Chapter Four

ROWAN’S POV

His words hit me like a fucking slap across my face. 'All that matters is that you bear us a child.' I stared at Julian with my fork frozen mid air. The hurt from his words was like a knife being twisted in my chest, making my eyes burn with tears.

Before I could stop myself, my voice snapped in uncontrollable anger. "I'm more than just a sex object or your fucking breeder! I'm also a person! A person who didn't betray her pack, who didn't sell our borders to the rogues! I'm not a fucking baby machine, you can't just reduce me to that!"

Then silence took over the grand dining room, Julian and Marcus just stared at me with unreadable, blank expressions. They were looking at me like I was a child who just threw a silly tantrum. Immediately the anger in me was replaced with embarrassment and my cheeks heated up. My outburst was hanging in the air like a bad joke.

Marcus broke the awkward silence first. "We are right next to you, Rowan. We can hear you perfectly well, you didn't need to scream our ears off." He calmly said with a mocking smirk tugging at his lips as he leaned back in his chair.

Heat flooded my face even more and I dropped my gaze to my plate, wishing the floor would just open up and swallow me whole.

Did I overreact to Julian's statement?

Before I could say another word, I suddenly heard Julian's deep voice right behind my ear.

"Are you done eating?" He asked with his warm breath fanning my ear. But before I could answer, strong arms suddenly scooped me up from the chair, lifting me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

I yelped in surprise seeing my view suddenly flipping upside down. "What the–put me the fuck down!" My fist pounded against his broad back but it was like hitting a wall. He didn't even flinch, his strides across the hallway were still steady and effortless. "Hey! This is not funny! Put me down this instant, you asshole!"

My protest fell on deaf ears until we reached a massive door, carved with the same ancient motifs as the dining one. He opened the door and stepped into a grand bedroom that screamed luxury, dark wood, massive chandeliers and a faint scent of sandalwood.

Then he dropped me on the king sized bed, the mattress bouncing under me. I quickly scrambled up and gave him the hardest glare I could. "You can't just carry me around like I'm some sack of–"

"Take your dress off," Julian cut into my rant.

I froze, completely taken aback. "W..what? T..take m..my dress off?" My words were stumbling out in a mess. "W..What about Alpha Marcus?"

"Over here," a voice replied from behind me.

I whipped around to find Marcus already seated on the couch in the room, he was seated comfortably with his legs crossed and a bottle of wine in his hand. How the hell had he gotten here so fast?

"I prefer just Marcus, though," he added, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

"I said take the dress off, Rowan." Julian repeated. "Don't make me do it myself,  it'll be less gentle. That dress is too pretty to be ripped." There was no hint of joke in his eyes.

That was when I realised that, this was it– the dreaded moment. My pulse began racing with fear and a spark of heat overwhelming me. My eyes darted to the bottle of wine in Marcus’s hand and without thinking twice, I lunged for it. I snatched the bottle from his hand, popped the cork and gulped down the rich, burning liquid.

When I had finished the content of the bottle, I dropped it on the floor with a heavy thud. I stood and started unzipping the white dress. It slid down my body, pooling at my feet and leaving me in nothing but my plain, grandma-style blue panties.

The normal me would have been mortified at the thought of them being in full display in front of two men but surprisingly it didn't. I guess it was the alcohol.

Julian's grey eyes hooded with raw desire as they raked over my body, while Marcus sized me up hungrily, his lips parting slightly.

"Take off the panties," Marcus ordered, his voice now a pitch lower and raspier than before.

My breath hitched but I hooked my thumbs in the waistband and slid my panties down, stepping out of it. I was now bare naked and completely exposed in front of Alpha Julian and Alpha Marcus.

"Get on the bed," Julian ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

I obeyed and crawled into the silk sheets, even though I could feel my heart pounding wildly in my chest. Marcus and Julian approached me, with the wild desire in their eyes and climbed the bed slowly.

Julian slid to my right and Marcus took the left.

A gasp escaped me as Marcus leaned in and took my breast in his mouth, pulling a moan from my lips before I could stop it. While Julian silenced the rest of the moan as he took my mouth in his in a desperate, deep kiss.