Desire for you- ALPHA RYAN Book 1
Chapter 53

ILAY

I heard Achira and Cate giggling and had to smile at that. I was glad that Achira was a good influence on Cate and could distract her from all the chaos.

It was difficult for me to get involved in all of this, but I had no choice. After all, I wanted to win Catherine's heart, not lose it.

I thought of Julieth's grandmother, who was in a nursing home and hadn't been heard from since.

I bit my lower lip and sighed. I still had to clear up this construction site, otherwise Julieth would probably really haunt my dreams.

I walked into the living room and looked over at Achira, who was standing on the ladder and giggling to herself. I couldn't help but giggle at the sight of her. "What are you doing here? GET OUT!" She must have heard me giggling and gave me a dirty look.

I shrugged my shoulders "Actually, I was going to leave anyway, I have something to do, but I'll be there in time to get some of the lasagna." I winked at Catherine, who looked embarrassed and her cheeks turned red.

"Goodbye amigo." Achira chirped and continued decorating the Christmas tree.

I turned back around and sighed softly. I finally snapped away and ended up in front of the retirement home where Julieth's grandmother was.

I surveyed the area and then finally walked into the old building. It already smelled 'old' and 'dead' and everything was decorated in a rather old-fashioned way.

I approached the receptionist. "My name is Ilay Edevane, I would like to speak to the CEO of this building." I said.

The lady nodded slightly "I'm sorry, but the CEO is out of the office, the best I could do is refer you to the patient administration department." She finally said.

I raised my eyebrows and nodded "Well then, patient administration." I said.

She picked up the phone and made a call.

"Otherwise, you may take a seat, Gisela Burn will see you in a moment.

Gisela it is.

I sat down on the dusty armchair and looked around me. I looked at the old grandfather clock, which was decorated in gold. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Time was ticking and I wondered what it was like for a human being, they were visibly running out of time, unlike me. I had an infinite life and who knows how long that will last.

"Mr. Edevane?" Gisela apparently asked after me. I raised my eyes and had to stifle a laugh at the sight of her.

Gisela had short hair that just reached her ears. It was reddish in color and she was round as a ball and had red cheeks. She was wearing a Mickey Mouse sweater and jeans. I estimated her to be fifty-five years old.

I stood up and held out my hand, "Ilay Edevane." I introduced myself. "Gisela Burn, how may I help you?" She asked me formally.

"Well, I would like to make a payment. It's about Miss Montgomery, your granddaughter, was in a terrible car accident." Lie. You ripped her fucking heart out. But I couldn't say that to Mrs. Burn very well.

She nodded slightly: "Yes, a tragic event, isn't it? So young... I had hoped to hire her into the finance department after she graduated, but alas, she has passed on. Old Montgomery asks for her every day, she has severe dementia and telling her every time she passes away doesn't lead to anything good.

I nodded understandingly, "Yes, I agree with you."

"Follow me." She instructed me. I ran after her like a good boy and couldn't help but keep looking at her.

We walked into her office and clarified the formalities.

"What amount do you want to transfer?" She asked me.

"Well, that was the reason I actually wanted the CEO, it's several million to renovate this retirement home."

Gisela's mouth fell open and her eyes widened.

"O-Okay... I'm sorry, we really didn't expect that. I'll make all the arrangements and get them the CEO." She said in shock.

"B-But aren't they too young?" She asked me, stuttering and frowning.

I smiled at Gisela "Young is relative, I can tell you that money is not the problem and I want Miss Montgomery to be treated like a queen. I'll write you my email, we can sort out the rest by email.

Where is Miss Montgomery?" I asked her and looked around the office. There was a lot of paperwork and everything looked as if no work had ever been done here.

"I'll show you to her, come with me." Gisela finally said and led me straight to Julieth's grandmother "You have to be careful, the lady can be grumpy and mean sometimes." Gisela gave me a half-hearted smile and let me into the room after she knocked.

"Yes?" An old woman's voice croaked.

I walked into her room and saw her sitting in an armchair in front of the TV.

"You're not Julieth? Where's my granddaughter?" The old woman said, looking at me suspiciously.

I lost my smile at her words. I had killed Julieth and was now visiting her grandmother... What irony.

"I'm an old friend of Julieth's... My name is Elijah Edevane" I introduced myself to her and extended my hand.

Instead of shaking it, she slapped my fingers. "Tzz, over my dead body. My Julie doesn't have any male friends..." Suddenly she stopped and eyed me with her round glasses. She looked a lot like Mrs. Holle from the history books. Again, I recognized Julieth's resemblance to hers, she was almost her spitting image.

"You're not telling me that my Julie has a boyfriend and I don't know about it, are you?" she said in a firm voice.

I shook my head: "No, I'm really just a friend of hers. She asked me to visit her and tell them that she's fine so far. She's going to have to travel for a long time from university." I tried to impress upon her.

Suddenly she stopped and looked at me in astonishment.

"Who are you again?" she asked me again.

I frowned at her. Was she that demented? "Elijah Edevane, a friend of Julieth's," I finally repeated again.

She frowned again "My Julie has no male friends... are you telling me that you are her boyfriend?" she asked me again with a surprised look.

I bit my lower lip and realized relatively quickly that there was no point in talking to her.

"Julieth, send my love. She's fine so far, she couldn't come today" I finally said. She nodded as if she understood.

"Who are you?" she asked me again a few seconds later. I didn't know what to say and finally stood up from my crouching position. "I walked into the wrong room, I'm sorry," I said and ran out the door.

Oh man... That was really sad.

I ran over to Gisela, who was waiting for me in the hallway. "Well, Mrs. Montgomery is really very forgetful now..." I finally said and looked at her.

She nodded slightly: "Yes, that is indeed the case. The only one who found access to her was her granddaughter..." she finally said and accompanied me back to the exit.

"As I said. I want her taken care of and this house spruced up a bit. The money will be in the account tomorrow." I explained to her again.

She nodded slightly "That will be done when you come back next time Mr. Edevane, thank you very much." she finally said. We said goodbye and I walked out of the building.

That was sad... I had taken away the poor woman's favorite granddaughter... For something that was actually perfectly logical. I was still annoyed that I hadn't thought of the fact that Ryan's tag was missing.

It was too late to get upset about it now, though. I sighed softly and teleported back to my house. It was already nineteen o'clock and my stomach was grumbling too. I walked in by the main entrance and went straight to the kitchen. I caught sight of Catherine and Achira devouring the lasagna with relish. "You left some for me, didn't you?" I asked them with a smile and sat down next to Catherine.

"Well, we were just thinking about finishing your plate and Ryan's..." Achira said, batting her eyelashes "Lucky you." Catherine added and smiled at me.

Achira put the plate in front of me and handed me the cutlery. I finally started to eat and actually wondered why Ryan was taking so long, otherwise he never wanted to leave Catherine's side.

"How was your day?" I asked them both, continuing to eat on the side.

"It was great! We're only going to buy baby clothes on our next shopping trip. There are so many great things!" Achira seemed to be completely thrilled. I could understand her very well, because her desire to replace her companion and have children was great. Unfortunately, she hadn't found her mate yet, which sometimes made her despair like me.

I looked over at Catherine and spotted the bandage on her hand "What happened to your hand?" I frowned and wondered if I should just read her mind.

She shrugged "Nothing, I hit the mirror." she finally said. Daeva. Her demoness was probably at work again.

"Hmm, it would be good if we started your training, Cate. Before she drives you insane." I finally said.

"What do you mean by training?" she asked me, confused.

"Well, as you can see, I'm united with my demon. You and Daeva have to be too, otherwise it will get out of control." I explained to her.

She nodded. "How is that supposed to work?" she asked me again. I shrugged my shoulders "You have to accept her as a part of you, only then can you continue to work with her."

She bit her lower lip "I don't like her..." she finally said.

Achira smiled at her, "That's nothing unusual for a demon, but it's not something you can't work out."

I practically cleaned my plate and leaned back and relaxed, putting my arm around Catherine.

She just looked at me sheepishly and her cheeks turned rosy. It looked so lovely. Simply sweet.

Achira finally got up and put the plates in the dishwasher.

"Where's Ryan?" Catherine asked me, glancing at the clock. It was now almost eight thirty and we hadn't heard from him yet.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I can ask." I finally said.

'Cate, ask where you are,' I said to Ryan and waited for an answer.

'Sorry, I was busy with Tristan. Pack matters. Especially as Michael is also stressing about his pack-loose mate. We had to take her in so she wouldn't be considered a rogue,' Ryan explained to me.

'Let me know when you're ready. I finally said.

"Pack problems, Michael and his mate." I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Michael found his mate?" She asked me.

I nodded slightly "Yes-that's such a funny story..." I finally said, biting my lower lip.

"Oh yeah? Tell me more..." Cate said and smiled at me.

Her smile made me smile too, it was very infectious, I couldn't help it.

"I'll tell you another time..." I finally said. All day my thoughts had been with Julieth so I'd had enough for today. Who knows? Maybe she really will haunt me...

"Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked Cate.

She nodded slightly "Yes, we can do that."

We helped Achira tidy up and while she disappeared into the shower, Cate and I made ourselves comfortable on the sofa in the living room.

"What do you want to watch?" I asked her.

"Hmm... She grabbed the remote and zipped through the whole Netflix portal. She stopped at the movie "Lovehard".

"How about that?" she asked me. I nodded slightly "Anything you want..." was my answer.

I gently pulled her into my arms while she cuddled up to me and we watched the movie together.