The Alpha's Omega Mate-Chapter 140: My Papa.

~Dahlia’s POV~

I do not know for how long I stood there crying out my eyes but by the time I finally came through, I noticed that Alpha Kai was now dressed in a simple brown tunic and black pants. His hair was messy like he had run a hand through it several times, and his eyes— those eyes— were latched on me while he stood awkwardly to the side, his gaze soft.

I blinked at him in disbelief because for some reason, I found his attitude strange. I found how he’d simply left me to cry while he stood with me and watched uncomfortable; until he drawled;

"I’m sorry, I should’ve left you to yourself, but I couldn’t leave when you are like this... I also did not know how to console you either. So..." He trailed off, a hint of amusement slipping into his eyes.

Something about the smile on his face warmed my heart, and I smiled, despite being aware that it would come out as one of those watery smiles.

Alpha Kai then closed the distance between us, he took both of my hands in his and I stifled a groan when several watts of electricity sparked between our intertwined flesh, shooting straight to my spine and core.

I shut my suddenly heavy eyelids tightly, sighing deeply as I whispered; "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked, his hoarse voice sounding dangerously too close now, even his warm breath now tickled against the shell of my ear, but I didn’t move away from him. I didn’t tell him off either.

I let him lead me outside the house to the sweet smelling gardens, a permanent smile plastered across my face as I shrugged. "For everything, you know. For helping me. For taking my daughter and I in. For—"

"You’re my betrothed," he cut in quickly just as his grip on my hands tightened. "...and for that, it’s my duty to always step in whenever you need me. I also know that you can feel the mate bond simmering between us. I can feel it too. I acknowledge it. and I want it—"

"I don’t know, Alpha Kai." Now, it was my turn to interrupt him.

But as soon as the words slipped out of my lips, his eyes darkened; and I had almost begun to think that they did because I’d just subtly dismissed him until he calmly let go of my hands, facepalmed himself and groaned; "Kai! Kai! Kai! Dahlia sweetheart, is my name that difficult to pronounce? Should I shorten it to K? You know, I’d do it for you."

I noticed how a few patrolling soldiers stopped to give us surprised looks and a blush crept up my cheeks as I tried ignoring them, listening instead to Kai berating me for the nth time for refusing to stop referring to him by his title. I ducked my head, smiling sweetly as I continued; "What about Alpha K? Is that okay with you?"

The groan that slipped past Alpha Kai’s lips now was so loud, I literally had to stick my fingers into my ears. He rolled his eyes at me, smirking as he snorted; "My problem isn’t with whatever you choose to call me. I just don’t like you calling me Alpha. You used to call me Kai, and I want you to do so again."

The emotion behind those words further stirred something relatively dead within my chest. But deciding not to push this too far, I nodded once. "Okay Kai."

Now, it was his turn to smile. "Good."

We continued our trek around the house in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts and content with the other person’s silent presence; and while he showed me around the house, my mind couldn’t help but wander to the possibility of my father being alive,

... and sometimes to the thought of that girl sleeping in that room.

I thought about saving her, about checking to see if my powers could bring her out of her two-year long coma, but the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t help but think that it was a bad idea. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

I mean, how do I tell Kai that I wanted to go check on his sister— a woman that I barely know, without him getting suspicious?

And how do I save her without blowing my cover?

These thoughts plagued me for a long time and I was only snapped out of my train of thoughts when I felt someone shaking me slightly, and I glanced down at our intertwined hands in surprise until I realized that it was Kai.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

I shook my head then, smiling softly as I wiped the cover of my eyes. And then I sighed; "I do not know why I suddenly spaced out, but I’ve been thinking. I’ve been thinking because it just occurred to me that my father had always been alive. That I’ve not always been an orphan like I thought I was. That I wasn’t as alone in this world as I used to thi—"

"You’ve never really been alone." Kai muttered, interrupting me. "I do not know why you don’t remember anything from your past but you have a few family members left."

"Like my Dad?"

"Yes, and your grandmother."

I froze. "My grandmother?"

"Yes," Kai responded with a soft laugh. "I don’t know a lot but I knew that at some point, she was looking for you." However, he was just about to say something else when I noticed a soldier running over to us, whilst waving his hands around like he was trying to get Kai’s attention.

I nudged Kai’s side, pointing at the soldier in the distance and said; "I think he’s trying to get you."

Kai stopped then to see what I was talking about, and as soon as he noticed the soldier, he gave me a wry smile and leaned down, just as his hold on my hand tightened even more.

"We’ll talk later." He informed me softly, "I just need to see what’s happening with them and why I’m needed. Okay?"

For a couple of seconds, I strangely couldn’t speak but could only gulp at the large lump now forming in my throat. "Okay."

He stated for a minute longer, reassuring me and when he was certain that I was now comfortable, he turned away, not before planting a kiss into my hair.

I watched him walk away for a while with my heart pounding frantically against my chest. It wasn’t until after he’d disappeared at a sharp corner that I let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

Maybe, I could do it now, right? Maybe I could try to help Elodie... right? RIGHT?

With this thought in mind, I quietly snuck back into the house, but just as I was about to sneak into the corridor leading to the room where Elodie was, I was suddenly halted in my tracks when I found Amara waiting as if for me, frowning with both of her hands planted on her waist.

"Mommy, where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you." She asked but I didn’t miss the edgy tone lacing each word like the damn honey.

"I...I—" I began to say but stopped when Amara wanted me off, coming instead to wrap her arms around my legs as she said; "When will you let me see my papa?"

For a moment, I simply stood there— frozen, and in shock, whilst staring down at Amara like she was someone I could hardly recognise anymore. Amara met my gaze with just as much fierceness, occasionally smiling sweetly at me, as if daring me to do something I’d regret.

I didn’t.

Instead, I crouched in front of her whilst taking both of her hands into mine as I asked her; "Why?"

She frowned but right now, I couldn’t bring myself to be mad at her. I could only see her as a child, one that was busy throwing tantrums which was strange because Amara never does that.

"What, mommy?"

"Why have you been acting up? Why have you stopped being a good girl? Do you not like it here?" I rushed out exasperatedly, my heart sinking when Amara shook her head.

"No, I don’t." She said, and as she did, I couldn’t help but notice how sad she looked. And I couldn’t help but realize that all of these were taking a toll on her as much as it did me— if not more. My heart suddenly began to feel heavy.

"You said you’ll take us to a human village, but this is not human village." She continued, now obviously sounding pissed.

I studied her for a moment, watching her face, her features... her expressions and mannerisms. I do not know why but everything struck me as that of someone who was disgusted to be here so I asked; "Do you not like Alpha Kai."

Amara immediately shook her head as she said; "I do, not he’s not my papa."

"Alpha Zarek isn’t your papa either!" I snapped irritatedly, but she simply shrugged, glancing away from me.

"That, I don’t know."

Bloody hell?!