Chapter 5

All eyes turned to Zoran as he coughed out his wine. He grabbed the napkin and hurriedly sloshed off the mess, his hands shaking a little.

The paper dissolved into the liquid.

"Uncle Zoran, is everything fine?" Silas reached out to help him clean the table's surface. Rowan too had paused munching and seemed concerned.

"Was there something in the drink, brother?"

"No. I just... forgot that I had to purchase extra yarn in order to knit like I had planned and—"

Naelis bit into her apple and licked her lips, holding his gaze when it crossed hers. Zoran's eyes got even wider seeing she wasn't bothered.

He immediately excused himself.

That was when Silas noticed the tiny piece of parchment soaking in the spilled wine.

"Is this your doing, Nae?" He whispered.

"Probably."

He fished for the paper but it was already falling apart. "What does it say?"

"Nothing you need to know in particular," she whispered back.

Rowan was confused, but he was too immersed in his lemon curd to ask.

"Alpha Rowan, I'll head upstairs for a bath. I don't want to ruin the carpets any further."

"Alright, child, I could still have the cooks prepare the boar. I'd like it with curry sauce and a little bit of parmesan."

"Of course, Alpha, enjoy."

She licked her fingers clean and waltzed away.

•••

Steam still clung to Naelis’s skin as she stepped out of the washroom, drying her hair with a towel while her phone buzzed.

“Mm-hmm, yes, Sally, I’ll tell you another story later, no, don’t sneak cookies, you little thief,” she laughed softly before hanging up.

Sally. A very soft, but yet, over-curious six-year-old.

Half-sister. Her father's bastard, but yet... a girl that had come to matter to her. Somewhat.

She tossed the towel aside, tugged on a loose robe, and flopped across her bed. With the curtains drawn and the mansion quiet, her finger hovered over her screen, tapping open something explicit.

She opened her flap and parted her legs, her heat cycles still pungent.

KNOCK—KNOCK.

The sound interrupted her before her hands could even make contact with her folds.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Silas, if that is you trying to dissuade me again—” She snatched a shoe off the floor and flung it.

The sensor-stimulation feature was still on. The doors creaked open just in time for the shoe to collide squarely with Zoran’s chest.

He let out a small grunt, clutching his laptop.

“May I… have a word?” His voice was polite, but there was a rough edge beneath it.

Naelis’s jaw dropped, heat rising in her cheeks. “Shit. Sorry. I thought you were... never mind. Come in.”

He stepped inside, his refreshing scent hitting her nostrils.

Wild-root and coffee-tang.

She gestured behind her. “Make yourself comfortable, the bed is free.”

Zoran nodded, moving stiffly to the chair instead. He set the laptop on his knees.

“I… ah… came to clarify,” he began, “the note you handed me at breakfast. It was… wildly inappropriate.”

Naelis stretched languidly on the bed, her damp hair spilling over her shoulders. “Oh? Inappropriate is just another word for memorable.”

His gaze averted, just for a second, toward the sleek little wand-like toy resting near her pillow. He stiffened, color rising in his cheeks. He tried to look anywhere else, her window, the carpet, the wall... anywhere but there.

“Miss Haldrith—”

"—Naelis."

"N-Naelis," he said, carefully, “I am not… interested in... any of that."

She cut him off with a soft laugh.

“You sound like you swallowed a sermon. Relax, Zoran. I wasn’t proposing anything serious. Just a little… fun fact.” She dragged the words out deliberately, savoring his fluster.

His knuckles whitened on the edge of the laptop.

“It wasn’t funny.”

“It was hilarious.” Her grin widened. “The way you nearly spat out your wine? Priceless.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You enjoy making people uncomfortable.”

“Only the ones I want to look at me twice,” she shot back, leaning forward on her elbows. “And I want you to look at me, more than twice.”

That silenced him.

"Aren't you thinking of getting back with my nephew?"

"No."

She slid off the bed with an almost feline grace, the hem of her robe dragging behind her. The fabric clung damply to her skin from the steam of her bath, emphasizing her figure. She sank down to her hands and knees, and then began to crawl.

Zoran felt a rush of trepidation.

He stood up. Every time her hand pressed into the carpet, he took another step back.

Her robe gaped, her cleavage visible with each movement, the curve of her breasts strained against the thin fabric, and Naelis didn't hide it, she wanted him to notice.

He didn’t. At least, he tried not to. His gaze kept darting toward the wall or the floor.

“Miss Haldrith. Stop this. Calm your raging… omega hormones. There are other men out there, plenty of them. Dozens, hundreds. Someone that would willingly want this.”

She laughed softly as she crawled another inch closer.

“I don’t want any of them,” she whispered. She crawled another pace forward, closing the gap he kept trying to create. “Let them be the fishes in the sea.”

Her lips curved into a lethal smile. “For now, I just want one shark.”

Zoran’s back hit the wall, laptop clutched against his chest like a holy relic. “Naelis, this...this is not amusing.”

Her laughter rang out. “Relax, hot cake...”

Zoran blinked. His red-ringed eyes shuffled with awkwardness.

“I’m not asking for forever,” she continued, a sly grin tugging at her lips. “Just… wicked little moments. Nothing to fear, unless you’re afraid of enjoying yourself.”

“I am fourteen years older than you, I could be your uncle too,” he blurted, as though the number itself might build a barricade.

Not when Naelis Haldrith was involved. Certainly not.

"Listen to me, young lady—"

She whimpered, letting out a half-moan that made his entire locomotive system come to a stand-still.

His lips parted in disbelief.

"Stop being so bashful and come here." Her nails reached out to grab his pants.

His back was against the wall. There were no more backward steps to take.

"N-Naelis!"

She didn't notice the intensifying red in his eyes, the venomous claws prickling at his fingertips.

"Zoran—uh... your pheromones."

Something was happening, his pores were leaking something. But it definitely wasn't pheromones.

"Enough!"

One moment his cheeks were flushed and he was frozen against the wall. The next, he leaned down and grabbed her by the throat.

Eyes blazing with distinct blood-lust.