CHAPTER 6— I became the side character.

Get your filthy hands off the pup, Seraphiel”

A voice reverberated through the hall startling everyone primarily, distracting them from the heinous sins which had just occurred. A Vampire getting involved with a wolf? Abominable.

Aldric walked forward slowly, his boots clacking against the marble floor, each step deliberate and controlled.

I watched him approach with a strange mix of dread and relief twisting in my chest.

He was dressed in dark ceremonial cloaks, tailored to his frame, the fabric heavy with rank and history. Wolves parted instinctively, creating a path straight to me.

I watched how much presence he commanded, everyone was drawn to him regardless. Tearing away my focus to glance at Seraphiel who still was staring at Aldric, only he looked excited and his eyes dripping with.. amusement? What a weirdo.

Aldric stood before me but not once did I see him glance at me, I clenched my hands further into a fist, embarrassment sinking into my features like ink poured on paper, I felt ashamed.. suddenly feeling itchy and uncomfortable in the gown that I once felt happy in.

His eyes were locked on Seraphiel, sharp and cold.

Seraphiel finally released my hair and turned fully toward Aldric, a slow smile spreading across his pale face. His crimson eyes gleamed with unmistakable amusement.

“Well, well,” Seraphiel drawled, clapping his hands softly. “If it isn’t my beloved rival. You always do know how to make an entrance.”

Aldric stopped a few steps away from him.

“Leave,” he said simply.

Seraphiel laughed, the sound echoing too brightly in the tense hall. “Oh, come now. I was only helping your… guests. You wolves have such strange ways of showing hospitality.”

I commended Aldric’s response to his theatrics, I for one would have pounded the idiot to smithereens but Aldric didn't as much twitch.

Giving a characteristic condescending look to the inwardly seething vampire he announced terrifyingly gently..

Aldric’s gaze sharpening. “The party is over.”

He turned his head slightly, addressing the room without raising his voice.

“Eliana Kael,” he said calmly. “You will report to me in three hours.”

The lycan princess went pale.

“Yes, Alpha Heir,” she whispered.

Aldric turned away as if Seraphiel no longer existed.

That was when the vampire moved.

Not closer. Not threatening.

He leaned toward me, voice low and intimate, meant only for my ears.

“Careful, little Zero,” Seraphiel murmured.

Then he stepped back and dissolved into a storm of bats, vanishing into the vaulted ceiling.

The hall erupted into whispers.

I stood there, shaking and lost, I genuinely did not know what to do. Where to go. Whether I was supposed to follow or stay.

Then Aldric stopped.

He turned his head just enough for me to see his profile.

And looked at me.

Just once.

That was all it took.

I followed him.

His room felt colder than before.

The moment the door closed behind us, the silence pressed in, thick and heavy. Aldric did not offer me a seat. He did not speak. He removed his cloak slowly and set it aside with deliberate care.

I stood near the entrance, hands trembling, the gown clutched tightly around my body.

“Take it off,” he said.

My breath stuttered.

“What?”

“My clothes,” Aldric clarified, finally turning to face me. His expression was unreadable. “Remove it.”

My cheeks burned. “I… why?”

“Because I said so.”

I swallowed hard and obeyed.

My fingers fumbled with the fabric as I stretched trying to unbutton the fastened clasps on his solid breathing muscles, I tried to not show how uncomfortable I felt, one button, and two until the last in eerie silence.

I slipped out the shirt going behind him and marveled at how flexible his muscles were.

I had half the mind to touch them, feel the surging life beneath it.

But Aldric’s eyes moved over me immediately..

“Lower your hands.”

I hesitated.

He took one step closer.

I lowered them.

“Name,” he said.

“Matthuea Jade Farrow,” I replied quietly.

His brow twitched. “That is not the name you reacted to earlier.”

I clenched my jaw. “I prefer Zero.”

“Zero,” he repeated slowly. “Why.”

I hesitated, then whispered, “Because Jade… Jade is feminine.”

Silence stretched.

Then Aldric stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat of him.

He reached out suddenly and pinched the side of my neck, just below my jaw...

“Who dressed you in a gown?” “Eliana Kael?”

My breath hitched, throat dry, I could feel him raking his eyes all over me and that made me gulp intensely..

The pressure of his hands on my neck was tightening slowly.

Suddenly.. his hands slipped behind me to the corset that held my waist tight, feeling the ropes and I startled instinctively pressed on his body, flinching away at how warm he felt.

“Mr Aldric?” My voice came out soft in the quiet room. But all I got was a shush, one hand to my lips the other loosening the rope. My body shivered. We were in such an untoward position.

The alpha heir towering over me, one hand on my face, the other on my waist, my two hands on his chest, my eyes wide and wet..

It felt incredible. I could see him. I could touch him and feel him.

He towered all over my senses, I felt… just maybe I could take a lick of his skin, so magnificent staring at me in the face.

Simultaneously.. the moment his hands made contact with my skin was the moment my mouth unintentionally had a lick of his nipples.

We both stiffened.

Realisation setting in.

And “Get out” was all he said.

And cry? I did cry.

How could he? I thought.. my body occasionally remembering how I was at peace in his arms and shivering constantly. I was outside his door still in my ball gown.

A sudden shiver…. My tongue on his body.

Fuck.. he felt so good.

I made him stiffen.

My eyes shined bright. He was probably so shocked. I silently laughed, served him right. Hmph.

My face turned soft.. how dare he touch my waist without permission.. I ignored the soft bites of arousal coursing through me as it was way above my brain power to think about why I was having a hard on for a man.