Chapter 5

~Zara~

I am gradually taking in the dimness of the building. The smell of cinnamon tea wafts through my nostrils. Someone is brewing tea, George  is the only one with me so I figure out that much that he is the one making the tea.

The pain hitting my spine is massive, the small cuts and bruises are not healed yet. And as much as I try to figure out what is happening, It becomes impossible every passing second. I can not hear any faint sound coming from anywhere that is not a spoon clinking the teacup and for some weird reasons, I am suddenly alarmed.

I immediately get up with a start, running frantic gaze around me. I try mumbling some spells that mother taught me to when I needed focus. Nothing is happening asides the increasingly rapid panic.  Warm hands grip at my wrist, startling me immediately.

I turn around, letting out a gasp. It is George . He is holding a teacup with another filled with steaming cinnamon tea and his other arms are on me.

“Hey, you are safe now.” He reassures.

I am safe.

I want to believe those words, alot of questions are spinning through my mind: why are we here again? Where is this place? What happened to me?...I look up at George  and watch him set down the teacup on a small table beside my makeshift bed space.

“Zara, I know you have a lot of questions right now but I think you should take it slowly until you are a bit calmer.”

“Where is this place George ? ” I ask instead, my eyes trained intently on him.

“First off, I think you should start by explaining what happened back at almight town.” He demands politely. I never really explained the whole situation to George . Just bits and pieces since Pedro found it mission-worthy to be after my life.

Speaking of Pedro…

The thoughts of him makes me shudder. I avert my attention back to George  who is patiently waiting for me to launch into the full story, so I begin to tell him.

“You remember I had told you about Pedro Wade. The Infinity Alpha?”

“Yes. The one whom you said was fated by the moon goddess to be your mate.” He says bitterly, then scoffs, “How unfortunate. That the same guy who would not do anything to help after he heard your parents demise still has the guts to come at you all because of fate. This is ridiculous. Moon goddess ideas must have lost some screws.” He snarls in anger.

“George —” I chide, honestly moon goddess’s must have been real cruel to give us such fate considering that Pedro and I can never ever get to be with each other. Not after what he had done to me.

“I hate to say I am sorry but I  can not help it. I mean I am trying to. But what I do not understand right now is why we are being chased out of the city.”

“Because apparently, I had flat out rejected Pedro’s proposal and as humiliated and furious as he is, he must be after my head to calm down his rage.”

George  scoffs angrily, “so dude has this much pride? He wants to save himself the embarrassment but could do nothing when confronted with the incident with the the black wolves.”

He turns to me again, cocking one brows up, “you call that moon goddess wishes?”

I shrugged, “Yes. I mean George , I would not for the life of me wish that much ill-luck on my path. And I know better than anyone that this whole situation is outrageous. But right now we can not help it.”

George  takes my hands softly in his, “Thankfully, we are out of the city and we are safe now.” He says. I momentarily look around me. For the first time taking detailed note of my surrounding.

It is a small house although wider than the one we had in almight town. The interiors are dimly lit and cozy but there is a streak of sunlight letting itself into the house. A small table and chair stands over a vanity mirror. The house is rather simple and cozy.

“ I know…that is why right now we are safe here.,” he explains. And I look up to him….

Oh George !

He had left everything behind in almight town to start a new life with her. He was supportive, caring and brave.

I resume speaking, “so where are we?”

“Greenwood .” George  replies like that could sought my curiosity. He is looking at me as if to say I should get the drift. I do not.

“Greenwood ?”  I ask.

“It is a small town with really lovely people. No one’s going to know that we are here. They would not even be able to find us so yes, we are safe here.”  He assures.

I inched my ear to hear the sounds of people walking by and my nose to see if I can perceive their scent to know what kind of people they are. Nothing is working.

It is not working and it is getting me all alarmed.

“Hey are you okay?” George  asks again, probably he had read the meaning into my worried look.

“I am fine. Just tired.” I lie. I don’t know why but I think I would like some time to myself. I needed to understand what is going on with me, why I couldn’t perceive anything around me or even hear so far asides George  and I talking.

George  nods his head understandably, “Okay. Take your rest while I just put this away.” He said, taking the cinnamon tea with him. I facepalm myself. Really. I had also forgotten that the cinnamon tea  was there.

I hold back at his wrist, stopping him from walking away, “George  I am sorry you had to go through all this trouble…ever since you met me, now it is you leaving your family just to see that I am safe and even the meals… you do not deserve any of that…I do not deserve the kind of sweet person you are…”

One moment I am talking and the next moment I am  locking my lips with his and apparently that was because he had kissed me. I savor every taste of his lips, he tastes like cinnamon and even his scent… I just want to drown into them and get lost in this man’s arms forever.

“Zara,” he calls when we reluctantly pull away. The way he calls my name sounds so hot and all I want to do is just kiss him all over again without stopping. Probably until our lips becomes sour.

“Yeah,” I mumble a reply, it is soft and nearly almost in a whisper.

“I am sorry you had to go through all of that. And trust me when I say I am glad you did not accept Pedro’s proposal. That is a brave move…” he pauses to kiss my hands and my breath hitches up.

That is the thing about our relationship. George  and I have been dating since the last four years yet whatever he says or does always has an effect on me even when I do not want it. The  effects are sweet to experience, to savor, to bask in and I do not want to ever get tired of feeling this way.

No, I do not want to stop feeling this way so of course, when Pedro came along with his proposed, as much as I hated him, he knew damn well that I did hate him but what I was not sure he knew was if he sensed that I was in a relationship and was not ready to give it all up. I love George . It is hard not to. So Pedro seriously had no chance.

And for this one reason, I was happy about it and even considered myself as lucky.

“Whatever I did, I did it because I love you.” George  says, breaking through my thoughts. My whole body tingles at the thought that he loves me too. As much as I did.

“Oh George —” I whisper softly.

“ So don’t ever think you are a burden to me. Do not ever think about fighting this war alone because now, you have me, Zara. And I am ready to stand with you through this all. Because frankly, no one deserves anyone. I do not  deserve you too. But I love you.” He concludes and that alone leaves my heart swelled up with joy inside me.

George  had abandoned his family, he had left everything and everyone behind just to hold my hand through this moment. I do not think there is any better moment than this. So I take his hands into mine and intertwined them together.

“But how about your family? They must be so worried about you?” I couldn’t help asking.

He lets out a concerned sigh, “Nothing is going to happen to them I am sure of it. Pedro does not know who they are yet so he won’t go after them.”

“But we never can tell what Pedro is capable of doing…we should probably call home—”

“This is our home now, Zara.” He cuts me off gently, “Our home. We are safe here and that is all that matters.”

Our home…

I involuntary let a big smile reside on my face as I lean my head into George ’s broad chest. “I love you George . Always.”

“Same Zara, I love you too.”