The first thing that surprised me immensely was how he was able to stand after being stabbed so many times and after his earlier near-death experience, but soon, my worries dissipated when my eyes met his green ones again.
My heart hammered frantically in my chest as I began to hyperventilate.
"Master…"
"Do I have to repeat myself, young woman?" He asked, his voice surprisingly soft.
"No. No." I rushed out.
A mixture of several emotions zapped through my body from the way his eyes trailed my every movement, and right now, I was just the perfect depiction of mixed feelings. One second I wanted him to devour me, I wanted him to slap that perfect lips of his against mine and take me… drink me until there was nothing left to take, and in the next minute, I shook like a leaf under the wind, afraid of what all of this meant, afraid of what he could do to me.
When I still wouldn't move— because my limbs just couldn't— he placed both of his hands on my shoulders in a hold that felt too gentle for a man of his caliber and then guided me into the room through his open doors.
From the very moment I set my eyes on him in the auction house, I'd always known that he was stinky rich, I'd always known that he was a man of class and a man powerful enough to break me and make me over and over again without batting an eyelash. However, none of these suspicions prepared me for the show of luxury that I was met with as soon as I stepped into his chamber. It was massive. It was elegant. It was dark.
The room was painted all in dark gray and silver with sparse dark colored furniture scattered here and there as if playing a game of peekaboo. The only shiny object in the room was the ginormous chandelier dangling low from the high white ceiling, casting a warm hue over the room; and in the middle of the room stood the bed. The massive bed that looked like a mini ice rink with snow white bedsheets and pillows that looked so soft, they could easily pass for clouds.
Despite the alluring look of the bed, I felt intimidated. I was scared and it felt as though I was walking into some certain doom.
I drew in a sharp breath when I felt something on my shoulders—fingers— running up my skin and lighting up my body with a consuming fire and a breathy exhale escaped my lips before I could help it.
I saw the Alpha run his eyes up the length of my body for a second, and in that second, if I didn't know better, I would've thought that he liked me, that he cared about me, until he gently pushed me towards the bed and whispered;
"Strip." With a note of finality in his voice.
His words made me shudder. They made me panic but now was not the time to cower in fear, especially not now that he was eyeing me with an interest that scared and aroused me.
Without waiting for him to repeat himself a second time, I nodded and immediately did as told.
I heard his sharp intake of breath rather than saw it. Even his face, the once scary one hardened as he squeezed his eyes shut and lifted his head to the ceilings.
"Fuck," he growled, his voice low, "…you're beautiful."
I didn't know whether to smile at that or be afraid. However, I knew to be confused because he didn't make any move to touch me, he didn't even try to move as he stood rigidly with his eyes still squeezed tight and his hands balled into fists by his side.
Now that he seemed distracted felt like the perfect moment to steal a glance at him and I gasped, marveled by the beauty that was him. His broad shoulders and defined torso bore the markings of strength and resilience, each muscle ticking with pent up intensity that had me trembling at the knees.
His bronzed skin glowed warmly, kissed by golden hue of the chandelier hung above and his dark, slightly wavy hair was damp and tousled, clinging to his temples, framing his face sculpted with sharp lines and soft contrasts. His high cheekbones and strong jawline gave him a classic handsomeness, but it was his eyes that truly captivated me—a deep, soulful green that seemed to hold stories untold.
There was an effortless confidence about him, an unspoken charisma that made the scene around him come alive—as though the room became a moving image, and I, a spectator to the scene unfolding before me.
I was snapped out of my thoughts again when I felt him press his lips to my head and then he moved away to lay on the bed, totally ignoring my presence in the room.
I stuttered; "Alpha… Master… how do you want me to serve you?"
Even though the words I spoke meant I was offering myself up to him, I couldn't bring myself to move. My body still shook with untamed emotions and I couldn't help but wonder if he could feel the mate bond just as I did.
But he had kissed me? Pecked my forehead… they should mean the same thing. It should mean he knows and he acknowledges it right?
Right??
"Come here," he suddenly drawled, snapping me out of my daze. "I do not intend to sleep with you tonight, Dahlia. Can you read?"
His question threw me off guard and I stuttered slightly, shocked at his request and desperate to find the right words. "Yes, yes I can read, master."
"Good. Then come read this book to me. I'd love to read it myself but my head hurts so bad and the stab wounds… even though they appear fully healed now, they still hurt as well."
My jaws dropped.
"Yes, yes master."
Quickly, I rushed over to do as told and while I sat by the edge of the bed, reading out of the pages of the old book he had given to me, he laid quietly with his eyes closed and an unreadable expression on his face.
He's still not said anything about the mate bond…
Somewhere along the line, he inched even closer and placed his head on my thighs while I read to him. We stayed that way for another half an hour until a sudden rasp knock on the door had us separating so fast, my vision almost blurred.
I rushed to drape my flimsy clothes back on and thankfully, just as soon as I did that—not before— an extremely beautiful blonde lady barreled into the room with a wide smile and an even sexier outfit. She was tall with a round derrière and a slim waist, and had the most expressive blue eyes I've ever seen in my entire life.
However, as soon as she saw me, her smile faded, replaced instead by a scowl.
She turned to my master and snarled; "Zarek! Who's this nobody?"
The subtle insult stung but it was nothing compared to the words Zarek said next.
He replied to her; "Oh that? That's Dahlia, my new slave. She was reading me a book."
Slave.
That was all I was to him.
As if the pain in my chest wasn't enough already, the girl dismissively rolled her eyes at me and then leaned in to Zarek to press a kiss to his mouth.
And as the sounds of moaning and lips slapping against lips filled the room, all the initial high I felt earlier drained away from me, replaced instead with an anger so fierce and a strange possessiveness that I've never felt before.
The strange girl was kissing my mate!
My master but my mate all the same, and I had this irresistible urge to drag her by her hair—away from him—until she was screaming like a banshee.
"Leave, Dahlia!" Alpha Zarek's voice tore through my haze and I choked back a sob as I stumbled out of the room.
What the hell was happening to me?