A DEAL

KELEIGH’S POV

I couldn’t leave the hall fast enough. Any more time spent in the dining hall and I would have broken down. Even now, I found myself hyperventilating. My head felt light and my brain was fuzzy. It was all too much. Everything was happening all at once and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I needed to get away from it all before I exploded.

I had planned on going back to the room that Kara had assigned to me, but I couldn’t stay there. The room would feel too stifling for me and I needed space, I needed to breathe, I needed solitude.

“Keleigh!”

I turned back. It was Ryker calling out to me from the doorway of the hall. “Stay away from me!” I shouted back. “I need space.”

I moved about the compound on instinct, avoiding places where people were gathered in. Eventually, I found myself in an orchard. It was far away from the rest of the buildings and was quiet. Just what I needed. I spread my arms out and took in a deep breath, the deep aroma of fruit refreshing me, calming me down a bit. The torrent, the pain, the rage was still there, but it had retreated slightly. I could breathe some more now.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there. The sun was already down by the time the dinner was over and now I could see pinpricks of stars in between the leaves and branches of the trees above me. It was a pleasant sight. I wished I could capture this moment and live with it forever.

Then I heard the crack of a branch and I jumped, looking around. “Who’s there?” I called out in a sharp tone.

There was rustling in the bushes. I picked up a sturdy branch from the floor and brandished it in anticipation. The figure burst out of the bushes, hands above head.

“Hold on, hold on. It’s just me.”

“Roman?”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

The branch fell from my hand as I ran into his arms. He hugged me just as tightly as I hugged him. I don’t know when it was that tears began to stream down my face, but I sobbed into his shoulder.

After what felt like hours but was probably like two minutes, we separated from each other.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” I said softly. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I thought the same as well,” Roman responded. “You cannot imagine my shock when I saw you. You’re a lot more grown now, but I still recognized you.”

We both had wistful smiles on our faces as we just took a moment to take each other in. This was incredible. Roman had been my rock at a point in my life, and then we had parted ways. I was still in shock that I was actually looking at him once more.

We talked about a lot of our shared past. The time we both pranked the old neighbour that lived in our street. Learning how to swim. Hunting in the woods. Pissing off our parents and friends. The thoughts of our past brought back memories of my past, the things that I had, and had now lost.

“How did you come to this place?” I asked, changing the topic. I sniffled a bit and blinked the threatening tears from my eyes.

He sighed with a smile. “That, my dear, is a very long story.”

“Well, I’d like to hear it.”

So he told me about his life, while we sat on a fallen tree trunk. About how after he parted ways with me when his family had moved, they had travelled from place to place. Then how he had separated from his family to forge a life in his own. And had met a lot of people, including the Alpha Twins. They had become friends and eventually, they had made him their beta.

“Wow,” I said, once he was done. “What a wild ride you must have had.”

He laughed it off. “Oh you don’t know the half of it. Anyways, what about you? How did you get to be here?”

My mood soured even more, like wine turning to vinegar. My heart raced in my chest as the memories threatened to burst forth from the box I had put them in. Should I tell him? He was my childhood friend, the only familiar face around here. But that didn’t mean he was trustworthy.

“I’d rather not say.”

There was nothing said for the next few minutes. I was so intent on holding back the emotions in me, so intent on not letting Roman see what a broken and damaged person I had turned out to be. My arms shook and my breath came deeper. The orchard began to close in. Even it was too small to contain my sorrow and grief.

“Are you alright?” Roman asked, his eyes filled with concern. He took my shaking hand in his and squeezed.

“I’m fine,” I said. “ Just feeling a bit tired. I think I’m going to retire.”

He stared at me for some seconds. I stared back. Then he stood up and said, “I’ll escort you.”

I was very grateful to him for not pushing. Hopefully, with time, I’ll be able to explain what happened to me, and he’ll either console me or hate me.

We arrived at my room and we both entered inside, making meaningless small talk that our minds were not on.

“Well, I should be going now,” Roman said. A part of me was relieved that he would be gone, and another part of me cried out for him to stay and hold me tight and comfort me.

“Ok,” I said.

He came closer to me and pecked my cheek. “If you need anything, just know that I am here for you. Oh, one more thing. Don’t let the brothers bother you. I know them well enough and I think you’ll be fine. I think you’ll get used to them in no time.”

I wanted to tell him that I wished that were true, but who knows? Maybe he might be correct. I wasn’t putting much hope in that, but still... Maybe.

“Alright. I’ll do just that. I’m going to get some sleep now.” I was going to cry my eyes out.

I got onto the soft bed, and closed my eyes, waiting for him to leave so that I could finally release the torrent.

“Goodnight,” I heard him say softly. Then I heard him leave my room and shut the door gently.

ROMAN’S POV

That was an intense experience, I thought as I walked down the hall outside Keleigh’s room. I never would have guessed that I would see Keleigh of all people in the pack. The whole thing was so emotionally taxing and I could only wonder how she was feeling, how she was handling it all. From what I gleaned, she had just been found today and already it had been realized that she was the Alphas’ actual mate. Not Selene. I chuckled at that. If every there was a person that deserved to be taken down, it was Selene.

But I was worried a lot about Keleigh. It was very obvious that she had been through some really traumatizing stuff, and it broke my heart to see the person that was a young girl bubbling with cheerfulness and light become a shadow of herself. I swore to myself that I would find out what that was, and I would fix it. I would fix her.

“Roman.”

I stopped. The voice came from behind me. It was as growly and gravelly as it was slow in speaking. My breath caught for an instance, but I knew that this wouldn’t be an issue. I turned towards the sound of the voice and bowed. “My Alpha.”

Ryker stepped out of the shadows and towered over me. He seemed a far cry from the easygoing coolheaded man that he usually was. There was rage in his eyes.

I needed to tread carefully.

“I saw you coming out of my mate’s room. What were you doing there?”

He stepped closer to me, towering over me. I kept my head bent towards his feet. “Just comforting her, My Alpha.”

“Comforting her, you say?” I felt a sharp claw dig into my hair and lightly stroke my scalp. “And what makes you think that you, a beta, are in such position to comfort an Alpha’s mate?”

I forced myself to stay calm. “We were childhood friends. I know we didn’t reveal it at dinner but we are. I swear. I comforted her because I saw that she was going through a lot.”

Ryker sighed, and in that sigh, I could hear the Ryker that I knew. The true Ryker. The compassionate one. He retracted his claw from my head and stepped back. “Stand, Roman.”

I stood, relief coursing through my veins. When Ryker wanted to be scary, which was very rarely, he never disappointed in pulling it off.

“What do you know about her?” he asked me.

I told him a bit I knew of her background. The fact that she was a princess and that we grew up together in a pack, and several other small details. Ryker seemed both surprised and impressed by this knowledge. He nodded slowly to himself after I was done talking.

“I want you to do something for me,” he said finally, looking directly at me. I averted my eyes. It was very difficult to meet an Alpha’s gaze and keep it. “I want to know everything about her. Everything there is to know. And I want you to do it even if it means getting closer to her.”