Seducing The Beastly Alpha

3. The Tainted

I am obsessed with you, fascinated by you, infatuated with you. I hunger for your taste, your smell, the feel of your soul touching mine.”― Jack Llawayllynn

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(Mikayla)

I ran through the thick forest, and the sound of paws hitting the floor followed me through the forest. The darkness was suffocating. I don't want to die, I thought as a soft sob left my lips. And then the footfalls stopped abruptly. My whole body felt like it was made of melting plastic. I stopped running and turned around. Everywhere I looked, I could see trees bending down towards the ground.

The whole forest was quiet and still. It was like a storm warning. I could feel it in my bones... cold and chilly and suffocating.

Something was coming. I didn't know what. Or when. But something was coming.

I shuddered in fear and cold, thrashing on the bed. I knew I should wake up, but I couldn't. I was trapped in the dream and wakefulness. And then I felt a hand softly rubbing against my back, up and down. It was so comfortable.

The soft touches calmed me down, and I moaned a little as I snuggled closer to the warmth of the body. And then I heard a soft curse and the sting of the tired yellow light hurt my tired eyes as I blinked my eyes open, only to find the half-naked Alpha standing there, staring down at me. In the shadows softly overlapping the light, he looked like a dangerous predator, as his eyes stalked my every move.

I didn't know why I was not scared. He was in my room in the middle of the night, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. Instead of screaming bloody murder, I gasped softly as my eyes scanned his hard body without shame.

He was a man. An attractive man.

My eyes fell on his succulent lips. They were so soft, so full, and I wondered how it would taste if I pressed my lips against them. I knew that was not going to happen, though.

My face flushed with heat and embarrassment. I had never seen a half-naked man in nineteen years, not in real life. He was built, not in an obvious way, but in a way that made him more like an agile animal than a bulky orc.

My wanton eyes trailed down the soft patch of hair that disappeared inside his boxers. My heart thundered in anticipation as I looked at the outline of him pressing against his boxers. I licked my lips, my eyes appreciating things I probably shouldn't appreciate.

He was off-limits, and yet I wanted him to- to do... whatever my body wanted.

He cleared his throat, ripping me away from my imagination. I flushed in humiliation and something that felt like lust. My whole body burned like a bonfire on a winter night.

It was something I had never felt. I felt like something was changing in me, something was growling inside me to be let out, but I didn't know what it was.

"What the hell are you doing in my room?"

The powerful voice, rumbling like thunder, brought me out of this trance his body had put me in. I looked in his eyes and saw that they were hard and irritated, as he scanned my body wrapped in the blanket.

He growled under his breath, spewing curses rapidly. I pulled the blanket up to my chin and sat up, looking at him with wide eyes.

"I-this is my ro-room, get-get out," I finally managed to get in a word through his cursing. Rubbing his forehead where a vein was throbbing, he stomped towards me, his eyes glinting.

He eyed me like he wanted to hunt me. I was sure the thoughts running through his head would bring me nightmares, and yet, I was more excited than afraid.

My heart flipped and flopped. He barelled towards me, and I didn't know what he was planning to do. A whimper left my lips, even when I wanted to be strong. He stopped half way, and tugged on his hair, seemingly discontent to have been forced to stop halfway.

"Your room? Girl, I have been sleeping in this room for twenty-one f*cking years."

"I-I am not a girl. I am nineteen, and stop shouting at me," I said. His eyes narrowed as he shook his head, his eyes spewing fire.

"Get the hell away from my room, and stay inside your room for the whole week. If I ever see you again, I will-" he stopped and sighed, looking furious about what happened. "Don't let me see you again."

It was really an honest mistake. I was sleep deprived and angry, and I didn't see where I was going. It was not like I purposefully slept in his bed, wanting to be caressed by his soft and big hands.

"You are still not leaving. Do you want me to carry you out?" My eyes snapped towards him.

I stood up from the bed with trembling legs—I should have taken him up on the offer.

"I am not staying in my room for two weeks, no," I whispered meekly as I turned away from him.

"You... what did you just say?" he growled. His voice was dominant and powerful, the voice of an Alpha. My mother had always talked about that... how an Alpha's voice was strong enough to command his whole pack, and how it would send shivers through your bones.

I took a step back towards the door, ready to sprint away from him. I wasn't stupid to stay here and take this.

He caught me by my t-shirt and pulled me back inside his room. I bumped into his chest and my eyes fluttered close, when his delicious scent assaulted my senses. He smelled mouthwatering, and I knew this was absolutely, utterly wrong, but I wanted to touch him. Touch everything, including that dent I had seen. He was still only in his boxers, and my hands, they must have had a mind of their own.

"What did you just say?" he said.

My hands went up his bare back. He felt deliciously soft under my fingers... he gasped.

What the f*ck did I just do?

My whole body trembled as he jerked away from me with a dark look in his night eyes as if I had just burned him.

My throat was dry from the close contact. My whole body felt like it was electrocuted.

I had never felt like this in my entire life. To be honest, I had never even kissed a boy, because I was always too lost in my books to notice boys.

Alpha August wasn't a boy. He was a man. And my mother's mate's son.

I was not this kind of girl.

This is beyond anything you have ever known. This isn't the territory you should explore. I told myself as I looked at him, and then the words that came out of my mouth shocked both of us.

"I heard wolves have a heightened sense of hearing. So, what is the problem with your ears?" There. I did it. I should just have kept quiet. My f*cking mouth is my enemy.

Oh, OH! I knew he was going to make me dig my own grave and then kill me for what I just said.

I looked at him, my eyes wide with fear, as his dark eyes flashed. He took a step closer to me, and I took a step back from him. He ran a finger through his hair and glared at me before he motioned me to get out.

Gladly. No way was I going to hang around to be killed and buried in the vast forest, never to be found again. He looked like he would do that, too.

By now, I was a freaking mess. My heart was doing a rapid sprint.

There is no competition here, heart. Just calm the heck down.

I walked to the room opposite to me and slammed the door for good measure and jumped on the bed.

Sleep came way, way later than I anticipated.

***

When I woke up, there were a millions of buzzing bees inside my head. I felt like I had been ran over by a freaking orc. Yesterday had been the worst day of my life and I hoped today wouldn't be as horrible as yesterday had been. I just didn't think I had the strength to take it.

I yawned and stretched in the bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the bizarre night in bed with August. I shook my head to dispel the strange feelings.

I already wanted to go back home. I missed my father and talking with him. This could never be my life. I was too different to be here.

I got up from bed when my stomach made weird, monstrous noises and got ready in a hurry before I walked downstairs.

I pushed the door to the dining room and stopped on my way when I heard laughter and loud voices arguing with each other. My eyes widened as I stared at the table filled with big, loud guys. They finally noticed me standing there like a damn statue and blinked and looked at each other.

For a second, the whole place was drowned in absolute silence.

"She is the tainted. God, how can one live without any power? It is so sad, isn't it!"

What a jerk!

"Dude, Elliott, shut up."

"What? She is. Oh, look, how tiny she is. She is adorable," Elliott said, as if I was a freaking dog or something. I glared at him and the other guys chuckled as if I amused them.

I wasn't a circus monkey and I wasn't playing tricks for them.

"I am not tiny, you are just gigantic."

"Oh, she talks," another man said. I almost wanted to smack him in the face, but of course, I wouldn't.

A tainted should never mess with a supernatural being. That was just a no-no in the first rule of how to survive as a powerless freak in Euretya.

"Of course I talk. Why would you just assume I wouldn't talk? I didn't have power, but that didn't mean I didn't have a mouth..." I said with a frown.

"Because our beta is a moron," another guy told me. "That is Caleb."

"Shut up, Shane."

"Are you hungry?" One of them motioned me forward towards the table and Shane stood up and showed his chair to me.

I blinked. This was not what I expected. I had never met wolves like this rowdy bunch of men. No one had ever been this welcoming towards me. The seven men at the table looked eagerly at me... Seven. Not a hundred. Yes, I could finally breathe and now I could properly see and count.

I walked towards the table, my step slow and careful. I almost wanted to turn back and run away, but I was too hungry to do so.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-"

I turned when I heard the familiar voice of the Alpha. The other guys went quiet and looked at both of us. I could almost hear them screaming inside their heads.

I was screaming, too.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in your room?" He whirled towards me, his eyes accusing. His jaws tightened.

Okay. Did he really expect me to do as he said?!

"Didn't I tell you that I won't?"

The guys gasped.

The Alpha growled.

Me... I forgot that I was hungry as heck and I ran. And ran.

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