Protect Me, Alpha King
43. A Date?

Alpha King Maxxwell and Lady Juliana just kissed! my mind screamed. And Alpha King Maxxwell just saw me gawking at them. Damn it.

After talking to Delta Isagani, I stepped out of the castle and wanted to breathe fresh air but the moment I looked up, I saw the two kissing already.

I thought they would only speak, but it seemed like they were talking about other things which involved their relationship.

The burning pain in my chest continued which I did not even understand why. Why was I always affected when it came to His Majesty's women? It did not like him to begin with!

Lady Juliana grabbed the alpha king's attention, wanting to return it back to her and it took me an extra amount of willpower to leave them alone. To force me to walk.

Even if something happened between the two, it should never affect me since they were betrothed to each other. Right?

Don't look back, I told myself. And I succeeded despite the difficulty.

My feet dragged me to the watchtower. I couldn't fathom listening to the alpha king and Lady Juliana's moans of pleasure. I could still feel the pain in my chest and I did not like any of it at all. Pounding my hurting chest, while climbing the watchtower, I stumbled back when I saw Elijah casually sitting on the chair, looking straight ahead. Still...the real guard of the watchtower was nowhere to be seen.

I retreated, nearly turning my back on him. If we talked, I would only talk about something which would result in punishing me. Whenever I remembered what happened in the previous days, I felt betrayed thinking I could rely on him. I was wrong and was right in thinking I could never trust the nobles.

I was glad that because of Lady Juliana the alpha king got busy and forgot to give his punishment. “River. I'm glad you are here.”

I'm not feeling the same, I muttered in my mind.

“I came here to breathe fresh air, thinking I would be alone, but it turned out, you are here, Sir Elijah.”

"Are you disappointed?”

“Yes,” I answered, not even attempting to sugar-coat my words.

He grinned.

Pouting, I stood at the farthest corner of the watchtower. However, I did not really succeed. The space was small.

Sighing, I looked straight ahead and was mesmerized by the endless mountains my eyes saw. The mountain looked like a sleeping maiden, waiting to be awakened by her mate. But if I were the maiden, it would be better if she would continue sleeping since meeting a mate will only bring disappointment. Just like what happened to Delta Isagani and me.

"Do you know how to write your name, River?" Elijah asked out of the blue.

My forehead knotted into a crease. "Why are you suddenly asking about that, Sir Elijah?"

"To honor my promise,” he answered.

A gasp escaped my lips. I suddenly forgot that I am mad at him. "Y-you remembered?"

"Of course, I did recall my promise, River. Lady Juliana's arrival postponed my plan of teaching you," he answered.

"But the rumors...they would talk more about us. More savage than the last time."

"Let them talk, River until their tongue will decompose. I do not care about the rumors.”

"But the alpha king..."

"The alpha king is currently busy right now with Lady Juliana. He may try to evade her but after two days, the woman usually caught him, leaving him with no option but to face her. And then catching up will happen. You know that stuff.”

I folded my hands in front of my chest. "Catching up? More like kissing and fucking to me." "Woah! That's jealousy I felt there!" Elijah exclaimed, amused by my reaction which I did not return back.

"I'm not. It's just that they are annoying. Flaunting their relationship to the crowd. I mean they can do it somewhere private, but why did they have to let others see how they loved each other?"

My face contorted in disgust at the word loved. Love? Was that even real? In my entire life, I never felt I was loved. Maybe even my real parents hated me like that for putting me in the river.

"At the height of your emotions, you do not care about your surroundings anymore, River. I do not think the alpha king loved Lady Juliana. If they will ever get married, it would become a marriage of convenience. A one-sided relationship. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

"They can fuck whenever they want until they could not stand anymore.”

Elijah laughed beside me. "River. You sounded like Nora when she got jealous after finding out I was in another woman's arms.”

Nora? I may talk dirty, but I never let anyone get a taste of me. They wished. I reserved it for my mate, but because of the rejection, it seemed I would die a virgin. As virgin as the forest down below.

"We are totally opposite. Can we not talk about them? They are making my blood boil."

"You seemed to forget you are the alpha king's personal slave.”

"You seemed to forget that it is not required to like him at all times," I retorted.

He chuckled. “The alpha king will be disappointed knowing his personal servant does not like him.” “I like him when he is sleeping because that's the only time he will look kind.”

Raising his eyebrows, he asked, “So did you always stare at him whenever he fell asleep? I heard the two of you are sharing the same room. Are you sure nothing has happened so far between the two of you?” His eyes were full of malice as if he wanted to uncover the real story.

There were times when I stared at the alpha king's sleeping form and it made my heart jump, but nothing more happened. I never attempted to touch his silky hair or to brush my fingers on his chest. There was nothing like that.

I fanned myself when it suddenly felt hot all over.

"Are you sure?”

"W-why won't I be unsure?” I answered.

Elijah gave me a knowing smile.

"So much for that.” Elijah swung him down and tossed some books on the table. "Do you know what those are?"

"Sir Elijah. I may be illiterate but I am not stupid. Those are pens and papers as well as books you got there."

"These are from my siblings."

"You have siblings?"

Chuckling, he said, "Yes, I do. Why is it surprising to you? Majority of us have irritating siblings.” Not me.

Shaking my head, I said, "Nothing. Just nothing. So what will I do, Sir Elijah?" I sauntered towards his table and grabbed each of the books. Everything was foreign to me. Except for the pen and paper, of course. Excitement rushed through me realizing I could finally read and write one step at a time if Elijah succeeded in teaching me.

"You will be tracing letters first. The small letters and big letters. Familiarize the letters in the book. Please bear with me, River if you will find it difficult to follow me. It's my first time teaching someone." He scratched the back of his neck while red tainted his cheeks. “But I will do my best to honor my promise.”

I was mistaken earlier. Some nobles were dependable. Just like Elijah.

Putting the strands of some hair behind my ear, I answered back, "Which I was grateful with, Sir Elijah. It's not your responsibility but you are putting your effort into teaching me.”

"I do not do it for free, River. You will massage me when I want it."

I beamed. "Of course, Sir Elijah. That's the only thing that I am good at. You can count on me for that."

The rest of the hours went smoothly. I had a great time learning the different letters and tracing them. Elijah also taught me the correct posture and proper gripping of the pen. He was the most patient teacher I could ever have. He was hands-on and did not scream at me whenever I did something wrong, unlike those asshole nobles I met some time.

"Thank you so much for teaching, Sir Elijah," I said, countless times. "I'll make sure to remember all of them. And I will practice more.”

"That's the best thing that you will do, River. Memorize. Practice. The next time we meet, I'll be teaching you to write your name.”

My eyes went round. "Really?" The thought of writing my own name brought tears to my eyes. "I would be forever grateful to you, Sir Elijah."

He smiled brightly and ruffled my hair as if I were his dog. I hid my anger and smiled back. I never wanted someone to touch my hair. But since he did me a favor, I will let it slide. For now.

"Don't mention it. I will be waiting here. Go back now, River. Alpha King Maxxwell must be waiting for you. You have to be there the moment he stepped out of his office after his conversation with Lady Juliana.”

"Conversation my foot. They did some exercise in the form of sex."

Elijah's mouth formed an oh. "You are too young to learn such words."

"Believe me I know a lot of curses up on my sleeve waiting to be discovered. Given my background Those are the only forms of love I received from them," I said with sarcasm.

Elijah couldn't seem to be satisfied touching my hair and he did it again. Damn. Why did he have to be handsome so that it took my breath away?

Before my mind would stray to dangerous thoughts, I excused myself which he acknowledged, and went back to the alpha king's office.

I knocked on the door a couple of times.

"Come in."

I raised my eyebrows. They were done? Already? Too soon.

I pushed the door open. "Your Majesty. I have returned.”

"Where have you been, River? I asked the twins to look for you and they saw you in the watchtower having a date with one of my Council members. Tell me. Did you have a great time with your date, huh?"

A date? What kind of nonsense was that? I was learning how to write!

My brows furrowed upon looking at his darkened expression. What was wrong with him? Didn't he have a great time with Lady Juliana?

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