THE ALPHA’S ADDICTION

Alpha Peter blanched as he looked on the human who was still shivering out of fear for a painting that had been in the sitting room for more than five years now. A painting that has been admired by all and sundry. And now the painting was moving?? He mused.

He thought that he had seen it all from the human, but alas, this particular one was a new vogue in town or whatever his mind was trying to tell him. But he was sure that her dreams were not just nightmares but a premonition of what was to happen, he believed that quite alright, but not this one. He didn’t think she was telling the truth. How can the drawn moon goddess move? Next, she would say that it was talking.

And so, in a bid to prove the human wrong and her thoughts fallible, he threw a glance, sceptically still, at the only painting in the room, only to find out that the woman in the painting was just as the same as she had always been, graceful, peaceful, elegant and inspiring. He clucked his tongue, as he mentioned ‘I said it.’ in his mind continuously.

“Emma, nothing is moving.” He finally said, after watching his mate gently sit the scared girl on the sofa, while taking for herself, a long glance at the picture.

“True, Emma. The woman in the painting is not moving.” Melvina stated, agreeing with her mate. When she had turned her back to stare at the picture to know what the human was talking about, she had been half expectant to see something weird and extraordinary, something out of the box. But it seemed that the human had been either imagining it or dreaming it.

But then she hadn’t been dreaming when she had stood up. She thought aloud of the human, remembering that she could discount the earlier episode whereby her mate had caught the human sprawled on the floor; yes, she might have still been dreaming then. But the redhead had been fully awake when she had stood up to go to her room. So, what was exactly going on?

When Emma heard the calming sentences from the two adults in front of her, she became calm; calm but confused. Throwing a shy sceptical short glance at the picture, she found out that they were right. The woman in the painting had returned to its former stance, looking all majestic and beautiful, but still shrouded in mysteriousness; something that had attracted her to it in the first place.

Taking in a deep breath, she stood up again, determined to get to the bed this time, casting down the thoughts of why the woman in the painting wasn’t moving again. She didn’t want to think about it. She was sleepy now, and hungry.

As if on cue, her stomach grumbled loudly, causing her to reflexively throw her had around her belly, like she could keep it down with that singular act of hers, while looking up shyly with a nervous smile at the couple in the room. The both had amused faces on, she noticed, and it didn’t do anything to mitigate her embarrassment.

“C’mon Emma, follow me to the kitchen.” Melvina said with a knowing smile, knowing that the redhead was hungry already. It was good that she had cooked a big dinner, and had left a large portion of the tuna casserole in the pot. She just hoped that that Derek and Anthony, especially Anthony who could eat a house down, hasn’t cleared off the remaining food in the pot.

“Okay.” Emma replied, gladly accepting the invite. How she could refuse it, when it was put that way? The sleep can wait, but her stomach couldn’t.

“Alright then. I will be off to my room.” Alpha Peter stated, throwing short glances at both his mate and the human, before walking out of the sitting room first, but not without telling his mate through their mind link to ask the human more questions on the painting she had thought was moving. It was true that he had discarded the human’s fears, but he didn’t want to have any loose ends. If the painting had really moved like the redhead had claimed, then he wanted more information on that. Like where and in what stance did the woman in the painting take?

Immediately Alpha Peter left for his room, Melvina and Emma walked steadily towards the entrance of the sitting room in silence, each left to their own thoughts. Melvina contemplated on the redhead’s dream and why she had been a little bit harsh on her earlier; while Emma was battling with the issue, as to whether to turn back and take a last minute glance at the painting, or to just keep going. At last, the latter won. She didn’t want to see any more weird thing for the night. The only thing she wanted to see was food.

And that was how she had missed out on seeing the huge puff of air that had made its way from the painting, before metamorphosing into an airy being with red eyes. The being with form, but without flesh, had casted a long look on them, Emma and Melvina, until they had walked out from the sitting room entirely, before turning away from the entrance door, to the window. It floated like air it is, through the window, and out to the outside world, floating on the air in a concise direction, like a kite on a mission.

*********This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

When Emma and Melvina got to the kitchen, the cooking room was silent as it should be, devoid of the sounds of rattling plates which rats caused by their sharp movements; a factor which enlightened Emma of the absence of rats in the room.

She walked gingerly to one of the stools in the kitchen and sat on it, her head on the counter as she ruminated on what had happened that night. What a long night! She thought, especially as she remembered the weird and scary different positions the woman in the painting had taken, when it knew that only her was watching. She would come to the end of this. She promised herself, eager wishing that she could see Zipfara now. The beautiful queen had a lot of questions to answer. She knew what she had seen. The painting had moved, whether Melvina and her husband believed it or not.

“Oh God! I swear I will kill those…”

She heard Melvina say with a loud voice, and lifted up her head from the counter in a sharp move, curious to know what the problem was, to know why Melvina was cussing. She had never heard the older woman cuss or swear before. She had taken her as a saint, but not after she had found out that the governess had lied to her too.

When she saw that Melvina was looking into the big cooking pot, with its cover on her hand, she swallowed a large gulp of her saliva. She was in trouble. She should have left some in the pot.

Oh God… how had she not have known that the food that the older woman had been referring to give her, was the one she and Anthony, especially herself, had consumed some hours ago.

‘Oh my…’ she muttered, wishing she was able to rewind the time, to go back in time; she would have declined the invite of the older woman to go the kitchen, would have escaped to the confines of Maya’s bed, without being caught in this web of troubles now.

What would she do now? She thought, biting her lips in fear, of what could happen if Melvina finds out that it had been her that had cleared off the pot, not Anthony.

“Emma…” Melvina called, while closing back the pot sadly.

“The food has been eaten up by the food monsters in my house.” She said, not taking notice of the nervous look on the human’s face.

“Don’t worry about it then.” Emma hastily said. “I will just retire back to bed.” She added in a rush, already standing up to leave for Maya’s room; grateful that the woman hadn’t asked her questions on whether she had known those that had eaten the food. She didn’t think she would have been able to lie conveniently, without getting caught, if she had been asked.

“No, wait. I will prepare something else. I can’t let you go back to bed on an empty stomach.” Melvina said. “You should sit back down…let me cook up something for you.” She added, before walking up to the cupboard, opposite the counter.

“Besides we have a lot to talk about.” She stated, causing Emma to furrow her eyebrows.

“And we can do that while I cook… right?” Melvina asked, throwing her a short backward glance as she picked out some ingredients from the cupboard.

“Yes…of course.” Emma said, not wanting to oppose that. She just muttered a thank you later on, and sat back down, happy that her stomach would soon be pacified.

“Alright then. I hope you like pancakes?” Melvina asked, after a beat.