1870

~Aria

Malik caught my arms as I stumbled backward.

The weight of the world cinched tight around me, swallowing every sense of understanding about the situation. Why would he take me here.

"What's wrong?" I hear Malik question, although I hardly understand through the assault of thoughts hitting me right now. The urge to turn and run as far away from the house I spent my entire life in, is immense, but Malik's presence behind stops me. "Aria...You can tell me? What's wrong?"

My parents were in there. The exact parents who completely betrayed my trust. They used my lack of independence as an excuse; as a way to cut me out of their privileged lives. I may be doing this to save their lives, but I never want to see their faces again. If I did, I might do something I'll regret...

"We need to go," I mumble, feeling sober suddenly. Who knows how long it will take until one of them sees us out here.

I brush past Malik, wishing my head wasn't spinning so much. My only thought is that I need to get out of here, and if I have to run down the snow compacted streets to do so, then so be. However the car poses the better option.

My hands slip on the frost slick handles, and after a few moments of struggling, Malik comes up behind me.

Clearly he is confused, yet he doesn't say anything. He opens the door for me, as I dive into the car, settling into the seat with my foot tapping anxiously on the floor. Malik is nonchalant, despite how bothered he looks. I kept my eyes cast at my knees, my fingers crossed. Through my peripheral vision, I can see him staring at me.

"Aria, talk to me," he says gently.

The car nosed back onto the road, and I held back a sigh of relief. Had they caught me...I wouldn't have another excuse to get away. They would demand contact with me, to know everything happening in my life, only to set me up with my mothers friend's son from Garden Club. Or maybe not. Maybe they would use the wealth and fame I would gain if I won the competition.

I wonder how they would feel if I they found out they might just have a fugitive daughter soon.

"I just..." words fail me for a moment. "I can't see my family right now."

Malik's eyebrows furrow, as I turn my attention back to him. He looks deeply concerned by what he has just witnessed, and I honestly don't blame him.

"Would you like to tell me why. I had the plan to surprise both you and your family with the visit," he tells me, and I hear the regret dripping from his voice. If I was any other girl, I would have been so excited right now. I'm completely flattered by his gesture, and what it would have come from it, had I had a normal relationship with my parents.

"That's fine. You don't have to tell me why, I just want to know if you're okay," Malik says, changing tact.

It worked. I felt myself beginning to relax again.

"I'm okay," I murmur, my words that were meant to reassure him coming out like toxic poison. I've spent the last year trying to find a life that didn't require my family. It was my way of proving to them that I really don't need them. Now, this had brought back all the memories I have wanted expelled from my mind for the longest time.

Malik still watches me carefully. "I'm really sorry, I had no idea. If I did, I would have never taken you had I known it was going to hurt you."

"Don't worry about it," I dismiss, wishing my reaction hadn't hurt him as much as it did. I'm sure he isn't used to disruptions within a family, since his seems to be so perfect and well put together. Then again they have to be, if they want to continue running the Pack as successfully as they do now.

Malik suddenly rests his hand on my thigh, the warmth seeping through the fabric of my pants. Our lock eyes for a moment, and I exhale slowly.

"We can find something else to do today," Malik says softly.

Biting my lip unconsciously, I nod. How he will find something for us to do in the Love Pack, I'm not sure. This Pack is created for simplicity and intimacy, which apparently I'm not allowed to have with Malik. So that leaves us a small amount of entertaining options that might suffice for a date where I'm meant to impress him.

It just so happened, that it ended up being him that impressed me.

How he managed to conjure up such a situation in a short amount of time is completely unreliable. I saw him lean over the front seat, where a rather formal looking man sat, to whisper in his ear, but that was it. Had that man phoned somebody to set it up? Honestly, my reaction was stark opposite to when I last stepped out of the car.

Malik had decided on a location out of the main Love Pack city - into the country more. We drove past snow kissed paddocks until we made it up a few hills to where he would help me out the car with his ridiculous leather gloves.

"How did you...?" My words drift off with the winter drenched breeze that flutters past me.

The snow doesn't bother either of us; he knows that. So when I see the picnic blanket buried within a layer of thick snow surrounded, it didn't bother me in the slightest. Sure, I would have loved to be lying beside him under the hot sun, with lush grass and water around us, but this would suffice quite nicely.

"I had someone prepare it. I like talking to you, so what better situation could I create to do so," Malik said, closing the car door after me, once I had stepped out.

The large canopy the trees provided shelter is from the snow that falls gently. It's hardly noticeable; just a whisper against my skin. Everything is stark quiet, once the car drives back down the road, to give us some privacy. The heaviness of what may just happen weighs on me, but at the same time, a little flicker of excitement underneath it all gives me some relief.

"You shouldn't have," I hear myself say, although the awe in my tone makes it seem like it isn't actually me. "This is beautiful."

Malik grabbed my hand, leading me over.

"No one has ever done anything like this for me," I breathe honestly. Really that is a stupid thing to say, since in the Love Pack, dating is frowned upon by a lot of families. I had never given it a go like Alexa had, since I was always so adamant about finding my mate.

Malik raises an eyebrow at me. "Speaking of. Tell me who has played with Aria's heart in the past."

I sit down on the blanket before I say anything else. The fabric of it is thick and soft under me, as I fold my legs up. I can feel the crunch of the snow underneath it, but never once does it deep through onto the other side. It takes less than a second for Malik to join me.

"Only one," I tell him coyly, as he sits down beside me.

A speckled mess of recently fallen snow sat upon his head, blending with the background behind him. If I could paint this picture right now, and capture the beauty sitting right in front of me, I'd surely be a millionaire off what I could sell.

"Explain," Malik insists softly, as if I'm about to admit the biggest gossip of the century.

I shrug. "He was my neighbour around a year ago. He ended up getting a job in the Wisdom Pack and left. No big deal."

It was when he first left. He was the first guy I had a crush on, who had one for me too. We complimented each other, in a way I didn't think was possible for anyone who isn't my mate. Honestly, I had doubts that I would have needed anyone else after him. Turned out the Goddess had other plans for us.

I'm meant to meet my mate. This competition is just apart of the path.

"Interesting," Malik murmurs, watching me with dilated pupils. "Is that why you entered this competition?"

Perfect, an excuse. I've been waiting to be asked why I entered, yet no one has bothered, and neither have I. Perhaps it's common courtesy, however, now that Malik has handed me a proper excuse on a silver platter, I can't be more grateful. Well, encase I do get asked.

"Right. I want to try my hand at love again," I tell him, hoping he didn't catch me glancing down at his necklace.

Malik lies backward, and I join him, feeling the lumps of snow under my back. The sky can be seen through the branches of the massive tree that looms over us. It is darkened from the snow, but I'm used to it.

"You've come to the right place," Malik says softly. I wonder if he would tell me all his past relationships if I had the guts to ask.

We sit for a moment in silence, enjoying the sounds of nature and the gentle breeze around us. So many questions for Malik that I would ask if I wasn't on a mission mull in my mind. Ultimately, I'm curious about what it is like for him to be an Alpha, and what he might be looking for in the next Love Pack Luna. Someone to contest his mother, which can't be easy...

"I think you're really interesting by the way. I haven't been able to have a conversation with someone as well as I have with you," Malik tells me, turning his head to look at me.

I turn my head, falling into the trap that are his eyes. "I like talking to you too, Malik. It's kind of scary really."

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midikacrane

Midika

~Midika 💜🐼