Chapter 1
I stared in shock at the shirtless Alpha, barely able to stifle the gasp that threatened to escape. I ran into him a few minutes ago while looking for Kael, my mate, when he blocked my path.
“Alpha,” I bowed, paying him due respect, but he refused to move.
“Your eyes,” he said, “they're haunting. Looking for your mate?”
“Yes,” I replied, allowing my eyes to stray from his gold-colored hair.
He mused with a smile, then leaned against the wall. “I’d advise you to turn back.”
I glanced sharply at him. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing much, love.” He sipped from the flute in his hand. “Has he been fully attentive these past few months?”
The question caught me off guard. “What kind of question is that?”
“A simple one.”
“My relationship with Kael is none of your business. You don't know us.”
Kael was my goddess-given mate, a friend since childhood. When my father died, leaving me in the hands of my cruel stepmother and her daughter, it was Kael who stood with me, putting back the broken pieces of me I thought were gone forever. He was my succour, my hope.
“Let's forget about your boyfriend for a minute, love,” drawled Alpha Ragnar, his icy-blue eyes searing me. “I have an offer for you.”
His lazy, bored tone infuriated me, and I lashed out, temporarily forgetting his status. “I am not interested in anything you have to offer.”
“Won't you hear it first, Dove?”
“That is not my name.”
The smile that grazed his lips was as lazy as his tone, his eyes almost sleepy. “No, it's not, but you remind me of a dove about to take flight.”
I should have moved, leaving this raving lunatic of a man alone, but for some reason, I remained rooted to the spot. I watched as he swirled a finger inside his drink, then licked the liquid off it. The action, as innocent as it looked, brought the cover of a recently read erotic novel to my mind and sent a sudden shot of desire through me.
This was madness, I knew. I shouldn’t be feeling this way with another man.
Yes, it was true that my sex life with Kael was non-existent, but that would change as soon as we mated tonight. He had promised.
"We shouldn't indulge too much, Amara," he had said that night, holding me. "But as soon as we're mated, everything will change.”
That was three years ago, and I had endured until tonight. I couldn't wait.
"Dove." The low, amused voice broke through my thoughts. "Are you here?"
I snapped back to the present. "I have to go."
I made to move, but a raised hand stopped me again.
"You haven't even heard my offer yet."
I sighed but said nothing, silently signalling for him to go on. Listening to him seemed to be my only chance of leaving.
"I'd like to sleep with you.”
"You must be insane!" I said, rage sweeping through me.
He shrugged, as if he hadn't just proposed sex to a fellow Alpha's mate.
"No, I'm not. It's just two adults doing something about their wants for each other."
"You've lost your mind. I do not want you!"
A sip from his flute, and then a raised eyebrow. "Really?"
I took a deep breath to steady myself. "Look, I think you have me mistaken for another woman. Maybe Luna Sapphire, perhaps? I've been told we bear some resemblance."
There was a second of silence, then he threw his head back and laughed, loud and long.
The sound bounced off the walls, and for a minute, it seemed to shake the very foundation of the mansion.
I stood there foolishly, staring at his bronzed abs, wondering what sort of guest had the effrontery to offer sex to his host’s soon-to-be mate.
He stopped laughing, then slowly raked his eyes all over me—from head to toe. "No, darling. Sapphire has her own golden attributes, I'm sure, but it is you I want."
He leaned forward, his breath brushing mine.
"Imagine you beneath me, spread out and naked in all of your gorgeous glory, while I take you and you chant my name in a way you've never chanted a man's name before. Or how about half-naked against this staircase—"
"Stop!"
"Hm, should I?"
I forced a scornful laugh to mask the traitorous pounding in my chest. "Ah! You’re probably used to women crawling all over you, but I am not one of them! I do not want you!"
"Really? Then why is your skin so flushed? Why are your nipples hard and taut? Why does your breath come in short, rapid bursts like a woman about to have the best orgasm of her life?"
I didn't wait to hear the rest. I shoved past him, ears burning, but his voice still rang out behind me.
"Or a quickie if you prefer!"
I dashed to my room, trailed by the sound of his mocking laughter.
Inside my room, I shut the door, my heart beating wildly. I rushed to the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. As I did, I told myself that he was just a psycho. After all, he was a wildly feared man who had killed his own father at the age of fifteen. He'd been stripped of his wolf privileges after that and had fled, turning into a rogue.
His return four years ago had sparked wide outrage, but when skinwalkers began to infiltrate wolf packs, only he had known the solution—a solution he promised to give only if he was given the position of Alpha. The Lycan King, unable to stand by while wolves died, had agreed, letting him form his own pack.
Surprisingly, he had done well, with his pack growing into the second-largest in the country. It was even said that it rivalled the Lycan King's pack in strength.
I dried my hands on a towel, assuring myself that men like him were lunatics who frequently lost their minds and said things they shouldn't.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror and smiled. "People are here to celebrate your mating tonight. Forget that fool."
I soon stepped out of the room and headed for Kael's office. I rarely sought him out there, but my body was still buzzing from Ragnar's words, and I needed him. After all, it was just a few hours until our mating ceremony. It shouldn't matter.
Smiling, I had almost pushed open the thick oak door when I heard moaning. I froze, staring at the wood as the sound grew louder.
My head swam as I pushed it open. Lying before me on the desk was Kael — entangled with Corinne. And between them, equally breathless and naked with Kael's cock in her mouth, was my stepmother.
