Chapter 59: A Scorpion In His Tent
Elián;
"So... how was your ride with Alpha Rhydian? Did anything happen?" Alana questions as she hands me a plate of some kind of porridge, and I look up at her.
The campfire illuminates her face against the night’s darkness, and her eyes glimmer with hopeful excitement as she leans towards me.
"You spent most of the day in the carriage with him. Hopefully you two didn’t get in another fight..." She probes further, and I roll my eyes.
"Nothing happened, Alana. It was a long, silent, boring ride. The only thing that happened was that he saved me from falling out of the carriage." I reply flatly as I take the plate from her and take a scoop of whatever this meal is into my mouth.
A burst of flavour attacks my tongue, and I feel my muscles relax and my hungry stomach rejoice at the taste of food.
"Falling out of the carriage? How did that happen?" Alana questions, and I stare over the fire at Rhydian, who’s sitting on a log of wood on the other side of the space, eating from a plate with his aide blabbing endlessly to him.
"I was leaning against the door. I didn’t hear it open. He yanked me back before I could fall out." I explain, and Alana gasps while I stuff my mouth with more food.
"Wow... so he does care?" She mutters, and I look back up at Rhydian with a scoff.
"I doubt that. Probably saved me out of reflex... or didn’t want the stress of tending to a wounded person on his trip." I reply, and just then Rhydian looks up at me.
Almost like he heard my words. Our eyes meet, and my heart skips a beat.
I look away from him and focus on my food as I keep eating. For some reason, the more time I spend with him, the harder my aggravation about him grows.
Did the king think this was a punishment for Rhydian? No. It’s a punishment to me. To both of us!
Ugh!
And I’m going to be stuck on the road with him for two more days before even getting to our destination.
I’m being stretched beyond my wits here.
"Whatever his reason, I’m glad he saved you. I can’t ride in the carriage with both of you. It’ll break my heart to find out that something happened to you because I wasn’t there to prevent it." She speaks, and I turn my attention to her.
I stare at her big brown eyes, worried pout, and flowery brown dress.
"You take your job of caring for me very seriously... Thank you." I whisper, and she smiles proudly at me.
"After the bond between an Alpha and Omega, the next strongest bond is the one between a master and their Aide." She replies, and I smile at her.
"I’m glad I got an aide as patient and caring as you," I reply, and her blush grows.
"You flatter me, Master Elian." She replies with a playful wave of her hand, and I chuckle.
"I’ll go set up your tent. When you’re done eating, you can go right to bed. My tent will be right beside yours." She informs me as she stands up, and I nod.
I watch her walk over to where maids and guards are struggling to set up a tent, and as I look away from her, my gaze once again locks on Rhydian’s.
I battle with every fibre of control in me not to roll my eyes as I look away from him.
Why does he keep gawking at me??
********
I groan in annoyance as I pull the blanket off myself.
It’s impossible to sleep when you’re holding about a gallon of pee in your bladder and are too scared to go out to pee, cause it’ll be just you wandering into the woods.
Why do I have to pee now?! Couldn’t it wait till morning!
Imagine me waking Alan up to follow me so I can pee. I won’t do that.
But then I’ll have to go pee alone.
I hate my life!!
Fuck, I can’t hold it anymore.
It’s either I go pee now, or die of embarrassment tomorrow morning when Alana comes to pack up my tent, only to find out that I wet the bed.
I reluctantly pull myself up and open the flap of my tent.
I stare out, and the quiet campsite is fully bathed in nothing but the moon’s silvery rays.
The campfire is completely dead with a ghostly trail of smoke rising to the open sky above. Too quiet. No owls, no night bugs, no rustle of leaves.
A sigh escapes me as I prepare myself for this.
I’ll just go behind a tree, ease myself and rush back in before some beast or horny bastard grabs me.
I quietly step out of my tent and walk cautiously towards the woods that spread out for miles ahead.
I get behind a tree and quickly unbuckle my pants as I get to business.
I let out a long sigh as the stream of pee escapes me, and just as I’m about to wrap up, someone speaks behind me, turning me to stone.
"Have you done it?"
I snap around in panic, but there’s no one there.
"Yes. The scorpion is in his tent. He’ll get stung by it, and before sunrise, he should be dead." Another voice replies, and I slowly shove my junk back into my pants as I creep slowly towards the voices.
I hide behind a tree, and just a little distance away are three men dressed in black hoods that cover their faces.
"You’re sure no one saw you?" One of the men questions the other two, and I hold my breath as I listen to them.
"No one did. I made sure to go when his aide was asleep. Everything went smoothly. By tomorrow, he’ll be dead."
My heart starts pounding as I listen to the words.
Who...Who are they trying to kill?
"Master will reward us heavily. We should get going, though. If these people wake up tomorrow and find Alpha Rhydian dead, it will be chaos. I don’t want to imagine what they’ll do to us if we’re caught." Another of the men says, and my heart drops into my stomach.
They want to kill Rhydian!?