CHAPTER 210: MYSTERIOUS FALL

It was unbelievable.

How he slipped. How he didn’t manage to catch his balance. How he completely lost his ground, and ended up falling flat on his back.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that something like that had never happened to Kade before. He doubted that even when he was a little pup, only learning to walk, he had ever had a fall this ridiculously clumsy.

He stared blankly at the sky for a moment, in shock. It was only the coldness and wetness seeping through his clothes that snapped him back to reality. He lifted himself up, rubbing the back of his head...

"Ouch..."

He wasn’t hurt by the fall, not really. Although the layer of snow was too thin to soften the impact, he was a werewolf. A powerful Alpha, at that. What was such a minor fall for him?

...But that wouldn’t stop him from pretending to be hurt. He pouted his lips, and tried to squeeze out some tears...

Embarrassment who? Kade had never heard of it!

His heart-wrenching show was all for naught, though, because Felix only glanced at him, and said, "Heh."

Although he had been startled by Kade’s unexpected fall, once the initial shock had passed, he could tell that the Alpha was just fine. If he could act so pitiful, then he most certainly was.

That’s simply not how people who were truly in pain looked. Kade was more like a foolish Omega, who got a tiny little cut on their finger, and were acting like it was a life-threatening wound to gather sympathy, or to make their Alpha console and pamper them.

But Felix was no Alpha, so he had no intention of playing the part. He was just waiting for Kade to give up and get up on his own...

He might have underestimated Kade’s stubbornness, though. And his shamelessness. No matter how long he waited, the Alpha was still on the ground, rubbing his head and back, and casting glances at Felix, as if trying to ask the Omega to help him up...

"Young Master Kade," Felix finally sighed. "I need to hold onto Vivi."

Kade tilted his head in response. "What about your other hand?"

"...I’m just a weak Omega, I can’t hold my daughter and help you up at the same time."

"Oh, I’m sure you can. I just need a little bit of assistance, that’s all..."

For a long while, they looked at each other, fighting a war of attrition with their stares. Kade was at a disadvantage, since he was the one sitting on the cold, wet ground...

But in the end, it was Felix who gave up first. The cold winter air had sobered him up a bit, and Vivi had calmed down now that they had left the noisy banquet hall, but he was still tired. He wanted nothing more but to wash up and curl up in bed soon...

So, he hesitantly approached Kade, pressing Vivi to his chest with one arm, while stretching his other hand toward Kade. It was a risky operation, as he didn’t know what the Alpha might do. If he wasn’t careful, then he might be pulled into Kade’s arms...

Their hands touched, their fingers wrapping around each other. Then, in the blink of an eye, just as Felix thought it might happen, they both pulled in the opposite directions, Felix trying to pull Kade up, and Kade trying to make Felix fall on top of him...

Whether Kade had underestimated Felix’s strength, or there were some mysterious things at play, Felix didn’t know, but the result was that Kade got abruptly yanked up, almost stumbling from the force. They both blinked, surprised by what had just happened...

Just for a brief moment, though. Soon enough, Felix let go of Kade’s hand.

"Let’s go back," he said, and started walking toward the mansion. He was walking a bit too fast, as if he was trying to run away from something, but somehow, his shoes no longer slipped on the path, not even a little bit...

Kade chased right after him, and they returned to the mansion together, heading straight to their rooms. They didn’t talk about what had just happened, or anything else really, both deep in their own thoughts...

There was no doubt that the incident was odd. Kade had suspected at first that perhaps Felix was playing pranks on him - he was, or at least had been, the witch’s assistant, so who knew, perhaps he had picked up a few tricks - but the Omega seemed to be no less confused than him, so it seemed unlikely...

They soon reached the doors to their rooms, and Felix went straight in, before Kade could even tell him ’goodnight.’ It wasn’t that he was trying to ignore the Alpha or anything, it was just that his head was spinning, and his heart was pounding, so much so that he could barely think...

It was only when he was alone in his room that he was able to take a deep breath, and calm down.

’It must have been the alcohol,’ he thought to himself. ’We were just drunk, so Kade slipped... And my eyes were playing tricks on me.’

That surely must have been it.

After all, what else could it be?

He nodded, as if agreeing with himself, and rushed to change Vivi into her sleepwear, and then got ready to go to bed himself. He threw himself on the bed with a heavy sigh. Although there was a lot on his mind, he was so tired that his eyes closed almost the moment his head hit the pillow...

***

The party went on late into the night. Even with the stars of the evening gone, the rest of the pack members still enjoyed themselves for a long time afterwards, eating, drinking, and chatting. It was already long past 4 AM when the last people standing stumbled into their rooms, and the whole pack house fell into silence, with only the members who had their night or early morning duties to tend to sleepily going on about their tasks.

None of that had anything to do with the West wing of the main mansion, where Felix resided. The place was completely still, with no sounds in his room, aside from steady breathing of Felix and Vivi, and occasional rustling of the clothes as they rolled from side to side...

All of a sudden, the curtains billowed, as a gust of cold winter air rushed into the room. It was just a brief moment, before they calmed down again, falling back in their place. It wasn’t nearly enough to lower the temperature in the warm room...

But the cold breeze brushed against Felix’s head, causing him to stir.

"Mmh..." he groaned, his brows furrowing. Although it was such a minor disturbance, his sleep had been shallow to begin with, so even a light breeze like that could put him on the verge of waking up...

The bed creaked, and something caressed his cheeks. Something cool but soft, like a gentle touch of slender fingers... His neck tickled, as if brushed by long hair...

"Hmm..." He leaned into the comforting touch...

...Comforting touch?

"Gasp!"

All of a sudden, Felix woke up with a start.