"Are you alright?" Vee asked her on seeing how she wasn't fully paying so much attention. She seemed worried and distracted. She kept biting her fingernails, which was something she does subconsciously whenever she was worried. "You seem distracted and worried. You've barely touched your food" She explained, pointing at the food on the table. It has been almost an hour since they arrived at the diner and she's been the same.
"What? No no, I'm just not that hungry" Tessa argued, forcing a smile.
"It seems like you'd rather be somewhere else right now...with someone else. This is about the white haired Omega, Kieran. Right?"
"Fine, yeah I am a little worried about him. I haven't seen him today. I'm just worried about how he's doing, that's all" Tessa gave in easily. She knew it would be more trouble trying to lie to her best friend. She was persistent like that.
"It doesn't seem like you're just a little worried. What's going on Tess? That was part of the reason I wanted us to talk today"
"What do you mean 'what's going on'?" Tessa asked with furrowed brows.
"I mean with Kieran. Derek told me about all that's been happening since he came to town. How you've been distant and he barely sees you. How you spend most of your time with Kieran...."
"Of course he did" She sneered
"So spill. What is it about him that got you ditching your boyfriend to spend time with someone you barely know? What's so different about him that got you like this" Vee questioned with a curious look. She genuinely wanted to know what's gotten into her friend.
A small smile formed on her lips when she thought about how to reply her friend's question. "I don't know how to put It in words. It's just....there's something about him. Something that seems to fill what I have been missing. For the first time in a long time, I feel...alive again. Especially when I am with him. There's this thrill" She explained so passionately, smiling the whole time.
Seeing that reaction from her, her friend couldn't believe her eyes. "Oh my God you're in love with him" She blurted out
"What?" Tessa asked with disbelief. She thought she didn't hear right.
"You've known him for less than a week and you've fallen for him. I think that should be a world record. How can you fall for him so fast when you don't know anything about him yet?"
"Stop! I am NOT in love with him" Tessa argued
"You totally are. I know you and Derek seems forced to you but falling for Kieran is a dangerous game. He's going to be seen as a threat to Derek and to everyone who wants to see you end up with Derek" She explained
Tessa knew there was a lot of truth to what she was saying but she didn't agree with the part about her being in love with Kieran. It didn't make sense to her. She barely knew him and it hasn't even been a week they've known each other like she said. But that being said, she was more worried now after hearing all the things she had said about them seeing Kieran as a threat. If that should happen then he's going to be in danger from them. "I have to go see him" She stood up abruptly
"Alright, I am coming with you" Vee stood up too.
***
Walking into the room he was staying in at the pack clinic, both girls found him standing and facing them as he pulled the bandage loose from his eyes. He slowly opened his eyes and then looked up at them with a smirk. "Yo!"
Tessa smiled with relief on seeing his eyes fully healed. She had missed seeing those blue eyes of his. Vee on the other hand was awestruck. Seeing him without the bandage, she realized why her friend had fallen so quickly for him. Anyone could easily fall for those looks, those eyes.
"Your eyes are fully healed" Tessa said with relief.
"Yeah" He replied and then shifted his gaze to Vee. It was the first he was actually seeing her and she was prettier than he had expected. She had a short brown hair. Same height and body size as Tessa but just a little fuller at the breast area. Her skin was tan and she had a beauty mark a little below the left side of her lower lip. Though she was very beautiful as well from his point of view, she still didn't hold a candle to Tessa.
"I guess you're now free to leave anytime you want" Vee stated.
"What?" Tessa shot her friend a dagger piercing look.
"Yeah you're right" Kieran nodded in agreement
"What? What are you talking about?" She asked her friend impatiently and angrily. She felt a new disturbing feeling in her heart. It felt like fear.
"I am talking about him leaving the clinic" Her friend quickly elaborated on seeing how worked up she was getting.
"Oh....oh yeah of course....i knew that was what you meant" She stuttered, forcing a smile to cover how she had just reacted. "I....I reacted that way because I thought it was you know...too soon for him to leave...leave the clinic. The pack doctor might still want to make sure he has fully healed...you know...since it was a wound from an Alpha" She explained desperately. It was all awkward already. It was like she was trying to fix broken pieces.
"Well I am fine and I feel fine" Kieran said, trying to help her out. He was dying with laughter inside seeing how she was struggling to fix the awkward situation she created. He couldn't help but smile openly about it. It was a cute sight to watch.
"Okay...if...if you say so" She shifted her eyes to the floor. She was feeling embarrassed about the whole situation.
"Can we leave this place now? I can't stand being here anymore" Kieran stated
"Yeah. We'll drop you off at the pack house for now"
"Good, let's go" He walked over to her, grabbed her hand and begin leading her out the clinic. Both girls were taken aback by his action, Tessa especially. His soft grip felt warm. Although she was surprised and could practically feel her friend's eyes boring holes on her back, but she loved him taking her hand. She followed his lead out the clinic as long as he didn't let go even though she was acting like she didn't have a choice 'cause of her friend.
***
On dropping Kieran at the pack house, Tessa reversed and drove away from the building, heading to her house. She felt her friend's intensive and questioning look from the side of her eye. "What? Spit it out already"
"What did he mean by 'when is the investigation going to be done'?" Vee asked curiously
"Well...i..." She paused, already feeling the scolding from her friend incoming. "Well I may and may not have lied to him that he wasn't free to leave the pack and town yet" She kept her full attention on the road ahead, not wanting to stare into her eyes at the moment.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well...i lied to him that he wasn't free to leave the town or the pack yet on the orders of my father. That he was still investigated to make sure he wasn't a spy for the enemy and that he wasn't free to go until they are sure" Tessa blurted out
"OH MY GAWD! So you're keeping him against his will?! What the hell are you doing Tess?" She quarreled . "That's not right Tess"
"Of course I know that"
"Then why are you still doing it? Why aren't you letting him go"
"Because i....." She paused, not knowing what to say, what excuse to give. Thinking about it, she didn't know why she was doing it either.
"What? Because you're in love with him?"
"No! will you stop saying that please" She sounded frustrated
"So you're saying it has nothing to do with your feelings? That you don't love him or have any feelings for him?" Vee inquired one last time.
"Yes. I don't love him...that would be stupid" She replied, getting irritated with the continuous and repetitive love talk.
"Good. Then you wouldn't mind if I make a move on him then?"
"Go for it I don't care" She blurted out just before the question sank into her head. "Wait what?"
"Great, thanks" Vee smiled, looked away from her friend and began staring out the window without saying another word.
Tessa gripped the steering wheel tighter, thinking about what just happened and what she had agreed to.
***
Walking into the pack house after being dropped off by Tessa, Kieran realized the whole house was unusually quiet . He made his way toward the stairs leading up to the rooms upstairs. Apart from it being dead quiet, he couldn't pick up the scent of anyone. Not until he got to the top stairs. He caught a familiar scent and knew who it was but as soon as he made a right turn into the passageway where the scent was coming from, he felt a hand grabbed his shoulder swiftly, pulling him into a stake that plunged into his rib.
He groaned with pain, coughing out blood. He grabbed the hand on the stake with both his hands and then looked up to see Derek staring down at him with these hateful eyes and a satisfied smirk on his lips. Derek applied pressure on his shoulder, forcing Kieran to his knees, not minding the look of pain on his face.
"You Omegas are starting to forget your place. I probably have to blame the system for that, for being too lenient" He said, leaning closer to Kieran. "You're not from this pack, you're a filthy Omega, a weakling. You have no business standing close to an Alpha's daughter ...and worse speaking to her so casually" He explained, watching him bleed all over. Watching him suffer from the pain he was inflicting was the sight he always wanted to see right from the moment he saw him flash Tessa a smile.
"I don't care if you've been freed by the Alpha and I don't care that you're now a member of this pack. That's more reason for you to know your place and stay away from Tessa, be as far as possible from her"
Thinking through the pain he was feeling, Kieran tried to make sense of what Derek was saying. He had no idea he had been freed, not to talk about being part of the pack without his consent. Tessa must have known about it and probably kept it from him.
"I am a high rank wolf in this pack so I can do whatever I want to you and no one would bat an eye. You can tell I am not just spewing words by the way the whole pack house is empty on my orders. Tessa is MINE and if we should have this conversation again, it will be the last one you'll ever hold. Do you understand?" He began twisting the stake which was still buried into his rib.
"Argh!...."Kieran cried out in pain before nodding his head in response to the question.
"Good" Derek sneered before letting go of the stake and walking past him, making his way down the stairs and out the pack house.
Kieran gritted his teeth, groaning while pulling out the stake. He pressed his bloody hand against his wound and held the stake with his other, staring at his blood drip from it. "I guess this is where I am going to die...and because of a girl" He said to himself. He had no intention of staying away from Tessa. Not until he has to leave the pack. He wasn't just going to stay just because they made him a member without his knowing. But still, he wasn't ready to part with her. "What a dilemma" He muttered, shutting his eyes, hoping he'll heal before anyone gets back.