The Alpha's Forbidden Bond

CHAPTER 02

Adrianna's Point of View

"Why does it matter to you!" I said with an attitude as he bridged the distance between us, smiling and flashing what could be considered as sparkling white teeth. Now standing a few feet away from me, I was able to get a good look at him and I must say I was impressed with what I saw. His eyes were lovely, sparkling. Green, forest green, and heavily lashed. His hair was brown, dark brown, almost black, and nicely combed. Oh, how I just wanted to run my fingers through his silky hair, weird. He was tall, about 6.7ft tall with a firm, muscular build. He had on a sky blue t-shirt, a black leather jacket, and faded jeans. No, doubting that underneath his clothing were well-structured abs a girl could just die for. And, he smelled earthy like timber and rain with a mixture of lemon - must be his cologne. I just couldn't help but ogle at him, my palms were sweating and my heart racing under his influence. He smiled again obviously aware of what he was doing to me. Jerk!

"It doesn't actually," He shrugged. "I'm just surprised to see that I'm not the only one having a bad night." He said with a piercing voice that instantly took my breath away, beautiful green eyes boring into mine as though they aimed to make me uncomfortable. Which they did effortlessly, mission accomplished. "Was it that obvious?"

"Yeah, just a little." He laughed silently. Boy, his smile was divine and somehow contagious because I have no idea when I started laughing.

"If I'm being honest, this year's mating ball is completely wack!" He admitted.

"The wackest!" I cringed. "I mean what's with the decorations."

"I know right, it's like a garbage truck threw up all over here." Softly, I laughed, "You said it, not me."

"Come on! Don't tell me you weren't thinking the same," the stranger replied, holding my gaze curiously. His eyes were so gorgeous that I feared I could get lost just by staring at them. Truth be told, I loved looking at him. Good grief, we had just met and I was already smitten by him. Who was this guy and what was he doing to me?

"Um... your phone is beeping!" He snapped me out of my daze.

"Oh, oh right," I stepped back a bit, struggling to breathe from the close proximity of him. It was a message from Sam. *Where the hell are you?*

I frowned after reading her message, then thought it was best that I switch off my phone. I didn't want anyone knowing where I was for the time being.

"You don't know who I am, do you?"

I nodded as it finally dawned on me. We've been chatting for about five minutes and I still didn't know his name. I could be talking to a deranged serial killer or psychopath for all I know.

"I'm Nikolas, your ma–" He paused, "What's your name?"

"Adrianna."

"Pretty name,"

"Thanks... yours is also nice," I nervously complimented back.

"Thanks, I guess." His lips were thin, quirked in a tentative smile as his eyes fell on the couples dancing to a slow ballad that I knew all too well. It was 'Enchanted by Taylor Swift' from her album 'Speak now'. I'm obsessed with that woman. I couldn't resist humming along with the music as the lyrics were tattooed to my brain.

¶ This night is sparkling, don't you let it go ¶

¶ I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home¶

¶ I'll spend forever wondering if you knew ¶

¶ I was enchanted to meet you ¶

"Wanna dance?" Nikolas asked out of the blue. I stiffened, taken aback, I was too frightened to speak so I nodded instead. He held out his hand for me to take which I did without hesitation. The moment our hands touched, my heart skipped a bit, I felt a spark ignite only for a second before it vanished along with my nervousness. His warm hands fell to my waist as we both swayed to the music. Dancing with him was one word—beautiful. Like we had rehearsed it. Who knew dancing with a complete stranger would feel so... natural, so relaxing and so right? I didn't how long we danced, I didn't care. I could just remain here forever, in his arms. I yearned to be close to him. I prayed the song wouldn't end but it did anyway, ending the happiness I nurtured deep in my heart. Smiling, he stepped back away from me to give me some space. Such a gentleman.

'Want to go somewhere?' I badly wanted to ask but didn't. I couldn't. Being forward was Samantha's thing, not mine. Plus, the thought of him thinking I was loose scared the s**t out of me.

"We could go somewhere else, if that's okay with you." Nikolas asked, shyly glancing at his Rolex watch. "I could give you a tour around." My eyes lit up like a f*****g Christmas tree, no words could describe my inner joy.

"That would be great," I leveled at him a not-so-excited smile to disguise the fact that I was dying for him to say that.

"Cool. It's this way,"

I followed him to a door that led us toward the empty hall. We walked slowly, side by side as we toured almost the entire building while the ball went on. The Nightshade packhouse was annoyingly massive, it was much bigger than I imagined it to be. Almost like a fairy tale castle. Dad would die of jealousy if he saw how massive the Nightshade mansion was compared to his, he would die even more knowing I was at the enemy's ground, taking a tour with a man I barely knew.

"So what would your mate think about me showing you around?" He finally broke the uncomfortable silence after what seemed like hours as if he couldn't take it anymore.

"What?"

"I assume the text you got earlier was from him,"

"Oh, no, you're mistaken. The text was from my best friend. I haven't found my mate yet." I cleared.

"But you do have a boyfriend." We both stopped. Nikolas' eyes met mine and I could see a flicker of desperation burning in them. Perhaps was he interested in me as I was in him? Hiding a smile, I shook my head, mustering up the confidence to ask, "How about you, any mate or special lady in your life?"

"No mate yet, but there was one special lady,"

"Who is she?" I asked him anxiously, then felt no different than a fool.

"My mother!"

Boy, was I relieved to know that. Thank you, goddess.

"Oh, that's nice. You two must be close?"

"We were. She... um... died when I was ten." He turned his head away, evidence of pain in his movement. I shivered at his words, even though I knew almost nothing about him I couldn't help but feel sad for him. Losing a mother was the worst thing that could ever happen to a kid, it must have been devastating for him. On a lighter note, I was delighted he brought up his family. It made me realize he had a certain type of regard for me, he felt comfortable with me. "I'm so sorry to hear that," I told him sincerely. A part of me wanted to ask him how she died, another didn't want to come off as prying.

"Don't be, you're not to blame. It's not like you were the one who killed her." He laughed— a deep rich laugh. I laughed too at his silliness. Being around him felt great. Splendid. Breathtaking. It's surprising how a stranger could put a smile on my face in only a matter of seconds when those around me were disturbingly bad at it.

"You look so pretty when you smile," My heart did a somersault hearing him say that. Did he just... call me pretty. I can't believe it. Is this a dream? I want to scream but I'm afraid I'll wake up from whatever this is. I'm jumping for joy on the inside. Then he came close to me, like real close that our noses could almost touch. I have to admit I like this, our closeness, it felt damn good. I haven't been this close with a guy since 5th grade and believe me it wasn't anything compared to this.

Not allowing me to reply to his compliment, he cupped my cheek with his right hand and at that instance, sparks flew all over my body. His touch ignited something in me, something beautiful, and I think he felt it too.

He tucked a strand of my blond hair behind my ear as his breath fanned my face, making goosebumps appear all over my skin. His gaze drifted from my eyes to my mouth, then back to my eyes. Another spark erupted when he tilted my chin up with his fingers. And in a fast motion, he lightly crashed his lips on mine in a tender deep kiss. I responded better than I thought I would, with an urgent thrill of desire, my arms circled his shoulder like they had a mind of their own. Goddess, I didn't want this moment to end, I wish we could stay like this forever if possible. This was exactly how I wished my first real kiss to be. Gentle and beautiful.

"No! No!" He said, pulling back. Why did he stop? Did I do something wrong? I wondered. We stared at each other for a while, both of us waiting for the other to speak first and when I didn't he did.

"I'm sorry, this was a mistake," he muttered, alarmed. "I'm an i***t, I shouldn't have–"

"No... I also wanted it," I had no idea when the words left my mouth. Shut up Adrianna! "I think I like you, like you." I added as I killed the last feeling of embarrassment in my mind. That was how much power he had over me.

"You can't be serious," he started to laugh as if I had uttered the biggest lie he ever heard.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, on the contrary. I...was feeling the same." He admitted.

I smiled in relief. He liked me too. I wasn't the only one feeling this way.

"What pack are you from?" He asked.

"Blackmoon pack," I came clean. His eyes widened in shock, something in the way he looked at me told me that I should have kept that part a secret.

"What's your pack?" I demanded.

"Nightshade pack."

I gasped, "You can't be serious,"

"I am. Our packs have been rivals for years." He said, emotionless.

All my instincts were screaming at me to run away, save myself. Members of the Nightshade pack couldn't be trusted, my father made sure to tell me that if I came across any of them I shouldn't hesitate to run, they were capable of harming me just for the fun of it. But why in the goddess name was I hesitating now?

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you if that's what you're thinking," He assured as he shot me a hurtful look. I didn't know what to say. He must have noticed that I was frightened to my bones. I'm such an i***t for even thinking he would want to harm me. Even though we met about an hour ago I had a strong feeling that he wasn't that type of guy. Certainly, not everyone in the Nightshade pack was as how father claimed they were.

"I could take you back, if you want that."

"No... please, I rather stay here with you." I answered, feeling weird for thinking he would hurt me. "You know just because our packs are long-time rivals doesn't mean we have to end this,"

"I think it does. There will be consequences involved if this continues. Trust me this is for the best" He assured.

"We would be tagged as traitors and be ousted from our packs to become rogues," I stated the consequences.

"Exactly."

"Well, isn't life all about taking risks?" I said to him, my gaze trained on the ground, even that I could tell he was smiling at the absurdity of my statement.

"Adrianna, you're crazy." he grinned some more. It had been the first time he said my name and it felt right on his lips. Maybe he was right. I was crazy, but that's all his doing.

"I don't want this to end" I sniffled, smiling bravely through my fears. He opened his mouth to say something then shut it almost immediately. It was clear to see that he didn't want this as much as I did. I had been fooling myself all along. So much for speaking your mind, Adrianna. I'm so stupid. Nikolas closed his eyes briefly as though contemplating on what to do. Was I making things hard for him?

"I don't want this to end either." He admitted, opening his eyes, some of his tension ebbing. There was my answer.

"How does the feud between our packs affect us." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"It doesn't," I said anxiously. He searched for something inside the pocket of his jacket, bringing out a card. He grabbed my hand and like before I felt a spark when he touched me. His eyes widened as though he had just realized something very crucial.

"This is my card, call me." His face reflected that he was just mind linked by someone and it seemed really urgent.

"Listen, could we meet up tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, we could maybe meet at a restaurant. I know a place," I told him.

"Great!"

After giving the card a hard look, I looked up at him and asked, "Do you work at Sinclair enterprise?"

"Sort of, it belongs to my family. Why?"

I went cold with shock. I couldn't move. My body felt paralyzed.

Sinclair? Adam Sinclair was his father. Rohan Sinclair, his brother. That made him... Nikolas Sinclair. He was from the Sinclair family, my father's sworn enemies.

"I have to go. We'll continue this when we meet tomorrow." he said hurriedly.

"You... don't know who I am, don't you?" I drew back his attention. Nikolas stared at me cluelessly. He had no idea who I was. This can't be happening!

"I'm Adrianna Lockwood, Alpha Jaxson's daughter."