Ch. 12: The Library
The sound of the water functioned as a vehicle for my thoughts, there was something soothing about the noise that Faustina made while swimming that left me in a kind of meditative state.
While my sister moved from one side of the pool to the other, I remained lying on the lounge chair with my eyes closed. It wasn't about the tiredness, the night before I had slept wonderfully after dispelling my doubts about Almec's well-being; It was more about the need to organize the ideas that were constantly running through my mind.
Even though I wasn't worried anymore about the alpha's health, dinner had unlocked new dilemmas, and Almec was in the middle of them.
The more time I spent with him, the harder it was to get him out of my mind. I could feel the ghost of his touch and I longed to feel his warmth once again.
The images from the night before replayed over and over again, to the point where I had memorized the details of his smile.
I had never experienced anything similar with anyone and it was difficult for me to understand why I wanted to see him so much once again.
What was so special about Almec that made him stronger than the memories of my past? The nightmares about the fall of my pack faded because of him since my first night at the mansion. Almec replaced the gasoline that fueled my revenge and I was beginning to fear that I would forget my main objectives.
I couldn't allow myself to leave behind my pain until I avenged my family. Almec was becoming a distraction, which meant that I should stay away from him, but I couldn't find the strength to do it.
"Are you sleeping?" Faustina's voice made me open my eyes.
"No," I replied and sat on the edge of the lounge chair. "Do you need something?"
My sister swam to the edge of the pool. "I was wondering, What are we going to do for my birthday? It's only three days away."
"Is it that close?"
Faustina nodded. "I almost forgot until I saw the date today. Can I have a party at the mansion?"
"We should ask Almec, we can't organize a party at the mansion without the owner's permission. Who do you want to invite?"
"Khalia, Demian, Wina, and Almec. Geldra and Feinid can come too if they want."
"We can go find Almec now if you want so you can ask him."
Faustina swam quickly towards the ladder and left the pool as if it were a race. "Rápido, apurate."
"You have to dry off first." I laughed.
"Can't we ask him on the phone?" she asked as she grabbed the towel. "You call Almec, put him on speaker, and I'll ask him."
"What do you want to ask me?"
I turned around in search of Almec by instinct. He was at the entrance to the room, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.
"Can I have my birthday party at the mansion?" shouted Faustina. She hopped towards Almec and used her puppy eyes to convince him.
"When is your birthday?" he asked her, crouching down to her level.
"In three days. Can I have the party? I promise I'm not going to invite too many people and we're going to have it in the part of the house that you want."
"Of course you can celebrate here but I want to know who is coming. Whatever you need you can ask Demian and Khalia. And you can choose any part of the mansion for the party except for the forbidden area."
Faustina jumped on Almec and hugged him. "Thank you. It's going to be the best birthday in the world."
He raised his head and looked at me like he was asking for help. I approached them both, smiling. Seeing the alpha so helpless at the hand of a young girl was for sure a funny sight.
"Princesa, you can let him go now," I said.
She broke the hug. "I have to make the invitations!" she suddenly screamed. "Valen, you can tell him who's coming to the party, I'm leaving."
I didn't have time to react before Faustina bolted out of the room. I let her go knowing that she would surely go to the art room where she would be safe.
"You can tell me the details of the party on the way," Almec said and began walking towards the exit. "Come on."
"Where to?" I asked him, following in his footsteps.
"There's something I want to show you, I've been thinking about it since dinner last night."
A shiver ran through my body at the mention of dinner, it wasn't exactly what I wanted to remember being in his presence. Unintentionally, I slowed my steps. Once I looked up from the floor, I realized the great distance between Almec and me.
He looked back over his shoulders before going up the stairs and stopped walking. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just a little tired." I lied, faking a smile.
"I can show it to you another time if you need to rest now." He sounded worried.
"No, it's not that big of a deal," I told him after reaching him. "I won't be able to hold back my curiosity if I don't see it now."
He offered me his hand so I could take it. "You still have to tell me the details of the party."
With our hands linked we started walking again. I told him everything I knew about the party, which was just the guest list, and for some reason I couldn't understand Almec was surprised that Faustina wanted him at her party.
"Is she sure she wants to invite me? I'm not that good with kids."
"Is this a joke? You're fantastic with her, yes, sometimes you seem a little constipated but you always manage to become her favorite after that."
"If that's what she wants I'll make sure to be there," he said. "What about the rest? The food, the decorations, does she want something special?"
"She probably has something in mind but she hasn't told me anything yet."
Almec stopped in front of the left-wing hallway and put his free hand in his pocket. I watched him curiously as he took out his wallet and broke our hold to search for something inside it.
"Here, for whatever you need to buy." Almec offered me a credit card. "It's in your name so it's yours now."
"Are we really going to do this again?" I asked him, frustrated.
"It doesn't have to be that difficult, take the card as a gift for Faustina, you can buy whatever she wants for her birthday, and you can also buy some clothes for the two of you. Your luggage when you arrived was too small."
"This is a gift for Faustina and I have to buy things for the two of us, not just her?"
"Take it as your birthday present too."
"My birthday is in five months."
"As a gift for your last birthday, then. I'm not going to stop until you accept it. I do whatever I want with my money and if you're not going to accept the card I'll start buying you gifts myself, and I assure you that that's going to be worse."
Almec approached me, grabbed my hand, and placed the card on it. I figured that there was no point in continuing to argue, he was going to find some way to convince me and the reality was that he didn't need to try very hard for it.
"Thank you." It was all I could say in the face of his generosity.
"Now that it's settled let's keep going." Almec entered the forbidden area and gestured with his hand for me to follow him. "You have permission to come in with me today."
I followed him, hiding behind his body. Despite having his permission, I felt like a little girl breaking her parents' rules. I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings and there wasn't much to see either, the darkness of the entrance hallway spread across the rest of the wing, making it almost impossible to notice details.
"Here it is." Almec opened a large wooden door with carved roses. "After You."
"Oh, Moon Goddess," I murmured as I entered the room.
A huge library was in front of me, it was the size I would expect to see in public libraries and not in a house. The shelves full of books reached the ceiling, and in the center of the room, there were two long armchairs and a wooden table with a chandelier hanging over it.
"What do you think?" Almec asked behind me.
I turned around and smiled at him. "What do I think? It's beautiful, it's perfect."
"Why don't you pick something to read? You still owe me a reading session."
I walked between the shelves as my chest filled with joy. The diversity of genres caught my attention, they had everything from romance books to history encyclopedias.
Choosing just one story among so many was an almost impossible mission, and I would have continued walking for hours with Almec as my shadow if it weren't for the beautiful book waiting alone on a small shelf.
"Why is that book separated from the rest?" I asked.
"It was my father's favorite, it has old stories for children." Almec approached the bookshelf and took the book. "Do you want to see it?"
"Are you sure I can hold it?" I stretched out my hand but didn't take it. "Isn't it important?"
"It's important to me, that's why I would like to share it with you." He placed the book in my hand. "Let's sit down so you can read me one of the stories."
A shy smile appeared on my face as I walked behind Almec. It never ceased to amaze me how a man everyone saw as a beast could be so sweet.
"The library is wonderful, why do you keep it hidden?" I asked.
Almec clenched one of his fists and lowered his head. I would have loved to be able to see his expression at that moment to better understand his feelings.
"It's not about hiding what's in the forbidden area but about keeping people away from me," he said after a few minutes of silence. "I told you before, I'm dangerous."
"You don't seem dangerous to me." I moved closer to him and held his hand behind him. "During the last few months I traveled all over the continent looking for help, I met many people, and no one helped us like you did."
"You have no idea what a Lycan can do. I may be the biggest threat you've ever faced. It's best for everyone to stay away from me."
"Well, as you may have already realized, I'm not good at following orders so I'm not going to walk away. You're going to have to put up with me for a long time."
Almec squeezed my hand and resumed his walk. He remained without saying a word for a long time, still from time to time he stroked my hand with his thumb. I didn't know if that was his way of thanking me for my words or his way of showing me that he wasn't ignoring me, what truly mattered was that his small gesture started a party in my stomach.
"You can come to the library whenever you want," Almec said. "I just ask that you let me know beforehand so that I can be more careful."
I took a few steps forward, stood in front of him, and smiled. "You are always careful with me, don't have any doubts about that. Even so, I will do what you ask of me so you don't have to worry."
"You have a special gift for giving me confidence," Almec said, looking me in the eyes. "Which chair do you prefer?"
The change of subject disconcerted me, I frowned and looked around. Then I remembered we were supposed to be there to read.
"Your choice, you know them better than me."
Almec guided me to one of the armchairs and waited for me to settle in so he could sit in front of me.
"Ready?" I asked him, opening the book.
"More than ready," he replied as his eyes sparkled with excitement.
The words flowed allowing the story to come to life. Along with the story, a new tradition was built among us, a tradition that marked the beginning of the small encounters that were to come.
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