open my arms to him. A wide grin spreads across his face and he walks around the bed to sit on the edge next to me. I allow him to wrap his arms around me, and I just lean into him and savor the moment while it lasts.

It feels like hours pass as we just sit there comfortably in each other's arms. "Don't you have a meeting to get to Mr. Alpha?" I ask jokingly, tilting my head up to look into his eyes.

He looks down at me and I'm suddenly aware of how close his face is to mine, as his lips break out into a large grin and he pulls me tighter into his chest. "I'm starting to think they will have to hold the meeting without me."

His words send a jolt of excitement down my spine. As much as I wish his statement could be true, I force a small laugh and shake my head, unwinding my arms from his torso and pushing against him gently. "No, no. You have a job to do."