CHAPTER 5

HANNI POV

No?

The word hung heavily in the air between us. I stared in shock at my audacity for I had just said no to an Alpha who breaks jaws for fun.

My heart began to beat faster against my ribs as I took a small step backwards. Which he noticed, of course. A slow dangerous smile appeared on his lips, like the smile of a predator who knows his prey is cornered.

“I will not hurt you, Hanni,” he said in a calm voice, which did nothing to calm the frantic beat of my heart. “You just have to trust me.”

I shook my head, unable to string two words together. Trust the wolf who just ‘played’ with his opponents in an arena?

Seeing my hesitation, he shrugged and turned to leave. “Suit yourself. It is either a cozy bed and a hot meal, or you can stay out here and become a feast for the rogues that prowl these woods when it is dark. There are not as….patient as I am.”

In that moment, a deep snarl echoed from the forest, followed by the unmistakable sound of heavy footsteps behind the trees. My blood ran cold. Rogues.

“WAIT!” I hurried after him, as he looked like the preferable option as the known monster, rather than being with the unknown ones. “I will come. Just…give me your word. Your word that I will be safe.”

He paused and looked down at me with those intense brown eyes. “Don’t worry, little mate,” he smirked. “I like my women willing, not terrified.”

Mate?

No, I must have heard wrongly for I had been so enamored by his looks to hear what he had said earlier. Betty, however, purred with satisfaction. I ignored her and followed, with my fate now tied to this stranger.

We walked past a bar where some wolves were drinking, upon sighting us, they lifted their jars high at the stranger, who in turn, smiled and waved back at them.

We had not gone far when a shrill voice called out suddenly. “Alfred!”

A she wolf stepped out from the shadows, so stunningly beautiful that she looked like she had been carved from the moonlight. She was everything I wasn’t…tall, confident, with her curves swaying with a sinful grace as she ignored me completely and ran to Alfred’s side.

“What is it, Mira?” He growled and shook off her hand from his arm.

“I have missed you Alfred” she pouted, her voice thick with sugar sweetness that made my skin crawl. Betty, my usually dormant wolf, let out a low warning growl in my mind. ‘Mine,’ she whispered possessively.

“Andre,” Alfred called out sharply, “Take my guest to my chambers. Now.”

Andre gently took my arm, to lead me away. I glanced back to see Mira trying to press herself against Alfred, only to be shoved aside so forcefully that she tripped. Betty purred in satisfaction. Good.

“We are almost home” his other friend - Marcus, smiled at me.

I looked ahead and gasp for it was a sight to behold, the palace stood majestic, towering high under the clouds with lights shimmering down on the pathway, giving it an eerie glow.

It was beautiful.

But it’s majestic features was nothing compared to the Alpha’s chambers. My jaw dropped instantly as I entered his quarters for I had never seen anywhere like it before. Everywhere screamed opulence from the large fur rug beside the gigantic bed to the art works on the wall….I couldn’t take it all and then I perceived it - Oud. The scent that woken my Lycan, Betty.

“Hello Betty” I said inwardly and she purred with satisfaction, ravishing in the sweet scent of the mystery stranger who is my mate.

I suddenly heard a chuckle from behind me, I quickly looked back to see the Alpha leaning on the door hinges, looking at me so intently with his left hand in his trousers pocket, looking like a Demi god.

I flushed and looked away.

“Get in,” he said to two serving girls waiting on the hall. “Help her get ready for dinner.” His dark eyes rested on me.”Don’t keep me waiting.”

*******************

“He can not be serious!” I breathed as I held up the scrap of black lace and silk ropes the maid had given to me.

“The Alpha’s orders are not a suggestion, ma’am,” a maid said, without even trying to hide her smirk.

My face turned red. This wasn’t a clothing, it was a declaration. A test. I decided to put on with trembling fingers, the material doing little to cover me. I desperately turned around to look for something, anything, to cover myself with.

I looked at the material again, it was all ropes and net. My face blushed at the thought of him seeing me in this outfit. He had an erection earlier, I saw that.

I smiled.

“Ma’am” one of the serving girls said, “please let us help you change into the lingerie, so that we all can go down, we are aware you don’t know your way, for you are a guest here.”

“No thank you, I can sort myself out and you also don’t have to wait up for me” I said dismissing them.

But I couldn’t possibly go down wearing this, it’s against my nature, for I will be unclad.

But I still wore it anyway, with the intention of looking for a robe or a jacket to cover my boobs peeking from the sides.

My search led me to a book on his nightstand, but soon I became so exhausted that I fell asleep with it on my lap, with the scent of him on the sheets as my final conscious thought.

A soft sound jolted me awake and I saw a lone figure sitting in an armchair, watching me from the shadows.

“Alpha?” I squeaked and pulled the sheets up to my chin.

He stood and moved into the dim candlelight with a blank expression on his face. “I did not mean to wake you. I was….disappointed you didn’t come down to join me.” He moved his gaze all over my body, taking in the revealing lingerie, and his eyes darkened. “But I see you followed my first order.”

“Oh” I said as I sat up. “ I didn’t mean to fall asleep, it just happened.”

“It’s fine sweetling” he smiled and gave me a knowing look, “but you must have something to eat, I promised you a hot meal and a warm bed, remember?”

He gestured to a serving girl standing silently in the shadows to bring in some food.

His intense gaze was like a physical touch. He walked to his wardrobe, pulled out a soft, black linen shirt and threw it to me. “Here. Before you catch a cold.”

The gesture was so unexpectedly…kind. I slipped it on, melting in the fabric and his scent as a strange sense of safety washed over me.

I gasped as I noticed him shirtless, with a claw scar on his chest. He caught me staring and gave me a lopsided grin with his chiseled face, making the thin scar close to his lips obvious, giving him a sexy look under the candlelight.

“See something you like?” He breathed, with his eyes pinned on me.

We stayed silent, as we stared at each other for a while, until a servant girl entered with a food tray, which shattered the moment.

He took the tray from her, and with a surprising tenderness, he deboned the fish and diced the meat before handing it to me. He then settled back into his chair without a word, just watching me as I eat as if I were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

When I was done, he finally leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, his gaze pinning me to the spot.

“Now sweetling,” he began softly. “Let us start from the beginning. Who are you and why was my mate sleeping alone in the cold?”