16

ALINA

“Come on, Princess . We’re leaving,” Kilian said, giving me the distraction I needed to look away from Alexander and hide the weight behind my eyes.

He curled a finger in a beckoning motion, voice calm, almost teasing. Princess let out a breath, sharp and annoyed. From her reaction, I doubted she was a slave. But when she opened her mouth to speak, it became clear she either had a death wish or wasn’t one at all.

“You don’t tell me what to do, asshole,” she snapped, glaring at him.

I flinched, fully expecting Kilian to snap her neck or slice her open where she stood. That was how high ranking men dealt with defiance from people they considered beneath them.

“Behave,” he said instead, tone unbothered, like she was nothing more than a fly buzzing around his head.

“Fuck you,” she sang, lifting her middle finger for emphasis.

I wasn’t sure that needed any clarification, but she seemed determined to make it crystal clear.

He chuckled, shaking his head. I waited for something more than amusement, some flicker of irritation or anger, but it never came.

When I glanced at Alexander, I found him watching the exchange with the same detached interest, as if none of it surprised him.

Maybe this was what she meant earlier, when she said he didn’t like quiet girls.

I wasn’t about to test the theory. I would never flip him off and live to see the next hour. Kilian’s energy was calmer. He was just an Alpha. Alexander was the Lycan King. There was no way he’d accept open disrespect, not in public and definitely not in private.

“I don’t mind leaving you here with my dear friend Alex if you’d prefer that.” Alexander made a sound at the back of his throat. It definitely wasn’t approval. “He is such amazing company if I do say so myself.”

Princess, as Kilian called her, though I doubted that was her actual name, eventually rose to her feet. Their interaction ended with one last icy glare from her and a faint smirk from him before they walked out together.

It felt like they took all the air in the room with them.

The moment the doors closed behind them, I could breathe again. But it was shallow and tight because now, I was alone with Alexander.

I kept still, careful not to fidget. It felt like if I even shifted too much, he would see through me. Like he would know I wasn’t one of them, that I didn’t belong here.

“Come with me,” he said softly, his voice tugging me out of my head.

I jumped to my feet without hesitation. I didn’t want to be slow. If I followed everything he said perfectly, maybe he wouldn’t have to correct me. And if he didn’t have to correct me, maybe he wouldn’t start looking too closely. Maybe he wouldn’t notice I was just a werewolf pretending to be something I wasn’t.

That was the plan. Be the perfect mate, or slave, or whatever he wanted. Obedient. Quiet. Invisible.

We left the drawing room and stepped out of the house. I hadn’t been outside the main building since arriving. I’d only seen a few of the other rooms, mostly when he wanted me to meet someone. But I hadn’t been beyond the walls.

A flicker of excitement rose in me as he opened the front door and motioned for me to go first.

I didn’t stop to think. I stepped outside, careful to hide the lift in my steps. He might think I was trying to run.

To be fair, I was. But he didn’t need to know that.

And he definitely couldn’t suspect it.

I had questions, mostly about Kilian and Princess . The way she acted toward him kept gnawing at me. That wasn’t how a slave treated a master, not even a kind one.

“Do you have something you want to say?”

I looked up sharply and found Alexander watching me. I hadn’t realized he’d been paying attention. My first instinct was to lie, but the look he gave me made my mouth shut on its own.

“I can hear the wheels turning in your head,” he said. “Better not to lie.”

He stopped walking, which made me stop too. He turned toward me, and something in me responded to the shift. I faced him without thinking, my body moving before my mind caught up.

He was taller than me by a lot. I had to tilt my head just to meet his eyes.

Standing this close made me feel tiny. His presence didn’t help, heavy and commanding. And the way he looked down at me didn’t make it any easier.

“I detest liars. Do not make it a habit.”

I nodded, fast and frantic. I wasn’t sure I even gave the command for my head to move.

“Now, answer the question. What were you thinking about?”

It wasn’t a question, not really. My mouth moved before I could stop it.

“I was only wondering who they were.”

The words came out without a single stutter. A miracle.

“Kilian and his flavor of the week?”

I wasn’t sure whether to nod or stay still. The woman had said she was different, that she’d be around longer than the others. I hadn’t known what she meant at the time. I wasn’t sure I knew now either.

“He is my childhood friend and business partner,” Alexander said.

I hadn’t expected him to answer. His voice surprised me. “His father and my mother grew up together.”

I nodded again, swallowing the knot forming in my throat. No words came. I didn’t know what to say. That’s nice? That’s sad? Neither seemed right. So I said nothing.

“And Scarlett is an Alpha’s daughter. For some reason, she took a liking to him.”

“She said she didn’t like him,” I blurted.

The second the words left my mouth, I wanted to reach out and slap myself.

But Alexander laughed.

The sound was low and rich, and it curled around me in a way that left my thoughts momentarily blank.

“That would be wise of her. Kilian may be my friend, but he’s not someone you should think of having anything serious with.”

“And you?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

God. I really needed to sew my mouth shut.