Chapter 4

• Julian's Pov
• At the sounds of my hysterical cries, Lincoln barged into the room.
• His face was neutral, as normal, but his eyes were wild and alert.
• I was sitting on the floor, my emptied suitcase in tatters around my feet.
• My white dress – which still had small splatters of blood from when Layton broke Alpha Jones arm earlier that day – was crinkled and creased from how I was position on the floor.
• When Lincoln realised that there was no danger, he frowned down at me; crossing his arms over his chest in dominance.
• “What’s the matter?” he demanded, annoyed.
• “He’s not here” I sniffed, hiccupping from my heavy sobs.
• “Who?”
• “Donald”. At them mention of his name, Lincoln growled and stormed up to me.
• I yelped in shock when he picked me up, and threw me forcefully onto his bed.
• I whimpered in fear, as Lincoln followed me onto the bed.
• His callous hands grabbed hold of my arms – pinning them above my head as he sat across my waist. He was heavy, and I wheezed.
• Lincoln's Pov 🥀
• “You are mine” I screamed in her face. “How dare you talk of another man in my presence.
• And don’t think I didn’t hear about that pathetically, weak, wolf who tried to claim you as his own this morning.
• You’re lucky it was just my Beta there, because I would have killed that fucking mutt”.
• She was sobbing, hard, out of both sadness and fear.
• Julian's Pov ✨
• I whimpered in fear, eyes watering – I was very confused with his behaviour.
• Confused and scared.
• I knew that Lincoln was scary, he was the Bad Alpha after all, but that didn’t mean that I had ever thought he would be so aggressive.
• I whimpered in his hold, as his claws came out and dug into my bound hands.
• I felt a wetness there, he had drawn blood.
• “Donald, is my teddy bear” I whispered, voice small and childlike.
• At my words, Lincoln looked confused – eyebrows dipping and a deep frown creasing his forehead lines.
• He looked like he was trying to work out the hardest quadratic equation; as if my words were in some foreign language he didn’t understand.
• “Huh?” he groaned out.
• “My teddy bear, his name is Donald, and my mum took him out my suitcase” I told him, eyes tearing up once more.
• “She told me my mate would laugh at me for having a teddy bear, but my daddy gave it to me”.
• I hiccupped once more, before more tears began to fall.
• Sighing heavily, Lincoln got off me. He released my hands, and finally noticed my cut wrists; he frowned, but didn’t comment on them.
• However, he backed away from the bed slightly. I hiccupped again, as soft sobs filled my throat; constricting my air intake.
• I sat up slowly – my eyes watching Lincoln in case he pounced on me again.
• But he didn’t, he simply stood there; staring in the normal disconcerting way he always did.
• “I’m sorry Alpha Lincoln, but I have to go home.
• I can sleep without Donald” I told him, voice calm and small.
• “No” he roared loudly, anger creeping into his wide eyes once more. “You will never leave”.
• And with that, he turned on his heels and stormed out the room.
• I jumped when he slammed the bedroom door shut, not just because of the loud sound, but also due to the anger that he used to shut it.
• I whimpered again. Curling up on the bed, I cried for what seemed like hours.
• When I finally glanced up at the large windows, it was dark outside.
• My eyes were red and sore, and my head and healing wrists hurt.
• I didn’t want to be there – I wanted to be at home with; Jacob, my family and Donald.
• I felt my tiredness looming over me, like a plague I couldn’t fight. But just as my eyes were about to shut, one thing popped into my head – are the doors locked?
• Jumping out of bed, I made my way to the bedroom door. Cautiously, I eased it open before my eyes searched the empty landing.
• It was a pretty corridor - with a white standing staircase leading to the first floor, and a polished wooden floor that seem to glisten under the small spotlights in the ceiling.
• As soon as I stepped out, my bare feet touched the cool floor.
• I slowly walked down the stairs, making sure my feet were light and gentle.
• I didn’t want Lincoln to hear me. He already found out about Donald and thought I was odd, if he knew about my compulsions to check locks; he would think I was insane.
• I was worried if he found out just how screwed up I was, that he would no longer want me. That he would send me away.
• I crept through the lounge, before I saw the front door. Walking up to it, I touched the lock – cringing at the cold metal.
• It was locked – so I unlocked it, then locked it. Then, I unlocked it once more, just to lock it again. Satisfied, I turned away.
• Then a little voice spoke up in mind; you did lock that after you unlocked it, right?
• The little voice made me doubt myself, so I turned back and unlocked and relocked the door six times before I was satisfied.
• I nodded at the lock, happy it was secure, before I turned around. As I prepared to go back to Lincoln room, his voice filled the room. “Do you intend to murder me or something?”
• I spun on my heel, to see Lincoln leaning against a lit doorway – behind it I got a small glimpse at the kitchen.
• Lincoln held a crystal glass in his hands, it looked like it contained some kind of alcoholic substance.
• He looked casual – posture relaxed, leg slouched and eyebrow quipped. I would have said his emotion was slightly amused, but I knew that he never showed any emotion.
• “What?” I asked, heart thumping. I was both scared and embarrassed for being caught locking the doors obsessively.
• “You seem to be making sure those doors are locked” he commented, placing the glass down,
• “I was just wondering if you were planning to murder me. Or, at least, take advantage of me”.
• I blushed furiously, “of course not, Alpha Lincoln. I just wanted to make sure that the door was locked”.
• It sounded like a pathetic excuse – even though it was the truth.
• “Lincoln” he growled out, walking over to me. I gave him a look of confusion as he walked up to me.
• “My name” he said, taking my face in his hands, “is Lincoln”.
• “Sorry” I whispered, voice coming out thick. It was only being so close to him that I noticed how his inked tattoos evaded the edges of his neck – a small bit of black ink edged out from the collar of his shirt.
• But, I couldn’t work out what the design was.
• “ Julian ?” Lincoln questioned, his hands still clasping my face.
• His hold was firm, but there was an odd tenderness to his large, rough, hands.
• “Yes?” I replied, my grey eyes meeting his beautiful eyes.
• “That male wolf, the one who tried to claim you as his – even though you are mine – was he your boyfriend?”
• He was trying to keep his voice normal, and calm, but I could hear the slight growl of possessiveness in his words.
• “No” I shook my head negatively. “He was best friend, but it was never any more.
• I’ve never had a boyfriend”.
• “Good” Lincoln nodded.
• There was a quiver of his lips, which some people may have thought was a smile, but it didn’t last long enough for me to be able to tell.
• “Now, you haven’t slept. He stepped away from me, dropping his hand. cold, frosty, attitude returning as quickly as it had shattered.
• “I can’t sleep without Donald” I admitted, shifting uncomfortably on my feet.
• “It’s just a stupid bear, go to bed” Lincoln snapped aggressively, a slight anger to his harsh voice.
• I frowned deeply, trying to hold my tears at bay.
• I had cried enough in one day, and I had worked out – pretty quickly – that Lincoln had a short temper, and it angered him when I cried.
• “I can’t” I whispered. He didn’t understand what Donald meant to me – what he was for me.
• He was my friend, my protector; the remembrance of my late father.
• “I know it seems weird to you, and probably to most people. But Donald is special to me, and I seriously can’t sleep without him”.
• Lincoln looked at me for a minutes, studying my face as if I were joking, then sighed heavily when he realised I wasn’t.
• Pinching the bridge of his nose, Lincoln closed his eyes and paused. I stood frozen, awaiting the large snap from him. But it never came.
• Lincoln's Pov 🥀
• Instead, I walked out the room and through a door – which led to a downstairs basement.
• There was few bumps and crashes, before I emerged out. I looked annoyed, but didn’t say anything about it.
• I simply walked over to her and held a teddy bear to her. She looked at it with shock.
• It was a tattered bear, obviously not been used in a few years, and one of its ears was missing.
• It was a beige in colour, with darker patches from obvious spills and damages;
• and a few small bits of stitching from where someone had to try repair the rips in it.
• It looked like a very used bear. Loved, but used.
• “It can be Darius number two” I grumbled, looking frustrated.
• “Donald” she corrected me. “But I think that your teddy suits Darius better”.
• “Whatever” I shrugged, “now go to bed, Julian. I am not playing this game, it’s late and you’ll be tired in the morning if you don’t go to sleep”.
• “Night, Alpha Lincoln” she said, turning away from me... as she cuddled Darius to her chest. It smelt of Lincollnn.
• It's Lincoln” I shouted after her, as she reached the stairs.
• Julian's Pov ✨
• I mentally scolded myself for getting him name wrong, again, but was too scared to say anything else.
• But I was becoming more desensitised to Lincoln anger.
• Because I could see he didn’t mean it all; he was hot headed, and short tempered, but he cared – in his own, weird, way.
• It made me smile to know that he cared for me enough to give me a teddy bear.
• I knew it was childish of me to need that comfort of Donald, but he was my emotional rock.
• The part of my father I held onto to. I liked that Lincoln had given me Darius – who obviously used to be his own toy – it made me feel special.
• Although it crossed my mind that he only gave it to me, to keep me quiet.
• I went back to bed, snuggling with Darius until I feel asleep.
• Darius wasn’t Donald though, and no matter how many times I woke up – I still sort the familiar comfort of Donald.
• However, when I realised that Donald wasn’t with me, I got nervous and I had to keep getting up to check the locks.
• Every time I got up, Lincoln would get up too – from his room on the opposite side of the corridor.
• At first he would come racing out, eyes crazy and ready for a fight.
• Then after the third time, he would just walk down with me to the door – watch me obsess over the lock – then lead me back to my room.
• The following morning, we were both tired.
• A knock came on my door, close to eight am, before Lincoln popped his head inside.
• “I have work to do. Don’t leave the house” he told me bluntly.
• “Okay, Alpha Lincoln” I said, through a yawn.
• “ Lincoln” he growled, annoyed. His lack of sleep did nothing to improve his mood – if anything it just made him even more unhospitable.
• Which up until that moment, I hadn’t thought that to be possible. But it was, he seemed even more snappy that usual.
• “Okay, Lincoln Addison I replied – too tired, in my fatigued state, to really understand what I was saying.
• I heard Lincoln sigh heavily, before he left my room.
• Later ✨
• A few minutes later, the front door closed.
• When I got up a few hours later, I heard a knocking at the front door.
• Frowning I walked over and glanced through the peep hole.
• On the other side of the door, stood a pretty woman.
• Her hair was a deep red colour, and her eyes a dark brown.
• She was model material – with a bust that was obvious to her thin waist.
• Her curves were too die for, and her face was that of an angel.
• I felt self-conscious, and suddenly didn’t want to open the door. But, I knew I had to.
• “Hello?” I questioned, staring at the beautifully intimidating woman.
• "Julian, I presume?” she stated, turning her nose up at me. I glanced down at my baggy white night dress, and large fluffy slippers.
• I looked like a small child, I knew that; and it made me tug on the cotton material slightly.
• I felt so plain next to the woman.
• “Yes” I stuttered out. She gave me a small smirk – one of disgust and amusement.
• The next words to come out of her mouth, made my eyes bug and my heart pound terribly.
• “My name is Andrea, and I’m Lincoln's girlfriend”.