An Annoying Alpha

I pushed my eggs around my plate, my shoulders rigid and my lips pursed while the sun danced lazily over the garden table. The aroma of roses did its best to ease the tension that lingered between us and I kind of liked it, I love roses but the man before me was so annoying and he might laugh at me if I tell him to get me one.

But are they even real roses?

Whatever.

The gentle breeze teasingly brushed through my loose hair. He watched me. Yet again. He had been acting that way ever since we sat down. With that sharp stormy, amused eye of his. The other concealed behind a stylish black eyepatch only made him seem more obnoxious and that lips always in a sexy pout, he even looked more handsome when he's not smiling.

I didn't like how he occupied the whole place. I don't like men who seem as if the world seemed to whisper their names before it breathed and as if the wind were bending toward them but he…he was kind of different but I don't know why.

“You haven't touched your toast,”

He said in a deep calm and frustratingly assured voice. I kept my eyes off of him.

“ I don't feel hungry.”

“ You went to bed hungry last night.”

“That was before I discovered I was bought because my mate owed someone dangerous and you came and buy me.”

My voice broke. “Just like a property.”

Sighing he said. “I didn't buy you because I wanted to, I felt pity for you and I was thinking you would be a great assistant to me, some Alphas would want you as a breeder but I'm not some Alphas.”

He bit into his croissant as though it were any other morning and remarked, “ Drake never deserved you. “

I jerked my head in his direction. “And you do?”

A pause. He licked the butter from his thumb and said, “ No. . But did I pay to have you?”

I got up so quickly that my chair scuffed the stone. I'm not just a thing that you can buy.”

His eyes followed me unblinking. “When I first met you last night you weren't just a thing.”

“Then who was I?”

He got up slowly with grace. I felt shadowed by his height. “Am I your mother?” He asked. “You are wired in such a way that you ask questions that lowers my IQ.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Don't do that again, I hate it. You must show respect to the Alpha King. I can be ruthless and at the same time merciful.” He said half from anger and half from something I didn't want to mention as I shuddered. He gave me a dangerous look, possessive. Just like a man who took only what he claimed without asking permission.

“And I'm topping the list in the Most Desirable.”

With a brittle voice I said, “ Don't flatter yourself.”

He took a step closer. “My dear you're shaking. Are you certain you're not flattered?”

I gave him a thrust or made an effort and with ease he grasped my wrist, his hold firm but not painful.

“Let go of me,” I growled.

His breath touched my ear as he leaned closer. “I ought to have marked you as soon as I saw you.”

I tore my hand away from his like I was burned by his touch and took a step back.

“Don't. Ever. Touch me again.”

His smile was lazy and beautiful. “You also mentioned that last night. Then you kissed me so hard.”

I got red in the face. I wished I could take that moment back in time. My heart twitched at that dumb, delicious kiss.

“ You kissed me to stop me talking,” I yelled. “And I understand why now because you bought me.”

There was silence and then surprisingly he said, “All right. Go on, darling .”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” he said as he walked back to his chair and picked up his wine glass nonchalantly despite the fact that it was still morning and began to walk to the fountain few feets away. “Go out. You are free to leave.”

The tightness in my chest came. “Are you testing me or….”

“I’m not.”

I studied him expecting the trap to be a trick. His face was unreadable.

“Is there a reason for this?” I asked in a small voice.

“There's none,” he said with ease. “See your aunt. Go find your fathers family. Sell berries on the street and play in the stream, do whatever. You wish to leave and I won't stop you.”

I remained motionless. I couldn't say anything or do anything, I was stunned.

Because I didn't believe what he said in my heart. Not in the slightest, not with the way his gaze fixed me. His voice encircled me like a kind of rope, something holding me in place.

“Just like that?” I muttered.

He gave a shrug in response. “I don't hold prisoners here.” he said. “I maintain my options. And Layla be aware of this that if you leave…” he turned to me with such effortless grace that the wind itself paused. “ You won't be leaving again if you ever return,” he added taking a step closer. “I'll bind you with my scent, lock you in my bed and make sure that nobody ever touches you again.”

My heart hit my ribs hard. He lowered his voice to a sinister pledge. “And I will have you. And you will be mine and mine alone.”

“You're annoying.” I muttered.

He raised his head. “You're also alluring.”

My mouth opened but I didn't, couldn't say anything. It was a crazy and annoying at the same time.

I was standing before this devastatingly handsome man who made each passing second crazy for me and the worst part is that he wasn't lying. Everything he said was true. I turned on my heel and walked back toward the house, away from his voice, his heat and his scent off the garden path.

I walked with a quick clipped gait full of pride and rage. Still I didn't go very far when I remembered that I didn't even pack a bag or get some food or water and I did not even ask a map or even a horse or a drive in a car.

I stopped and couldn't continue because deep down I knew that no matter how long I resisted or how far I ran, he would eventually find me. And the moment that he dies. Maybe I would never be able to leave his sight ever again.