The Alpha King

CHAPTER SIX

The bright light streaming through the windows brought me out of a very peaceful sleep. I hissed in annoyance, tossing over to face the other side to avoid the sun’s glare but the damage had already been done. I was wide awake now.

I gently raised my head and prepared to yell Anne's name but one look around the room told me there was no Anne here as last night’s event came crashing back on me. I could not resist the smile that spread across my face as I pictured Luke's face in my head once I achieved what I plan to.

My pre-emptive celebration was cut short, however, by a loud knocking on the door which I felt a little sceptical in answering. It took a few moments for me to stumble out of the bed, throw a more appropriate robe on and drag myself to answer the door.

The second I turned the knob, the door flew open before I could welcome the person in myself and in walked a girl around my age squealing in excitement.

"Oh, my god! You must be Luke’s mate! I knew it, I just knew it - he actually tried to hide you from me. He's such a bastard." She finished bouncing around me excitedly as I struggled to piece together everything and her rambling at the same time. I imagined she’d make a great fan girl with all that energy, I thought, mentally sighing.

"I’m sorry.” I said, pausing her excitement, “who are you?" I asked, considering the wonderful hours of sleep I was missing out on by not simply going back to bed.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She cleared her throat. "I’m Angeline, Luke's sister. Sorry about the ruckus earlier by bursting in here and coming at you with all that energy, we’ve all been really excited to meet you since breakfast." She said smiling whilst trying to do an incognito examination of me which I naturally spotted.

"You mean I’ve missed breakfast?" I realised, clearly alarmed. Food was one of my main priorities in life and I was not ashamed that the thought I’d missed out on a serving broke me more than my lack of adequate sleep.

She nodded in one quick movement and I groaned walking back towards the bed. “Don’t worry, Luke had a special meal made for you by the palace kitchen to be received at your convenience when you’re ready.” She beamed, totally in awe of that wicked man.

“Did he now?” I mocked sarcastically, though she was oblivious to my tone.

"Yes. Do you need any help? There are some more clothes in the wardrobe and the bathrooms right over there." She said pointing to the door in the far end of the room I had already inspected before falling into bed last night. I looked around the whole room in the bright, luminescence of daylight and stood with my mouth hanging open as I noticed for the first time every intricate detail decorating the corner of the open space.

There were the sofas and huge flat screen TV to one wall I already made note of last night, an additional glass table with now lined with freshly-picked flowers and a plush white carpet I had no doubt was made of real animal fur to complete the look. The other hidden section invisible upon first entry into the room had beanbags, a small fridge, another flat screen designated as a little game zone which surprised me as I had not disclosed to anybody about my crazy gaming habits. My favourite part was the full-length wardrobe mirror, table lined with new beauty products that stood to a centre next to the door of my walk-in closet and although I had experienced a lot of luxury the entire vanity here was extremely though out and beautiful.

"Do you like it?" Angeline eventually cut through as I finished my exploration of the wardrobe.

"Definitely! Thank you." I grinned ear to ear.

"I don't think it's me you should be thanking." She said smirking, which I ignored because it was the second time I had been hinted to show gratitude to Luke which I never would. "But first. I say we get you changed out of that interesting outfit." She finished, referring to the random garments I had hastily thrown up in my rush to attend to the door.

I made my way over to the mirror at the far end of the room, and I almost jumped at the reflection I saw in the mirror. The morning look did not suit me at all with my hair standing up from yesterday’s hairstyle, makeup smearing my cheek and deeply set bags beneath my eyes.

"I’ll go take a shower." I muttered dryly heading straight for the bathroom without so much as another word. I heard her chuckle once before I slammed the door shut behind me.

Upon coming out of the shower, Angeline had already left me to my privacy and had some clothes laid out on the bed for me to choose from. Since I wasn't in the mood for denim, I walked into the closet or should I say "shopping mall" and found a turquoise dress that came just before my knees, a cream coloured woolly jumper which seemed like the perfect accompanying item to match and quietly exited the room as soon as I’d finished dressing.

My journey through the hallways was agonizingly long until I came across a pack member who clearly had no idea of my identity and kindly pointed me along in the direction of the main hall. It was here that I found queen Mirabel talking quietly to several people I assumed were staff, but she turned upon noticing, pleased at my appearance.

"Hello, Sophie." She greeted in her sweet, accented voice.

"Good morning your Highness," I responded as respectfully as possible, still dazzled by her charm and beauty.

“Afternoon.” She admonished smiling and I wanted to kick myself in the gut. "I trust you had a good rest, and my nuisance of a son left you to your own devices." She said, looking carefully over me as if to check for evidence of his misbehaviour.

"Thank you, your Highness, and not at all." I said, thinly veiling my smile at the thought of yesterday night’s debacle. She held her response then nodded her head quickly once.

"Well you must be famished-" She started to say before Angeline suddenly burst through the door.

"There you are honey, you were nowhere to be found, I thought you’d gotten lost or had been mauled to death by Jason," Angeline said looking from me to her disapproving mother.

"I see you've met my daughter already.” The queen came as close to rolling her eyes as ever. “Angeline, you must take Sophie to greet the pack since Luke is busy with work today." She said nodding once at her daughter.

"Sure thing, mum." Angeline replied, grinning at me.

"And don't get her into trouble or scare her away." The queen called over her shoulder as Angeline began dragging me outside into the hallway.

"That outfit is just WOW," She complimented, nodding her head approvingly as soon as we were out of earshot. "It looks so comfortable; Luke really does think of everything." She said smiling and I simply looked away as heat crept onto my face, realising now that everything I would be in association to him. I was a dress-up doll.

There were more people on this side of the mansion and I was told it was because this was a general area while the section I slept in was the section of the house reserved for the royal family.

The first set of people I was introduced to were twins.

"I'm Lacey." The one with the curly dark brown hair greeted.

"I'm Macey." The one with the curly light brown hair chorused like her sister.

I realised I had no idea what to expect, how to act or the manner in which to introduce myself. Luckily gossip spreads fast everywhere you go.

"Oh, my god! You're Luke's mate!" Lacey said, her mouth hanging open.

"You, my dear, are stunning, like your SO damn gorgeous." Macey corroborated, staring at me like I was a shiny new palace toy.

"Thank you, you're both very beautiful as well." I managed to croak awkwardly.

"We'll catch up with you guys later." Angeline said, dragging me along because we had lots of people to see. Meeting most of the other pack members turned out to be a similar ritual like the twins. They mostly complimented me to which I would respond as politely as I could whilst Angeline did her best to assure me the whole thing was no big deal, everything would be fine.

After a few hours, we stopped by the kitchen for brunch when Jason, Luke's beta from walked in.

"I see you've met the crazy one." He said, tilting his head towards Angeline.

She growled in response as he simply laughed.

"I'm only joking." He said smiling at Angeline's irked expression.

"Where's Luke?" I blurted without thinking.

Jason raised his head smirking and said, "Few hallways away, why? You eager to see him?" He grinned playfully.

I turned a scoff into a laugh. "I'm eager to get away from him." I said returning Jason’s smile.

"Very wise choice." He said nodding approvingly.

"But there's a really cool garden next to the hallway downstairs, do you want to see it?" He asked, collecting a plate of food from the kitchen staff.

"Sure." I voiced happily and immediately stood up eager to be outdoors for once. Both he and Angeline were about to eat so I decided not to disturb them.

"I’ll go alone." I quickly added before anyone could insist on joining me. They were both silent for a few moments as though deliberating through their mind link then slowly nodded at each other and then at me.

I walked out of the room and found myself heading in the opposite direction in which I and Angeline had come. After walking for a few minutes, I entered into an entirely new hallway in a different section that was deserted and quiet. The lack of people and servants almost made it feel as though I was trespassing.

After a few minutes, I came upon a huge door stood at the end that had an alluring pull towards it and if I were sensible I would've turned immediately and headed back the way I came. But I found myself being extremely curious and I paused outside imagining what I could potentially find within the grand exterior.

Listening for any distinctive noises coming from inside but hearing none, and I wordlessly turned the knob and let myself step inside the room. I found that the interior was magnificent. There was a unique masculine scent to it as I glanced from the table to the plush red chair behind it, to the cream coloured walls and stacks upon stacks of folders to one corner of a shelf that littered the room. The scent I liked so much emanated from a white shirt draped over the arm of the large chair and I soon found that an uneasy feeling was beginning to quickly settle in the pit of my stomach.

Cautiously, I walked over to the shirt taking a glance around the room to make sure the owner wasn't here before I greedily grabbing it to inhale the deep scent before sighing satisfactorily. The shirt smelled like home.

Like a man who radiated too much power…

Like a musky arrogance...

Like...

It took me a good few minutes to put two and two together and I nearly slapped myself when I finally did. OH MY GOD, I half screamed in my mind because I was dead! I was SO dead! I had to get out of here, immediately I had stumbled into Luke's office and here I was practically feeling up his shirt shamelessly, I draped the shirt back on the chair and turned around to flee.

But karma had a kiss for me because I found I couldn't, as the moment I turned around a smirking figure stood tall and proud, gazing solemnly at me with steely eyes piercing right into my soul. Everything from the contents of my lunch to my obvious guilt was written in capital letters all over my face.

I silently gulped.

I wanted to die as my words hung in my throat and I wordlessly attempted and failed to make up an explanation that would save my face. But the game was up and I’d walked myself into the lion’s den.

"Going somewhere?" He finally asked.