REJECTED: The Alpha Behind The Mask

Alpha Eric’s POV

I stood there as I struggled to catch my breath. Jackson might not know how to control his abilities, but his visions were always right and accurate.

“Alpha.” He called out to me, when he noticed I wasn’t saying a word.

“It’s okay, you should get some rest. I’ll bring a friend of mine who will help give you some guidance. Just go in and rest.” I patted him on the shoulder with a weak smile. I’m an alpha, it’s not proper to show weakness in front of my followers.

Jackson flashed me an assuring smile and left me alone in the garden.

The moment he left, I quickly took my phone from my pocket and dialed father’s line. In a few minutes, it was picked.

“You finally called.” he spoke in a low, deep voice, almost like a sleepy voice.

“Are you alright, dad.” I asked as I felt my heart thump in fear.

I heard movement over the phone for a while before he responded, “I’ve been sick for two days now.” his words were cut off by a severe cough. “Have you gone to the hospital, should I call your personal doctor.” I asked in panic as I felt my hands becoming sweaty.

“I’m fine, this is just a little fever.” he argued weakly.

“This is no little fever, I’m coming right away, just wait for me.” I quickly ended the call and rushed inside the house. I was almost at the door of my room when I met Victoria, also coming to my room.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“I was in the garden, is everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just want to have a few words with you.” She mumbled. I wanted to ask her to wait until I got back, but she was Victoria and I knew I wouldn’t be okay if I didn’t know what was bothering her. “Come in.” I opened the door of my room and we both went in.

Victoria sat on the couch while I sat on the bed with my thoughts still on Dad.

“I want to leave.” She muttered in a whisper, but I could clearly hear her.

With confused eyebrows, I stared at her and wondered what she was saying.

“I can’t keep staying here, I need to find somewhere else to stay, or I can go back to Sonia’s apartment and stay with her…” I did not let her finish before I cut her off,Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“And what brought such ideas to you?” I asked as I stood up from the bed and walked to her.

I watched her bite her lips for a while before she slowly lifted her head and stared right at me. “I can’t keep staying here, I can’t live with someone who isn’t married to me, my aunt will be angry if she finds out about it.” she murmured like an innocent and naive kid. “And beside we were not living together, why should we do it now.” she added.

Hearing those words from her, I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking of what I should say to her. “I was thinking you had Sonia’s number, maybe you should call her.” she suggested while staring at me with quizzical stares.

“There is no need for that, you still haven’t gotten your memory. Why don’t you stay here for a while, so I can take care of you.” I pleaded.

“No, I can’t keep staying here, I don’t want to be dependent on you.” She muttered out seriously.

“I’m not complaining, and you are not dependent on me.”

“I am, I eat your food, sleep in your house and wear clothes you bought for me, I’m definitely dependent on you.” she started firmly.

Seeing her act this way, it felt like I was talking to the old Victoria I knew, one who was always strong and stubborn.

“Let’s talk about it when I get back, I need to go somewhere,” I pleaded. She stared at me like she was about to say something, but she eventually gave up and walked away.

With heavy feet, I walked to my closet, changed into something better and left my room.

I took the stairs and met Victoria in the sitting room in deep thoughts that she didn’t notice me coming. I stood a bit far from her and watched how she kept murmuring words to herself with her two hands on her chin.

Staring at her, the words of Jackson rang in my head. He did not make mention of whose grave it was, and I knew the two people I cared most about were father and Victoria.

Quickly, I shook off the thoughts of anything happening to Victoria. I can’t imagine what I would go through if the moon goddess decided to take Victoria away from me.

“I’ll be back soon,” I announced. She slightly raised her head and stared at me with a quizzical look before she slowly nodded her head.

I flashed a weak smile at her and left the house. I got to my car and decided to drive myself to dad’s place, so I could ease the tension I was going through.

Within a few minutes, I parked my car in dad’s garage and walked into the sitting room, where I saw his cook and housekeeper.

“Welcome Alpha Eric.” they both greeted.

“Where is Dad?” I asked while staring around. Usually, dad would always be around the sitting room or bar whenever he knew I was coming.

“He is resting in his room,” his keeper replied without meeting my gaze, indicating something was wrong.

Quickly I climbed the stairs, almost like I was jumping because I was climbing three stairs at a time, so I could quickly get to his room.

Quickly, I opened the door of his room and dashed in, only to see dad seated on his bed while making a call.

He moved his gaze to the door the moment I got in and stared at me with curious eyes.

I stood by the door and stared back at him, as he kept staring at me with a questioning look.

“Let me call you back.” he told the person over the phone and ended the call.

“Will you just stand there,” he asked in a firm voice. Hearing the tone of his voice, I felt all my tensed muscles relaxed, and finally, I could breathe with ease.

“Erikson.” he called out to me,

With a heavy sigh, I left the door, strolled to his side and sat beside him. “How are you?” Was the first thing that came out of my mouth.

“I’m fine, is that why you look this horrible?” Dad chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. “And when did you start getting scared over little matters like this?” dad asked, as he kept staring at me.

In order to hide my feelings and fear from him, I sighed heavily before speaking, “I’m not scared, I just came to see you, that’s all.” I murmured and stood up from the bed.

“Terrible liar” he muttered with a soft sigh, stood up from the bed and slowly walked up to me.

“Something is definitely bothering you,” he muttered, while placing his hands on my shoulders.

“I’m fine, I’m just stressed.” I replied quickly and moved away from him. I sat on the couch and tried to hide my feelings from him. I can’t let him know about me and Sophie’s baby, and I certainly can’t let him know about Jackson’s vision.

“I thought you would bring her here.” he said, referring to Victoria.

“I thought you weren’t too strong, so I decided to come alone,” I responded with a murmur.

“I told you it was just a small fever.” Dad sighed heavily, walked towards the bar in his room and took out a bottle of wine.

“Do you care for one?” he asked while raising a glass to me,

“Yeah.” I nodded my head and watched him pour the wine into the glasses and came back to the couch. He handed a glass to me and sat on the couch opposite me and took a sip of the drink.

With the glass in my hand, I watched him sip his drink slowly but with ease.

Staring at him, I could notice some white hair growing in his hair, his beard was still black except from a little white hair growing in-between.

His green eyes, which I inherited from him, were still the same, but just that they looked dull and out of life.

“What are you thinking?” he asked while giving me a quizzical look.

“Nothing.” I replied quickly and looked away from him.

Dad stared at me for a while before he left my side.

“What if she doesn’t get her lost memory back?” he asked,

His words made me speechless because I hadn’t thought about it. All I kept thinking about was what I would do if she eventually got her memory, but I never thought of what I would do if she didn’t get it back.

Dad and I sat there in total silence as none of us uttered a word. I watched dad tap his fingers on his glass of wine as he went into deep thought. He ran his fingers through his hair as he would always do if something was bothering him.

“What are you thinking?” I asked while taking a sip of my drink.

He sucked a deep breath, slowly drank all the wine in his glass, kept the glass on the table and fixed his gaze on me.

“It will be a full moon soon.” dad murmured.

I stared at him as my eyebrows furrowed, confused. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what I meant.” Dad frantically asked while shaking his head.

I released a soft sigh and wondered why dad was so worried about the full moon? It’s not like I’m eighteen that I needed to be shifted to my wolf for the first time, so why was he bothered about the full moon?

I was still pounding in thought when I realized what Dad meant, “Victoria.” I murmured.

Dad was worried about Victoria going into her heat period at a time like that.

“You have to talk to her, you need to explain things to her. The earlier, the better,” dad suggested.

“I can’t, dad. Where and how do I start explaining things to her? How do I tell her that I’m not just an ordinary human, how do I tell her I have special powers and gifts different from humans, how do I do that?” I grumbled tiredly.

“You are alpha Eric, you shouldn’t be weak.”

“I’m weak when it comes to Victoria, I don’t know how to start explaining things to her, without her getting scared of me. Remember, she is naive and different from the strong will Victoria, you know.” I mumbled while rubbing my hands on my face tiredly.

Dad and I kept silent for a while, and only the soft sighs coming from my lips could be heard.

“So what will you do if she goes on heat.” dad asked with his gaze fixed on me.

“I don’t know, when I get there, I’ll know what to do.” I muttered confidently, even though I knew I was scared.

Dad stared at me for a while like he was trying to read through me, before he slowly shook his head and stood up from the couch

“I hope you know what you are doing.” With those words, he slowly walked to his bed, sat on it for a while before he lay on the bed and shut his eyes.

Seeing that he wanted to sleep, I kept the glass on the table, stood up from the couch and stared at father for a while before leaving his room.

I left his room, got downstairs, talked to a few of dad’s men about his welfare.

With so many thoughts in my head, I drove back home, knowing Victoria would be waiting for a reply from me, but I knew I wouldn’t grant her request.

I just got a vision of losing someone, and I can’t let her leave my sight for anything.

Victoria’s POV

I hurried to the window when I heard the sound of a car driving in. I peeped through the window and saw Eric come out of the car.

He gave the keys to his driver and whispered words into his ear, which I couldn’t hear.

Quickly, I left the window, rushed downstairs and met Eric making his way to the kitchen.

“You are back.” I greeted him.

“Yeah, I went to see my dad.” he responded while avoiding my gaze.

I walked to him and stood in front of the fridge, preventing him from reaching it. “Why didn’t you take me along with you?” I asked with a small frown on my face.

“I thought you needed rest.”

“I don’t need rest, I’m perfectly fine, stop treating me like a kid.” I complained.

He released a soft sigh and placed his two hands on my shoulders. “I’m sorry, next time I’ll take you along with me.” he expressed those words as a promise. I stared at him with a frown before I moved from the fridge.

He flashed me a weak smile, opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water from the freezer.

I stood there and watched him empty the water bottle before throwing it in the waste bin. “Is something wrong?” He asked,

“Not really, we just need to finish what we started.” I replied while pulling out a chair from the kitchen table and sat on it.

“I can’t let you go, at least not now.” he muttered firmly, and stood by the kitchen door. His right leg was crossed on his left leg while his arms were folded.

Staring at him, I could notice something was definitely odd about him, and I was curious about it.

“I’m not a kid anymore, I might not remember a few of my memories, but that doesn’t make me a kid.” I muttered.

“I’m not saying you are a kid, I just can’t let you go back to Sonia.” he explained like an annoyed father.

His words made me leave my seat and walked up to him, but I made sure I was few steps away from him.

“And why is that?” I asked while meeting his green piercing eyes.

He took a deep breath, kept quiet for a while before he spoke up, “You and Sonia were not on good terms before you left, but I don’t know the reasons why.” he explained.

With his words, I recalled Sonia wanted to say something to me about us at the hospital, but Eric stopped her.

“I’m not saying Sonia is a bad person, I just don’t want you staying with her at the moment.” he added.

“I can’t keep staying here, I can’t keep depending on you, I need to work and take care of my aunt.” I complained while looking away, but he grabbed my arms, and moved my gaze to him.

“I have more than enough to take care of you and your aunt,” he stated sincerely.