Chapter 43: Getting along with him

Althea opens her eyes to see the sun streaming in through the window shades. She winced, thinking it was too vibrant because she had just awoken. Her gaze wanders to the cluttered apartment, where she notices Allan sleeping in an awkward position on the mattress. As a thin duvet only enclosed half of him, one of his legs and arms was hanging off.

Allan notices her standing there looking at him when he opens his eyes. Althea looks away quickly, ashamed. "I know I look cool; so keep staring," he smugly says. He chuckles and gets up as she scoffs and rolls her eyes. "I would like to speak to you now," he says as he hops into some jeans and she swallows hard, her heartbeat racing so fast.

He only slept in his boxer shorts, which wasn't too bad because he was sleeping 'naturally'.

Althea nodded, a subtle sigh escaping her lips. She knew it would happen soon, but not this soon. They needed to reach an agreement because they both rely on each other. An example of this occurred the other day.

When two friends meet, their lives change slightly. The male becomes stronger, primarily to protect his female mate, while the female heals the male more quickly than usual. Now, that can alter; Allan was capable of partially curing her when she trimmed herself, so he got some of that as well as the vigor.

Allan approaches her and takes a seat on the ground next to the mattress. She keeps a close eye on him as he does nothing but stare at the ceiling for a few minutes. She tenses for a moment before he says, "We both learn we need to be together," pointing out the facts. She nods gradually in accord; they would perish apart.

"I can't stop hunting, it's a need at this moment," he sighs, "so I suggest that I do it less, and when you're taking a nap so I can spend some time with you," he says, still looking intently aimlessly at the ceiling.

She lanced at the ceiling, hoping to find something interesting, but all she found was a blank, dirty ceiling. She bit her lower lip, unsure if that was a reasonable offer. She never wanted him to murder, and now is the moment to tell him.

"No," she screams, her voice breaking. "There's nothing that can stop me from killing, sweetie," Allan says, turning to face her and looking intently into her eyes as if he was totally serious.

She bit her tongue, trying to remember something, anything.

"Is this all because of Athena, your deceased mate? You're killing because of her, taking revenge because of her," she asked, her heart pounding. Allan looks away, not bothering to respond. She remembered Allan making deals with her when she first arrived here. "Let's make a deal," she says, a little nervously confident. She didn't want to do it, but she had no choice.

For a brief instant, Allan's eyes glowed, "Deal?" It's like striking a deal with the demon himself. "Let me speculate, you want to trade up your life in return for the lives of others?" he asks, flicking his tongue a few times. She nods, unsure how he figured it out.

"Fine, fair enough," Allan says with a smirk. She gulped, a little shaken, not knowing what his initiatives were now.

Allan tries to reach out and runs a finger down her nose, winking and bouncing her nose. "Don't worry, I have no intentions to abuse you, mostly just make you beg," he says, winking. Her eyes widen as she blushes profusely, not intending such a reaction from him.

"I'd never do it," she sneered, rolling her eyes. It felt very natural to speak to Allan in this manner, as he can be quite sarcastic and dickish. She occasionally feels as if she is becoming too comfortable too quickly. It was affirmed in this case.

"Mhm, well, since you genuinely think I'll make that happen, one thing or the other," Allan grinned.

leaning in close to her face. He was only meters away when he said, "I don't give up, keep in mind that," he says, trying to kiss her cheek.

She blushes and sighs, looking away. How dare he, she'd have to beg for such nonsense until the day she died. He should simply give up now. But she knows he won't stop until he wins. That's just how he is; perhaps sh3 can make it appear as if he won. That would be the better option.

"All right, master planner, it's time for lunch. Korean dish?" he asks, holding up his phone. She nods, her thoughts wandering to an old friend. She wondered how Anthony was doing, hoping he was doing well.

She hopes he doesn't commit suicide again; she was so worried about him that what she did that one time was a mistake, which she now realizes.

"You know," Allan says from the kitchen as he hangs up the phone, "you know I'm never letting you go again," his voice solemn. She is curious as to what caused his mood to shift so abruptly. Probably random thoughts. He enters, sighing. "I can't go through that again, and I won't let you; even if I act all buddy-buddy, just know that you're never allowed to leave me," he said quietly. She let out a small whimper, not particularly fond of this side of Allan.

She never forgets about his possessiveness; it just slips to the back of her mind. "I won't leave, so don't worry," she paused for a moment, unsure whether she wanted to say the next Word, "promise," and looked at Allan. A promise was something she rarely used because it implied dedication and a verbal contract.

"I'll hold you to that promise, sweetie, now let's eat," Allan says as the Korean delivery guy knocks on the door with their food.

~

Althea awoke the next morning to breakfast in bed from Allan. He woke her up early in the morning after making her pancakes and tea.

They ate quietly and in silence. Surprisingly, Allan is a competent cook, in contrast to her, who can only create the best ramen noodles. She did know some folks who couldn't even prepare food without completely burning them.

She finishes her meal ahead of Allan "Thank you. By the way, How did you learn to cook?" she asked a little curiously, placing the meal on the night table next to hers. She knows Allan isn't a carnivore; he just likes blood and ripping people apart.

A shiver runs down her spine at the thought of him doing that; even after all this time with him, she is still unaccustomed to it.

Allan quickly finishes his and decides to answer her question, "I just learned with myself because no one is going to cook for me," he says, his voice a little sad as he looks away from the ceiling.

She recalls him telling her about his past. "He's really a lonely wolf," she thought to herself, wanting to comfort him.

"Well, it tastes good," she sighed, smiling at him as she lay down on one of Allan's pillows.

Allan shrugs and taps his fingers against the bedside table, "Thanks Anyway, you're a girl and gems with interior decorating, so I'm intending to repair this place up a bit," he says.

She sighs and closes her eyes, rolling her eyes. She silently wished to sleep again, but Allan was having none of it. He lifts her all the way and moves her down the bed, up against the headrest, so he doesn't have to walk around the bed to get to the empty side.

Allan takes out his laptop and starts typing something while she chooses the movie. She scrolls through Netflix, not seeing much, but she comes to a halt when she comes across a Korean film, Ditto. She smiles and clicks it; whether Allan likes Korean movies or not, he'll have to watch them.

"You couldn't get anything better?" Allan asks, looking up at his large tv. She rolled her eyes as if she didn't care. "Here," he hands her the laptop, "find some things," he shrugs. She looks down at the laptop, perplexed as to what he wanted.

Normally, Allan was very specific about everything, but he was being as broad as he could right now. "Well, what do you want?" she asks, uncertain. While she waited for Allan, she browsed the website; most of this stuff is prohibitively expensive. She wonders where he gets the money for all of it, assuming he steals it from the people he kills.

"I want..." Allan wanders away, unsure of what he wants. He turns to face her, asking, "What do you think this place needs?" referring to his apartment.

Althea then looks around, thinking about the subject. This apartment was in disrepair and needed extensive remodeling before it could be decorated.

"I'm not sure, but this place needs to be redone before you decorate," she says, pointing to the ripped-up walls and rotting floors. The floor has literal holes in it.

She looks up to see Allan nodding intently while watching the movie, "or maybe we could move? I can buy a nice apartment for you," he says flatly.

"And how would you get the money for that?" she inquires, her brow furrowed. He always had money, but she assumed if he had enough, he'd move to a better place.

Allan chuckles and turns to face her, "I have a lot of money, that's not a problem, sweetie," he says, lightly touching her cheek before pinching it like a grandmother.

"Fine," she huffs, handing Allan the laptop back, "if you really want to buy a house, just wait to decorate," she tells him. "Why waste money on this trashy place if he has plans for the future?" she thought to herself, rolling her eyes at him.

"Oh sweetie, I know what you're thinking, I'm not poor," Allan laughs as he looks at her, "I bet you curious how I gain just so much money," he says as she nods, but she chooses to believe he already told her, consequently unless there is something else, he doesn't need to inform her again.

"My real parents were quite wealthy, so when they died before I realized they were my real parents, they left some inheritance for me, and I received much of their money," he smirks, typing something on his laptop.

~

After a few hours, Althea felt a hand lift her shirt and trail down her stomach.

She attempted to slow her breathing so he would believe she was still sleeping. Then he felt him take off her panties and place his hand on her private part. She couldn't move or make a sound, knowing that if she was awake, he'd do something to her. She tried not to think about his hand down there, but it was impossible because he suddenly put one of his fingers inside her p*ssy, slowly moving it, and then he added another, this time moving his fingers inside her harder.

Her body began to tingle as he did so, and she found herself unable to hold her voice as a moaning sound came from her mouth. Allan drew his fingers away from her pussy and then drew her towards him, cradling her in his embrace and mumbling words.

"Why, why don't you love me? Am I unlovable? They all hated me too. Please don't leave me, I love you," he said, his breath slowing as he fell asleep. She turned around and smelled alcohol on his breath.

Althea felt sorry for him because her mind was racing with ideas, and she closed her eyes slowly in an attempt to sleep.