What I want is you

I had exactly one night to make an Alpha notice me, and I'd decided the only way to do that was to break every rule in the room. "I choose you." Richard looked at me as though I'd just announced I intended to marry him. For a moment, neither of us moved. I almost wondered if he hadn't heard me. Then his brows drew together, disbelief flashing across his face. "A lady should never ask a man to dance," he said. I laughed, lighter than I felt, because suddenly I was painfully aware that half the ballroom was watching us. The annual gathering of the Nobles and Alphas was supposed to be about alliances, influence, reputation, and carefully calculated appearances. I had come with a different agenda. I had come to shoot my shot. Apparently, I was doing it in front of everyone. Every lady wanted Richard. All wanted him to make the first move. "Is that what they teach you in that Alpha School of yours?" I tilted my head. His mouth twitched. "It teaches discipline." "Then clearly you missed that class," I said, smiling seductively. His eyes narrowed, amusement betraying him underneath. "I saw you staring," I said, folding my arms, "and decided to help you out." That landed. His expression shifted. "You noticed?" "Richard, you've been staring at me for twenty minutes." "I have not." "You have." "I was looking in your direction." "Repeatedly?" He had no answer. Around us, the music kept playing, but the air had changed. Whispers moved through the crowd. Nobles pretended not to watch, and did a terrible job of it. I should have been embarrassed. Instead, I felt thrilled. Richard finally extended his hand. "Since you've already ruined every rule of etiquette tonight, I suppose I have no choice." I looked at his hand, then at him. "No choice?" His smile deepened. "You chose me." I placed my hand in his. "Yes." And as he pulled me onto the floor, I understood something important: getting his attention had been the easy part. Now I had to make sure he never wanted to look away. I could see the hundreds of nobles and alphas watching us. I did not care. This was my chance. I knew I was more beautiful than most of them. In that instance, I felt like a noble. We danced until the room blurred into color and music. Then his hand tightened around mine, and he pulled me off the floor entirely. I followed without asking where. The balcony air hit cold and sharp after the heat of the ballroom. Marble railing, private torches, a view of the gardens below — this space belonged to Alphas, not girls like me. "We shouldn't be here," I said. "Why?" "I'm not an Alpha." He laughed, shaking his head. "I am." "You know I'm not highborn." "No one will notice." He pulled me against him, and before I could argue further, his mouth found mine. I meant to pull away. My brain gave the order — too slowly. My body had already answered a different question entirely. "This is too open," I breathed when I could speak again. "I'm an Alpha," he murmured against my ear. "I can cover for anything." He led me through the balcony's far exit into a room I didn't have time to memorize: low light, a bed, and the door shut behind us. He laid me down gently, and for a while the rest of the world simply stopped existing. There were only his hands, his weight, the low sound of his voice against my skin, and my own pulse drowning out every rule I'd broken to get there. He brought out his d**k. It was hard and firm. I cherished it. I raised my gown. I wore a simple and beautiful gown. I was not wearing any panties. “Oh my gosh!” “What?” I asked in amazement. “I have never seen a p***y that lovely,” he said. I giggled. I wasn't thinking about consequences. I wasn't thinking about anything. Which was exactly the problem. The door burst open. "Richard!" The voice sliced the room in half. I froze. Richard turned, his expression hardening instantly. "Are you crazy, Mira? Why are you following me?" Mira stepped inside, eyes moving from him to me and back again. Anger colored her face, but underneath it, something sharper. Suspicion. "I asked you a question." "And I asked you one first." "You disappeared from the ballroom." "So?" "So I followed you." "You followed me because I walked out of a crowded room?" "I followed you because you were acting strangely." "I wasn't." "You were." Richard dragged a hand down his face. "Nothing happened, Mira." "Nothing?" "Nothing." "Then why were you alone with her?" He glanced at me before answering. "Because I wanted to be." That stopped her for half a second. "You wanted to be?" "Yes." "Doing what?" "Talking." "Talking." "Yes, Mira. Talking. Do you need it defined?" Her nostrils flared. "You expect me to believe that?" "I don't care what you believe." She stared at him, and when she spoke again, her voice had dropped low. "Richard. I saw you." His jaw stiffened. "Saw me doing what?" "That's what I'm asking you." "You're accusing me of something you can't even name." "I saw you take her hand. You led her here." "I walked here." "With her." "Yes." "And you were about to—" She stopped herself. "About to what?" His eyes hardened. "Say it." Mira's gaze flicked to me, and I felt the question suspended in the air between the three of us. "You were about to kiss her," she finally said. Richard laughed — short, bitter. "That's what this is about?" "Then deny it." "I deny that I did anything." "You didn't kiss her?" "No." "You didn't touch her?" A pause. "I touched her hand." Her eyes widened. "So you admit it." "I admit I held her hand. Nothing more." She looked between us, clearly unconvinced. "Then why do you look guilty?" "Because you're standing here interrogating me as if I owe you an explanation." "You do." "Why?" "Because you know exactly why." Silence settled over the room, thick enough to choke on. I watched them and understood, for the first time, that there was history between them I had no map for. Mira's attention finally shifted back to me. "And you," she said quietly. "What exactly did you want from Richard?" Before I could answer, he stepped between us. "Leave her out of this." I straightened my dress with as much composure as I could fake, grateful the room's low light hid whatever else her eyes might have caught. Then the door opened again, harder this time. Lord Zee filled the doorway. The Alpha of all Alphas. Richard's father. "What is going on here?" His voice didn't rise. It didn't need to. Richard answered before he'd finished thinking. "My lord, this lady felt dizzy from the ball. I brought her here to rest, away from the crowd." Lord Zee's eyes moved to me and stayed there. A moment too long. Long enough that I understood, with a cold and sudden clarity, that he didn't believe a single word his son had just said. He didn't argue. He didn't accuse. He simply looked, the way a man looks at a lie he's already decided what to do with. Alphas can smell deception the way other men smell rain coming. And from the way his gaze lingered on me, I had the terrible feeling he'd caught the scent of something else entirely.