Chapter 56

We walked in silence down a pathway I had never seen before. I mean that wasn’t saying much because I had rarely left the packhouse other than to go to the clinic, but it made me a little uneasy, especially because I kept thinking that Allison was going to just jump out from behind a tree and try to kill me. Rhys didn’t seem to be worried though. He seemed quite the opposite in fact. I knew he seemed to consider the conversation we had been having to be over, but I still had so many questions and thoughts. I was just processing it all. But to him it seemed that we had reached an understanding, but I wasn’t so sure we had.

A little cottage came into view as followed the path around a curve. There were actually several houses I realized after a moment. Each seemed to have a large amount of space for themselves, and they were all fairly hidden by trees except for the first one that stuck out like a sore thumb, and it looked like it was starting to fall apart.

Rhys knocked on the door, and I just looked around. I didn’t love that we were so deep in the woods at a stranger’s house, especially because it was relatively shabby. I mean, I was sure Rhys knew whoever this was, but I didn’t and that made me super anxious.

The door opened and a man who looked to be about middle age, appeared.

“Alpha King Rhys!” The man exclaimed joyfully. “It’s good to see you, son. And this must be Grace. It’s a pleasure to meet you dear. I’m Arlo. Please come in.”

I let Rhys enter first, and he tugged me through the door with him. There was something about this place that I didn’t like very much, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. The house was just as chaotic inside as it was outside. Everywhere I turned all I saw was clutter and disorganization, but Arlo was giving me no reason to really think anything was wrong, so I pushed it away. I knew it was probably just because of the day I was having, making my anxiety skyrocket.

“Grace,” Rhys called out, bringing my attention back to him and Arlo. “Arlo is one of the best tutors we have in the kingdom. He is knowledgeable on all fronts, and I trust him to keep you safe and teach you everything you want.”

I nodded not knowing what to say. Arlo seemed nice enough, but I didn’t love that I was just being passed off like I was a child.

“I will help you to become the best Luna you can be,” Arlo smiled at me, and gestured for me to sit at the table.

It was then that I realized he had it all set up, just for me, so I took a sit, hesitantly.

“Let’s start with this,” Arlo said as he handed me a book before taking a seat across from me. “I want to get a baseline of where you’re at, so that we don’t move too quickly or put you too in over your head. Does that make sense?”

I nodded, but the book was already over my head, I knew I couldn’t read it if he asked.

“First, I want you to just tell me what words you know off of any page you chose.” He told me. “Then we will pick some new practice words for you to focus on.”

I nodded and began the process. Arlo wrote down everything I said. And then we picked several sight words that maybe second graders would have practiced themselves. I practiced writing them, spelling them and saying them aloud. My pronunciations weren’t always correct apparently because I didn’t talk much before, so I needed to relearn some things I had once known.

My writing was clumsy, my reading was terrible, and my math was non-existent. We sat in long stretches of silence as I worked. Every now and again he made corrections, and Rhys sat in the corner on his phone, not saying anything.

“Okay, I have to take care of something,” Rhys said as he stood abruptly, startling both me and Arlo. “I’ll be back.”

I nodded, but I felt myself begin to panic a bit. It wasn’t that Rhys was being helpful, but I liked knowing he was close. I didn’t want to be alone with anyone really on a normal basis, let alone with someone I had just met.

“It’s okay,” Arlo smiled at me as he got up and went into the kitchen. “I don’t bite.”

I smiled nervously, but I found it hard to focus now that Rhys wasn’t here. I was slowing down tremendously in my work. I knew that probably wouldn’t fly around here, and I didn’t want to get in trouble.

“Here, Grace,” Arlo smiled as he sat a mug down next to me. “I made tea to help you relax. Tea always makes me feel better when I’m nervous.”

I nodded, and muttered a thank you, but didn’t touch it. I tried to focus on what I was supposed to be doing. I was practicing writing my sight words now. My handwriting was shaky at best, but I figured it didn’t really matter. I knew I needed to do better if I was Rhys’ mate. He would want a Luna who could work alongside him, not someone who relied on him for literally everything, which was how I felt right now.

“Okay, let me see.” Arlo said, and I jumped at the sound of his voice.

He was standing behind me and I hadn’t even realized he had gotten up from his chair and moved. I felt my anxiety spike as I realized how close he was to me. He leaned over my shoulder to see my work, and I froze.

He is just trying to see my work I told myself, but I hated how close he was to me. I hated that I was alone with him. And I was pretty certain that I might hate Rhys for leaving me alone with this random stranger who was convinced he could teach me.