THE SUSPICIOUS FIRST NIGHT

ALINA

"You..."‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ Felix’s voice faded, and my breath was stuck in my throat. The deadly blue eyes beneath his dark hair seemed to be drilling a hole through my soul.

*Did he find out?*

"You look pale." He completed the sentence, his hand on my waist pressing a bit more.

I let out a breath that I didn't realize was trapped in my chest. "I am just... nervous.” The words came out.

For a second it felt like he wasn't convinced. His eyes locked with mine for the next few seconds, holding a gaze that I couldn't read. Then, without a warning, his lips touched mine, locking into a wild, passionate kiss. This was a kiss full of possession and submission that now I belonged to him.

He kissed me until my lips were breathless. As he drew back, I found my breathing.

“You're now mine, Serena Campbell.” He whispered into my ear. The words that only I heard. The possession that only I felt.

The crowd exploded with applause, and the Priest announced us husband and wife.

After the wedding I couldn't get a chance to meet Julius. The maids took me to my room, decorated with scented candles and flowers.

Changed into a nightdress, I was on the edge of that silk-draped bed. The place was warmer than the prison, and only the moon shining through the large windows was giving some light. My heart was beating so hard against my chest that it felt like it wanted to get out.

The door opened with a creak. Felix entered and was already half-way unbuttoning his black dress shirt. He was like a predator, moving with silent and lethal grace.

He dropped his shirt onto a wooden chair. With a chest full of scars and hard muscle, he was a map of toughness. He came closer to me, sitting down on the bed’s edge. His warmth was so intense that even from a distance, it could have been felt.

His hand coming in contact with the strap of my nightdress was a mere graze of fingers. As he was slowly taking it off my shoulder, alarmed thoughts were running through my mind. More than anything, Julius told me to never spend the night with Felix Night. He belonged to Serena, not me, and the prisoner’s mark on my back would only expose my identity.

"Stop," I uttered, holding his wrist.

Felix paused, his eyes narrowed.

"My wolf hasn't been feeling well since morning. Maybe she's exhausted." I made up a story and in the meantime, pulled the sleeve back up to my shoulder.

With a frown on his face, Felix leaned over and thus the back of his hand was already on my forehead. My heart skipped a beat.

"You are burning up." He muttered softly.

I knew the reason. It was not a fever. The vial. The serum was a lethal weapon to my wolf, a chemical war happening within my veins to keep my real scent hidden.

“Since when did your wolf become so fragile? You've a rare golden wolf, one of the strongest. Isn't this why you were chosen as my Luna?”

Unlike Serena, my wolf faced countless suffering in the prison. She nearly became dormant but I kept her alive. Still, she was weak, slowly recovering.

“My wolf is still strong. She's just tired. I just need some sleep, and I'll be fine.”

For a long time, he kept staring. His face, cold as stone, revealed nothing. Then, he opened the first drawer of the lampstand on his side and gave me the medicine for fever. I just played along, swallowing the bitter medicine.

“Take some rest.”

Moving to the left, I grabbed the blanket, when he slept right next to me. My eyes slightly widened. "Are you... staying here?"

Felix twitched his brows. "We are husband and wife. Did you expect something else?"

"I was just thinking... maybe if I were sick..."

"Sleep, Serena." He ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. He turned off the lamp, and we were left in complete darkness.

I did not get any sleep. I simply wasn’t able to. Every movement Felix made in his sleep, I would be startled.

When it was almost 3:00 in the morning. The wolf inside me was preparing to fight back. My natural scent was starting to come through under the mask of Serena’s scent.

I got out of bed quietly and rushed over to the vanity table next to the glass window. I had concealed the vial in the jewelry ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌box.

With‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ trembling hands, I opened the bottle. I tilted my head back and allowed the single, bitter drop to run down my tongue. What I tasted was copper and ash. Right away, the fiery sting stopped, and the heavy, sweet scent of Serena's wolf enveloped me again.

Inhaling a breath, I put the vial back.

“You're awake." The deep, manly voice sent a shiver down my spine.

I turned so fast that I almost knocked the table over. Felix was standing just three feet behind me, and his shadow was stretched out on the floor. He didn't make a sound.

"I... I couldn't sleep.” My voice mumbled.

Felix moved closer, trying to see my face in the dim light. "You are acting strange. You’ve hardly talked to me since the ceremony."

As he started to close the distance between us, my palm quickly went behind my waist, and I revealed my claws in defense. Just when he was inches closer, I was ready to attack, yet he softly ran his palm down my hair.

"I know you're used to living alone, but that life is gone. You are my Luna now. You must accept that we will always be together."

The fear left my heart, and I pushed back my claws, dropping my hand to my side. With his eyes, he indicated the bed. "Come back to sleep. That's an order, Serena."

I went back to the bed with him, my pulse pounding. Luckily, he didn't see the vial, but I could sense his stare upon me until I finally succumbed to a restless, shallow sleep.

With a new day, wearing a pink dress, Serena's favorite color, I attended breakfast with Felix. The maids served our plates. I was trying to appear calm and obedient just as Julius had schooled me. The table was overloaded with the dishes Serena liked. For seven years, I barely survived on bread.

He moved a crystal bowl towards me, filled with big, glossy purple grapes.

"These are for you. You love purple grapes, don't you?" He selected a small bunch and offered it to me. "You used to tell me that you could live on nothing but these."

I stopped moving. My stomach did a flip.

Serena liked grapes but my wolf was allergic to them. Just one would make me go into anaphylactic shock within a very short time. My throat would swell, and I would shift without control over my body.

I stared at the grapes and then at Felix. He was watching me like a hawk, his hand still out, waiting for me to take them.

"What’s wrong?" He raised a brow.

His voice was now serious. It almost felt like he was testing me. "Take them, Serena."

*Did he notice something last night?*

My eyes were glued to the grapes, while Felix was like a sharp tool ready to detect the tiniest doubt in my mind. He saw me as a stranger if I refused, and if I ate them, I could be dead.

*Do it, Alina!* I was screaming inside my head.

*Die by poison or die by his hand. Choose.*

I extended my hand with shaking fingers and took the bunch. I took a grape and slowly put it in my mouth. Then one more. And one more. They tasted like the most delicious thing which would eventually kill me.

“How’s the taste?” Felix slightly tilted his head.

"Good." I forced out that word.

"Finish the ones here." Felix said, stretching his arm across the chair rest and leaning back, while he kept looking at me. "I recall you telling me they were the only thing that could satisfy your wolf’s hunger in the morning."

I coerced myself to eat all the grapes on the plate. A growl accompanied each bite and seemed to come from deep inside my chest. It was not me, but my wolf. She was yelling, her skin was itching as if it was being ripped off by a thousand needles coming from the inside. The allergic reaction was causing a forced ‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌transformation.

"I…‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‌ I need to use the washroom."

Just when my feet rose and was about to leave, Felix clutched my wrist.

“Who said you could leave?” He slightly tightened his grip around my wrist, making my heart drop to my stomach.