In Reach?

Mira’s POV

I’m walking behind Cutie, not really knowing what his name is or where we are going exactly. But looking around the place, I can tell that it’s huge and fancy.

“Well, I think you must have a layout of the house by now.” Cutie looks at me “This is the main house, mainly used by the heads of the pack. You’ll meet the rest of them soon. We have other pack houses with smaller cottages all around the property. We’re like a community of our own, I guess you can say. But I doubt you’ll go all the way out there. As for this place, all the rooms are upstairs, living areas and kitchen are downstairs, and we have an infirmary in the basement for any emergencies. We’re basically in the middle of nowhere, so it’s good to have medical services of our own don’t you think?” He looks at me, probably checking if I’m still listening to him.

We’re both standing in the hallway on the bottom level, and I give him a questioning look. “So, what do you guys do around here for fun?”

I’m trying to make light of my situation, in case they send me to do the dishes now. Ugh, just the idea annoys me. But Cutie seems to get my sense of humour and gives a chuckle. “Well, that depends. Have any hobbies or interests?”

Oh, just great. I hate talking about myself, even more so, I hate small talk, like this. Just push through this Mira. He would probably be offended if I tell him that I like my own personal space and not to be babysat on a 24 hour basis. But truthfully, I am a bit of an anti-social loner. Never really liked being in crowds. People have too many expectations. Now kids, I love. It’s one of the reasons I became a dance teacher. They’re expectation levels of people are next to none, and you can spend hours talking about the most random stuff.

I guess I’ll just have to settle for the one thing that doesn’t require anybody else around. “I like to read.”

Cutie seems surprised by my answer. “Well, we do have a library. Follow me.” We walk around a corner and come stop at a door adjacent to a window facing the outside garden. It’s quite beautiful. He opens the door and gestures inside, “This is the library. Nobody really comes here, so you’ll have the place to yourself.”

I lean forward trying to get a better look inside and my eyes just about fall out. When he said library, I didn’t think he actually meant an at-home-library. There is a large window on my right, continuing the view of the garden. It has a large, grey, velvet chaise chair in front of it. There is a vintage styled fireplace straight ahead of me, with two leather wing-chairs in front of it. The walls are practically covered in shelved books, and did I mention that it has two levels? There is a spiral staircase in the far corner leading to the balcony of the upper level of books. There is a huge open space in the middle of the room where a gigantic antique rug is placed. It has a nice finishing touch of a huge chandelier hanging straight down in the middle of the room. Yip, I can definitely lose myself in this room.

I turn my head to Cutie as I hear a snicker from him. “Well with that look on your face, I guess we have a bookworm on our hands. Come on, I’ll take you to Katy. You should know her, she’s the one that brought you to the office. She can show you more around on the outside. You’ll be introduced to the rest of the people later tonight at dinner.” He gestures for me to walk out ahead of him. Awh, what a gentleman.

He takes me to the kitchen, and I see Katy there talking with another girl. I must say, I’m getting happier by the second as I find more women in this place.

“Hey Aubrey, hey Katy.” He greets them. I guess her name is Aubrey. She looks shy, she’s barely meeting my gaze.

Katy on the other hand seems like she just found her long lost sister, as she comes walking to me with open arms. “You’re here. So, it went well I take it.” She hugs me as if welcoming me to the family. I just stand there with my hands mid-air not sure if I should reciprocate the hug. I know it would seem rude if I don’t, but I don’t do well with people invading my personal space. I look over her shoulder and get a glimpse of ‘Aubrey’ giggling at us.

“Katy, is it fine if I leave her with you to show her around and to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble?” She pulls back and looks at Cutie shaking her head in response. I can’t help but notice the serious look on Cutie’s face as he says this. It seems more like a warning. He looks at Aubrey and sees her just standing there like she’s not sure to approach me. Do I look dangerous or something? I’m smaller than her. Why would she need his permission anyway?

“Oh, let me introduce you.” He gestures his hand towards the other girl. “This is Aubrey, Aubrey this is,………” He furrows his brows and looks at me. “You know, I don’t think I got your name.”

Really? Is that a statement or a question? “That’s because you never asked.” Cutie looks at me almost guiltily and Katy just purses her lips into a thin line as silence fills the room. Silence that I have no intention of filling.

Unfortunately for him, he takes a second too long to open his mouth. I don’t know if he was contemplating the situation or if he was about to apologize, but I have no intention to fall for his sweet nature, as I’m sure so many others have.

Before he could utter a word, I turn around and walk to Aubrey with my hand out. “Hi Aubrey, nice to meet you.” She looks at my hand, then at Cutie. Really. Is she a fellow ‘kidnappee’?

She notices my questioning look and takes my hand with a big smile on her face. “Hi.” Wow, I can see all her teeth. She must be impressed with me or something. “Nice to meet you too. So, what’s your name?”

I think I like her too. And, no, it’s not a feminist thing. But so far, all the guys here are douches and the women seem like they prefer my company than to tolerate me.

I smile back and say, “My name’s Mira.”

Both Aubrey and I turn our heads to Katy as we hear her squeal. “That is such a pretty name. Mira.” She tests it out. “What does it mean? Is it short for anything? Ooohhh, I think we’ll get along just well.” All three of us can’t help but laugh at her antics, I forgot that Cutie was in the background. I see him look at us with a smile on his face, but when it landed on me, he almost looked hurt.

I knew what I did must have been rude, but was he that offended by it? But if it really takes that much effort for a man to apologize to a woman, or for their wrongdoings in general, they don’t really deserve my sympathy. He walks away with a quick smile on his face, leaving us girls alone.

“Yeah I think we will get along.” Aubrey says. “I’ve never seen a girl give Aiden the cold shoulder before. It’s nice knowing there is someone out there who can say ‘no’ to the men in this house.”

She speaks,…..and quite a lot for someone I thought was shy. I guess she’s just the type you need to get out of her bubble first. I must have made quite the impression on her.

“Aiden? Is that his name?” They look at me with confused looks.

“You didn’t know?” Aubrey asks.

“No, nobody here has actually introduced themselves to me other than you two.” I gesture to them.

They’re both quiet for a second and laugh, like it’s some joke.

“I think this place is going to become a whole lot more fun with you here.” Katy chimes in. “Come on, I’ll show you around the pack-grounds.” She takes me by the hand and pulls me out. “We’ll see you later Aubrey.” She waves goodbye.

Katy showed me around, and I must say, that it is absolutely beautiful. I grew up as a city girl, and it took quite some time for me to find anything to get me to feel somewhat at peace. But I have never felt this relaxed and, dare I say it in my current situation, ’free’. I just wanted to let loose and dance in the forest. I know, I know. That sounds weird. But I haven’t danced in such a long time, and that is usually my way to unwind from stress. And given my situation, there is a lot of stress I need to unwind from. But my sprained ankle made me second guess that option.

She showed me all the ‘chill’ spots around the area, before she told me it was time to bring me back. Ugh. I don’t want to go back. I like it out here.

The idea of having to sit around that huge ass table, to sit and ‘converse’ with people I don’t know, is stressing me out even more that my palms are sweating.

“You okay?” Katy looks at me concerned as we reach the front door.

“Yeah, I just…..I’m a little nervous to meet the others.” I might as well be honest with her. “People here don’t really like me”

Katy nods her head in understanding, making me wonder just how much she actually knows. “I know what you mean. People don’t really like rogues. All the stares people were giving you today, weren’t all directed at you.” Oh really, I thought I was just paranoid, and that the people here just don’t like newcomers or something. But she looks a little sad now. “Yeah, a lot of them still don’t like me that much either. They think that all rogues are savages and will always be. But I try to not let that phase me. It’s not like you can control what people think, right?” Wow, she’s young and wise.

I just smile back at her and nod.

At dinner, things went way smoother than I thought it would. Well, it was all thanks to Katy. She apparently doesn’t stay or eat at the main-house, but was allowed to because of me. She even did all the introductions for me, even though she told me about it this morning. But at least now I can put names to the faces. But I still think it is clear that they don’t really like me. They all looked at me like I’m supposed to jump up shouting “you’ve been punk’d”.

So, I was right about Bro being ‘Noah’ and the Beta of the pack. He even sits next to Dimples during dinner. I think those two need some separation therapy. It can’t possibly be healthy to be this close. Even more so, is that Swimfan was indeed this ‘Mason’ that loves to walk around shirtless. He at least had the decency to put a shirt on for dinner, but that stringer vest barely did anything to hide much of his body. It was distracting, and annoying. Theo was a contrast of the highest. He was huge, -massive. I would have pegged him to be the head warrior and not Mason if you put them next to each other. But apparently, he is quite the softy. He has such gentle eyes and a soft smile. He’s like a giant softy and I think my nickname for him is just perfect. I’m going to call him Teddy, because he’s like a life-size bear, that’s just too soft, you just want to hug him like a teddy. Liz, she is tough and not the smiling type. She reminds me of a Norse warrior, long blond hair, and all. I respect her for proving that woman can be tough too, but she really needs to embrace her femininity and start deep conditioning that hair if she doesn’t want to end up bald. That hair bun won’t do its thing forever.

Aubrey was apparently made to sit on the other side of the table. It’s like they were her very own personal bodyguards, protecting her from……..me. Like really. What is she, the queen of England?

I am on the other end of the long table and looking directly at Dimples. I enjoyed listening to Katy, because she doesn’t require much talking from my side to enjoy my company. But it gets difficult when I can feel his gaze on me. I try to steal a few glances and feel quite disappointed when I find him not looking at me. I must just be paranoid or something.

He doesn’t seem like the chattering type either. But he enjoys listening to the others tell their tales. He smiles, and oh my god, I see those dimples. I get a rush in myself, feeling like I just won the freaking lottery getting full view of both those dimples at once, seeing him smile.

“Hey, what did I miss?” I hear Katy next to me, as she’s trying to figure out whose conversation I’m eavesdropping into.

“Huh, oh it’s nothing.” I look back into my plate.

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. You were totally zoned out and had this satisfied smile on your face.” She pulls her face into what she thinks a ‘satisfied smile’ looks like.

Really, is that what I looked like? I didn’t even realize I was smiling. “No, really. It was just interesting to look at this whole scene in front of me.” I grab onto the first thing in front of me, and that is everybody.

She looks at me suspiciously and sighs. “You grew up alone too, right?” I look up at her a little too quickly. “Yeah, I was alone too. That’s what makes being in a pack so great. Everybody stands up for everybody. You’re never alone in a pack. They’re like your family.” She smiles at that last statement and continues eating.

I can’t help but ponder on what she just said. “They’re like family.” I never really had a family. I just have Alex. Is this why Dimples got so serious about me being a potential threat to them? He’s protecting them, because they’re like family to him.

It must be nice to have so many people to count on as family. I can’t help to suddenly feel so sad and lonely, sitting at this table and be the odd one out. I was always fine being a happy loner, but that was because I gave up on believing that things like this exist. As content as I was with my life, I always felt empty. It was one of the reasons I got so deep into the magic stuff. I wanted something more out of life. I wanted………..Even now I can’t say it, I don’t even dare to think it. Afraid to be disappointed yet again for my ridiculous wishes in life. I will only be disappointed if I admit that I wanted it, right? So, it shall remain a secret, even to my subconscious.

But this whole ’we’re all one big happy family’ stuff definitely still gives a cult vibe,……..but in a good way.

I look up and see Dimples looking lost as he stares deep into my eyes. I don’t like this, it feels like he can see into my thoughts; like he’s trying to find out my secrets. It feels so invasive, but I can’t seem to want to pull away. He’s so far away, yet it’s like I can feel him as if he’s right in front of me. If I pull away, I’ll be pulled back into reality and realize we’re nothing to each other and I am, as always, alone in this world. Shit! I should stop thinking like this. I can already feel my eyes tear up.

I have to practically turn my whole body and head to Katy, just to get my eyes off him. “I’m done. I think I’ll get started with the dishes.” My plate was empty a few minutes ago. There was no way I was going to let lasagna go to waste. That’s why I was just sitting there staring at people in the first place.

As I get up with the plate in my hand, she stops me. “Oh, you don’t need to do that. Aubrey and I got that covered.”

I’m not used to this treatment. I always had to clean up after myself and others. And by others, I mean my foster families. I don’t know if they’re all just that lazy or if I was just unlucky in getting relocated. But I ended up enjoying it, doing dishes, as it became a distraction for me. Nobody bothered me while I was doing dishes, and right now I think I need that type of a distraction again.

“No really, it’s fine.” I take her plate as well and walked off to the kitchen. It’s an open plan kitchen, so I know I’m not out of sight, but the increase in distance between me and him is doing something. My body’s starting to feel cold. It’s a weird feeling. It feels like his physical body is going away from mine making me feel cold.

I hear chairs moving and people’s voices leaving. That’s when Aubrey and Katy pop up next to me with the rest of the plates. I guess dinner is officially over.