#13: Alpha Prince
1637 Words
Lewison Aubrey might as well have caused me an early death.
One that came far earlier than the five-year notice I had been granted.
All the panic and bravado that had been coursing through my veins vanished, leaving room for useless things like blood and oxygen.
I should have screamed and yelled and ranted some more, but I feared that Lewison’s father would make an appearance as well. I mean I had mentioned his title, and he appeared. I had mentioned his father’s title too and there was a chance that the man—monster could appear as well.
Clenching my hands at my sides, I straightened my spine and took a deep breath.
My lungs finally decided to cooperate with me.
The room fell silent as Lewison stepped inside and locked the door behind him.
So he was the one with the keys.
It was only fair. He was my captor after all.
He turned to face us, a few strands of his black hair falling forward and dark circles beneath his eyes completing the look.
How dastardly handsome.
“You were saying, Feywin?”
I swallowed.
My fists tightened until my knuckles ached and I wouldn’t be surprised if I had already turned a light shade of red.
“I will not be your mistress.”
“Then you would rather be sacrificed?”
My heart skipped a beat.
“You called me your wife!”
Cold regret washed over me the moment the words left my mouth.
I turned away from him, my eyes zeroing in on Iris, who was now busying herself with my grapes. Her eyes would not meet mine, and a knowing smile was plastered on her face.
“Aunt Iris, have you checked her?” Lewison’s voice met my ears once more, and my eyes returned to him.
He had ignored my question.
I was torn between thanking God and raising the topic again, but I remained.
“Aunt Iris, have you checked her?”
Iris let out a soft laugh. “My dear boy, it has only been a few days. Even the goddess cannot tell such things so quickly.”
Her eyes slid to me, warm and curious.
“I merely wished to meet the new Feywin.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I nodded silently acknowledging the switch from Quinn to Feywin. We were not family. They were monsters. I was a breeder.
So why did my heart drop when I realised that I wasn’t truly Lewison’s wife?
“You have met her. Now, please tell me when the checkups would begin so that I can move onto more important tasks,” Lewison continued, putting an end to my train of thought.
Ms. Aubrey plopped one more grape in her mouth before laying the food tray back on my bed and standing up. She stopped right at the door, before she turned back to look at us and smiled. “Every Saturday but I can make more time if the Feywin wants. It must be so lonely staying in a boring old room all day with no one to talk to. I know the last Feywin would agree.”
A gasp escaped my lips.
“How?”
“Werewolves tend to live longer than humans, Feywin. That will be all for today. Goodbye.”
I still had so many questions to ask, but before I had the opportunity to ask any more, Ms. Aubrey was already out the door, and I was alone with Lewison once again.
“How old are you?” I blurted out.
Lewison clasped his hands behind his back, his spine straight, as though he were speaking to a stranger and not a woman he had seen naked twice. The tension in the air grew even thicker and I was completely unaware as to what to do with it.
“Feywin, I suggest you eat the food you are required when it is given. Only healthy women can birth healthy children and I know beneath all that talk, you do not want to be sacrificed. So please save your energy for matters that require it,” he replied, completely ignoring my question.
So, I pushed even further.
“Did you meet the last Feywin as well?”
He turned to leave, but I wasn’t exactly done with him.
“Are we just going to forget what happened at the mating ritual? We are not going to talk about it?”
He turned back on his heels almost immediately, and before I could register a thing, he was standing before me with one hand over my mouth and the other around my waist.
Adrenalin spiked up in my veins and my heart beat with an aggression I was certain that he could hear clearly.
Lewison looked around as though he were searching for something before he slowly removed his hand from my mouth as though he were still weighing the decision.
“Aunt Iris could have heard you if she were still standing outside that door. First rule about werewolves, do not speak loosely unless you have made sure that there is no one in hearing range.”
The hairs at the back of my neck stood, and I nodded unsure if I was still allowed to speak or not.
He released a sigh. “There is nothing about that night that we need to speak of Feywin.”
I swallowed.
“Can I speak freely now?”
He nodded, his fingers combing through his hair as he looked around the room as though he were slightly unsure himself.
“You do not trust Frank or Iris?”
His eyebrows rose. “Who told you my father’s name?”
“Iris. She also told me that your father’s name is Frank, and she also told me that your name is Lewison,” I shrugged.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered a few words underneath his breath that I believed were nothing other than curses. A moment passed before he recollected himself and became the statuesque man I had been acquainted with recently.
“Listen to me carefully, if you do not desire an even worse fate than the one you have already then I urge you not to refer to my father as just Frank. Alpha would suffice,” he warned, his tone carefully measured with every word he uttered.
“Alpha is what you monsters refer to as your King.”
Lewison was not an easy man to read most of the time. The expression on his face was as blank as a canvas waiting to be drawn on but I could not ignore how his jaw tightened.
He did not want to be here.
Knots formed in my stomach. He didn’t want to be here, and yet he was the reason I was trapped in a world I hadn’t even known existed until recently.
“Yes,” he finally answered.
“And what am I to refer to you as? Alpha Prince? Lord Aubrey? Or just Aubrey in the same way you call me Feywin? Or your actual name, Lewison?”
That was when his resolve cracked. At the mention of his name, his lips parted slightly and I could have sworn that his eyes grew darker, but it was gone just as quickly as it came.
“Aubrey is only fitting since I will only refer to you as Feywin.”
The implication of those words hurt more than I would have liked.
I nodded, rubbing my palms against my dress, smoothening its ruffles. “Thank you for the visit. I shall eat now.”
Not waiting, I walked over to my bed and sat where Iris sat only moments ago and placed a grape in my mouth.
“It wasn’t just a visit, Feywin. I came to tell you something.”
Heat flooded my cheeks and my heart tripped over itself.
“Say it.”
“I am aware that I have promised not to ever lay a hand on you again unless you consent, but as you know I am the Alpha Prince and the Alpha Prince has many duties. That was why I stayed away after the ritual… but I fear that I can no longer do that. From tomorrow, you will have to visit my chambers every evening as is custom and I still promise not to touch you unless you want to,” he paused and I could tell that there was worse coming.
Everything that had happened since that one night of trying to steal freedom, prepared me to always expect worse.
And worse came.
“But there are things that I cannot control. I can give you six months of grace. After that… it will be either me or my father. It would be better for all if that night at the tavern led to something.”
The grape in my hands fell, and just like that, the urge to eat anything was entirely gone.
Tears wouldn’t even come. My body wouldn’t even work anymore, and I just sat still processing everything Lewison had just told me.
“Would it be dangerous for me to talk to Iris?” I heard myself say as I stared needlessly at the wooden floorboards as though they were the ones that held my destiny in their palms and not the man standing before me.
“No. You can speak to her as much as you can. In fact, I advise it… but for both our sakes do not speak to anyone about what happened at the ritual or about this agreement.”
“I understand.”
My eyes remained on the wooden floorboards as I listened to the door open and then shut again, trapping me once more in my gilded cage.
- Writer
