Chapter 6

~Areum~

I stood there dripping in the doorway of the bath chamber like a drowned rat who’d just realized the cat was still watching; the Alpha because of course his name was too intimidating to even think without flinching had his arms crossed and one brow raised so high it was basically doing taxes up there.

“I can wash myself,” I said for the seventh time, clutching the giant robe tighter around me like it was body armor. “Just turn around. Face the wall. Pretend you’re a statue. A very boring, very blind statue.”

He didn’t move. “You’ll stay in the room.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” I waved a hand. “Turn. Around.”

He sighed through his nose like I was the biggest pain in his entire alpha life, which, fair, and finally pivoted to face the wall. His back was to me. Broad. Stupidly broad. The kind of back that made you wonder why shirts even bothered existing.

I waited two whole seconds to make sure he wasn’t cheating, then speed-stripped under the robe like my life depended on it. Gown off, bindings still wrapped tight around my chest because no way was I taking those off with Mr. Wolf Ears three feet away. The robe stayed on, sleeves flapping, belt knotted like I was trying to strangle myself with it.

I shuffled to the edge of the pool. The water was so fucking hot (were they gonna burn me) and smelled like herbs that probably cost more than my entire village. Whatever. I just needed to dunk, scrub, and escape before anything catastrophic happened.

I stepped in. The robe soaked instantly. Great. Now it weighed approximately one million pounds.

“Okay,” I called, voice cracking like a twelve-year-old boy, perfect, “I’m in. You can keep ignoring me forever now.”

Silence.

I grabbed soap and tried to wash under the robe without actually opening it. Which meant I was basically rubbing a rock against my armpit through three layers of wet fabric. Efficiency at its finest.

The robe started slipping. First the shoulder, then the whole front sagged like it was trying to defect to the enemy. I yanked it up, slapped water on my neck, and the stupid belt came undone.

“No no no…”

The entire robe floated open like it was auditioning for a dramatic reveal. I squeaked, grabbed the edges, and tried to tie it again, but wet knots are Satan’s favorite hobby. The more I pulled, the more it fought me.

I slipped.

Not gracefully. Not a cute little stumble. Full-on, legs flying, arms windmilling, ass-over-teakettle splash that echoed like a cannon.

Water went up my nose. My hair exploded into my face. And when I came up gasping, the robe was basically a belt around my waist and nothing else.

I looked up.

He was looking.

He had turned around the second he heard me flail, because of course he did, because the universe hates me personally.

His eyes locked on me. On the soaked bindings clinging to my skin. On the curve that definitely wasn’t supposed to be there if I was the soft little noble boy everyone thought I was.

Half a second. That’s all it took.

Then my brain caught up and I screamed, high-pitched, mortified, straight into the next dimension, and dunked myself to the neck so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

“DON’T LOOK!”

“I…Areum…”

“TURN AROUND TURN AROUND TURN AROUND!”

He spun so fast I heard his neck crack. His shoulders were rigid, hands clenched at his sides. The air went thick and weird and hot, even hotter than the water.

I clutched the robe to my front, heart trying to punch its way out of my ribcage. He saw. He definitely saw. Oh God, he saw the bindings, he saw the boobs, he saw everything, I was dead, I was so dead, they were going to burn me at the stake and use my ashes to season soup…

But he wasn’t saying anything.

He was breathing though. Hard. Like he’d run ten miles. Or like something inside him just woke up snarling.

I swallowed water and nearly choked.

The silence stretched so long I started counting heartbeats. One, two, three..still no words. Just that rough, ragged breathing behind me.

I risked a tiny glance over my shoulder.

Bad idea.

He hadn’t turned back around all the way. His head was angled just enough that I caught his profile, eyes glowing that freaky gold his kind got when the wolf was close to the surface. And he was staring at the water. At the reflection maybe? Or..

The robe had floated up behind me like a traitor flag. My entire back was bare. And lower. A lot lower.

He could see my ass.

Not all of it. Just a slice. A curve. The dimples at the base of my spine where the water lapped.

But it was enough.

His breathing changed. Got deeper. Rougher. Like he was trying to suck the steam straight into his lungs and failing.

I felt it hit me like a punch, the shift in the air, the way the wolf inside him leaned forward and licked its teeth. Hunger. Not for food.

For me.

I squeaked again, smaller this time, and tried to sink lower, but the pool wasn’t that deep and physics hated me.

He took one step. Just one. Water sloshed around his calves, he’d stepped in without me noticing.

“Areum,” he said, and his voice was wrecked. Low and gravel-rough and nothing like the calm Alpha who’d been bossing me around all day.

“Don’t,” I yelped. “Don’t come closer, I swear I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” The words rumbled out, almost amused, but not quite. “Drown yourself trying to escape?”

“I’m good at it! I practice!”

Another step. Water rippled. I felt it against my skin like a touch.

My whole body locked up. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. The robe floated uselessly around my waist now, a sad wet noodle doing nothing to hide anything.

He was behind me. Close. Too close. I could feel the heat rolling off him even through the water.

His hand came out of nowhere, slow, giving me time to scream or bolt or bite, but I didn’t. I just froze like a complete idiot while his fingers brushed the wet hair off my shoulder.

I shivered so hard my teeth chattered.

“Stop shaking,” he muttered.

“No shit,” I hissed, voice cracking again. “You’re breathing like you’re about to eat me!”

A pause.

“Maybe I am.”

My brain short-circuited.

He moved faster than I could track, one arm sliding around my waist under the water, pulling me back against his chest. Hard. His skin was burning. His other hand came up, tilted my chin with two fingers, forcing me to look up at him.

His eyes were pure gold now. No humanity left in them. Just wolf.

And I want.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, scream, threaten, beg, I don’t even know, but he didn’t give me the chance.

He kissed me.

His mouth came rashing down on mine, teeth scraping, tongue pushing in like he owned me already. My hands flew up to shove him away and ended up clutched in his hair instead because oh God, oh God, I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything except make this pathetic needy noise against his lips.

He growled into my mouth. Actually growled. The sound vibrated through my whole body and settled right between my legs like a traitor.

His arm tightened around my waist, fingers splaying over bare skin where the robe had given up completely. His thumb brushed the edge of the soaked binding and I jerked like he’d shocked me.

He pulled back just enough to breathe, forehead pressed to mine, both of us panting like we’d been running.

“Areum,” he rasped, and it sounded like a prayer and a curse at the same time.

I stared up at him, lips swollen, brain melted, bindings half undone and floating like surrender flags.

And for one stupid, terrifying second I almost said it.

I’m not who you think I am.

Instead I whispered, “Can we not do it yet? I'm not ready.”

He laughed, short, dark, and way too hot.

“Too late for that, little liar, your ass is burning hot..”

Then he kissed me again and his hand trailed his hand way down to my ass as he massag

ed and grabbed it while spanking, (lucky me for having soft ass) 

But unlucky me now because his hands were finding his way to my front, this was it.