8

Something was wrong.

It's the first thing that passed through my mind when I woke up. Rolling over, I cracked my eyes open and searched around the room, trying to find what was bothering me. Immediately, I realized it when I glanced over at the left side of the bed.

Slater was gone.

Instantly perking up, I stood and climbed out of the bed. I shook my coat before stretching and then making my way to the bedroom door. It was slightly cracked so maybe Slater was in another room?

Using my paw, I pushed the door open causing it to squeak and causing an unfamiliar man to turn to me. My ears immediately were pinned back against my head and I bared my teeth at him, my eyes searched the room for any sign of Slater but there was none.

What did he do with him?

"Good morning," the man replied in a calm tone, his eyes never leaving mine almost as if he was waiting for my next move. I growl lowly at him and his hands raise slowly in surrender. "I'm a friend of Slater's, I'm sorry if I scared you. He had to leave earlier this morning."

The man stood and he took one step toward me, but I growled again — deeper this time —causing him to pause and frown. My head tilted at him. I didn't trust him but he also didn't seem to be that bad. Maybe there was a chance he was telling the truth.

The sound of a knock on the door caused both our heads to turn toward it. The man glanced at me once again before he moved to answer it. Through a small gap, I was able to make out the features of a man I'd yet to meet and the smell of food quickly invaded my nostrils.

"Hi, Beta Stellan! This is the food Alpha Slater ordered to be delivered here," the man said cheerfully, my ears perked up at the mention of Slater and I eyed the man. His face was turning red as he stared at the home intruder he referred to as 'Beta Stellan'.

The intruder didn't seem to return the smile with the same enthusiasm as the boy outside the door, but he managed to smile ever-so-slightly.

"Thank you, Philip," he said to the man whose face managed to turn impossibly redder.

"O-Of course! I should get going now, here you go!" The tray containing the heavenly-smelling items was thrust into the intruder's hands who seemed surprised and the other man—Philip—quickly took off.

The intruder closed the door and turned around with a face of surprise. He shook his head before placing the food on the kitchen table and glancing over at me.

"The food is for you," he told me. "Slater order it."

Immediately, I began to move toward it, but the memory of what happened before played in the back of my mind. I stared at the food suspiciously instead. Did they drug it again? Was this his way of trying to get rid of me? Were they going to send me back?

"Aren't you going to eat?" Mr. Intruder questioned, his brows furrowed.

Instead, I simply took a seat a little ways away from him. Ignoring the delectable aroma and the growling of my stomach. I turned away from where the tray sat.

The intruder frowned. "Come on, you haven't eaten anything since you woke up. Slater would want you to."

I threw him a side eye before letting out a huff and facing away.

I heard him sigh before walking in the opposite direction of the food. He takes a seat, grabs a black rectangular item from the table, and taps it, causing the screen from across the room to turn on. Blinking, I make my way to him and stare at the screen with a tilted head. It was familiar to me, but at the same time, it wasn't.

"You like the T.V., huh?" The intruder questioned, mostly to himself.

I ignored him, focusing my attention on the picture that was being projected from the screen. In the back of my mind, I could remember sitting around like this. Before I was taken.

The intruder said nothing else to me. We simply say in silence, the only noise coming from the screen both our eyes were glued to. I don't know how long we sat there, but the sound of the door opening managed to pull our attention away from it.

I didn't even get the chance to turn around completely before I was assaulted with Slater's scent. The intruder was telling the truth about Slater leaving early in the morning. When I turned all the way around, Slater was already halfway to me. He crouched down and ran his hand through my wolf's coat.

"I'm back," Slater grinned. "Did you miss me?"

I stared at him for a few more seconds before turning my attention back to the screen. I could hear Slater laugh from behind me and then stand up.

"Thanks for staying with him, Stellan."

"It was no problem, but he refused to eat any of the food from earlier," The intruder told him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Slater move toward the full plate in the kitchen and frown.

"You can go ahead and head out, Stellan. I'm sure you're ready to go."

The intruder nodded and he told Slater goodbye before exiting the room, leaving the two of us alone. Slater's eyes turned from the untouched tray of food to me and he sighed.

"Mate, you have to eat," he said scoldingly.

My eyes narrowed on him as he moved away from the tray and further into the kitchen. What was he doing? I watched as he opened a door and dug around inside, pulling out food and placing it on the counter. He then closed the door and began to move around.

The more Slater moved around, the more curious I became until I was in the kitchen and watching him. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing and strangely seemed at peace. He hummed to himself, not bothering to glance at me. It was strange to see him like this, but then again, I had already concluded that Slater was a strange man.

A very very strange man.

When he was finally done, he placed a plate in front of me which contained thin strands covered in red sauce with balls of meat mixed within. There were small, thin shreds of what smelled like cheese on top as well.

Slater's brows furrowed at my fascination with the food, but he quickly hid it. The food smelled good, but there was a chance that he could've snuck something into it when I wasn't looking.

Sensing my hesitation, Slater crouched down to my level once again and looked me in the eyes.

"I know what happened last time scared you and I'm sorry that you had to go through that," he said slowly, his brown eyes shining with sincerity. "But, I have no intention of harming you in any way or tricking you. The only thing I want is for you to be safe, Milo."

Milo.

My eyes widened at the name. It had been so long since I last heard anyone call me that. It felt nice to hear it being said. It felt nice to have him say it.

"Milo, will you please eat?" Slater shot me a smile.

I stared at him, back down at the food, and then at him again. He was watching me, waiting to see what my next move would be. Nobody had ever really cared enough about what happened to me, much less about whether I ate, but Slater clearly did. For once, I actually found myself wanting to make someone happy — caring about what they wanted. So, I slowly took a bite out of the food, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see Slater's smile widen.

Vote and comment your thoughts!