I stood there, transfixed. Alone.
That’s what Axel always does—always running away when he knows he can’t win from me. He can’t accept that I’m pointing out that he’s been cold and uncaring towards me for the past months. That his mistakes have piled up gradually and is now past his glorious height.
It’s already morning, though I think four is too early to be worrying about Alpha Axel’s departure and Alpha Archer’s arrival.
But I still worried nonetheless.
I massaged my forehead before I lifted my gaze to the latter. “What are you doing here?”
The bastard only grinned. “Have you received my message?”
I let out a soft hum and nodded.
“Good girl,” he whispered—almost like a lover’s praise.
I let my disappointment and anger shine in my face.
Archer’s expression instantly shifted from amused to worried. “May I come in?”
I took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling. Right, I’ve got no choice but to go along where fate takes me.
“Sure.” And when I slightly calmed, I opened the door wide.
“I was passing by in your house when Axel messaged me. He asked me to take you instead on the breakfast date he reserved for the both of you.” He paused for a bit, waiting for me to say something. When I didn’t, he continued, “You know, some after-festival date.”
“Let me guess,” I tilted my head, “It was a last minute request?”
“It was a last minute request,” he repeated.
I bit my lip in annoyance, a tide of bitterness rising in my throat. Axel can’t even bother to tell me himself prior to our argument.
‘So that means he really asked Archer even before he came home and argued with me?’ I mused. ‘Axel is really something else!’
In the midst of disappointment, I can’t help my rising feelings to be chased away by Archer’s bright smile, the white of his teeth lighting the room even with all the curtains shut.
“When did he message you?”
“Two hours ago.”
“Just before he arrived,” I mumbled. I relaxed my shoulders. “Where are we going then?”
He smiled. I think the sweetest one he yielded since yesterday. “Grab your coat. We’re going to climb a mountain.”
***
The Bluemoon Pack indeed boasts an array of beautiful mountains. I think we have the most mountains in our packlands.
But this one...I’ve never been here. There’s a mountaintop restaurant here, yes. But this place is mostly for tourist attractions during winter.
You can only see the green of the mountain shine here once in a blue moon.
But today...
Amidst with the pain in my chest at how Axel treated me last night, how Axel stormed in the middle of our fight an hour earlier, it was all blown away into the back of my mind—as if the mere passing of the mountain’s cool breeze did the trick.
I felt a sense of joy I haven’t felt in years, especially when I get to see the sun climb in the sky. The break of dawn, the start of a brand new day.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He whispered, his words casual and gentle. Before I could drag my gaze back to the breathtaking scenery before us, Archer handed me a warm cup of latte. The aroma sweetness filled my nose instantly.
“Are you...you and Axel okay?”
I gave him an amused laugh. “Do we look like we’re okay?”
The Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack gasped, his face lighting up with something like relief or joy.
“He’s always been like that,” he said a few minutes later. “When he’s starting to focus his attention on somebody else, he slowly forgets his current somebody gradually. You know, like a warm coffee in winter, leaving it on the table to get cold.”
I laughed at the analogy, ‘cause I really felt like it. Like that warm coffee.
“Maybe, but...” I distinctly pause, giving Archer a time to ponder my reply. I didn’t talk any further and just closed my lips on the cup of coffee, sipping it.
Archer is definitely richer and more handsome than Axel. In fact, he’s more well-respected. Even my own father respects him and looks up to him.
“Alpha Archer is too far for you to reach, Kiera,” my father, Alpha William, once told me. “Axel is a much wiser choice.”
Well, father, I now beg to disagree.
Our eyes locked as I tried to turn around, my back facing the view and my arms braced on the cliff’s barricade. Alpha Archer mirrored my movement and closed the distance between us.
Something in our gaze sparked. And that spark unravelled to the memory last night: our shared breath, our lips meeting, our intense gazes.
My heart started to pound like crazy. The Alpha smelled it on me and his lips split into a victorious smile.
We spent the day on the mountaintop, him acting like some substitute date of mine.
“Here we are.” Like an actual date, Alpha Archer of the Bloodmoon Pack walked me to my house’s door that evening after spending our lovely day with each other.
Before I could protest, he lowered his mouth in my cheeks and placed a gentle kiss.
I blushed.
