Chapter 4 - My Alpha Brother

Regina’s POV

“Regina…Is that you? God, just say something please!” he growled.

I nodded, crying. Then I realized that he couldn’t see me on the phone. I finally spoke up with a shaky voice:

“Yes…Gray…It’s me. I—I’ve missed you.”

SO MUCH.

Gray let out a harsh and ragged breath and his voice turned hoarse, “I miss you too…Every single day since you left. What happened? Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Is everything OK? Is that bastard treating you alright?”

He threw too many questions at me at once. I didn’t know which one to answer first.

Just when I was hesitating what I should say to him, I heard a low voice on his side, “Alpha, everyone is expecting you in the meeting room. The messenger from Shadow Valley Pack was about to present the business treaty to you.”

Shadow Valley Pack?

This was the name of the pack I was currently at! That was Nigel’s pack.

But how came I didn’t know Gray was doing business with Shadow Valley?

Yet on second thought, I had left home for over a year now. Oof course, I didn’t know what Gray had been up to. And Nigel never allowed me to ask questions about the outside world. So my sources of information were limited.

“Gray, if you are busy…” I murmured reluctantly, “…maybe I should call you back another time."

“NO!” he snapped as though he was afraid that I would hang up, “No, nothing is more important than you. Stay on the line, Regina.”

Then I heard him talking to the other person, “—Reschedule the meeting. Tell the messenger to wait. And ask people not to bother me right now.”

After that was the sound of hurried footsteps and door closing up, then I heard his voice again, “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“Are you doing business with Shadow Valley? Have you seen Nigel recently?” I asked curiously.

He snorted, “Nigel isn’t qualified to meet me in person. But yes, I have been meeting with Shadow Valley people.”

“Why? Are you doing business with them?”

“Sort of…But let’s not waste time on business stuffs.” His tone softened, “Tell me, Regina. How have you been? Is Nigel treating you alright? Do you have everything you need?”

I wanted to tell him that I was alright—that I was living the exact same life as before I was married—so that I could save him from his worries.

But those were lies.

My cheek was still swollen because of the slap and my body was bleeding. My bruises from those earlier abuses hadn’t fade out yet.

And what was worse was the emotional abuse I had been going through. I felt my heart ache every single time when I remembered those nicknames Nigel and Melany gave me:

Tramp. Bitch. Filthy Rat. Garbage.

I wasn’t alright. At all.

My long silence gave Gray some clues and I heard his tone turned cold instantly, “What had that bastard done to you?”

“…Nothing.” Too much, actually.

“Stop lying to me Regina!” Gray roared, “You are obviously not alright! And you are expecting me to stand aside and pretend nothing has happened?! I can’t do that! Either you tell me, or I am invading Shadow Valley and tear that son of a bitch apart RIGHT NOW!”

I shivered slightly.

Gray in rage was very terrifying.

Don’t get me wrong—Gray never threw his temper at me. We weren’t like normal brothers and sisters who were always teasing around and fighting each other.

Probably because he was 6 years older than I was, Gray treated me like a fragile piece of art and made sure that I was always nurtured delicately.

But when I was 9, I once saw Gray punishing one of his warriors and it scared the shit out of me. It took Gray, my parents, my grandpa and three other maids to calm me down completely. I couldn’t stay in the same room alone with Gray for 3 months after that incident.

That was the first time I realized that he wasn’t always that nice.

He was cold, ruthless, and stern with others.

I was the only one lucky enough to see his soft side.

This moment right now was the second time I saw him losing his temper in front of me.

Both of us lapsed into silence. I could hear him breathing rapidly.

Then after a long pause, he sighed deeply and spoke up again with a frustrating tone, “Sorry…I didn’t mean to yell at you. Don’t be mad, OK?”

I felt terrible seeing Gray act so carefully around me. We were families! We should be able to yell, cry and lose control around one another freely.

What got us into this place anyway?

“Gray, I am not mad. I…I am just…”

I choked and had to take a deep breath to continue, “…I just didn’t know what I should tell you.”

“Everything. Please!” he basically begged me, “I promised myself not to bother you if you didn’t contact me. But now you called—So just tell me what has been boring you!”

“O—OK. I will tell you.”

I have to choose my words very carefully and hide part of the fact:

“Nigel wasn’t in a good mood lately. He owned somebody money—somebody in the high position who could help him with his career. And I hate to see Nigel getting troubled by that. So I was wondering—”

Gray snorted, “You want to lend money to that fucking bastard.”

“…Yes.”

My voice was low. I felt terrible. I knew how much Gray hated Nigel.

“You said he was in a bad mood…How bad exactly?” Gray asked icily. “Has he ever yelled at you?”

There was no way I told my brother the truth.

If he knew that Nigel had been beating me, he would kill Nigel and bury the entire Shadow Valley Pack.

“No, of course not. Nigel was just a bit grumpy. That’s all.” I lied.

“Fine.” Gray gritted. And I could sense that he was still suspicious. “And I will give you the money you need, Regina. Anything. As long as it will make you happy.”

“Gray…” I sob. What have I done to deserve a brother like him?

“But you have to promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“I need to see you in person before I give you the money,” he said with a firm voice. “Meet me by the border at dusk tomorrow. Alone. I won’t return if I don’t see you.”

I was heavy of heart after I hung up.

Of course, I was looking forward to seeing Gray. But it wasn’t easy to sneak out of the house without getting Melany suspicious. She was on my back 24/7. I wasn’t allowed to travel too far. The furthest place I had been to after I married Nigel was the farmer’s market down the south.

It would take an entire day to travel between here and the border.

How should I explain this to Melany?

I went to sleep with a heavy heart and tossed and turned for an entire night. When the sun rose the next morning, I finally made up my mind:

I would pretend that I was going to the farmer’s market without telling Melany the truth. She would probably be mad when she found out I was gone. But everyone would be happy again when I came back with the money.

I freshened up and put on a blue dress, which was something I owned before I got married and was probably the best clothes I still possessed. I wanted to look nice for Gray.

Then I went downstairs and grabbed my shopping basket.

I ran into Melany on my way out.

She was yawning. Her breath still smelled like bear turned sour. She gave me a wary look when she saw me, “Where are you going dressing so nicely?”

My heartrate quickened. I quickly looked down so that she wouldn’t notice that I was lying, “I am going to the farmer’s market. We are out of eggs.”

Melany huffed, “We would still have eggs if you hadn’t made that fucking stupid cake! Don’t let me catch you wasting food like that again. My son paid for all those! Keep that in mind you free loader!”

I walked pass her quietly pretending that I didn’t hear her nasty tone.

Everything would be fine once I had the money.

I kept telling myself that.

I wanted Nigel to overcome his obstacle but more importantly…I wanted to live with dignity in this house.

I was tired of being everyone’s punchbag.

I left house and headed towards the farmer’s market. But I didn’t stop there. Instead, I kept heading south. It took me 3 hours to get out of the town.

Outside of the town was a large forest. Cross the forest was the borderline, where Gray and I were going to meet.

I checked the map again to make sure I was on the right path and walked down from the main road and sat down in a shadow of a tree. I was exhausted. I wanted to rest for an hour before I continued traveling.

The gentle breeze was very soothing. I leaned my head against the tree and almost felled asleep.

But I was startled awake by some noises on the main road.

Rubbing my eyes, I pushed the bush aside and peeked.

A group of armored guards had appeared out of nowhere and was stopping every passer-by on the main road, asking them the same question:

“Have you seen this woman? She is about 5’5 tall. Brown hair and blue eyes.”

I widened my eyes in shock behind the bush.

The woman they talked about—

It sounded like me.

“What has this woman done?” a passer-by asked.

“She’s an escaped slave. Miss Angel issued her search order personally. Report to us immediately if you see her!”