The Alpha's Bride

"Talia! Talia!", a voice reached her, and Talia saw Liam waving at her from the field enthusiastically.

Just like a number of other players on the field, Liam was wearing a dark grey jersey with an outline of a wolf howling on it, and it had number 7.

If not for the low wall divider between the audience and the field, they could meet in a few steps.

Talia waved back at him in a greeting, hoping that his shout didn't attract too much attention in all the noise from the music and people talking.

Of course, Pierce was among people who heard Liam's shout and he was quick to join.

Pierce was wearing the same jersey as Liam, but his had a number 5 on it.

"Good that you made it!", Pierce said with a big smile.

"I said that I will come and cheer for you, right?", Talia responded without shouting, confident that they can hear her..

Other than Pierce, Keith also heard Liam calling Talia and he craned his neck to see where she is. He perked up when he saw that Talia was on her own.

'Ask Talia to come here…', Keith spoke to Liam and Pierce through the mind-link.

Keith was pleased to see that Talia followed their instructions to the door that opened to the sports field.

"Hi, Keith", Talia greeted him while eyeing other guys who were around him and she smiled when she saw that Caleb, Lulu, and Sandy were there also, their familiar faces greeted Talia enthusiastically.

They were all wearing dark gray jerseys, except for Sandy whose jersey was dark green, and it had number 1 on it.

Keith was wearing dark gray joggers and a matching jacket that said 'COACH' on his back, and there was a silvery outline of a wolf's head below it.

Seeing that Talia stopped a few steps from others, Keith waved at her to come closer.

"Why did you sit there?", Keith pointed toward the audience from where Talia came. "Didn't I promise you the best seat to see the game?"

Talia was not sure if there is a better spot compared to that VVIP booth, and her previous seat was quite good also, but then she saw Keith gesturing toward the bench that is reserved for players, coaches, and other people who are important for the game. It was right there, next to the field line.

"Everyone!", Keith called. "This is Talia. Treat her well."

Players' greetings melded into indistinct murmurs that were accompanied by nods and casual waves. A few people observed Talia curiously, but most of them were trying to focus on the upcoming game and they didn't have time to focus on the newcomer.

Talia was a bit intimidated by the situation she found herself in, and she didn't dare to look at the audience, confident that some of them were looking her way.

"Is it OK for me to be here?", Talia asked Keith nervously. Standing on the field with players wearing jerseys and surrounded by thousands of people who were seated in the audience was not Talia's style. She preferred to stay invisible.

"Absolutely.", Keith assured her. "I thought you will come with Beta Maya."

"She is busy with guests and other things, so I came on my own."

Keith moved closer to Talia and he observed her while confirming that she has no injuries. "Katya told me that you left before the fight started. Are you alright?"

Talia was touched by his concern. "I woke up with a hangover, but after taking the medicine, I'm completely fine."

Keith shook his head in disapproval. "Next time, be mindful of your limits. If I knew you will drink yourself into a hangover, I would insist that you leave with me."

Leave with him? Would he take her to the packhouse, or…? Talia remembered naughty talk with Dawn and Zina when they insinuated that she spent the night with Keith, and Talia's face exploded in blush.

Of course, Keith noticed that Talia got flustered. He chuckled. "I was talking about dropping you off home before you got wasted, but it seems you have something else on your mind. I will give you a dollar for your thoughts."

Talia lowered her head in embarrassment. What was she thinking? There was NO WAY she will talk about it ever.

Keith thought that Talia was adorable, and he wanted to pinch her cheeks and tease her more, but people were watching, so he decided to tone it down. He patted her shoulder. "I was just joking. You can roam around or just sit on the bench. I need to give a few more instructions to my team before the game starts…"

Talia scurried to the bench. She didn't want to attract any more attention.

"It seems that Keith likes you.", Lulu said while taking a seat next to Talia.

"Isn't he nice to everyone?"

"You call that nice?" Lulu gestured toward a group in dark gray jerseys who were listening to Keith who was waving wildly while shouting some things Talia didn't understand.

Talia had to admit that Keith's expression was serious, and she wouldn't trade places with any of the people who were currently facing Keith.

"How come you are not with them?", Talia asked Lulu.

Lulu pointed at the number 26 on her jersey. "I'm a backup, and Keith is giving instructions on strategies for the beginning of the game. Since it can get rough, we need quite a bit of substitutes in order to maintain eleven functioning players on the field." Lulu gestured to another group of people in dark gray jerseys who were standing a few steps away, indicating that they are backups also.

"I see…" Talia said thoughtfully. "Substitute. Does that mean you will play later?"

Lulu confirmed. "When someone gets hurt. It seems that you don't know much about soccer."

"It's my first time watching the game.", Talia admitted.

She knew that it was about people chasing the ball and trying to kick it into the opponent's soccer goal, and she heard that it's more intense compared to the game that humans are playing, but that's as far as her knowledge of the game went.

Lulu started explaining, "Sandy is a goalie. That's why her jersey is a different color. She is the only one who can touch the ball with her hands… Liam is a winger. He is the fastest on our team… Pierce is playing defense, he is in the center… Caleb is also a defensive player..."

Talia understood that numbers for the first batch of players signify their position in the game, while backups are mostly random, but each of them has their stronger and weaker points.

"Aren't you the invisible girl who put us on high alert?", a tall guy with a head full of red hair asked while towering above Talia. He wore a dark gray jersey with the number 10 on it.

Talia didn't get it. "Invisible girl?"

Lulu saw that the mood was tense, so she tried to ease it up a bit. "Mark, this is Talia. The coach said that she can be here. Talia, this is Mark."

Mark didn't pay heed to Lulu's attempt at making them friends. He narrowed his eyes at Talia. "A few nights ago, we were all searching for you in the woods, and I nearly tripped on you. I never saw anyone being so good in concealing his presence. I was not expecting praise for finding you, but I definitely didn't expect Alpha to nearly rip my throat off."

Talia had no idea what he was talking about. Invisible? Someone was searching for her? Damon nearly bit his throat off?

Talia didn't know that the man in front of her was part of the patrol who found Talia when Damon panicked, thinking that Talia left the pack, and she actually fell asleep in the forest when she got tired while collecting herbs. The patrols couldn't sense her because she consumed plants that concealed her scent.

Mark was curious about Talia's strange absence of scent. Here, in the crowd, no one would notice, but that night, Mark was in the forest, and as an experienced tracker he was supposed to pick up Talia's scent, yet there was nothing. How could he accept that? And to make things worse, Alpha bared his teeth at him like he was the enemy.

That night was unpleasant for Mark, and he blamed Talia for it.

"Chill, Mark.", Lulu said. "Are you sure you've got the right person? Why don't you focus on the game instead of scaring the new girl?"

Mark cocked an eyebrow and left but Talia couldn't shake off the unpleasant feeling. She could sense that Mark didn't like her.

Lulu tried to smoothen the situation. "Don't worry about him. Mark got to play offensive midfielder this time, and it got into his head." Seeing that Talia's brows were still furrowed, Lulu added, "Mark is not a bad guy. He is just on edge because of the game."

"Isn't this a friendly game?"

"Of course, it is. But we are hosts and most of the people here will be cheering for us. If we lose in the first round, it will be a big downer, so we need to do our best and reach the finals. The pressure is much more than when we are the guest team." Lulu proceeded to explain how teams will meet in elimination games, and the top two will reach the finals to win the trophy and a lot of bragging rights.

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