In The Arms Of The Bad Boy Alpha
Chapter 40

Bella's

P.O.V

the doors.

It was eleven at night and after hours of working in the shop the number of customers had finally dwindled, now there were no more customers. As soon as the last customer had left the shop I turned the sign around, showing that the shop was closed and locked As usual it was my responsibility to close the shop up with the key still in my hand. I sat in one of the four chairs just looking outside the window. Now whenever I used to stare outside the window, I used to think about the same wolf that I had seen a few days ago. I hadn't seen him since that day, but I don't know why I felt as if I was in danger from him. He was trying to give me some kind of warning or message with his eyes, it was a very scary feeling. My mother always said to stay away from other werewolves, but after her death my life was completely engulfed by wolves.

"Bella, what happened? Don't you need to go home today?" Lily asked. Coming in front of me with two cups of coffee in her hands placing one mug in front of me on the counter.

"I want to go, but I need to sit down a little and calm my mind. Thanks for the coffee, I've been craving one so much." I replied, smiling at her before I took a sip of coffee.

"If there is any issue, you know that you can tell me, right?" Lily prodded, placing her coffee mug on the counter.

"No, there is no such thing...just a strange feeling," I hedged, sitting there in deep contemplation, still gazing out the window, I had made my point.

"Bella, whether you tell me or not, I know you well enough to recognize that it all started from the day we all went on the trip, we were attacked by those scary wolves. It has been a week for you and I can still blatantly read the despair on your face. Since that day you have become completely silent, you have even stopped laughing. What happened that day between you and Asher on that mountain?" Lily inquired. As soon as I heard Lily's question, I was terrified.I immediately picked up the coffee mug and began to drink the hot bitter fluid. I did not answer her, but she was watching my face. She had not asked me this question even once earlier this week, I don't understand why she was suddenly curious about it now.

"So maybe my suspicions are correct. The two of you came in physical contact with each other. You had s*x with him. No, actually you made love with him," Lilly clarified. As soon as Lily uttered the word love, I felt as if someone had stabbed me in my chest. Love? Whatever happened between Asher and me that day, was it love?

That idea had not been on my mind today, not since the day it all started. I don't know how he got me off of that mountain in my condition, but when I had opened my eyes, I found myself in my house. I felt that he placed me on my bed. Then I was fully recovered, but was in no condition to walk due to the soreness between my legs. As soon as I opened my eyes, I found him in front of me. I also remembered what he did for me all day and night. We had mated.

"Ash... Asher..." I murmured as I watched him turn away from me. I did not understand anything. I tried to sit up in bed with this attempt I was going to fall. He ran towards me to save me, but then he did not come close to me again. From observing him, I could tell that he was talking to his wolf. There was hatred and anger for himself in his eyes that he was trying to fight, but before I could say a word he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind leaving me in tears.

I felt as if I had done something wrong to him. I was the one who forced him to touch me. Perhaps he had not wanted anything to happen between us. He had always called me a dirty lone wolf and for only saving me from the pain he crossed his limit. I was sobbing continuously. I had not slept that day or throughout the night. It was not only that day but every night since that I was not able to sleep properly. I thought that the next day when I saw him at school I would apologize to him, but I had not seen him since that day. Not only Lena, but I also yearned for his scent citrus and sage, but he could not be found anywhere at school.

"I am right, you were, weren't you?" Lily reiterated, attracting my attention.

"Yes..." I finally divulged. I was done trying to hide anything from her because now I found all things just meaningless. I was finding everything around me meaningless now.

"Then why are you so sad? Did you not want to do it with him? Did he force you?" Lily inquired, her question annoyed me so much that I too was forced to think, whether I wanted to do it with him or not.

"We both wanted to do it with him. He didn't force us." Lena broke into my thoughts.

"No, he did not force me, but I don't know." I replied truthfully to Lily, trying to get up from there, but she grabbed my hand and smiled.

"You know the answer, Bella, you are only lying to yourself. It seems to me that... "Lily hesitated, she did not finish her word, she was only looking at me. Her silence raised hundreds of questions in my heart as well as the hidden fear behind the silence. "What do you think?" I dared to ask her this terrifying question. To hear an answer that I was not sure I had the strength at all to listen to.

"You're in love." Lily declared, her words shocked me.

"You love him, Bell. You love Asher," Lily emphasized. Upon hearing those words, I forgot how to breathe, maybe forgot to make my heart beat as well. My eyes filled with tears, I immediately turned my eyes to Lily.

"I think we should walk home. Let's close the shop," I commented, getting up from my seat and going inside the storage room to get my bag. I don't know if what she said was right or wrong about Asher and me, but why were tears leaking out of my eyes after listening to her words?

Lily's P.O.V

Without giving me an answer, Bella left the shop, but her silence and the tears in her eyes told me everything that she wasn't saying with words. Whatever had happened a week ago, not only had changed Bella's life but a huge change had come in my life as well. My fingers went to my lips as much as I tried, I could not forget the touch of Leo's lips for the last seven days.

As soon as Leo had killed the wolf barbarically in front of my eyes, I kept crying in fear, when suddenly the principal appeared. The principal saw Leo's wolf form then me, I got the sense that the two had talked to each other because Leo quickly jumped into the bushes disappearing from my sight.

The principal dropped me off at home using his car. I don't know what happened after I left, but the next day I went to meet Bella at her house, where I found her sobbing. I inferred that the reason for her tears was Asher and that there was definitely something going on between them, but I never asked her for specifics, thinking that one day she would open up and tell me everything.

Neither Leo nor Asher had been in school, when Bella and I had gone to school the next day. Victoria had gone out of the city with the national football championship with the girls players and David was also not present at the school. It had been one week without laying my eyes on Leo, no one was around to bother me, no one was teaching me mate lessons, It was then that I realized that I was alone again. What a feeling it was that stayed with me when he was not there. What a feeling it was that if he was not there, it brought moisture to my eyes and even though I did not want to, I began to cry.

Bella's P.O.V

The next day when I reached the shop, Lily was not there. After a while, she called me and told me that she could not sleep properly that night, so she was late in getting up this morning so she would not be able to come in today, but she said that she would see me at school. So today I would be working without my friend in the shop, at least I wouldn't be completely alone as there was another girl who was handling the counter while I was taking out the goods for the customers. "Bella," The manager called to me in a suppressed voice.

"Yes," I answered, turning around to face him. I didn't know why, but as soon as a familiar fragrance entered my nose I understood what he wanted to say.

"The customer who has been coming here for the past week has come again, you have to deliver his order to him, like you always do," The manager stated, while smiling then walked away. I knew that the person was standing behind me some distance away. "Hey! I am back," The man remarked with a very big smile. This was the fourteenth time I had heard this sentence. He comes to the shop twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening. Every time he buys the same types of foods and drinks. Today he was wearing blue jeans and white T-shirt, I had to admit he looked really handsome. Apparently he was also rich.

It wasn't just the girls that work here, but all the girls who had come here to buy things were also turning to see him. No one could deny his handsomeness, the most important thing was he was a werewolf. I immediately stopped checking him out or he could get the wrong idea from me.

"Hey..." I replied with a soft smile. Before he could start a conversation with me, I began pulling out the items for his order as I already knew what he was going to ask for. As usual, he followed me all the way around the store as I selected his items as if keeping an eye on me.

"Give me four boxes of this drink today," He said. I was surprised.

"Do you really want four boxes?" I asked and he raised his eyebrows at my question.

"I mean I believe that you will come back again this evening to get all this same order, so I was wondering how you can finish all this food so soon?" I questioned, he laughed loudly at me. I could hear that the heartbeats of the girls present there had intensified as soon as they all heard his deep laughter. They were all going crazy over him. I heard some girl saying that she wanted to touch him, I believe that he had also heard all these things that the girls were saying, but he ignored them.

"Actually, I don't eat all these things alone, but I have many friends, at least fifteen to twenty. We all live in hostels near my school, so this stuff is not much for us at all. It is my responsibility to bring the goods, so in the morning and evening, I am here to disturb you." He replied with a chuckle, I smiled and laughed at my foolish question. Even though his body was large, I was sure he had to be an Alpha, despite that he would not be able to eat that much food by himself. Suddenly he stopped laughing seeing me smiling. "You feel trouble when I come here, right?" He asked, there were many untold feelings in his voice. It seemed as if he wanted to say something to me with his eyes.

"No it's not that. You don't bother me." I replied, smiling and immediately turning my eyes away. I always get nervous when I look into his eyes.

"Are you afraid of me?" He abruptly inquired, I felt as if he had misunderstood due to talking my eyes off of his.

"No, you are thinking wrong. Why would I be afraid of you?" I quickly replied, taking out the other items, my hand was not even going to the merchandise on the top. He easily took that stuff out of my hand smiling at me.

"I am glad that you are not afraid of me, but I would expect that whenever you talk to me, you would look in my eyes and talk." He directed me, again it was like he had many hidden meanings in his words.

"Why?" I asked, finally voicing what I had wondered for the last few days. Why does he want me not to be afraid? Why does he want me to talk while looking into his eyes?

"It feels like familiarity. In other words, I have fallen for you," He candidly confessed, breathing out like he had accepted it to be the truth. The item that was in my hand was going to fall on my feet, I was going to injure myself due to my shock at his sudden confession. No one had confessed their love for me ever. This handsome male out of the blue confessed his feelings for me, not only was it heard by the manager, but also by the other customers. Everyone was astonished, including me. At the same time it was embarrassing.

"What's wrong? Why is your face looking red?" He inquired, by saying this he added more embarrassment onto my previous embarrassment.

"Nothing," I said quickly walking away from there, but he just followed me and unexpectedly pulled me into a corner.

"What are you doing?!" I snapped filled with irritation and panic. My body was totally eclipsed by his huge one as I swallowed my saliva hard.

"You did not reply to my confession Bella," He commented, frightening me.

"How do you know my name?" I asked with as much courage as I could muster, he only chuckled.

"Your name is written on your name tag," He replied pithily, indicating towards the name tag that was on my shirt once again I had proven myself stupid.

"No need to be embarrassed, Bella. It happens to every girl when I am standing in front of her. Well my name is lan." He informed me with a handsome smile, I pushed him back a few steps so that people would not misunderstand the situation. "Nice to meet you lan, but as for your confession I am really sorry..." I began to say.

"No need to reply to me straight away," He interrupted.

"I am sure you will change your mind soon." He hedged, showing how overly confident he was in his eyes which bothered me.

"Why are you so confident?" I asked.

"I just....am. My conscience says that what I want will happen and if it does not then I will make the circumstances so that it does." He warned, but the last sentence revealed how truly dangerous this male was.

"Well, I would like to be your friend until you say yes to dating me," He demanded, putting his right hand forward to shake. I did not put my hand forward as I was thinking first to befriend him. We had only met seven days ago and something about him just didn't feel right.

"The least you could do is offer me a hand in friendship otherwise I will think that you are afraid that you may not fall in love with me." He persisted, his smile proved that he truly believes that I will love him. There was no way that was happening as I already had enough issues in the love department when it came to my mate, I didn't need to add this male to the mix. "Okay, only friendship." I specified, shaking his hand.

"Yeah." He reassured me with a big smile, I smiled back at him. I knew he was saying that this was only going to be a friendship from one side, but it was also good as long as no one was an enemy.

My morning shift was over two hours later and I left for the shop wearing my school uniform. As soon as I reached school, I met Lily on the field who was still yawning.

"Are you still sleepy?" I asked her, laughing. She closed her eyes and nodded her head, agreeing that she was indeed still tired.

"I think you should wash your face with cold water, otherwise you will not learn anything taught in class in this condition," I suggested.

"Yes, you are probably right. Let's go to the canteen, I will wash my face in the canteen's bathroom," Lily agreed as we both entered the canteen. As usual the canteen was full of everyone having breakfast. "Do you mind keeping my bag with you? I am sure you haven't had breakfast. I haven't either, so whatever you eat, order it for me too, I will come back in a little bit." Lily instructed, rubbing her eyes. "Well, when you get back, everything will be at the table here. You go and quickly wash your face, freshen up. I am waiting for you," I told her,as Lily left, I took a seat in a chair.

Suddenly I smelled Asher's scent. I closed my eyes, inhaling this addictive aroma of sharp sitrus and smokey sage. Lena was once again feeling alive for the first time in seven days. Slowly opening my eyes trying to control myself, I found Asher walking towards me followed by Leo. His eyes met with mine, he stopped in his tracks. His beautiful blue eyes bore deep into me, but now he was making his way towards me. He was thinking.

"I am going to the gym. Meet me there." Asher filled in Leo, while staring at me. Asher left the canteen without looking back once but Leo noticed both of our reactions. I looked at the food that the boy had placed on the table. I do not know why I felt it, but I was sure that he left the canteen due to my presence.

"Luna." I heard Leo's voice and looked up to him. He had not followed his Alpha but instead had come straight towards me. He did not forget to bow even when too many people were watching him doing it.

"Ummm... Lily is not here," I told him as I knew that he must have smelled her scent, at the same time his eyes were on her school bag that was lying beside me.

"No, actually I have come here to talk to you," Leo informed, taking a seat in front of me.

"How are you doing, Luna?" He asked in a worried tone.

"I am fine. Thanks," I replied, with as little information as possible and a small smile, but his eyes were telling me that he did not believe me.

"Asher is also saying the same thing to me and I know that you both are not lying to me but to yourselves. Why are you both causing pain to each other?" He inquired, I felt panic in my heart.

"What do you mean? What happened to him?" I questioned, he shook his head.

"I know I should not tell you this without informing the Alpha, but I do not think that I should hide it from you as you are his mate." He started to say.

"That day, after leaving you safe and secure at your house, he hightailed it straight back to the pack. Alpha had an idea of his arrival but learned that something was definitely wrong as he did not go to see him. Upon entering the pack, he went directly to see his mother. When Alpha Gabriel arrived there, he found me standing at a distance and joined me observing Asher. He too was just watching him from afar and did not get any closer to Asher."

"When Alpha asked me, I told him everything that happened to us on the trip. At the same time, he had just come to know that all this had been done by our enemy. He was furious with not only the circumstances surrounding the incident, but also seeing Asher's insanity. Asher was repeatedly apologizing to his mother and had gone absolutely insane." Leo explained and after listening to him, I understood that I was the reason behind everything he had done.

I remember very well the day we were all sitting and watching the movie. Out of the blue on that day he told me that the girl should not give up. Maybe that boy was also hurt. I lifted my eyes, studying Leo. "Can you answer a question for me?" I asked.

"If I know the answer, I will definitely," He responded, smiling.

"Tell me why Asher hates lone wolves so much?" I inquired, as soon as he heard my question, the smile vanished from his face.