TAMING THE PLAYBOY ALPHA - Chapter 124: Chapter 124

: MONSTER
FREYA'S POV:
"Are you okay?"
He leans even closer to brush my messed up hair that's blocking half my face.
I unintentionally flinch away, putting more distance between us. I'm still jittery from before.
"Freya?"
It's only now I remember I'm in the passage seat of his car, hours after the whole threatening experience with the wizard.
He's not here anymore.
For now.
I seat up straight, nodding my head too much in a desperate attempt to prove that I am when, infact, I'm terrified and scared of the person I had sought out to make a deal with.
Now, my life would most likely be in impending danger.
"I'm fine." I smile wide as possible, adding a forced chuckle.
The worry in his eyes doesn't leave, however. He watches me carefully, debating on if to pry further or let me be.
The air between us is still strained.
Even with the mini picnic he had set up in Narnia, our conversation was bland. He kept joking around, I kept looking away from anything that had a reflective surface.
I think I'm scared of mirrors now.
And when we had stayed way past time to leave and the school bus had long left me, he awkwardly asked if he could take me back.
Now that his eyes weigh his options, I can already guess his choice, and he takes it the moment he offers a small smile in response.
I let out a relieved breath.
Instead of questioning, he leans in closer, grabbing the seat belt and clasping it in place, momentarily giving me a whiff of that potent scent that drives me crazy.
Is it me or is this shit getting stronger and stronger by the day?
The journey begins soon and it's silent just as I want it to be, allowing myself to sink into my deep thoughts.
The only question heavy on my mind is 'What now?'
What happens now that I'm unable to keep my end of or deal with the crazy guy?
Would he kill me in my sleep, or haunt my dreams till I somehow get it?
Now that I've chosen to give Silas another chance.
Now that I've given myself another chance at trusting someone at not being alone...
What comes next? What do I do now?
Maybe the constant dark trope of my life has gone on for so long that I can't fathom happiness, and if at all I find something like it exists, I don't know what to do with myself.
"Freya... We're here."
As I come into consciousness, I realize we're already back at school. The sky is already dark and gloomy.
"Oh." I say, taking off the seat belt off.
Suddenly, he's hopping out of the car and walking to the other side, pulling my door open with a hand being offered.
"Thank you." I say, taking it and stepping out slowly.
I'm thrown into the cool windy night, freezing up my hands in seconds. I rub my hands fast enough, taking a step towards my dorm.
"Can I follow you?" He asks as he sees me leaving, and I stop.
I stare at him for a while before speaking.
"Silas... I know I agreed to a second chance but I just need a little time to wrap my head around all this - the contract, your feelings and even mine."
I love you but I don't trust myself to know what to do about it.
He nods slowly with so much understanding in his eyes even when I think he's going to grow impatient and hate me now.
He smiles instead and leans in to drop the softest kiss against my forehead. The brief abrasion of skin sends warmth down to my heart, easing some of my worry instantly.
"Goodnight." He says.
"Goodnight." I respond.
The walk back to my dorm is short and passes by like a breeze because my mind is too occupied with so much, and when I finally walk into the warm cozy room, I see Xena.
I don't know why I'm relieved to see her in her jammies with a dried up face mask plastered all over her face, watching a movie with a snicker bar in her hand.
The relief makes me understand that even with me saying I'm okay with it, a part of me is terrified that she would be somewhere else with Lucas once I return.
I close the door behind me and before she can offer a greeting or ask how my day had gone, I run up to her and hug her tightly.
"Freya?" I know she's confused by the sudden action, but I cling on.
"Are you okay?"
I say nothing for a while, taking in her scent. The subtle smell of apricot and carrots from her shampoo lingers on her skin, so I know she's just had a bath.
"You smell great." I comment.
"Thank you?"
She's still confused but I take my time to gather my words before I speak.
"That day that I yelled at you and even after then, I felt like everyone was leaving me even you. So, I wanted to learn to get by on my own like I always have. But today, I realized I'm too much of a coward and I've gotten used to having so much that I don't want to let go anymore." I say.
My attempt at not sounding so emotional is fruitless once my voice cracks against my will and the tears gather in my eyes.
"Oh, Freya... Is this about me being mated to Lucas? You'll always be a priority." She argues.
Her words make me love her even more. Even more, I realize how blinded by the insignificant things I had let myself become.
"No... I don't want you to fight a part of yourself for me. Lucas might have a lot of issues but he really cares about you. I think you're just what he needs to set him straight. Plus, I know there would still be a place for me as well."
"Always." She says, hugging me back tighter.
It feels like the reconciliation we should have had days ago. Everything feels lighter.
"I'm giving Silas another chance." I add.
She pulls away to look at me incredulously but the look on my face silences every crude comment she was planning to make about him.
"Are you sure?" She asks instead of the thousand things that had crossed her mind in that split second.
"Yeah... I can't explain it but I just know that wherever the crazy bastard goes, I wouldn't think twice about tagging along blindfolded." I explain. Admitting it out loud came with a whole different kind of internal peace that washes over me. The truth itself empowers me to be brave despite my countless weaknesses.
"That's weirdly beautiful." Xena comments. We both laugh at how true it is and fall into this peaceful moment where we just lie side by side, staring up into the ceiling with our fingers intertwined.
All of a sudden, I realize that I'm conscious and waking up with no recollection of what had happened before the black out, or how I had even gotten outside.
I'm standing in an empty field with nothing but dead grass and no trees in sight.
The night is dark with a blood red moon, and the solid beneath my feet darker than the sky. Asides all this is the dread in my chest, heavy and weighing down on me so much that it's hard to breathe or stand up from the filthy soil I'm sitting on.
There's nothing for miles and miles.
Just me.
"Hello?" I call into nothing and surprisingly, my voice echoes back, adding more to the bad feeling I'm having.
When I look down to the earth again, suddenly, I'm staring at my reflection in the pond that's appeared from nowhere.
Black skinny hands with long sharp fingers suddenly dart out of the water, grabbing onto my face.
I scream just before I'm pulled underwater. I struggle with the vine-like fingers that wrap around me as the water fills my lungs, trying to swim up but the hands act like chains, holding me from getting back for more air.
The hand squeezes tighter.
My legs and hands are bound like chains with one last vine wrapped round my neck; all holding me perfectly in place.
Purple light glimmers before me before it fades into a silhouette that comes even closer, resembling a man now clad in a dark cloak as always.
Suddenly, I can breathe again and air finally fills my lungs while I gasp for it desperately. "Wizard..." I'm the least bit surprised it's him and scowl once my breathing stabilizes "In the flesh." He adds smugly.
I see he's chosen to murder me.
Even now, fear nags at the back of my mind, growing stronger and warning me continuously while he grows closer. My heart pounds faster. "Poor Freya, drowning in the water, who could possibly save her?" He says in a demeaning tone to mock my helplessness and lack of power.
I snarl at him even more. "You... Undo this!"
"Ah...and what will be in it for me if I let you go?" He asks, raising a brow.
The question itself is a trap.
I can't quite tell if he's trying to trick me into another deal, or pointing out the fact that I hadn't kept my end on the other one.
I remain silent, either way choosing not to play this sick game. "Speechless, I see. You cannot bargain with me now that you've failed to keep your promise." He taunts.
The playful tone draws further from his voice and his true twisted and mangled up voice seeps through, hurting my ears in the process. It's almost inhuman. More feral.
I need to find a way to escape.
"I'll give you anything else..." I offer. life would suffice. Would you be willing to
"Your make that offer?" He twists his neck that cracks, like shattering bones in an unnatural manner - yet he seems unharmed.
More and more, he seems like a monster.
"Why are you doing this?" My voice unintentionally trembles towards the ending. "Why? Why are you foolish? I offered you power- the power of merely being an Alpha. I offered you salvation from your wretched fate. I offered you freedom from the binds of others that do not care for you."
With every statement, he grows closer and closer to my face, till his venomous swirling purple eyes are just an inch from mine, and the hands wrapped round my neck squeezes it even tighter. Till my eyes burn.
"I'm sorry." I beg, wheezing again. "Begging now, knowing that I hold your life in my hands?" He smirks, finally pulling farther away. The hands by my neck loosen and I cough out, taking a huge chunk of air back in.
For a second, I actually felt myself on the brink of actually collapsing.
While I'm gasping for air, he chuckles from the amusement I'm giving him.
"If you could kill me, you would have done it already." I call his bluff.
His laughing seizes, the smile drops and he's looking at me with a poisonous gaze again, like he really wants to get me but he's being very patient. "True, I would. My power is weak, and all I can do is haunt your dreams but do not count yourself saved, Freya. I can torment you in many more ways than your puny Omega mind could possibly fathom." He says with a cold hard tone.
"You are nothing but a puny rat beneath my thumb even in my weakened state, and I could still scar your mind to an irreparable extent." He adds to his threat before suddenly pausing. Like a mood swing again, he smiles suddenly, reverting to his playful self with a wide snicker. "You have a week to retrieve the necklace. Exactly one week from today, before the stroke of midnight. Classic, right?"
"And if I don't?"
"We'll see if, like Cinderella, your prince would be so charming once the magic wears off."