The Alpha King and His Human Queen

Don't Make Me Laugh

Alexandra

I slowly turn around and see him.

The murmurs from the crowd grow louder and more urgent but with every beat my heart makes, they sink as if under an invisible surface. It’s like they become a distant echo, something in the background that doesn’t matter.

Because for a split second, he is all I see. The prince has jet black hair, slightly outgrown that looks almost blue under the candlelight.

The image of thousands of black ravens flying in the night sky fills my mind. Their black wings are beating urgently, just like my heart which is hitting my ribcage painfully.

Nights. Fire. Then chills run all over my body as I think of blood.

My body reacts in a very strange way, in a way I’ve never known before.

It’s not an attraction. Is it? Attraction is supposed to make you feel good- more than good, in fact, to make you want to spend all your time with the one you want.

To make you want to touch them. I am supposed to be feeling attraction towards Eliot - and I guess I do, I am his mate after all.

But this right now is entirely different. I have no idea what it is. But it’s frightening. Incomparable to anything I’ve felt before.

It is borderline painful. Like a pull which I cannot fight but deep down I know I have to.

I blink a few times to scatter the images of fire and blood and shift awkwardly as I realize I’ve been staring at him.

The prince is looking back at me as well.

He is tall. Very tall, and dressed entirely in black which makes him stand out among the other nobles, as most of them are dressed in bright colours. This is supposed to be a celebration after all, right?

Before I look away from him, however, I meet his eyes.

And the world drops dead. Because I recognise the way he is looking at me betrays one thing.

And that’s hatred.

I look instantly away from him, my heart pounding.

He can hear it, right?

One of the things I’ve always hated about me being just a human is that the others can always tell how I am feeling. While I don’t have this advantage. I clench my hands in tight fists, my nails digging in my palms and I pin my eyes on the marbled floor before me.

I am twice as angry because I am a princess. What the hell am I acting as now?

A nervous girl? Someone who has never been in a huge castle? I don’t care if the prince hates me. I hate him too.

So I lift my chin and look up to stand confidently opposite him.

At least ten steps separate us and he starts walking very slowly towards me.

His stride is not threatening. It’s like he doesn’t want to be here.

His black overcoat almost touches the ground and he looks like he owns the place. Well, in a way he does. I can tell that under the clothes he is very well-built. Not huge, more on the slim side, but his height and the dark aura make him even more intimidating.

I resist the urge to step away from him, to run and hide somewhere. I keep telling myself I can do this.

I have met all kinds of people and wolves before. Noble and rich. Powerful and bloodthirsty. I’m not going to run, at least not now.

But to be honest - no one’s ever made me shiver the closer they came to me.

The crowd continues whispering, the prince has been here for less than a minute but to me, it feels like ages. It’s like his very presence makes the air grow heavier. I take a deep breath as he eventually closes the distance between us and stands before me.

I have to look up if I want to meet his eyes. That’s another way he is demonstrating his advantage over me and I want to kick myself for it.

“Nathaniel,”

His uncle Sirius finally addresses him directly.

“I see you finally graced us with your presence. I am deeply delighted to see you here. ”

Nathaniel doesn’t look away from me when he says.

“I can’t say the same.”

Yes, the Prince is exactly what everyone said he was - very rude.

Sirius lets out a nervous laugh and turns to me.

“You must excuse my nephew, he likes to challenge me often.”

I smile at Sirius and he returns the smile. I can only imagine how hard it is to deal with a jerk like the prince.

Sirius comes to stand closer to us.

“This is Alexandra,” he announces not only to the prince but also to the crowd.

“She is yours from now on. Accept it as a gift from the ruler of Gelidora.”

“A gift?!” I exclaim and start searching everyone’s faces. The noble wolves and humans present look intrigued, as if looking at… an object.

Then I realize it.

This is what “in exchange for peace” meant exactly. I am not going to be a respected guest in the royal palace of Infernia. I am something the prince can do whatever he wants with.

A gift. Which means one thing.

A slave.

I feel like falling and the air vanishes completely from the room. I can’t stop the tears from falling but I clench my jaw painfully.

And just as I felt my eyes watering, my vision blurring I finally met Nathaniel’s eyes. They are mocking.

I suddenly become way too aware of the place, of the way I look. My tunic is open, the cloth revealing most of my legs and goosebumps rise all over my bare arms as the prince leans slightly in. I freeze, unable to move.

His eyes run down my face, then my neck, and my breasts, they pause briefly before his gaze continues travelling lower. I feel exposed. Vulnerable.

What’s with this man making me feel weak? Raw and open with everything he does.

Nathaniel lifts his hand and pushes a stray lock from my hair, then tucks it behind my ear. I shiver, my mind racing with millions of thoughts when he leans further in.

What is he doing…

I feel his breath on my face, my heart picks up its pace again and it chokes me, I don’t know what to do with myself so I just stand there as his lips move very close to my ear. His scent invades my senses and my eyes flutter closed. The rest of the world disappears again. I smell wood and smoke. Rain and leaves, wind and cold winters all at the same time. I sense battles and scars, past and present all becoming one, the ancient fires burning in these lands. I hear his voice, deep and very close to my skin.

“Did you really think I would marry you?.” Nathaniel whispers, “ Don’t make me laugh, you are just another bed slave and a whore.”

What?

Then he pulls away, his breath, his hand, his scent – all of it disappears.

Nathaniel turns his back on me as if I was never there and goes to some of the guests by the window. My eyes start stinging with more tears when one of the servants approaches me.