The Alpha's Omega Mate-Chapter 36: Some laid down rules.

~Dahlia’s POV~

My sleep wasn’t peaceful. It wasn’t even anything close to being restful as nightmares of my stay in the dungeon plagued me like a relentless demon.

And then there was Ms Jennifer. The devil’s incarnate sent from the absolute pits of Tartarus who plagued my sleep too. Her vile words lashed at me even in my supposed rest, striking me with a kind of fear that I wouldn’t even feel in real life.

Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position and my eyes nearly fell out of its sockets when a head full with fiery ginger hair appeared in my line of sight.

I shrieked; "Amara!"

But my daughter only smiled widely at me, her beautiful green eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Mommy! You’re awake!"

"What are you doing here?" I gasped, "...and why are you standing so far away from me?"

Despite being mad at Beta Orion for bringing Amara here despite asking him not to, I couldn’t bring myself to dwell on my anger at the sight of her. She looked tired. Deprived. She looked like she needed me and it hurt like hell to think that I couldn’t give that to her; especially not like this.

"The old lady said you are in pain, mommy. She asked me to be careful. I’m being careful." She answered softly, and at that, my heart melted.

The tears that I had been holding off slipped past my eyelids and I let out a pained sob whilst spreading my hurting arms wide. "Oh no, come here!" I said to her and I didn’t even need to repeat myself before she bounded into my arms, her own sobs mirroring my own.

She cried for a while without saying a word and I, on the other hand, unsure of what to say to her, simply held her close without speaking either— besides my occasional cooing.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally stopped crying and shimmied her way out of my arms to look up at me with expectant eyes. She asked; "When do we leave, mommy?"

I froze. Her question shocked me. It threw me off guard so much that I found it difficult to form words and I could only stare at her in surprise while she continued to look up at me expectantly, as if waiting for my response.

I gulped. "Is Beta Orion treating you badly?" I asked as my heart hammered frantically against my ribs, and with each passing second, my heartbeat accelerated even more.

"No mommy. He’s nice." She whispered softly with a smile— a smile that I could see she was faking.

"What about Tiffany? Did Ms Jennifer come back?"

"Tiffany is nice too." She answered quietly, obviously dissatisfied with the direction of this conversation. "Ms Jennifer still hits me but that’s not why I don’t like it here."

"She does?!" I cried in a near scream, noticing the way Amara shifted uncomfortably at the sound of my loud voice. "Why did she hit you? Where did she hit you this time?"

Amara didn’t speak. She simply raised the sleeve of her dress to expose a black and purple bruise around her arm.

The bruise looked pretty old and was healing but from how dark and swollen it still appeared, I instantly deduced that it must’ve been a pretty bad one. Tears sprung into my eyes at the sight and for the first time in a long time, I forgot how to be strong around her; I sobbed.

"When did she do this?" I couldn’t help but ask, and from how Amara dropped her head in resignation, my heartbeat accelerated again. Something akin to pain gnawed at my chest and it hurt so badly, even breathing felt like a lot of work.

"Yesterday." She whispered in a voice barely audible.

Wait, what?

That was impossible!

In desperation, I lifted the sleeve of her dress again to peek at the almost healed wound and my eyes widened in surprise when it hit me. She was not an omega like me. She was something else... something more.

Her father had been a prince. An Alpha’s heir. Automatically making her an Alpha wolf.

As soon as the realization dawned on me, I gasped but still, it didn’t stop me from fearing for her safety, especially around people like Ms Jennifer and Alpha Zarek.

She might be from an Alpha bloodline but it doesn’t even for a moment change the fact that she’s nothing but a child. And now I had to hide this new information from everyone, especially those I’d told her father was human, which includes Alpha Zarek and his Beta, Orion.

Holy Apollo!

*

I still do not know for how long I laid there clutching my sleeping daughter to my chest and despite the sprain this caused on my terribly aching body, I didn’t let go.

I couldn’t bring myself to when it meant releasing her back to Beta Orion— not that the male was bad, but he was unable to protect her from Ms Jennifer, even though he’s proven to protect her from everything else I seemed to suffer from.

My eyelids felt heavy as I fought to keep the sleep at bay, and it felt worse, seeing as I’ve been uncontrollably sobbing for the past hour. However, just as the sleep soon began to take over, a delicious smell wafted into my nostrils and I froze when I realized what it was.

Who it was.

Alpha Zarek.

A feeling akin to anger with a tinge of disgust crept up my body when I realized this but before I could manage to keep my emotions in check, he strolled into the room, successfully sucking up all the breathable air in the atmosphere.

I gritted my teeth. "Alpha, good day."

I didn’t try to hide my obvious discomfort by his presence, nor did I try to bow as deeply as I should. And I should know that all of these meant more punishment, but at the moment, I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting myself and my daughter out of here.

All I cared about was sneaking off into the human world where no one would bully us for being a little weaker—and when I say that, I meant me because Amara is definitely nothing like me in that aspect.

"Dahlia," the way my name rolled off his tongue like a caress sent several jolts of pleasurable electricity running down my spine, and I nearly gave into the pleasure until I remembered who he was. What he was.

The beast.

I frowned. "It’s surprising to see you." I said.

At the sound of my voice, he tilted his head to the side. The way his piercing green eyes roved my body made me suddenly self conscious. It made me squirmish and I hated that he still had this sort of effect on me. I looked away.

"Well, I came because we need to talk." He drawled, and stopping to stare pointedly at sleeping Amara, he added, "I’m here to bend some of your rules."

My heart fell.

Maybe this was the point where he forbids me from leaving the house. Or the point where he tries to separate me from Amara to reduce the chances of me fleeing from here; and maybe I knew I shouldn’t think these thoughts as they made me even more panicky but what else could I do?

Absolutely nothing.

My breath caught in my throat when I noticed his gaze still fixated on Amara and instinctively, my now sweaty arms tightened around her small body protectively as I glared up at him.

"But before we start, I want to ask you a few questions, and I expect that you’ll be very truthful to me. Do you understand me?"

I rushed out; "I didn’t steal your money."