All Chapters of The Royal Alphas’ Captive Maid: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

POV: AidenAiden Howlington had a system.Most people who worked with him knew this. Most people who worked for him knew this in the specific, survival-instinct way that you knew not to touch a live wire, not because anyone sat you down and explained electricity, but because something in the air around it told you. His desk was not messy. His calendar was not approximate. His office, which occupied the east corner of the estate's second administrative floor and looked out over the grounds through two floor-to-ceiling windows, was a room where things happened on schedule, in order, with the kind of quiet efficiency that powerful organizations ran on and most people never thought to credit.He was in the middle of a budget review for the estate's quarterly security expenditure when Rowe knocked.One knock. Pause. Two knocks. His assistant's specific pattern, developed over four years of working together and never once deviated from, which meant Aiden already knew before the door opened

The words landed quietly. Mrs. Harrow delivered them the same way she'd delivered everything else, efficiently, without decoration. She was watching Melina in the way that people watched for reactions when they expected a specific one.Melina gave her nothing. "Of course. What does that entail?"Something moved across Mrs. Harrow's expression. Not quite surprise. Reassessment, maybe. "The Alpha quarters occupy the north wing, third floor. The assignment covers daily cleaning and turndown service, personal laundry, and general upkeep. The brothers' schedules vary but their privacy is absolute." She paused. "You do not enter a room if the occupant is inside unless specifically requested. You do not speak to the brothers unless spoken to first. You do not discuss anything you see or hear in that wing outside of it.""Understood.""If you are uncomfortable with the assignment ....""I'm not," Melina said.Mrs. Harrow looked at her for another moment. Then she nodded once and turned back d

Alaric's room was the largest of the three, which was less about preference and more about function, it was where they ended up when something needed to be said between all of them, the unofficial war room of whatever the three of them had been doing since they were old enough to have things that needed war rooms. The furniture was dark, heavy, the kind that had been in the estate longer than any of them had been alive. One reading chair by the window. A desk that was always clear. A bed that was rarely just slept in.Tonight Alaric was sitting on the chair.Aiden was on the bed.And Archer was pacing up and down inside the room. Four steps to the window. Turn. Four steps back. Turn. His wolf was loud tonight, louder than it had been in years, and the only thing keeping him from doing something inadvisable was the thin, fraying thread of his own self-control and the fact that his brothers were watching.Alaric sat in the chair looking at nothing in particular.His hands were flat on

Melina didn't sleep.Not really. What passed for sleep was her lying in the narrow staff bed staring at the ceiling while her mind replayed the dining hall on loop....three pairs of eyes, all locked on her simultaneously, looking at her like they'd already made a decision about something she hadn't been consulted on.When exhaustion finally dragged her under, the dreams were worse.Running. Always running. Down corridors that stretched longer the faster she moved, the walls pressing in, and everywhere....everywhere....eyes watching her. Green eyes in the shadows. Silver ones tracking her from around corners. Black ones patient and amused, like they knew she'd tire eventually and there was no rush.She woke up at 5:43 AM drenched in sweat, her heart hammering, every muscle in her body aching like she'd actually been running all night.She lay there for thirty seconds, breathing hard, staring at the ceiling.Then she forced herself up.The bathroom was small but at least it was private.

She didn't hear him come in.That was the first problem.The second problem was that when she finally realized he was there, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching her like she was something he hadn't quite decided what to do with yet....she'd been bent over his bed for God knows how long with her ass pointed directly at the door.She straightened so fast her back cracked."Your Majesty." Her voice came out steady. Barely. "I didn't realize you were....""In my own room?" Aiden said. "No. Clearly."He pushed off the doorframe and walked in like he owned the place, which he did, which was the entire problem.She turned back to the bed. Kept her hands moving. If her hands were moving she was working and if she was working she had a reason to be here and if she had a reason to be here then everything was fine.This was fine."You don't have to stop," he said from somewhere behind her. "I'm not here to interrupt.""You're not interrupting, Your Majesty.""Then why do you lo