Chapter 52

• Hit Pretty Bad
• HAERA. I was hit pretty bad. I must have been. I'm sure one of them gave me a hard hit to the head, enough to make me lose control of my senses for a split second. Even the fact that my head was ringing and every part of it hurt was proof of how possible it was for me to have lost all sense of reasoning so much that I now make things up. Things like the familiar steely grey eyes of my mate turning into bright brown ones that had some sort of emptiness to them even as the kitchen lights accentuated them. That emptiness is what made force my eyes open wider and try to clear my head to look closely at the person standing in front of me. I knew immediately that it wasn't the one person I know who possessed a face like that. It was an entirely different person whose unfamiliarity seemed so familiar. He stood by the door of the kitchen, his body covering the entire rectangular frame with only a few inches left for his head to touch the top frame of the door. Both his feet crossed and stretched into the room while his arms also assumed the same position over his chest as he looked back at me. His aura was strong. Stronger than the few ones I've been around since I got to this pack. I knew his rank had to be between being an Alpha or a Beta. I could feel it. But an Alpha in a palace that already has an Alpha? It was crazy. But the craziest thing was the fact that it was like I was looking at Alpha Zachary. A leaner, muscly and hollow splitting image of him with his eyes being the only other noticeable difference between them. It felt like it's been minutes since he's been standing there, studying me and watching me with caution but it was only been a few seconds since his presence chased the maids off. The cargo palace uniform made feel stupid for thinking he was a Wolf of an higher rank when he was just one of the guards in the palace. Whoever he was, I owed him life. I thought I had met my end mere moments ago and I was ready to die without even putting up a fight. I didn't expect anyone to come save me. Even if I had secretly hoped the Alpha would show up because his scent was everywhere around me. I guess it's just my imagination for the past few days and the person in front of me wasn't the Alpha. And I guess it's my desperation that's making me see the face of the Alpha on a random man who was probably on patrol around the Palace when he heard the commotion in the kitchen. I was just seeing things. The hits I took to my head was taking a toll on me and I needed to leave this place fast. Before my wounds start to heal and freak the man in front of me out. "Are you okay? You're so stubborn Haera. I could have helped." Dezra finally made her grievances known after she has been quiet in my head for a few minutes. "I'm going to start the hea-" "No. Don't. Not now. We have to get out of here first, a guard is watching," I mind-linked weakly, it was as if merely talking in my head was draining all that's left of my energy. I felt Dezra's anger as she whined. "Can you even walk? You're hurt Haera. This carefulness is the same thing that got you into mess when I could have ripped the heads of those scumbags off their neck." She spat and I knew it was of no use arguing with her. The man was still standing there, doing nothing said waiting for me to make the first move while I just laid on the cold floor like a spineless doll. Feeling like a wimp and a fool under his open scrutiny and somewhat judging eyes, I made to raise my body from the floor but the attempt shot pain through my arms that I tried to use to hold myself up. I winced and fell back to the hard and cold floor. "Hey. Are you okay?" One minute he was at the door and the next he was striding towards me with precise steps, closing the sparse distance between us and crouching down in front of me. Startled by his sudden movement and the closeness of his face that was too real to be just my imagination as I had concluded earlier, I lifted myself off the floor in a swift and painful motion, pushing back with both my palms flat on the floor and putting me at least five feet away from him. That reaction cost me a lot more than I bargained for because pain–excruciating and mind numbing– soared inside me that I let out a loud cry of pain as I heard my bones crack and snap. It hurt everywhere and it felt like just moments ago when I thought I'd die. I wonder how many bones were out of place and how much time it will take Dezra to heal them. One thing I knew was that I could hardly feel my own body except for the pain of how battered it was. "Fuck! Are you okay?" The palace guard said again, with concern lacing his deep voice. I wiped tears away from the corner of my swollen eyes and looked up at him closely. "I'm..I'm fine..." I managed to say. He sighed and propped down in front of me ,not bothering to cover the distance I put between us. I couldn't move further away either. It was too painful to even blink. "You shouldn't have moved like that. You probably have a couple of broken bones from all that beating," No shit Sherlock. Like I don't already know that. Something else bothered me other than the pain I was going through that moment. It was the realization that my imagination wasn't the one going wild. With the guards closeness to me and the way the kitchen lights highlighted every single one of his features, I was convinced that I wasn't seeing things. It's indeed someone who had way too many similarities with the Alpha. So much that it scared me to just look at me. I felt my my brain do that thing. The memory juggling thing where your mind takes you through a thousand and more places or events where you've seen a particular person or thing. That reminder that you know that person, you just don't know where you've seen them and your mind doesn't let you rest until you remember. I juggled through all of the possible places I must have seen someone so alike to the Alpha. Just when my mind took me through the memories of my first time at the Imperial pack, it all came to a pause because I remembered. The instant remembrance made my already swollen eyes go twice theiri size and my reaction caused a sly smile to curve by his lips. "You seem like you know me" Of course I knew him. Why wouldn't I know someone who was one of the reasons why I ever even visited the Imperial pack in the first place? Why wouldn't I know or remember the murderous look on his face and the rage that took over his entire being when he fought Alpha Zachary at the duel. How could I forget the man that shifted into his Wolf to attack my mate during the duel? How could I forget Alpha Prince Tybalt? The legitimate son of the previous Alpha of the Imperial pack and brother to the new Alpha of the pack. Only he didn't seem like the Alpha Prince I saw that very day at the duel. The uniform he had one made him seem like a different person entirely save for his aura that was still so strong for someone who was a palace guard. I was right after all. I knew that aura could only belonged to someone of that rank but I was shocked as well. The last thing I remember about Alpha prince Tybalt was him saving me from falling from a ladder while I was removing the decorations for the duel but that was not the memory I chose to know of him. I didn't need anyone to tell me that Alpha Prince Tybalt was venomous. I saw it myself on the day of the duel and I remembered how much it annoyed me to see him battle a man who wasn't even giving it a fight. The rage and the hatred he had for his half-brother was glaring to me and I should have accepted it as something normal for brothers born in such situation but maybe the fact that the Alpha was my mate made me hate Alpha prince Tybalt and how he seemed like he would kill Alpha if he had the chance. Maybe that's why his aura was so strong. It had rage and anger bottled up inside of it and I don't want to have anything to do with someone like him. Him being here was more shocking than me finding out who he was and that uniform...did he really become one of the palace guards. "You're... you're..." I couldn't even get the words out as I just stared at him keeping it in mind that no pain would stop me from racing out of here if things go south with this man. He might have saved me a second time but I knew better than to trust a man whose legitimate position is now being occupied by someone else. He merely chuckled, his eyes crinkling by the sides just like Alpha Zachary's eyes go whenever he does the same. The similarity was scary. "It's fine... I get that look a lot," he said. "What look?" I feigned ignorance. "The one that says 'oh my god, I can't believe it's Alpha prince Tybalt. The Alpha prince who lost his position. Wait, is that a guard uniform he's wearing?'..." He paused and then smirked before saying "That look." The accuracy of his words made me look away out of guilt like a child that was caught doing something bad. "But it's fine anyway. It's why I stay out of everyone's way. I was only patrol when I heard the commotion and I couldn't help but check. You could have screamed for help, why did you take all that?" I didn't say anything. I just wanted to be away from him. I remained mute, hoping he'd just leave me to be able to tend to my wounds as fast as I could. I was just a maid that no one is meant to care about and having him ask questions made me feel so uncomfortable. Maybe it would have been better if it was my mate who was there. His scent was still all around the kitchen and I feared I might be really losing my mind. The pain in my heart seemed to hurt more than the one my body beared. I can't believe I thought he would actually come to save me. Hearing Dezra call him my Alpha in shining armor would probably put me off for the next few days. "I'm guessing you have no plans to answer me," he said again, rubbing his hands together. "Fine then, I won't ask anymore questions. I'll help you ge--" My eyes shot back to him. "No...I'm fine. I'll clean this mess and leave myself." Alpha prince Tybalt scoffed. "Really? Have you seen yourself? Can you even walk?" "I can walk just fine." I made an attempt to stand but my body protested just as I did and I prepared myself to fall back heavily to the door but his arms wrapped around me protectively and pulled me into him before I hit the floor. My breath caught in my throat as I slowly looked up at him. His brown eyes peered down at me while he still held me to himself. "You don't look like you can," he said in amusement. I opened my mouth to say something but it was only a shocked gasp that came out of it when he lifted me from the floor with himself and swooped me into his hands, one coming around my thighs, just below my waist and the other wrapped tightly around my upper body. I've never felt so small in my entire life. Puzzled and definitely taken aback, I tried to push off him but his grip was hard around me. "Don't fight me. I won't let you go until you're somewhere you can rest and heal up even if it looks like it will take days." Without another word, he began to head for the door with me in his arms. I couldn't even argue neither did I fight it but my heart raced because such a man had me in his arms. I felt insecure instantly. About my weight. My looks. My smell. Everything. And also the fact that anyone could see us like this. He was headed in the direction of the maid quarters and so I just stayed quiet silently praying to the moon goddess that we don't bump into anyone on the way even if I knew the chances were slim. For the first time however,the moon goddess was on my side because we were a few feet away from the maid quarters in just a few seconds. When I saw the the lights were still own, I knew I had to stop him from taking me any further. "You can't go any further," I said. He paused to look down at me. I avoided his gaze. "The maids... it's not a good idea for us to be seen together." "So what do you suggest? I leave you here when you can barely walk?" "I can make it to the building." "How convincing." "I really can okay? This is not about you but it's about me. I'm the one who will get talked about. Just set me down here and you can leave." He sighed. "Fine then, I'll let you down but not here." He didn't wait for me to talk as he took long strides towards the same place I just told him go back off from. "What are you doing?" I wanted to scream it but I merely whispered. He said nothing while I panicked that anyone could see me in the state I was in. He finally let me down on the low pavement outside of the maid quarters. I was stunned at his recklessness that it left me speechless. "You can murder me or thank me later, right now, you need to get yourself treated," he said with a nod at me. "See you around." With his final words, he turned around around and walked back in the direction he came through. "What was that just now?" Dezra asked as I walked into the quarters painstakingly trying not to limp and give away the fact that I was hurt. No one even cared to look my way and Opaline was yet to retire to the bunker room. "Honestly? I have no idea." I laid back in my bed knowing without a doubt that I definitely didn't want to see him around.