Man with tattoos

Aidora

I immediately tried to step away from him, but he held me back. His thumb traced light circles on my wrist and I inhaled sharply, his other hand found its way to the curve of my back and pushed me flush against his chest.

My wolf went feral at the contact, sending heat waves to every part of my body. He was an alpha, I was sure he could smell my arousal right now.

I tried once again to step away from him but my efforts were futile yet again.

“You're too frail.” His breath tickled the tip of my ear as he spoke, “you have to be careful, hurting yourself won't look good for me.”

That was why he protected me, and why he held me so close. I instantly felt stupid for entertaining other thoughts.

“Of course I'm frail. That's what happens when one spends over a decade underfed.”

“Control your emotions,” he gritted out and I swallowed nervously. “Why were you so panicked earlier?” He released his hold on me and I quickly stepped back.

My cheeks flushed. “It’s nothing.” He gave me a look. “I was just worried about the lack of people around.”

He raised a perfectly arched brow and his eyes did a clean sweep of the environment before it landed on me again. “Almost everyone is at the training ground over there,” he pointed to the place he came from, where Lina disappeared and my mouth formed an O-shape.

That was where she went. I clamped my lips tightly shut, trying to suppress the embarrassment that flooded my veins.

“You will have to join soon enough.”

“What?!”

Hadrian grabbed my hand once again, “you need some muscles and fat in you. Till we figure out what this between us is, you need to be healthy and strong.”

I snatched my hand out of his hold. “I am not going to stress myself out just to be killed when I am no longer useful to you.”

“You can still get a shot at living if you just tell the truth.”

“And by that, you mean what you and everyone else wants to hear?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw but he said nothing.

“I do not have that script to read out, and I won't train under a hostile environment. I am sure half of the people there hate me.”

Silence descended upon us and stretched. I worried that I might have crossed a line, but then he exhaled.

“That tongue of yours is still as sharp as ever” a shadow crossed his face as soon as he said that, and another seconds of silence stretched between us. This time, I could tell we were both grieving memories, I could feel his pain, it was faint but it was there.

“I am the Alpha of this pack,” he started and I frowned. “It is of utmost importance that I am of good health, and since your life,” he leaned in, his voice dropping into a whisper, “is bound to mine, your health is important too. I am going to be training you everyday. 7 PM.”

“Just the both of us?”

“It is the least hostile environment you'd get.”

“Lina can train me.” I piped in immediately. I do not want to be alone, especially not at night, the moment the moon dominates.

“Be ready tonight, I am going to train you. How else will I be sure a good work is being done?”

A familiar mischievous glint shone in his eyes. It was the look he had whenever he came up with something silly targeted at his opponent. I would recognize it anytime, and I couldn't help the tilt of my lips.

For a second, a smile seemed to form on his lips as well, but it vanished as quickly as it came. He cleared his throat and stepped back.

“7 PM, have Lina bring you out to…” the hairs on my neck stood erect, and my wolf suddenly became alert. The feeling was familiar. My eyes began scanning around, tuning out whatever Hadrian was saying.

After a while of searching, my eyes finally landed on very familiar dark eyes and my breath ceased. A carbon copy of Hadrian, he leaned over the balcony, holding a cup while his dark eyes were fixed on me, his face covered in malice.

I shifted closer to Hadrian without meaning to.

“Who is he?” I glanced at him before turning my gaze back to the man.

“The man on the balcony?” I nodded. “That's Lucien, my nephew.”

He was from the alpha line. Purple robe, dark bottomless eyes, my eyes darted to his hand immediately and my heart almost stopped when I noticed a small tattoo on his hand.

Was it him? From my dreams?

“He turns 19 soon.” 

“Your nephew?” I looked at Hadrian and he nodded. When I looked back at the balcony, Lucien had disappeared.

If he turns 19 soon, he was only 5 when it happened. It couldn't have been him, right? My gaze lingered a little longer at the balcony, I had a bad feeling about him.

“I'll have Lina take you back to the recovery room. Finish your meals, rest and be ready by 7 PM.” Hadrian said and walked away without letting me get a word in.