The Alpha King’s Broken Mate

9. Take Off Your Clothes

Naevia

My mind went blank, short-circuiting completely as his hand came up to cup the back of my neck, holding me in place. For a heartbeat, I froze. Then, I kissed him back. And the moment I responded something strange unfurled in my chest.

Goddess his lips were so soft.

The kiss wasn’t gentle. It was raw and sloppy enough for anyone around to hear. And when Ambrose’s hand tightened slightly at my nape, tilting my head to deepen the kiss, I felt my knees go weak.

I should have been repulsed. I should have been thinking about Hannah. Instead, a slow, thick warmth spread through my veins like honey.

Then as quickly as it began, it ended. I stumbled back a step, my breathing ragged. Through the window, I caught the tail end of a shadow disappearing into the night. f*****g Elliot.

I wiped my sweaty palms against my dress, trying to ground myself. My heart was still racing, my skin still felt too warm, and my lips were still tingling.

Focus Naevia.

“I need your help,” I said, my voice coming out rougher than intended. I cleared my throat and tried again. “My best friend, Hannah. They’re putting her on trial tomorrow morning. For treason.” The word tasted like ash. “They’re going to kill her because she saved my life.”

Ambrose moved away from me, returning to his position by the window. The moonlight caught the sharp planes of his face, as he watched the empty garden outside with a frown. “And what exactly do you want from me?”

“You’re the Alpha King. You conquered RedMoon. Surely you have the authority to stop an unjust execution.”

He chuckled, that raw deep belly laugh that sent a heat searing through my entire body against my will.

“I indeed have the authority to do many things, Naevia,” he said, his tone maddeningly casual. “The question is why I would choose to use it for someone who means nothing to me.”

The words shouldn’t have stung, but they did. “She was only trying to help me. They are going to kill her for nothing. She’s innocent.” I couldn’t help the slight raise in my voice as I spoke.

“Is she?” Ambrose turned to face me fully, that damn smirk dancing at the corner of his lips. “Because I remember Hannah quite well from my time here and… innocent isn’t exactly the word I would describe her with. I recall one particularly cold winter when she convinced the other children to hide my blankets. I nearly froze to death that night.” He chuckled like it was a funny joke.

Shame burned through me, I’d forgotten that incident, and many others that we had participated in.

Since our reunion, Ambrose had not spoken about the past. Not even once. I was almost starting to forget how terrible our past was. I was not sure why he brought it up now, but the timing made my stomach twist with unease.

My shoulders deflated when I realized he was right. I had nothing more to offer him, I had already given all I had to him, which was my very self. How else could I convince him to help me? What could I possibly say that would change his mind.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, taking a step towards him. “For everything we did to you. It was wrong and unforgivable.” His gray eyes met mine, unblinking, his lips set in a hard line. “I’m sorry, Ambrose. Truly. For everything Hannah and I did to you back then. You didn’t deserve any of it.”

Ambrose studied me for a long moment, his expression unreadable.

“Strip for me Naevia.” He suddenly said and my heart skipped three beats as my brain struggled to catch up.

“What?” My throat went dry as I spoke.

“Is there something wrong with your ears Naevia?” It took me a second to realize that it wasn’t a rhetorical question and so I shook my head rapidly.

“Take. Off. Your. Clothes.”

I couldn’t tell if it was his emphasis on each word, or that slight mocking smirk that sat on the edge of his lips, but I felt a hot, blinding rage detonate inside of me, the moment his request actually settled inside of me.

My hands were shaking, I could feel the fine tremor moving through my fingers, and I hated how helpless I was.

I thought back to when I was locked up in that freaking dungeon, and I thought of Hannah, bruised and chained on her knees. I thought of what sunrise would bring.

And I reached for the strap of my dress.

It took everything I had to not look at him while I did it, even though I could feel his gaze pressing down on me. I took off my dress completely, shivering slightly when the cold air in the room kissed my n*****s. I bent over and slowly slid my panties down my leg, standing completely naked.

I heard Ambrose take a soft inhale and I couldn’t resist looking at him. His dark eyes ran over my frame and the expression on his face caused shame to burn through me

But even as I thought about how humiliated I felt, standing exposed in front of him. I felt my n*****s harden at the attention, and moisture gathered in between my legs, forcing me to squeeze them tighter.

Ambrose crossed the room in three strides and I fought the urge to take a step backwards. “There she is.” He whispered. “The almighty princess of the RedMoon pack, stripped bare before the ‘little runt’” he snickered as he spoke, his fingers trailing from my neck, down my boobs.

Disgust settled in my stomach like a stone as he degraded me, but my body continued to react to him. His tongue darted out to wet his lips and my mind wandered to the kiss we had shared minutes earlier.

Ambrose suddenly leaned in and the heat from his body, caused my core to leak even more juice and I felt tears sting the back of my eyes at my lack of control. He took a sniff of the air around him and hummed.

“Does this turn you on Naevia?” Ambrose asked in that velvety voice and the heady scent of my arousal suddenly hit me. I kept my mouth shut for fear of the kind of sound that would escape my lips if I didn’t. “Do you enjoy being degraded by me?”

He let the silence stretch for a moment, then he stepped back, and the cold air rushed in where his warmth had been.

“Your father would be devastated,” he said quietly, and my heart skipped a beat. “ Alexander, the great.” His eyes moved over my naked body as he spoke. “Look at what his precious daughter has become. Standing naked in the room of the son of his arch enemy, begging. All that Alpha blood, and this is what it amounts to.I wonder sometimes if he knew, deep down, that you were never worth the effort.”

The tears came before I could stop them. It broke through every wall I had left standing, sliding down my face while I stood there with nowhere and nothing to hide behind.

A sudden knock came on the door.

“Alpha Ambrose.” One of his men muffled through the wood. “Urgent correspondence from Beta Justin. He says it can’t wait.”

I grabbed my dress from the floor with shaking hands and dragged it over my head. My vision was blurred, my fingers useless, but I didn’t care. I moved for the door before Ambrose could even respond to his man, shouldering past him into the corridor.

And then I ran.

I didn’t stop until I reached my room. I threw the door shut behind me and slid down it until I was on the floor, my knees pulled to my chest, shaking so hard my teeth rattled.

How stupid was I to believe he would help me?