15. Shiro

15

Shiro

O nce Lan left, I helped Adam clean up, considering I was no longer a houseguest, but rather now a boarder.

A boarder. The word sounded new and alien to me, but at the same time, it brought me this sense of joy. I had never boarded a room before, let alone one this fancy and luxurious and in a penthouse, too. I just knew I had to work hard and make Adam proud of me for all that he had done for me. And maybe one day, I’d get to pay him back for his kindness.

It was quite late when we left the penthouse and drove to Chase’s clinic, and along the way, I told Adam what Lan had told me about the Medi gadget. Adam said he’ll tell Chase about it, which was a relief for me. And now here I was, finding myself lying facedown on an operating table and a local anesthesia was injected into me. Chase was on one side while Janet was on the other, doing surgery on me, removing that Medi gadget out from behind my left ear. Strangely enough, I wasn’t nervous like I thought I’d be and the whole thing was done without any hiccups. Chase was a very good surgeon, I found out, and an hour later, I was wheeled into one of the wards on the third floor. Apparently, I had to stay overnight in case something unexpected happened, so Chase had said.

Janet helped me into bed, not that I needed any help, and as she tucked me in, she said, “Remember the two boys? They’re your roommates, Shiro.”

I looked across the room, and sure enough, on the opposite side of me were the two beastkin boys from before who were brought in. They were currently in their beds and watching me curiously.

Harris, the rabbitkin boy, asked, “You okay? Did something happen?”

I said, “I just got a minor surgery done.”

Fred, the catkin boy, said, “Dr. Chase fixed you up, did he?”

“Yeah,” I replied.

Beside me, Janet said, “If you boys need anything, just holler.”

We nodded, and she left us to it. I was just making myself comfortable when Fred asked, “Hey, thanks for yesterday.”

I suspected he was thanking me for helping them when they were brought in. I said, “It’s okay.” I licked my lip and asked, “So… I know it’s traumatizing and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but what happened?”

The two looked sick to their stomach, and I knew that feeling well .

“Sorry,” I said. “Tony and his gang, they did some horrible things to me, too.”

“They did?” Fred asked.

I nodded. “When I first came to this part of town six months ago. I was looking for my brothers and I didn’t know much about this part of the city, so I got targeted by Tony.”

Harris said, “I’m sorry to hear that. Those bastards, they always target the weak ones like us.”

Fred nodded. “But they won’t be doing that anymore, because they got fucked up real bad.”

I raised my brows. I had heard about that from the streets today, and asked, “Did you hear about that, too? That The Beautiful Monster finally annihilated them?”

Harris and Fred looked at each other. Fred said, “We didn’t hear about it. We saw it.”

Harris nodded his head furiously. “We saw The Beautiful Monster.”

“He really is beautiful,” Fred said. “Like, hot.”

“He’s human though,” Harris said.

“No, he’s not,” Fred said. “He’s an alpha. There is no way any human can move like the way The Beautiful Monster moves.”

Harris said, “Yeah, he’s real fast. Like whish ! One second he’s near the door, and the next, he’s on the other side of the room, and the room is huge, you know.” His voice excited and urgent, he continued. “And he had Tony up against the wall with one hand wrapped around Tony’s neck. I snuck a peek and saw that bastard choking. Like really choking. ”

Fred nodded. “I saw the whole thing.” He turned to Harris. “You were too scared to watch.”

“I was not,” Harris said. “I kind of hid and peeked.”

Back to me, Fred said, “He really was choking and wheezing and like maybe even peeing in his pants, too. He was shaking severely, like very severely, and he was begging and stuff. It was disgusting how he begged. Like he laughed at us for begging, and then it was his turn to beg and he deserved that, you know.”

I couldn’t believe these two saw the real action right before their eyes. Didn’t that mean The Beautiful Monster came to save them?

“He warned them,” Harris said. “That if they ever step foot in his territory or hurt us again, us the beastkin , he’ll hunt them down and kill the lot of them.”

Fred nodded his head furiously. “Yeah. But to be honest, I don’t think many of them would have been left alive after last night. When we got out and were brought here, there were like heaps of men in black suits going in and beating the crap out of those gangs.”

Harris said, “Yeah. Tony is probably dead.”

Fred said, “Or at least half dead. Those men don’t usually let them go that easily.”

“Who are those men?” I asked.

“The mafia,” Fred said. “I mean, yeah, they’re scary, but when you live in their territory, at least they protect you from gangsters like Tony.”

“And they don’t treat you like shit like normal people do,” Harris said. He glanced to the door and continued lowly. “This clinic is run by them, you know. The owner, Dr. Chase, he’s connected to the mafia. ”

Fred nodded. “I heard he gets donation from the mafia, and it’s like in the millions.”

Harris said, “That’s why us beastkin can come here to get free treatment. If we go to a normal hospital, we’ll get put into the institute in no time.”

“You want to know why the institute can never step foot in the city and do a big raid?” Fred asked.

I had always wondered about that. There were lots of beastkin living in the backstreets in the city, and the institute knew this, but why had they never done a raid like they had done before, the likes of which I had experienced back at that neighborhood eight years ago?

Fred said, “It’s because of the mafias. It’s their territories. If the institute even stepped foot in, they’d be at war.”

Harris nodded. “And no one wants to go to war with a mafia clan. All the big bosses are alphas.”

I frowned.

That word again. Alphas.

“What’s an alpha?” I asked curiously.

“Huh? You’ve never heard of an alpha?” Fred asked.

I shook my head. I had been locked up in the institute most of my life, so any stories outside were off-limits. Besides, the only thing I ever thought about back then was to keep sane from all the abuse and trauma. Not to mention keeping myself, Kuro, and Aka safe, and planning on our escape.

Harris said, “An alpha is a hybrid beastkin. They look like a human but can shift into either an alpha or primal form.”

Fred took over. “In their alpha form, they have a human body but animal ears, tails, fangs, and they glow because they have this cool supernatural ability.”

Harris nodded. “In their primal form, they’re fully in their beast mode, like if they’re a wolf, it’s a fully formed wolf, as in like a werewolf, you know.”

I widened my eyes. Human form with animal ears, tail, fangs, and their body glowing. Wasn’t that like the image of that man in my head? But had I really met an alpha before? When? I just couldn’t remember.

And he looked like Adam. Or at least had Adam’s face. But could Adam be an alpha? According to Fred and Harris, an alpha did have a normal human form, unlike us beastkin.

“What are you boys talking about?” Janet’s voice came from the door.

I jolted and Fred and Harris gasped. Fred stammered, “Nothing.”

Janet chuckled. “Chatting about the alphas, are we? It isn’t just an urban legend?”

Harris said, “It’s not just an urban legend, Janet. The alphas are real.”

“Okay,” Janet said. “No more chitchatting please. Time for bed. You boys need to get some good sleep to heal.” She switched off the main light, leaving only a small one on in the corner of the room. “And remember, if you need anything, just—”

“Holler.” Both Fred and Harris said in unison.

Janet chuckled and then said, “Good night, boys.”

“Night, Janet,” Fred said.

When she was gone, Harris said to me, “Janet is so nice, right? ”

I nodded and then settled down in my bed. As I closed my eyes, the image of the man with wolf ears and tail came into my mind again. He was glowing and as he leaned his face close to me, I could only stare at him.

Adam. He is definitely Adam.

I sighed and touched my lips.

He had kissed me and I felt this warmth flowing from his mouth into mine and…

I felt a hand on my head, and I flashed my eyes open. Standing there on the side of the bed and gazing down at me was Adam, and I felt emotion stir within me.

“Adam,” I said his name softly.

Oh, shit, was I dreaming? Seeing him here?

He smiled at me. “Chase said the surgery went great.”

Oh, he was speaking, which meant I wasn’t dreaming. But just to be sure, I reached out and touched his hand. He felt warm and firm. He was real. I wasn’t dreaming.

I licked my lip and said, “Yeah. Are you going home now?”

He nodded.

“So… tomorrow?” I asked tentatively.

Shit, I knew it was unreasonable of me to feel this way, since I was an adult and we were strangers, but I was scared he’d abandon me. Having grown up without the solid aid of an adult my entire life, now that I had Adam stepping into that role, I was frightened I’d lose it, that someone to lean on for support and comfort, of which I had none since Mom had died.

“I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow,” he said.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay,” I said. “Thanks. ”

He ruffled my hair and then leaned down until his face was inches from mine. I held my breath, gazing at him, my heart racing. Was he going to kiss me again?

He planted his lips on my forehead, and I sighed in pleasure. I felt tears brewing in my eyes as emotion played havoc within me.

“Good night, and rest well,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

I nodded, but couldn’t utter a word.

He turned on his heel then, and he was about to leave when he looked to the other side of the room for a moment. I saw him put a finger to his lips and nod, and then he left the room. Confused, I turned to the other side and saw both Fred and Harris just sitting there, their eyes large. They looked shocked for some reason.

“You guys okay?” I asked.

Both turned to me and Fred asked, “You know him?”

I nodded. “I’m staying with him.”

Both had their mouths dropped open at the same time.

“Anyways,” I said. “We should sleep.”

Fred said, “That’s the guy.”

I raised a brow. “What?”

Harris said, pointing to the door. “It’s him. I swear it’s him.”

Fred nodded. “He saved us.”

I felt my heart racing. Were Fred and Harris implying it had been Adam who had saved them last night? If so, didn’t that mean Adam truly was The Beautiful Monster?

I settled in bed again, my mind racing.

If Adam was The Beautiful Monster, then that meant he was a mafia boss, right? Which meant he was an alpha. But Adam was just Adam, right? He lived in a luxurious penthouse and worked a normal job. Plus, he looked completely human.

But alphas, they had human forms, unlike us beastkin.

Shit, my head was spinning with all this thinking. I’ll think about it tomorrow, when I felt less dazed. With that, I closed my eyes.

It didn’t feel like it had been that long when I found myself waking up again, panting and shaking, the nightmare haunting me in my sleep once more. I took in a deep breath, working on calming myself down. When my breathing was even, I reached over to the table trolley and grabbed for the cup of water. I eagerly took a sip and then sighed, my head feeling heavy. I was just taking another sip when I saw a figure rushing past the door along the hallway.

Red hair, slender frame, and about my height.

Aka?

I scrambled off the bed, spilling the cup of water, but I didn’t care. That was Aka, right?

I rushed out into the hallway and saw the figure disappearing through a door.

Aka! I shouted internally. Aka! I ran after him down the hallway and then through that door and I found myself at the stairs. I frantically looked around, searching up and down, and then I saw the figure turning a corner up on the next floor. I ran up the stairs, calling out, “Aka! Aka!”

My voice echoed across the place as I ran. Then I heard the door banging shut, and I knew I had to run faster. I was up on the next floor within an instant and opened the door. I looked around, but Aka was nowhere in sight.

Had I been seeing things? Was I hallucinating?

Shit!

I crumpled to the floor; my knees felt weak and my head was spinning. “Aka,” I said softly under my breath. “Where are you?”