Sentenced to The Ruthless Alpha

Chapter 11: Did You Kiss Me?

Roman POV

He had spent the entire week convincing himself that the human had woken up due to Matilda’s balm, and not because she actually heard his voice over their mate link.

Because that would be ridiculous. It had to be a coincidence at an unfortunate timing.

Had Axel jerked awake when Thora’s eyes opened and pierced into his soul? Yes. Had his insides ever felt the way his kiss with Thora made him feel? Debatable. However, Roman refused to draw a firm conclusion that Thora could actually be his fated mate due to the string of confusing circumstances that could likely explain Thora waking up.

He wished he could confide in someone without being judged. Even Axel was biased in favor of Thora, after pining for a mate for years. He couldn’t readily count on his wolf’s readings.

So, he took the longer route to uncover the truth; he dug up records in the pack’s archive, gobbling up everything on fated mates and how to recognize them.

Most of the signs were uncomfortably close to what he constantly felt around Thora, but a few gave him hope that he could be misreading things. He chose to believe the latter.

He had bags under his eyes from sleepless nights he couldn’t explain. He constantly depended on Matilda’s spices to soothe the ache in his body. Tonight, after a long day planning and strategizing on the way forward for his pack, he had an omega run him a hot bath with Matilda’s spices.

None of his night wolves had been summoned in a week. That’s how distracted and uneasy he had been. Even his favorite pastime of being pleasured by beautiful women had eluded him.

Of course, the night wolves weren’t too happy with how distant the alpha had been. They continued to send things to his study and bedroom; healing salve for his patrol wounds, scented candles to calm his nerves, tea, a pocket dagger, the latest gossip in the pack, etc.

The last part was surprisingly what Roman looked forward to the most.

‘The pack love and respect you, but they wish you’d kill the human and be done with it. Keeping her around till the divorce is approved is so unnecessary. The Valcourt name will survive the stain in the long run. You need not be afraid. GET RID OF THE HUMAN’ cried the pack day and night.

That pretty much summed up what his people were thinking. Some even went as far as insinuating that the alpha wasn’t as repulsed by his human Luna as he claimed, or he wouldn’t cast his night wolves aside for an entire week without service.

Roman scrubbed his hands over his face and sighed. They didn’t even know half of the truth and they were already judging him. What would happen if they…

He caught a scent he unfortunately couldn’t miss. What the hell was Matilda thinking, sending the human through the inner passage? Livid, he sprung out of the bath and wrapped a towel over his groin. The passage led first to his study, and no one was allowed there uninvited.

He hated that Matilda sent the human without consulting him first. Or what if Matilda didn’t and the human was seriously trying to escape again? Or worse, trying to invade his privacy in hopes of obtaining information?

He dried off and shrugged into a robe before heading to his study. True enough, Thora was hunched over his desk, peering down at the files scattered on them. He noted how she limped. If she was able to come all this way, then she was healing fine after Dax had reopened her wound.

He had sensed her that day, felt the dread spilling into her eyes. He had painfully sat through the attack, and struggled not to intervene just to see how bad it could get. And again, Axel had been affected.

Still, he wouldn’t budge, not until he found the answers he was looking for. He could never completely accept that the moon goddess would reward him with a mere human as his long-awaited fated mate.

Roman swallowed hard watching her, drawing in her alluring scent as it filled his nostrils. It was too sweet and intoxicating. He wished he could say he was repulsed by it. Rather, a part of him wanted to smell it all day, to bask in it. He shook his head to snap out of the euphoria.

“What are you doing in here?”

His tone was cold, but he hadn’t expected her to be so startled. He didn’t even know she had been holding anything until the very tincture that could help block her scent from messing with his head slipped out of her hands and shattered on the floor.

For the first few seconds as he stared at the mess, something wild and dangerous leaped out of his caged heart. His vision turned red. When he looked back at her trembling form, her scent rose like smoke around her.

“I-I’m sorry. Matilda sent me.”

He stood frozen by the door, struggling against the urge to lunge at her. He needed to wait out the lust, or he’d do something reprehensible in his state. Backing her, he grew out his fangs and bit into his palm. It worked. His vision cleared with the pain.

Sweat dribbled from his sides. Heaving a breath, he turned back to her.

“Omegas are not allowed in here. GET OUT!”

But she didn’t move an inch. Instead, she stole one last look at a file on his desk; her file.

“I n-need to ask you s-something.”

“GET. OUT. NOW.”

“You had a plan, right? To get us out of this mess in three months.” She flinched when he edged closer to her, but she didn’t stop talking. “I just need to know that you still plan to end this marriage at that time.”

The closer he got to her body heat, the less of his senses he could control. Yet, his legs continued to move on their own. Axel basked in her scent like a happy pup.

“You might think you’re being bold right now, but you’re just being stupid. I’d leave immediately if I were you. Go back now or you might really get hurt…”

“Did you kiss me?” She interrupted loudly.

***

He trailed off at her unexpected question. He was a foot away from her now, annoyingly aware of the rhythm of her heartbeat and syncing his with it. He couldn’t only smell her scent but every other that was mixed with it from working at Matilda’s. Yet, hers peculiarly stood out.

He hadn’t expected a crack in his armor with that question. In fact, he had hoped she didn’t remember.

“What?”

Her timid eyes got bolder. She straightened, barely inches above his arm. “I seem to remember you stopping by Matilda’s while I was…” She shook her head. “I know what happened. W-Why did you kiss me that day?”

He caught himself. “Is a hallucination a side effect of Matilda’s healing because you seem to be seeing things. Why the hell would I kiss you?”

“And you called my name, Thora.” She insisted, not buying his evasive tactics. “But your lips didn’t move. It was almost like I heard it…inside my head.”

That stopped him now. “You what?”

Something raw in his eyes made her take a step back. “Maybe you’re right. Whatever happened at Matilda’s must have been a hallucination due to the treatments. There’s no logical reason why you’d do something like that.”

She deliberately didn’t look at him as she said that, even though she wasn’t sure why.

“I just want to clarify that I very much want to return to my home and, right now, your promise is the best way out. I know your word is the law around here. I need reassurance that you still plan to keep the promise you made to me that night.” Now, she looked at his face.

“You remember what you said, right? You remember what I am? Your punishment! A symbol of your disgrace. Everyone wants to hurt me here and the longer I stay, the more chances they’ll get. But if they succeed in killing me before our divorce, that puts you in a weird spot, right?”

He said nothing.

“I want to know what your plan is. Maybe I could help…”

He let out a dry laugh. “I don’t need your help, human. There’s absolutely nothing you could do to speed up this process even if you wanted to. “ He scooped wet hair off his face. “Keep me outside your filthy thoughts but most importantly, stay away from places you’re not allowed in.”

“I told you. Matilda sent me…”

He hushed her the second he caught Dax’s scent approaching his study. f**k. They had a briefing tonight. Given Dax’s hatred for humans, there was no way Thora’s presence in the study wouldn’t make the alpha look bad or even suspicious, because Dax would have a hard time believing Roman would allow a human in his private space as alpha.

So, he grabbed Thora’s hand without thinking and shoved her behind the secret door hidden by the bookshelf. The space was narrow. They had to be pressed against each other, tummy to tummy.

“Alpha Roman?” Dax entered, then eyed the shattered tincture on the floor. He examined and sniffed it.

Roman was grateful that the pervasive scent of the tincture masked Thora’s scent well, or Dax would have been braying for her blood.

“Alpha Roman?” Dax kept calling. He arranged the files on the desk properly before leaving. Roman exhaled in relief. When he turned, Thora’s eyes caught him off guard. Axel moaned inside him, reeling with excitement.

“Call her name again.” He teased Roman.

“No.”

“If you still think last time was a coincidence, call her via your mate link, Roman. Let’s settle this once and for all.”

Roman glared at Thora instead. “Don’t ever come this way again, or you’ll suffer for it.” He warned before stepping out.

While he closed the door between them, they locked eyes, and he thought he was hallucinating when a sound sailed through his head.

His name. “Roman” in Thora’s human-accented voice.

But she hadn’t moved her lips.