16

Livia POV

Wait, is this a joke?! Why on earth is his dick out?!

Take it from me—Alpha Tarian has gone completely, utterly mad, and his insanity clearly peaks at different hours of the day!

He stepped closer, his eyes burning with unholy desires as he gestured to his front. 

"Why are you acting so surprised? Just a few minutes ago you acted like you wanted me—calling me your darling husband, remember? Now, would it really be a bad idea if you give your darling husband some of that sugar? Spread your legs and do not make me wait."

This man is indeed mad! Moon goddess save your daughter. I should not have joked or called him darling or any terms of endearment.

Now I will have to be dragging my underwear with this man in a couple of seconds if you don’t intervene, dear moon goddess!

"I am sorry, but where am I spreading my legs to?" I chided him, my voice trembling slightly as I desperately tried to cling to the naive Livyana script. "There is more than enough space on the bed for both of us!"

Oh, Moon Goddess, he is right—it’s the full moon! And this stupid, submissive, naive-bride persona I was trying to pull off was making me sound completely dumb! 

He clearly wants to have sex with me. 

Oh, Goddess, what am I supposed to do?! 

If this man comes anywhere close to touching me, I am not sure he would survive the night, because I would end up tearing his eyes out!

I frantically scanned the room for any possible weapon to defend myself. As much as I was the undisputed black sheep of my family—and as much as everyone back in May Town believed I was giving myself away to different men—no man had ever touched me. The only man who was going to take my virginity was my husband—a man who actually loved me for who I was. Not my sister’s arrogant, self-absorbed husband!

Just as he reached out and grabbed my ankles to pull my legs toward him, I burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

I don't know if the sheer madness in him had somehow possessed me too, but it was just so profoundly hilarious seeing this giant, terrifying Alpha King acting like a desperate, starved puppy! 

I briefly wondered if this was what Livyana experienced when she let Nathan take her to his bed. But the glaring difference was that she actually loved Nathan and wouldn't have cared. 

I did not love this man—not even in the slightest! So seeing him act like a feral hound, as much as it terrified me, made me laugh hysterically.

Tarian froze, his hand still clamped around my ankle. "Why? What is so funny?!"

Instead of shrinking back like a submissive, frightened bride, I got over my initial shock. I sat back against the headboard, crossing my arms, and inspected him from head to toe.

I began rating his approach out of ten. "First of all, Your Highness—zero bedside manner! Second of all, 'spread those legs and look away'? What low-budget villain script did you pull that line from?! So if I spread my legs, you're going to sleep with me? Me? Have you actually met me?!"

Tarian stood there, completely gagged. He had clearly never been talked to like this in his entire life, and his face was a picture of  shock.

He should be dumbfounded! No man attempts to touch Livia Wilson-Vivour against her will—if he tried it, we would be swinging fists until someone went to the hospital!

My phone was buzzing relentlessly under the pillow with notifications from Livyana on HiWolf, but right now, the situation was far too delicate. Operation Save Yourself First!

Tarian was clearly embarrassed, his face turning red. But when he climbed onto the bed and made another desperate grab for my legs, I continued to laugh, kicking my feet back.

"You might as well save yourself the energy!" I wheezed out, pointing at my chest. "This hideous nightdress has several layers! Save yourself the effort of trying to get in between my legs and go wank in the bathroom!"

Suddenly, Tarian winced. His nose twitched violently.

Achoo!

He sneezed with a force that shook his entire frame. Then again—ACHOO!

This time, the  impact of the second sneeze made him lose his balance entirely. He tumbled right off the edge of the mattress, landing on the floor with a heavy thud!

My laughter instantly died in my throat. I sat up, staring over the edge of the bed as he continued to sneeze violently, clutching his chest.

 "Wait... are you okay?!" I asked.

"What...“ he sneezed.”... why do you smell like...” he sneezed again,”…a mosquito repellent?!" he gasped out, his eyes watering furiously.

I choked, clamping my hand over my mouth to withhold a sudden snort. Inhaling my own scent now, I realized he was right—the aggressive obsidian perfume I had sprayed all over my pulse points actually did smell like mosquito repellent! 

I offered a quick, silent prayer to the Moon Goddess, thanking her for giving me the wisdom to use a completely different scent tonight.

But my amusement vanished in a split second. There on the floor sat Alpha King Tarian—coughing, gasping, and sneezing uncontrollably. 

I knew I was in  trouble when he pulled his hand away from his mouth and I saw actual streaks of blood on his palm.

"I am... highly allergic... to whatever you sprayed on yourself!" he managed to gasp out, his face turning pale before flushing with intense fever heat.

Livia, you are finished! my mind screamed in panic. If this man dies tonight, you are completely finished!

I instantly pictured my entire future flashing before my eyes—being dragged off in chains, thrown into a jail cell alongside my sister, mother and father, and being publicly executed for the murder of the Alpha King!

I violently snapped myself out of the nightmare. "No! You are not dying on my watch!"

Panic overriding everything, I scrambled off the bed and bolted straight into his adjoining bathroom. 

I grabbed a clean face towel, drenched it under the cold water faucet, and grabbed a bar of his soap. 

Scrubbing my neck, wrists, and collarbones furiously until my skin was red, I rinsed off every single scent of the  perfume.

I sprinted back into the bedroom, completely reeking of his soap instead.

Tarian was lying weakly on the floor beside the bed, his skin burning hot to my touch as the full-moon heat fused with his sudden allergic reaction. 

He was breathing in short, shallow hitches, his eyes half-closed.

I dropped to my knees beside him, wringing out the freezing cold towel and slamming it directly onto his forehead. "Stay with me, you big idiot! Breathe!"

I spotted an iced lemon water on the night stand and I remembered an old herbal remedy my mother used whenever father suffered severe respiratory flares—I grabbed a glass of iced lemon water, hauled his upper body against my chest, and forced him to take slow, tiny sips to flush his throat, keeping the icy cloth pressed firmly against his feverish neck.

"Moon Goddess, please help me," I whimpered under my breath, my hands shaking violently as I wiped the sweat from his forehead. "If you help me heal this man tonight, I promise I will pack my bags tomorrow morning and run straight back home! I swear it's the sin of lying and deceiving him that brought this tribulations upon me!"

What an absolute disaster for a first night. 

The glorious, deep sleep I had wanted so badly had completely eluded me, and now I was stuck spending my entire wedding night nursing my insufferable husband back to health.