Back and Stronger: Alpha's Daughter
Chapter 30

Sophia felt her eyes flutter in discomfort as she groggily tried to pry them open with sheer willpower alone.

The sharp light shining in through the bedroom window, directly onto her face was to blame, she knew, but it was only a second or two later that she realized it was the light from the sun.

Even though it plagued Sophia’s sleepy eyes, while she also vaguely noticed that there was some kind of pleasant aroma surrounding her, she took a moment to push all of those things aside for now, and just enjoyed the warmth the sun radiated onto her skin for a moment. But only for a moment.

Because shortly after, she suddenly jerked herself upright as she remembered. The too quick of a movement drew a hiss from Sophia’s clenched teeth at the pain she felt down there, but it was definitely not as bad as it was last night.

Even the rest of her body didn’t ache as much as she expected it to. She has had years and years of experience in that department, so what she expected to feel had always been spot on, but this time not so much.

It really seemed as though healing was taking place a bit faster since she had had her first shift, and she made a mental note to ask Neil about it later. Maybe it was a thing that normally happened after one had shifted?

If that was the case, Sophia thought that she would actually have liked for it to be happening even more quickly. Like in all those werewolf movies where the shifter got shot or stabbed and would just mend right then and there on the spot within mere singular seconds. Even broken bones would just snap right into place!

How very wrong those stories were about all that. But on the flip side, it was something Sophia would have liked for it to be true. But at least they weren’t completely wrong it seemed, though they might have exaggerated a lot, as her healing appeared to have only sped up a little bit. However, Sophia was hardly in the position to be picky about that. At least she was safe, warm, and on the mend. That was all that mattered.

Speaking of safe and warm, the full realization of whose bed she was currently occupying only hit her just then. The smell she had wondered about earlier as well, should have been clear to Sophia from the start.

She had slept in Neil’s bed, and there was no denying that it was the soundest and warmest she’d slept in a really long time. And she saw one of the reasons why when she looked down at the thick and fluffy duvet she was covered with. And not to mention the full silver-gray satin sheets and pillows, it was really a no-brainer that she had slept so well, despite what was still weighing her down.

Despite the fact that she had kept having to push back the images of what happened at the school with Matthew, she had fallen asleep sometime during that whole internal struggle, and mercifully had no dreams of him again. In fact, she hadn’t dreamed at all.

It was almost as if she hadn’t slept at all either, as the whole night felt like it had passed in blissful nothingness.

Well, maybe not just the night, Sophia thought in surprise as she gauged the position and degree of brightness in the sky. The whole freaking morning too!

She wondered why no one had awakened her earlier, as she slowly moved over to the edge of the massive mattress.

Looking back longingly at the bed of her dreams, she could see why Neil always looked so rested and sharp. His bed was in stark contrast to the flimsy old mattress and washed out, thin, and stiff sheet she had had to contend with for so long.

She would have liked nothing more than to just stay there within its luxurious sheets for another while longer, but she was starting to feel hungry since the last time she ate was half of her lunch the day before– before everything–

No, Sophia reprimanded herself, willing her mind not to trick her into going back there again, not now, even though she could feel the effects of it like an unshakable heaviness on her mood and her heart. Even the shame she felt hadn’t dissipated, but that part she suspected would never really leave her.

Instead, she lifted the front of the shirt she was wearing, Neil’s shirt, and breathed the scent of it, of him, in deeply. She’d realized that it was what had given her strength a few times before and tried it out again, for she was to face the two males that had been witnesses to what happened and would most likely bombard her with questions the moment she walked out of this room.

How are you feeling? How did you sleep? Do you think you need to go see a psychologist? Do you need stitches to mend your soul back together? Take your pick.

Sophia knew that whatever questions they would ask her would be out of concern for her, but she still didn’t look forward to answering them though. They were also her rescuers, so she promised herself that she wouldn’t snap at them again either.

Looking around the room for the first time, Sophia saw that it was plain and neat in there like the rest of the apartment, but somehow the most comforting room she’d ever been in.

With the light coming through the huge window at the back of her, from the other side of the bed to the side she was sitting on now, she found everything was brightly illuminated in the room.

To the left of her, looking toward the bottom side of the bed, most of the wall there was lined with white built-in cupboards, leaving enough space for a beautiful antique-looking wooden dresser, and then a bit to the side to the connecting wall, there was a work desk with a closed laptop and a leather-bound notebook neatly placed on top of it.

Everything there in his room seemed to say that Neil liked things orderly and fastidious. Even the way his books were organized according to the author’s last names in alphabetical order should have been a clear enough sign already, Sophia surmised as her eyes roamed to the additional shelves fasted to the wall just above his work desk.

It was filled with books that seemed to be a mixture of Scripture-like old-looking books, to educational, and fiction collections – mostly spy novels to be exact. With Sophia’s heightened sight, she didn’t need to walk over to investigate them more closely, as she saw enough to make her fingers twitch already.

But mentally shaking herself out of it, she knew that she needed to face the music outside the room first. Escape within the pages of those books would come later. And as if her stomach agreed, it rumbled its sentiment the moment another aroma entered the room through the vents underneath the door in front of her.

Sophia didn’t entirely recognize the smell, all she knew was that it smelled exquisite and that all her nervousness at looking Neil and Scott in the eyes again without feeling self-conscious evaporated. Well, enough for her to come out of the room at least.

As she slid herself farther off the bed and had both her feet planted on the plush carpet, she looked down at the pleasant and surprisingly soft feel of it, and realized for the first time that it was a beautiful deep steel-blue-gray sort of color, and just matched perfectly with everything else in the room.

The guy definitely had good taste, she smiled a little, but it quickly vanished the moment there was a flash of pain in her abdomen again as she straightened herself off the bed.

It was dull and not nearly as painful as when she got into bed last night, so she figured she should be able to walk out to the two males without wobbling too much. Those two males whose rumbling voices she could hear now. Not well enough to make out what they were saying, as they clearly tried to talk softly enough so that they wouldn’t disturb her. Or maybe they were discussing something they didn’t want her to hear.

Either way, Sophia didn’t care. All she cared about was that alluring smell of food they were busy cooking. Still, she walked up to the room door after getting dressed in the sweatpants Neil had given her that were a size or two too big for her, and was able to silently open it and slipped through without making a sound.

The thick socks she was wearing helped to mask the sound of her steps as well, even though it wasn’t necessary as the plush carpet continued down the short hallway on the way to the living room area.

When Sophia got to the end of it where the kitchen to the side of the wall blocked her from sight from anyone in the kitchen. If it hadn’t been for the sounds of shuffling of a pan and then an oven door opening there, she wouldn’t have known they were there. Other than the smell of hunger-inducing food wafting over to her, of course.

“I honestly don’t know what to do,” she heard Neil whispering, his voice low and dismal. “I don’t know how to handle her, or what to say without making it worse.”

Sophia felt her heart squeeze sadly. Scott’s answering whisper came shortly after. “Just give it a chance, man, that’s all we can do for her now. Keep her safe, help her get through this, and give her all the time she needs to get back to herself.”

“You’re right.” Neil let out a breath of frustration, and she knew that he was running his hand through his hair without having to be looking at him to confirm it. “I wish I’d just killed the fucking bastard… I would have if you didn’t stop me,” it almost sounded like an accusation, but then he went on to say, “I’m glad you did. I could have made things so much worse for her if she had to be a witness to that side of me too, though I think she saw enough of it there anyway. I can tell that she’s scared of me because of it…”

Scott must have been digesting Neil’s words, as it took him a few considerable beats of her pacing heart to respond. “You saw red and tried to get retribution for someone you care about, brother. It was an extreme situation where right and wrong are relative.”

“I turned into a monster right in front of her eyes, Scott,” Neil practically growled and Sophia winced in pain – from the pain she heard in his voice.

She had just about had enough of playing spy and walked the short way back to the room and opened the door noisily enough for them to hear. And they did because she could hear that Scott was busy saying something and was brought up short when he heard the door.

Walking back there, pretending for it to be the first time she did, she came around the corner and found the two males there busy making food as she suspected, both of their eyes looking at her with clear concern, but maybe a little bit of guilt as well. After what they were just talking about, they seemed relieved that she ‘hadn’t’ heard them.

Forcing a small smile for them in greeting, she still found it hard to look at either one of them straight in the eyes for too long.

“Good morning, Sophia,” Scott said brightly from where she could see he was grilling something, meat by the heavenly smell of it, in the pan on the gas stovetop. “Are you hungry? I’m making us some filet steaks with a mix of oven-baked veggies and the most succulent baby potatoes I’m sure you’ve never tasted, because you never had me to make them for you.”

Neil involuntarily rolled his eyes exasperatedly at his friend but smiled good-humoredly at his back and shook his head.

Not wanting to hear the hollowness in her voice, which she knew would still be there, Sophia opted for a barely noticeable nod instead but managed a smile again. She wasn’t just hungry, she was ravenous.

As though Scott could hear her thoughts, he gave her a knowing smile. “Alright, it will be done soon. Chill there by the counter if you want.”

Obligingly, she walked up to the bar counter he directed her at that was the only defining element that separated the kitchen from the living room. There were two barstools there, but Sophia wasn’t exactly keen on sitting on them without a significantly more amount of cushioning, so instead, she leaned over the counter and rested on it with her elbows.

“Did you sleep well?” Neil spoke up for the first time after he’d just been standing by the coffee percolator, silently staring at her the whole time.

Sophia couldn’t entirely make herself look at him, so her eyes watched the coffee brewing and filling in the translucent pot there by his arm, and nodded.

Despite them asking questions she hoped to avoid, she knew it would have been worse if they’d remained quiet and didn’t say anything at all. That would have only served to make her feel more uncomfortable and like they were pitying her, she realized.

She found that she appreciated them more for trying to pretend that everything was normal, instead of walking on eggshells around her, though there might have been a little bit of that, they at least tried to hide it from her.

“You like coffee?” Neil asked, seeming to be trying to come up with anything to fill the silence.

Sophia could also tell that they were intentionally only asking her questions that merely needed a nod or shake of the head from her, and knew it was very considerate of them, so she thought she could try and be a little considerate as well.

“Yes,” she was able to get out softly, relieved to hear that she didn’t sound as bad as she expected. “I do…” Sophia was finally able to look at him as she quickly asked, before she would feel that courage slip away from her again, “And you?”

At her unexpected question, Neil’s eyes lit up with surprise and then something she could only identify as something like relief.

But that was about all she could handle before her eyes slipped away from him again. It might be harder than she thought, but as Scott had said, that which she hadn’t heard him say earlier, of course, that it was going to take time.

Time heals all wounds, Sophia recalled the well-known phrase and caught herself secretly allowing herself to hope. Just a tiny bit but it was something.

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