The Alpha's Bride

Maya hummed in satisfaction at the sight of Talia's hair that was parted in two neat braids.

"All done.", Maya announced.

Talia touched the braid that fell over her left shoulder. "Thank you, this is wonderful."

"You are welcome.", Maya responded and inched closer. "You have beautiful eyes. Will you let me put some makeup on you?"

Talia blinked. Unsure how to respond to the compliment or to the makeup offerings.

Seeing that Talia was flustered, Maya patted her shoulder. "We will do makeup next time. We need to head out now."

Maya told Damon through the mind-link that they are ready to go, and it took him a minute to reach the hotel room.

Damon stood frozen at the door and stared at Talia who was collecting fruits, cheeses, and granola bars from the food carts, wrapping them in napkins and arranging them in a paper bag Maya gave her.

Eventually, Talia noticed Damon and paused.

He didn't say anything, and she started squirmed under his unreadable gaze.

Did he not approve that she was packing food? Or was it because she didn't wear the clothes he told her to put on? Or maybe it was something else?

She touched her hair and straightened the t-shirt nervously. "Is something wrong?"

Damon cleared his throat. "No. Everything is fine." More than fine.

Now that her hair was tidy and she wore good clothes, Talia was a stunner, even with those bruises. Her citrusy sweet scent of freesia made Damon slightly dizzy, amplifying his visual enjoyment, almost like he was intoxicated. She was intoxicating.

Damon barely registered Maya giggling and patting his shoulder.

"You are welcome…", Maya said to Damon, before walking out with, "We are going to check out and meet you by the car!"

"Maya kept things in your suitcase.", Talia said. "I hope that was OK."

Damon nodded absentmindedly.

"Is it OK if I pack leftovers? There are plenty and you already paid for them. It would be a pity to let them go to waste. We can have them on the road."

Damon nodded again and gestured for Talia to go ahead. "Take your time, we are not in a rush."

He leaned lazily on the doorframe and watched her without a word.

Talia was confused. Maya said that they are in a rush and that Alpha doesn't like to wait, yet Alpha told her to take her time. But it was not her place to question Alpha or Beta, and she was grateful that he approved her request, so she got busy.

Damon noticed how Talia handled the food carefully. So far, none of the women around him would pack leftovers.

Of course, Damon is loaded, so paying for a meal that won't be consumed is not a big deal, but only now he realized how those women took him (and his money) for granted.

Those women would always order the most expensive dish and be super-picky about what they eat, while Talia ate whatever he gave her, without any complaints. Actually, Talia treated every bite like it's a scrumptious treat and Damon loved it.

When Talia finished packing, Damon grabbed the suitcase and headed out, with Talia two steps behind him.

They were halfway through the hallway when he stopped abruptly and snatched the bag with leftovers from her hand without an explanation, and she wondered if she should say 'thank you' or not.

Talia decided to keep quiet because Damon was acting strange again.

They sat in the car and this time Talia didn't fall asleep.

She was looking through the window and listening to the music from the radio, occasionally finding something in the bag to munch on.

They were driving through the night with stops on every few hours.

Damon was frustrated. Talia was mostly keeping to herself and a few times when she spoke, it was with Maya.

He felt neglected.

Damon wanted to hold Talia's hand or maybe to make her lean on him, but without her dozing off, he didn't have any excuses to get closer without appearing like a creep.

After the second stop, Caden and Damon switched places so that Caden can get a shuteye.

Damon took the driver's seat, and he was visibly disappointed when Maya moved to the back, leaving Caden on the front passenger's seat.

Maya snickered and spoke to Caden through mind-link. 'Can you believe that he is so prideful that he doesn't want to ask Talia to join him in front?'

'Hmm?' Caden yawned. 'I wanted to go in the back with you, but the girl seemed uncomfortable so…'

'She wouldn't be uncomfortable if Alpha Damon asked her nicely to come to the front.', Maya responded.

'You think so?', Damon interjected into their conversation and Maya's eyes widened in horror while cursing herself for not triple-checking that the mind-link was only between her and Caden. She scrambled her brain while thinking if she said anything inappropriate.

After a few exceedingly long seconds of stiff silence, Maya responded, 'She is obviously interested in looking outside, and the front seat gives a better view.'

Damon nodded at this.

"Why did we stop?", Caden grumbled while checking the time.

They had a stop less than half an hour ago. Everyone used the restroom and stretched their legs. Unless something went wrong, he should be able to nap at least two-to-three more hours.

"I need to get something…", Damon said and dashed into a small store by the road.

He came back with a bag of chips and a container with mixed nuts.

Maya noticed that the top two buttons of Damon's shirt were undone, and she wondered what he was doing inside. It was not that warm.

Instead of going to his seat, Damon knocked on Talia's window.

"Do you want to sit in front? The view is better and Caden can sleep in the back."

Talia hesitated. Sitting next to Damon was not the most appealing offer, but she understood that it will be better for Caden to rest in the back with Maya, so she agreed to switch places.

Maya watched as Damon gave newly purchased snacks to Talia while saying, "I feel like eating these, but my hands are busy driving. Can you feed me?"

"What happened with, my hand is hurt?", Talia asked Damon and showed her bandaged wrist.

"That was for using utensils. You can put food in my mouth. Right?"

Maya couldn't believe that Damon was this cheeky. But it confirmed that Damon wanted to be close to Talia.

Caden didn't miss this exchange. He pushed himself forward, sticking his head between Damon and Talia.

"I want to have some also. Aaa…" Caden opened his mouth wide, waiting for Talia to put some chips inside while ignoring Damon's glare.

"Don't you need to sleep?", Damon grumbled. "If you are energetic, how about you drive some more?"

"It's just one bite. Why are you making it a big deal?", Caden asked innocently, and his eyes flashed in approval when Talia put a handful of chips in his mouth.

"Tfank ou…", Caden mumbled his thanks to Talia before leaning back into the seat with a big grin on his face.

"Stop feeding him.", Damon said impatiently to Talia and then glared at Caden. "That's for me."

His expression softened as he turned to Talia. "You can have some also, if you want."

Maya and Caden exchanged knowing looks.

It's not uncommon for Damon not to share, but he was willing to share with Talia. And it looked like Damon was more upset that Talia was feeding Caden compared to Damon losing his snacks.

Damon would open his mouth occasionally, and Talia put chips without a word spoken.

"I dropped it. Can you get it?", Damon said to Talia.

"Where did it go?"

"In my shirt."

Talia stared at Damon. "What?"

Maya's eyebrows shoot up. Is it possible that Damon planned for this and that's why he unbuttoned his shirt when he bought snacks?

"Come on. The longer it takes, the deeper it gets. It's itchy and I can't drive properly. You can undo a button or two to get it, if needed."

Talia was visibly flustered while thinking about how to fish out the chip from Damon's shirt.

Damon was disappointed when Talia pinched the shirt in the area of his navel, pulled it to untuck the shirt from his jeans, and gave it a shake. The chip fell on the floor.

"There. You shouldn't be itchy now.", Talia said victoriously.

Maya hid her laugh behind a cough. She never saw Damon sulking before.

By now, Maya's theory that Talia is Damon's mate was solid, and they also understood that Caden's hunch was right. Damon wanted to keep it a secret.

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