Page 188 of The Alpha and His Song: Volume One

I rolled my eyes, “My dog is a girl, and I adopted her as a puppy. She can’t have other owners. Who’s the dumb one now?” Luke hissed, “Still you.” Sassy huffed in my head, clearly annoyed. Luke’s whole face contorted as he sang his creepy song.

My body started moving towards him, but I pulled back. I internally asked, “Sassy?” Nothing. What happened to her? I gritted my teeth, “Sassy, I need you!” I faintly felt her and knew she was helping me resist.

Luke yelled, “COME TO ME!” I Screamed, “FUCK OFF! I DON’T WANT TO! LEAVE ME ALONE!” I was moving, but not at the pace my ex wanted me to. Keaton’s voice reached me. I begged him to help me.

Luke snorted, “As if the dog could help you.” I yelled, “I’m not talking to my dog. She could eat you though.” I was positive Tatum could kill Luke considering she took down a wolf. Luke would be no problem. Tatum’s head butted my skin, which helped.

I looked down, “Thanks, Tatum.” Luke yelled, “I’ll kill you, you wretched thing.” Sassy came back to full power to hiss at him. I warned, “Touch my dog, and I’ll end you. You’re disgusting!” Luke warned, “You’ll pay for all this defiance.”

I was ripped out of my dream when I felt Keaton lips on mine. I heard Luke yell, “NO!” Whatever. My feet were covered in sand. I didn’t understand what Keaton and I were doing outside. Mom might have actually had a point about staying away from the ocean.

Or she’d gotten so into my head it was insane. Keaton was on the phone. Oh gosh, I’d interrupted his phone call. I felt awful and was instantly tired and sleeping. I woke up in the ocean. I swam, hoping I was going to my brothers and not Luke’s whacked out family.

I sighed in relief when I came through the other side and saw Caspian’s city. I walked through and found him in the throne room with our family. Grandpa Alon was here. Joy. That guy reminded me a lot of my mother and all those ways I could never speak up against her.

I easily felt the same way with him. Alon acted like I meant nothing to him because he didn’t know me. I felt like I knew him because I grew up with a different version of him, my mother. I said, “Gang’s all here.”

Grandpa Alon turned, “Odette, I’d like to….” I held up my hand silencing him, “I don’t know how long I’m staying and I have questions. None of which involve hearing you out.” Grandpa Alon jolted as if I slapped him. Maybe his version of Sassy would make him feel depressed like he had me.

Caspian smiled asking, “What questions, little sister?” I asked, “Are you having me followed? Can Luke appear in my dreams? Can he make me sleepwalk?” Caspian stood, “Followed? Luke is in your dreams? You were sleepwalking? Where?”

I replied shortly, “Yes followed.” Cython emphatically stated, “If we knew where you were we’d bring you home, not have you followed.” I sighed. Wonderful. Caspian pressed, “What about these dreams?”

I cried, “I don’t know if it was real. Luke said he killed his child. He’s so disgusting. If he would kill an innocent child, HIS child, what would he do to me? I mean they plan on killing me, but I’m getting the sense it’s not going to be in a quick, or nice, way. He’s going to torture me, isn’t he?”

Caspian answered, “No he won’t. Luke won’t touch one hair on your head.” Grandpa Alon agreed, “He won’t.” I snorted, “Sure. Let me guess, that’s because you plan to shave off all my hair when you hand me over to my psychotic ex? I’m not talking to you.” The man actually took a step back.

Noxus winked at me. Grandpa Alon whispered, “I wouldn’t hurt you.” I retorted, “Well, we have different definitions. Because handing me over to Luke and his murderous family is hurting me. You just don’t want to get your hands dirty and physically hurt me yourself. You’d rather have they hurt me. Yeah, I got it. I heard what you had to say.”

Grandpa Alon, “How did Luke know she was by the ocean? That’s the only reason he would appear to her.” I frowned, “What does being near the ocean have to do with it? Mom always made sure I stayed out of it. Was she actually helping me?” Grandpa Alon winced, “No, she wasn’t.”

Caspian said, “Mom was keeping you from me. If Luke comes back, make sure that Sassy helps you. Don’t sing it out loud but hum this song.” I sighed, “Again with the humming.” Someone laughed. The song Caspian was singing was beautiful but angry. If you could hum a fight song, it would be that tune.

I said, “Thanks. I…” I trailed off as I was pulled backwards. I groaned, “Not now.” Grandpa Alon yelled, “Come back.” Oh, well wasn’t he just a walking contradiction? Now he likes me or something. I scoffed, “I’m not choosing to leave. It’s involuntary!”

I woke up and reached for Keaton, but he was gone. I heard voices downstairs, grabbed my boyfriend’s shirt, and ran down. The guy Keaton was talking to was clearly related to him. Said relative spotted me first.

Keaton introduced me by my real name. I was surprised to realize I wasn’t upset about that. It felt right for these people to know my name. Just like I wished the rest of his family knew my real name. I couldn’t deny I was happy that some of his family knew my real name.

Maybe they would circulate it around, and then Keaton’s dad would call me by my name the next time I saw him. I liked Keaton’s cousin and his wife; they were really nice. They had a house down the road. Of course they did. At this point if they said they owned the whole town, I would not be surprised. Jules was really nice. I felt like we had this comfort level, as if we were already friends.

We weren’t carded at the restaurant when we ordered either, they just served us. I felt a little bad they could get in trouble for doing so, but it felt very adult. After we were there for a bit Jules and I made our way to the bathroom.

Jules told me, “I like you with Keaton, you guys match.” I teased, “I’ve been told he stands taller.” Jules agreed, “He does. Lisa has had her claws stuck in Keaton for so long. It’s coming out just how deep she did and the family is reeling. JJ destroyed everything in our house when he found out some of the lies that bitch had been telling.”

I asked, “What lies?” Jules admitted, “I don’t know all the details. I just know there’s some serious shit going on. You should know that the family already likes you. JJ thinks Keaton is just conditioned by Lisa about making introductions.”

I asked, “What do you mean? Everyone I’ve met is so nice.” Jules agreed, “They are the nicest family. Lisa just twisted Keaton’s mind, and he was poisoned by her tears and lies.” I gasped realizing it was Lisa’s tears. It was her. That weird thing that happened with Keaton! The glowing blue thing I did then he just froze. He even had memories of things that didn’t happen.

My head began to pound with pain. I clutched my head. Jules yelled, “Odette!” I went to my knees. Jules frantically said, “I’ll get Keaton.” I stood, “No, I’m ok.” I shoved all thoughts of Lisa from my mind for a later day. There was something there though.

Sassy lightly hissed in my head, so I knew she agreed, I just knew it. She and I would have to take care of Lisa. What if she’d poisoned Keaton and made him weak or something? I’d seen that in crime shows. Not to kill him or anything. That made my head stop hurting for some reason.

I admitted, “My brother thinks Lisa will be terrified when I hum this.” I hummed it for her. Jules threw her head back, “Oh my god. If Lisa gets scared over that song; I’ll jump for joy. A song. That makes it so much better. I need this filmed. I’ll just be hanging around you for the foreseeable future.”

I laughed, “I could be ok with that. I like you.” Jules hooked her arms with mine and agreed, “I like you too.” We rejoined the guys at the table. I swore I saw someone flash away at the speed of light from them before we sat. My head briefly panged before I gave that thought up. People didn’t flash away. That was just in comics.

Jules wanted to go paddle boarding. I was so excited to get into the ocean. They just got up and left. Oh gosh. I threw some cash I’d brought with me on the table, but it wasn’t enough. I was relieved, but should not have been surprised, that someone in Keaton’s family owned the place.