Alpha's Chosen Mate

19

More clothes than I’ve owned in my entire life are brought to me to be fitted. I lived a good life in my pack, but not a luxurious one. It’s unsettling to find that every dress, skirt, shirt, pair of boots, heels, and even my bras and panties, are a perfect fit.

A pretty man with soft eyes named Cayden appears at my door the next day and hands me a set of car keys. I stare at the keys for a few seconds before asking, “I’m allowed to...go out?”

He smiles gently. “So long as you never cross the northern border and remain with an escort at all times.”

I bite my bottom lip nervously, lowering my voice. “I-I don’t know if I can accept this gift.”

Cayden stares at me incredulously. “It’s not a gift. It comes with the title. The alpha takes pride in ensuring his people are well taken care of.”

His people.

The following day, he gives me a cellphone with a few numbers already in the contact list: Asher’s, Talon’s, and Cayden’s. I try calling my dad, only to discover that I can only call those three lines. I cuss Asher loudly enough that I swear I hear a small chuckle from the other side of the door.

Next comes a black card, one I doubt I’ll ever use unless I somehow find myself in the human lands, since packhouses like Asher’s are built to have everything we need.

The final straw, however, is falling asleep in my rocking chair one night and waking up to find myself safely tucked under a blanket, my head nestled on my pillows, and my room covered in Asher’s scent.

How he got in without waking me up, I have no idea, but I’ve had enough.

Clutching my robe closed and ignoring my horrible bedhead, I unlock the door that leads to his room and barge in angrily.

“Okay, what the f**k is wrong with you?”

Asher looks over his shoulder, his eyes taking in my disheveled hair, puffy eyes, night robes, and bare feet, slowly and intimately. A shudder wracks my body despite how hot the room feels.

“I’m not sure I understand your question.”

Cool. Calm. But not cold. His eyes aren’t icy today. They’re more lively than I’ve ever seen them. Something has changed significantly between us in the past week, and I have no idea what it is. “What do you want? Why are you being nice to me? Why don’t you want to kill me anymore? Why aren’t you acting like you want to choke me to death?”

Asher’s lips purse and his brows furrow. “Would you like me to choke you to death, Leilani?”

The word “choke” brings up feelings I don’t want to dwell on, and I feel the heat in his gaze when it drops to my neck, like he remembers the last time his fingers were wrapped around my throat.

I suddenly feel open, vulnerable, and undoubtedly idiotic for coming in here. The bed is covered in his carnal scent, and I wonder if sleeping in it would make me smell like him. I wonder how I’d look naked, with my face pressed into his black sheets to consummate our marriage, hips arched, thighs spread apart.

Goddess.

Asher’s blue eyes flare in warning and I look away abruptly, wiping sweat off my forehead. “No,” I say, surprised at the steadiness of my voice. “I just don’t understand you. You hate me one moment and touch me the next. You ignore me for weeks. You kiss me. You watch me sleep. You tuck me in at night.”

His hands slip into his pockets, and the corners of his ears turn red. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Denial. Classy. “My room is drenched in your scent. You were there last night, and I want to know why.”

Asher shrugs. “Perhaps you smell me everywhere because you want to.”

Annoyance flares in the pit of my stomach. “Are you always this annoying?” I pull down the collar of my robe, exposing his mark to him. “Will you deny biting me, too? Will you tell me I wanted your mark so badly that I wished it into existence?”

Another shrug. I’ve never wanted to hurl a shoe at a man’s head as badly as I do right now. I turn around and stomp angrily back to my door.

“Is there anything you love besides reading?”

His casual tone startles me. I turn around, eyeing Asher skeptically. Who is this strange creature that has possessed my husband? For some reason, I respond just as casually. “Hunting.”

Interest sparks in his blue eyes, and his gaze flicks over my figure. He doesn’t need to say it. I already know what he’s thinking. I’m rather small. I don’t look like a hunter. Raising my chin, I give him a lethal smile. “Hand me a bow or a gun, and I’ll show you how good I am.”

He huffs a laugh, deep and rich, and my stomach is in knots again. Asher catches himself, and his blistering stare pins me to the spot. “You’re starting to grow on me, wife.”

My legs quiver as his eyes trail from my lips to my tangled hair and down the length of my neck. They turn a stormy shade of blue. “There’s an event tonight, held in honor of the late alpha. You will attend as my luna.” He turns back to the window, dismissing me. “Wear your hair up.”

Several hours later, the hall has been transformed for another classy celebration. But even though I’m standing right here, all dressed up and wearing my hair up, Asher hasn’t so much as looked in my direction. It hurts more than it should to stand off to the side awkwardly, without any form of acknowledgement from anyone. I rub at my wrists anxiously.

I smooth down my dress for the hundredth time and push up the ticklish neckline that seemed sexy when I imagined Asher seeing me in it, but now it’s just suffocating.

Enya warned me against drinking tonight, so I don’t embarrass their precious alpha, but when the next tray passes and I’m still a f*****g wallflower at my husband’s party, I snag two glasses and quickly gulp down the alcohol.

Heat prickles my skin, and the feeling of discomfort and hurt only heightens. I reach up to my hair and begin pulling the pins out. I shouldn’t have worn my hair up. I have no idea what I was expecting, why I dressed up for him, why I followed his orders.

Still pulling out the pins, I retreat to the entrance, surprised that the guards don’t stop me when I walk past them. I’m gasping for air when I finally reach the yard.

My eyes sting with tears as I kick off my heels and walk down the cobblestone path, past couples embracing under the moonlight, past more guards who watch me but make no move to stop me. I don’t stop walking until my feet hurt and my harsh breathing evens out.

I look up at the sky, feeling lost. I don’t know what to do with myself. What can I do? My life isn’t my own anymore. A single tear slides down my cheek, quickly followed by another.

I start to sob, stifling the sound with a hand over my mouth. I shut my eyes tightly and cry. Goddess, what am I doing here? Should I make a run for it? Should I go home? Would my pack even take me back, with my tarnished reputation?

Sudden movement beside catches me off guard, but my yelp is muffled by a finger pressed against my lips. A hand settles around my waist, pulling me into a blind spot between two walls.

I thrash, dragging my nails across my assailant’s skin, kicking and grappling for anything I can find, but he’s strong. He shoves my back against the wall.

I freeze as a pair of piercing green eyes meets mine. “Chris?”