Cold ✔

:::::Chapter 12:::::

Alarick is standing in front of me with a passive expression on his face. He is fully clothed while I'm clothed in just a towel wrapped around my body. He continues to look at me while I do the same. I thought that his eyes would wander down to stare at my towel-clad body considering the fact that I'm his mate but it doesn't. His eyes remain fixed on my face. I expect him to say something on the lines of "Don't you have some decency? Do you always change your clothes with the door open?" But he doesn't say anything. While his eyes remain on my face, I see his hand reaching for the door knob. And he closes the door for me.

I continue to look at the closed door for a few minutes. What did just happen? I quickly open the door and look around for Alarick but he is no where to be seen. I am just about to get back inside my room and close the door but Anne appears from no where. "You should've dropped your towel!" she says throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"What?" I don't understand...

"You should've dropped your towel in front of Alarick. Then, he would've come inside your room and claimed you then and there," she explains as if she's explaining to an eight year old kid.

"I highly doubt that. Even if I walk naked around Alarick, he won't claim me," I say.

"Why don't you tempt him into claiming you?" she asks. Her question instantly makes my eyebrows rise. She continues, "If he claims you then things would change between you two."

I give out a humorless chuckle. "Claiming me won't make him respect me and acknowledge me as his mate," I say. "I'll talk to you when I'm dressed," I conclude and close the door. After getting dressed, I open my bedroom door and find Anne standing in front of me. Was she waiting for me outside my room just so that she could continue the conversation that we were having earlier about her brother?

"If Alarick claims you then the bond between both of you will become more strong and so will your feelings for each other," Anne says as she enters my room. I close the door behind her.

"Anne, there is no bond between your brother and me. If there was a bond between us then he wouldn't have denied me as his mate. And Alarick doesn't have feelings for me. If he had feelings for me then he would've marked me, claimed me and would've said that he loves me," I put my points forward.

"Chriselda, you are wrong," Anne says. "Alarick has feelings for you. When you went missing, he was so worried. He would've gone crazy if you didn't return to the pack house tonight." The seriousness that weights her words tells me that she's telling the truth. It's almost unbelievable that Alarick would be worried about me considering the fact that he denies to be my mate. I thought that he was only capable of emotions of hatred but I didn't know that a person like him could be capable of worrying about someone else. "I know you're finding it hard to believe that Alarick was worried about you but trust me, he was," she says. And then, she starts telling me what happened in the pack house when I went missing.

Anne's Point Of View

I am alone in the pack house. Alarick, Charles, Daniel and Chriselda have gone for training practice. I wish I could go with them. I would prefer that over getting bored at the pack house. I am sitting on the couch watching shows which don't interest me at all. Suddenly, there is a knock at the front door. When I open the door, I am surprised to see Charles and Daniel in front of me. "You guys came back early," I say.

"Alarick ended the training early," Charles says and gets in. He looks around the living room. Then, he goes to the kitchen. It seems as if he's looking for something. When he returns to the living room, I ask him, "Who are you looking for?"