Dear Alex A.

Chapter 35

Dumbfounded, I stood there listening to my father's side of the story. Tired of the palace life and everyone trying desperately to get on his good side just to use him, he left. Just took off one morning and let his gypsy heart take flight. In his travels he came across a woman working at a hospital. That particular night she had rushed out of the building and burst into tears across the street. She wept, heartbroken under a streetlight.

****
"Miss...? Is everything alright?" The closer I got the more peculiar I found this woman. Her sobs were heart wrenching, and I could almost physically feel her pain. She turned toward me trying to speak but the words were incomprehensible.

"H-HE WAS SUPPOSED TO GO HOME!" She finally wailed, curling her arms around herself. I didn't have it in me to leave her to her sorrows and walk away. They had lost a patient? Well, I know humans lose many, they are a fragile race after all. "He was supposed to go home tomorrow." I stepped towards her cautiously, her scent was almost magnetic.

"I'm sorry..." What else could I say really? I sat by her, just to lend her my shoulder if she needed it. This is quite an experience, it was strange. Here was this human, beside a Lord, and she's venting at me without pressured grace or pomp. To her, I am just another passerby who caught her at her most vulnerable. She continued crying, wrapping her arms around me as she buried her face in my chest. I blinked in surprise, not sure if I should return her embrace or push her away.

"Marcus was born 2 months early and fought every single day since then." Born early? It was a baby that died? "He's been here in the NICU for 6 months, and finally, he was ready to go home." She wiped her face with her sleeves. "But his heart just....stopped." Her voice cracked and my arms pulled her body against me. Sparks lit up my skin and gave my own heart a jump. Could it be?! "Sorry! I'm sorry!" She wriggled away, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I didn't mean to throw myself at you like that. Sorry, and thank you." She collected herself and laughed sheepishly. She rambled on, something about being embarrassed, unprofessional, and such, but I heard none of it. My only thoughts were having her in my arms again. How perfectly she had fit against me. And when she finally looked me in the eyes, the world itself seemed to stop.

*****
From that night on, he visited her during her late night lunch hours. They were slow to evolve into anything more than just friends which I can imagine, was straining and trying to the Lord of Wolves. After a year, he finally let her See him, for what he truly was. She was shaken, naturally, but she didn't fear him. Mom remained calm and admitted that had she not fallen in love with him ages ago, she probably would have high-tailed it. They gave their vows in secret, after learning how dangerous it was for her. And he never marked her.

"As time passed and I learned she was pregnant, I was almost paranoid. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was found, and with tensions high as they were, I didn't want to risk her life and security. I wanted her to have a normal life, and raise our child away from the disastrous responsibilities that come with royalty."

"Why didn't you tell her anything? You just took off."

"Would your mother really be the kind to leave it be if she knew I was being hunted? She was pregnant, that kind of fear and stress would not have been healthy for her."

"And being abandoned without explanation isn't stressful at all?"

"I didn't abandon her!" Alexander almost snarled, pulling her closer to him. After a deep breath, he steadied. "I left to throw them off our trail, but they were closer than I anticipated. They caught up with me shortly after arriving in Arizona. Those traitors, so desperate that they sided with the very hunters they were waging war against. After they captured me, and realized how much it would cost them to keep me conscious, I was put to sleep."