Cold Touch Forced Kisses

Rain

Alpha Ryan said his piece, wished everyone a pleasant celebration, and left with Malcom. Just like that, he was gone – leaving me standing alone in front of a room full of staring faces.

He wanted to marry me? The same man who had ordered Malcom to kill me earlier?

No. That couldn’t be right. I must have heard him wrong.

I stood there frozen, my fingers clutching the fabric of my dress so tightly my hands began to ache. Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned, already knowing who it would be.

“You were supposed to come with us,” Malcom said, a faint smile on his lips. I once thought that his smiles were kind. Now, they felt more like amusement.

I didn’t answer. Where would I even begin? My mind was a mess of questions, all circling around one thing – that there was something very wrong with the Lycan King.

“What kind of game is he playing?” Julius asked loudly from the council’s table. “He didn’t consult any of us. He announces this madness after ordering his beta to kill her earlier today.”

The council members erupted into murmurs and nods.

I looked at Malcom, hoping he had heard it. Hoping he understood that Julius had spoken the exact thoughts in my head. His eyes met mine, and I knew he did understand.

But he said nothing.

“You should go back to Lydia,” he said instead. “She’ll prepare you for the ceremony.”

Before I could protest, he guided me off the podium and toward the doors. The crowd followed us with their eyes, whispering and pointing until trays of food appeared and distracted most of them.

Lydia changed my dress again. This one was simpler. She swapped the jewelry for lighter pieces and softened my makeup. When I looked in the mirror, I finally saw myself again, or at least something closer to it.

She mistook my silence for confusion.

“It’s so it’ll be easier when you retire to bed with the Lycan King,” she said gently. “This makeup will come off easily.”

“Retire?” I asked slowly. “You mean… sleep together?”

She smiled knowingly. “You’ll be doing more than sleeping.”

The other women giggled.

“I…”

“You haven’t done it before?” she asked, cutting me off.

I nodded, heat rushing to my face. I had heard Hannah talk about it, joked about it. I had even looked it up once. But the thought of it happening to me like this made my heart race in fear.

“Don’t worry, I’ve heard the king has great… stamina. The pain passes quickly,” she said, smoothening my hair, but all I could think about was her saying it would hurt.

“The ceremony won’t take long,” she added. “Then it’ll all be over.”

I swallowed hard. This was too much. Far too much.

But as she led me back toward the hall, a different thought crept in. He hated me. That much was clear. Why would he want to touch me? He wouldn’t. He probably wouldn’t even kiss me.

I touched my lips without thinking. My first kiss wouldn’t be with him. It couldn’t be. Not with the way he looked at me.

We were just few steps away from the hall when a guard stopped us.

“Alpha Ryan has sent for you, Miss Rain,” he said. “You’re to come with me immediately.”

Lydia gave me a small nod. My legs felt heavy as I followed the guard down the hall to a dark wooden door.

He knocked.

“Come in,” Ryan’s voice commanded.

The door opened.

I froze.

Alpha Ryan sat on the edge of his bed, shirtless. I blinked rapidly, half-hoping that if I blinked enough times, the sight would disappear.

“Duke, get me my shirt,” he said calmly.

The guard handed it to him, but even as he pulled it on, I couldn’t look away. His body was solid, every movement controlled, every muscle clear beneath his skin.

“Rain,” he said, lifting his glass of red wine. “That’s your name, right?”

I nodded.

He frowned. “Use your words.”

“Yes,” I said quickly.

“Good,” he said. “You learn fast.”

He stepped closer, and I felt swallowed by his presence, by his scent. “You’ll need to. The mission you’re about to begin won’t be easy.”

“Mission?” I asked.

He looked at me like I’d said something foolish. “What did you think this marriage was about?”

My chest tightened.

“I’ll be clear,” he said. “I’m not marrying you for love. I’m using your face to draw out the people who killed my wife, Sapphire.”

My heart dropped.

“You will obey every command I give you,” he continued. “If you don’t, your father will suffer. Severely.”

“B-but he did nothing wrong,” I managed to mutter, but he laughed.

“Your father broke an oath he swore as an Alpha. I guess he was deep into his hatred for you that he didn’t notice what he was confessing to,”

“I don’t understand,”

“An Alpha must never mistreat any of his children. And from what he said, it seems he treated you less than a slave. Anyone could see it without being told,” he said, his eyes shining with mischief. “I could punish him for how he treated you.”

He was being very clear. I could either allow my father suffer for all the years he violated his oath and mistreated me, or I could marry him and my father would be spared.

Obviously, I couldn’t let my father suffer. So even though meant another lifetime of being with someone who wouldn’t love me, I lowered my head and said, “I’ll do it.”

****

The ceremony followed soon after. It was small. Quiet. Heavy. No joy filled the room. People watched us silently, like they didn’t know what to think. I even heard some whisper that I was a witch who had bewitched him.

Alpha Ryan heard it too, but he didn’t react.

Our hands were bound together with a white cloth.

“You may now kiss,” the priest said.

Ryan leaned in and pressed his lips to mine like it meant nothing. I’m sure he’d been with many other women before, so this wasn’t a big deal to him. But to me… it was everything. The kiss was over in a second and I buried my head, my cheeks burning red.

“You did not kiss him back, Luna Rain,” the priest said.

“Uncle,” Ryan muttered.

“I said, you may kiss,” the priest repeated.

Ryan pulled me closer. I saw it then. The way his eyes went distant, the way he forced himself to see Sapphire.

“Just… kiss me back,” he said, barely seconds before his lips crashed on mine, leaving me stunned. I tried to follow his lead, but I was awkward and unsure. I didn’t know what I was doing. I had never been kissed before.

But even though I knew the kisses weren’t for me, something twisted in my stomach, sharp and overwhelming. I gasped softly, my fingers gripping his arm without thinking. But the moment he felt my grip, he pulled away instantly, unable to look at me – no doubt because he hated me.

This was my life now. Bound to a man who despised me. But I would endure it. For my father.

“Wonderful,” the priest said brightly. “All that remains is for the marriage to be consummated.”

I forgot how to breathe.

“Freshen up and meet me in my room,” Ryan said flatly. “I’ll be waiting.”

He walked away, leaving me frozen in place as I remembered what Lydia had said about the pain and his… stamina.

I wished, more than anything, that I could simply disappear.