MAID FOR THE RUTHLESS ALPHA

CHAPTER 3: DINNER WITH THE DEVIL

My head was screaming as I peeled my eyes open. They were wet, aching and sealed shut from crying too much. I could hardly keep them open.

I had rejoiced too soon.

The dark stranger was no saviour at all. He was my ruin. My damnation. The devil himself.

Alpha Arthur Blackwood was the Alpha king, the supreme leader of the werewolves. Every Alpha bowed to him, every werewolf worshiped the ground he walked on. It was common knowledge that he hated humans. He was the one that had brought about the fall of mankind and reducing of humans to slaves and pets.

He was a wicked monster. A vile beast. I had thought my luck couldn't get any worse but delivering me into the arms of the one person I hated the most was a cruel joke the fates were playing on me.

I rode in the backseat with him, much to my surprise but I didn't think too much about it because I might as well be heading straight into the jaws of death on a golden chariot.

The journey back to his sprawling countryside mansion was smooth and uneventful and I struggled not to gulp at the beautiful elegance of his home. The spring flower beds, the water fountains, elaborate statues and architecture and the serene environment made the entire place seem more pleasant than it actually was. As if I was looking at things through rose tinted glasses.

The moment I stepped into the mansion, handmaidens in gray and black uniform came to attend to me. ME!

I was dazed and disoriented as I was taken to a beautiful room, stripped out of my clothes and pushed into a bathtub to be scrubbed and washed with sweet smelling soaps and soothing fragrances.

The maids massaged oil into my skin and dressed me up in an elegant green dress that complimented my eyes. They brushed my hair until it shone like polished gold and adorned my arm with bracelets and cuffs, my fingers with rings and braces. On my neck sat a beautiful necklace and my feet were slipped into dainty slippers.

Without a word, I was led to the edge of a spiraling staircase.

"The master is waiting for you," one of them told me, before attempting to walk away.

I latched onto her, curious and petrified. "What? Why? Where? What is he going to do to me?"

"You are to join him for dinner," she told me without any emotion in her voice, without any warmth in her eyes. "You have to be quick about it. Master does not react well to tardiness."

I understood that was a gross euphemism.

With her last words, she wrenched her arm free and scurried away. It was almost like everyone here walked on thin ice.

My heart was slamming in my ribcage but I completed my walk down the stairs without having a heart attack or falling flat on my face.

I found the dining room easily, a beautiful room with a large dining table and an elegant chandelier of clean cut diamond over it, casting a shimmering otherworldly glow over the entire room.

Alpha Arthur sat at the head of the table, his spine straight, his aura powerful and dominating. He oozed confidence and so much appeal and even though I hated the very skin on his bones, I couldn't deny the fact that he was a very good looking man.

Too good-looking actually.

He had an ageless sort of beauty with an air of dominance that only few could muster. His hair was jet black, thick and wavy and framing a face that was so rigidly handsome, it was an actual struggle to look away from him. He had defined cheekbones that sharpened his beauty and a strong jaw with a dusting of dark beards. His eyes were cold, dark, ruthless. A dark gray abyss that trapped you in his gaze with just one look.

His entire body gave off an aura of strength that I could taste on the tip of my tongue. His tailor made clothes fitting his strong muscular body so perfectly, it gave me a decent glimpse of the body underneath.

Alpha Arthur was so attractive, it was unfair. It made it harder to see him for the vile beast that he was.

He refused to look at me, long lean fingers tapping impatiently on the glass surface of the dining table, sapphire rings adorning his fingers catching in the light.

"You're late.” His deep baritone voice had a sensual lilt to it that made something curl in my gut.

I swallowed and avoided his gaze when his eyes snapped up to look at me.

I was trembling all over and refusing to look him in the eye.

"Rule number three," he said monotonously and I heard him pour out some wine for himself. "I don't forgive tardiness."

I nodded desperately, my stomach rumbling from the sight of the delicious food he was spooning into his plate.

"I'll let you off just this once," he decided, the voice of a benevolent lord.

“Thank you for your kindness.” I almost scowled.

He nodded. “Joined me.”

I blinked, forgetting the first rule and looked up at him, my mouth agape.

"Do not make me repeat myself, Fiona." He snapped impatiently, his dark eyes flashing.

Swallowing, I avoided his gaze hastily and walked over to the seat at the far end of him.

"Closer." He prompted, demonstrating to the seat beside him where there was a steaming slab of roast pork, salad, pasta and wine.

My mouth watered, a dangerous rumble attacking my stomach.

I went to sit with him without question.

"Eat." He ordered and he went back to his food, not paying attention to me.

I was drooling all over my food, dizzy with hunger but I sniffed at the meat, wondering if he poisoned it.

"If I had wanted to kill you, it would be by my own hands and not by the cowardly action of a potion. I would rather feel your blood cake at my fingertips. Now, eat."

My heart dipped but I took it as the best reassurance I was going to get.

I dug into my food, hunger and dizziness tearing at my bones.

"Do you know why I bought you at the auction?" He asked all of a sudden.

I paused from devouring my food, a sickening feeling in my gut.

He had said it like I was just a commodity. Something to be purchased at a store.

"I asked a question." He didn't raise his voice but I could feel his patience running thin, his wolf, threatening to break out of him.

"N-no," I whispered, biting hard on my tongue to stop myself from speaking my mind and damning me to hell.

"While it doesn't hurt that you're so ravishingly beautiful, that was not the reason I claimed you."

Against my better judgement, a sick part of me blushed at the fact that he found me beautiful but his next words seized the breath from my lungs.

"You're a Lockwood," he stated, grabbing my attention.

I looked up at him, shocked that he knew my surname but remembering his rules, I bowed my head instead, nodding at his statement.

"Yes. I'm Fiona Lockwood."

He nodded as if pleased, a satisfied, wicked little smirk tugging at his lips.

A cold chill swaddled my bones and somehow, I had an eerie feeling like I just passed a test. The first of many.

He asked me about my life. What it used to be like before the 'Takeover.' The event that forced werewolves out of hiding to sit at the top of the food chain. He asked about my studies, what level I had reached in my education.

He seemed mildly pleased that I was learned and not a complete illiterate. He asked if I had any disorder or illnesses he should know about and I replied that I had none that I knew of. He asked about my family. My relationships.

"Are you a virgin?"

The question came out of nowhere and against my will, I blushed furiously at the unexpected question, the truth burning at my throat.

"Yes," I whispered, bowing my head.

Something flashed in his eyes but it disappeared as soon as it came.

Thankfully, he didn't dwell on the details, or lack thereof, of my s****l life and he went back to asking me other mundane questions.

"Your father." He paused, his hands tapping rapidly on the table. "Do you know who he is? What he does to werewolves like me?"

My protest died at my throat, a scowl warping my face as I stared up at him in shock and confusion. Thrown off by the sudden change of subject.

"My father?" I asked. My heart was slamming against my chest as a thousand scenarios ran through my head, wondering how my father could have possibly crossed paths with the ruthless Alpha king.

And as always, every time I thought of my father, a string of emotions zipped across my body. Going from sadness to aching grief as I spared a second to mourn the loss of one more loved one. The loss of the father I never knew.

But before I could grace him with a response, he answered, spearing a slab of meat. "He murdered my mate and my unborn child. Right before my eyes."

My heart stuttered to a stop, floating up to my throat and stealing the breath from my lungs.

I looked at him, thoroughly confused and taken aback by his words. Because it just wasn't possible.

Somehow, I felt the atmosphere shift into something darker and more warped. Or maybe the atmosphere had always been like this, I just didn't notice it.

"That... That can't be-" I held my tongue before I damned myself to a gruesome fate.

His eyes snapped to me at my protest, a dark glower washed over his handsome face.

As if trying to contain his rage, his hands clenched tightly on the table. He tilted his head slightly to look at me. "Are you calling me a liar?"

I shook my head profusely, my body trembling at the rising anger in his eyes.

"He crossed a line that I can never forgive and I have searched through every wretched nook and cranny for the bastard. Now, tell me Fiona, do you know where he is?" He asked in a deathly whisper. An invitation to court death.

"I never knew him..." I swallowed. Grief choking my throat. "He died during the Takeover."

"Do not lie to me, Fiona." He growled, on edge now, anger pouring out of him. "Tell me where he is!"

"I'm not lying." I protested, praying that he read the honesty in my tone. "I don't know where or who he is."

A low guttural growl erupted from his chest and his heavy fist slammed on the table, rattling the silverware and fine china.

"Don’t lie to me!" He yelled at me, his eyes flashing a golden yellow, a glimpse of his fangs emerging. “Protecting that bloody coward won’t save you.”

I bowed my head even lower, terrified, "I swear. I don't know! I don't know where he is!" I said, tears stinging my eyes.

He let out a raging roar and before I knew it, I was thrown against a wall by a force I didn't see coming. All the air left my lungs as my back slammed against the wall so hard before I dropped to the ground, my body and bones screaming in pain.

"You dare lie to me still?" He growled, towering over me. Waves of wrath rolling off of him in strangled bursts.

"I'm not-"

He snatched me me by my throat, pulling me up and shoving me against the wall, his hard, muscular body pressing into mine in a way that had me straining against him, clawing at his strong arm and gasping for breath.

"Please," I begged.

"This is your last chance, love." He growled against my ear, pinpricks of pleasure-pain shooting across my nerves as he pressed deeper into me, his lips teasing the skin of my ear. "Give me the answers I need and stop covering up for him. If you tell me the truth, I will give you the freedom you want. Your life of slavery ends here. But if you lie to me..." his hand tightened around my neck for emphasis.

My lungs were screaming in pain, stars were spurting in and out of existence beneath my eyelids.

"If you lie to me, I will make sure you court death every single second you spend in this house. I will make you pay for the sins of your father. I will make sure he doesn't even recognize you when he comes looking. Now," he growled, "where is Viktor Lockwood?"

"I- I don't know," I choked out hoarsely, hot tears staining my cheeks. I was within an inch of my life. Skating the thin line between life and death.

Suddenly, I dropped to the ground, swallowing a breath of relief as oxygen flooded back into my lungs, washing over my veins and arteries.

"You have damned yourself by lying to me, Fiona Lockwood." His voice was a dangerous chilling sound that promised a lesson in torture and cruelty. "I will make sure you regret the day you set your eyes on me."

The enraged look in his eyes shocked me to my bones. A black void that swallowed me in its ruthlessness.

I heard him call out to his guards and almost immediately, rough hands snatched me up by my arms, pulling me away.

The last thing I saw before I was dragged away was Alpha Arthur turning his back on me, a heavy feeling of fear coating my skin.

I was dragged into a dark corner of the mansion that stunk of sweat, blood and gore and the next thing I knew, I was stripped out of my fancy clothes and tossed into a dark cell without any windows, bruised, naked and aching.

As the door closed behind me, cloaking the entire room in a thick layer of darkness, what hope I had of freedom vanished along with the light.

And I had a sinking feeling in my chest that this was just the beginning and if I thought things were bad before, they were about to get a lot worse.