#Chapter 5: Object of Desire

Charlotte’s POV

“Fall for me?” I snorted to myself. It wasn’t likely. Every look that Alpha Kieran had given me had been full of disdain, bordering on hatred.

Even though he didn’t know the first thing about me.

Alpha Kieran had seen the dirt on my body and the brand on my wrist and written me off as dangerous and worse.

But fuck Jason for assuming that no one would fancy me. Big talk coming from someone who kept me captive because he couldn’t stand to let me go. Because he said he couldn’t live without me.

“Alpha Kieran might not like me, but I am worthy of love and affection,” I said, squaring my jaw and staring into Jason’s haughty face.

I didn’t expect my words to do much but I needed to stand up to him in some small way. He kept using our freshly broken bond to manipulate and hurt me, expecting me to beg him and become his mistress.

He had once been my lover, now he was my tormentor.

I had to fight back in every way possible.

“The visitors say that you’re far from being a competent Alpha,” I raised my lip in a sneer, “Maybe that’s why you were so weak you couldn’t sense your own pup in my belly.”

Jason’s hand raised to slap me, his eyebrows drawing low over his angry gaze.

“Insolent bitch!” spittle flew from Jason’s mouth as he screamed at me in the middle of the courtyard, “Have you already forgotten what happened the last time you defied me? I can put you back in that hospital at any time…”

His hand landed heavy across my chest, and an instant later he had hooked his arm around my waist and was pulling me backwards into him, rubbing himself against my skirts. Jason breathed heavily into my ear over my shoulder as his fingers pinched at my breasts, “Perhaps you need a reminder of who your master is…”

This wasn’t going to end well.

I shuddered as his hands gripped my body and I could feel the hard length of him pushing at me through our clothing.

“Is that Jessica I hear?” I called out, trying to create a distraction. A second later Jason released me. I staggered away and towards the relative safety of the bustling kitchens.

There was no sign of Jessica.

Too late, Jason realized I had tricked him.

“I’ll get you later, see if I don’t!” he shouted at me as I fled.

—

True to his word, that night I was called to the reception pavilion where the wedding guests and Jason and Jessica lounged and drank.

“Slave, pour me some of that tea,” Jessica flounced her shoulders in her lowcut dress and held out a teacup, indicating that I was to kneel before her to pour.

Gritting my teeth, I knelt and poured the scalding tea from the porcelain vessel in my hands.

“Ouch! You splattered me!” she shrieked, throwing the contents of her teacup onto me. The boiling tea scalded my skin painfully, “Stupid girl!”

She aimed a kick at me that knocked me backwards. I only barely managed to avoid falling into the crowded dance floor below their dais.

“My darling,” Jason asked, “Is this the same slave you said was responsible for that trouble in the kitchens earlier?” He gave me a sly look out of the corner of his eye as Jessica caught on.

Oh no.

“My friends, I have some unconventional entertainment for you!” Jason rose with a malevolent grin, “Guards! Seize this slave and bring me a whip. We will show our guests how we enforce discipline in our pack!”

I shivered with terror as the pack guards stepped forward and grabbed my arms, hauling me to the center pole of the pavilion.

The music stopped at Jason’s signal. The revelers turned to see what had caused the disruption. Suddenly there were hundreds of eyes on me as the guards hauled me forward.

Then the crowd parted and a familiar pair of shapes emerged. A tall, muscular Alpha and a little girl. I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment at their approach.

I didn’t want the little girl to see me like this. She shouldn’t be party to such horrible sights.

“Alpha Kieran,” Jason greeted with a polite smile, “My bride and I are honored at your presence! We, ah, looked for you earlier but didn’t find you.”

‘Did you now?’ I thought to myself, ‘Or were you too busy harassing me to be a good host?’

Alpha Kieran didn’t even look at Jason. He ignored his outstretched hand to brush past him, kept walking.

Sensing the awkward moment, Jessica rose from the couch and went to reach for Kieran’s daughter’s hand in greeting. The little girl barely touched Jessica’s fingers before she flung her hand away. Jessica gasped as she saw the girl’s face.

‘Recognize her now?’ I thought smugly, maybe that will teach you a lesson about how to treat others.

I doubted it though.

It took me a second to realize Alpha Kieran was walking towards me.

I held my breath. What was he doing??

The approaching Alpha’s gaze locked onto mine - and the two men still gripping my arms.

“Let go,” Alpha Kieran said coldly.

The command was delivered with the full force of his dominance and the guards obeyed hastily. I rubbed at the sore spots where their hands had held me, willing the pain into submission.

The little girl ran forward and grabbed at my skirts, looking up at me with an adoring expression.

“Mommy!” she cried out, the same way she had when I had rescued her in the kitchens. I stared down in consternation, gently brushing one of her curls back into place.

I wanted to tell her that she should avoid someone like me, but didn’t have the heart to push her away.

Jason stepped forward, “What is going on here? This woman is a slave in our pack-” he frowned, taking in the scene of the little girl gripping me tightly.

Alpha Kieran growled and pushed at Jason when he tried to reach for me.

“Since most of the Alphas are here, I annouce this formally now, to all," he said coldly. "From this moment on, this woman is my bride. I’m taking her with me. And I don't accept No as an answer, Alpha Jason.”