The Lost Werewolf Princess

Chapter 7

Maddox

Goddess, those eyes. I don't know what it was about the new girl that drew me in, but everytime I saw her I couldn't help but stare. She, of course, didn't seem interested in the slightest, which was actually quite intriguing, refreshing even. And even in a heep on the floor, she had zero signs of embarrassment.

Normally I wouldn't get involved, but I couldn't help myself. I crouched down to help her, almost immediately regretting it when I realized what her point of view was. Not that I wasn't well endowed, but not exactly how you want to introduce yourself. But even then, her expression was completely unreadable. I noticed her shoes when I stood back up, no doubt the reason why she was on the floor to begin with. They were massive on her. It made me question Lilith's leadership once again.

Besides having gotten a number of complaints from the staff, and having witnessed her poor decision-making first hand, she has now failed at one of the simplest tasks; letting the new servant pick out her own fitting shoes. Her clothes looked oversized too, but that didn't seem to pose a problem. More of an inconvenience. Which, all things considered, the new girl should be lucky. I spared her life, gave her clothes and a place to stay. When she arrived she didn't exactly look well taken care of. I would think that this might be a step up for her.

"Keep telling yourself that." My wolf, Maverick, snorted.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I frowned.

"You don't even know her name, and you are assuming that you are doing her a favor by keeping her here as a servant?"

"Well..."

"Well what? You sent your men out to attack her pack, and you think you did her a favor?"

"That wasn't my idea. Erik pushed for it. Plus, they were bad men."

"So now we are listening to everything Erik says? I thought you were the Alpha?"

"You know I need to have some balance."

"Getting rid of Lilith would be a good start," Maverick grumbled.

"Now that I think we can both agree on. But I need to find someone to replace her. She has her talons in a bit of everything. If I get rid of her without finding a replacement, then all the questions are going to come my way."

I made it back to my room and quickly got dressed before going back to my office and sorting through an endless number of papers. I did not understand what some of them meant, or what they wanted me to do about it. It was moments like this that I questioned why I became Alpha in the first place. But then I think back, and it all makes sense again. If paperwork was my consequence of overthrowing the bastard who nearly destroyed our pack, then so be it.

Slowly, I went through all of the papers, basically rearranging everything on the desk before finally giving up hours later. Another night of zero progress. Feeling defeated, I made my way to the kitchen in search of something sweet. Normally, I don't get so lucky, the servers usually polish off all the sweets first, but I felt hopeful tonight.

As I neared the mostly dark kitchen, I could hear someone rummaging. I wasn't expecting anyone to be here at this hour, it was nearly three in the morning. When I turned the corner, I was a bit surprised to see the new girl. She was standing on a chair, trying to reach something on one of the higher shelves. It looked like it was just out of her reach, so I quickly went over to her and hoisted her up onto my shoulder. She gasped in surprise, and held onto me for dear life. I liked it far more than I thought I would.

"Grab what you need." I said, flicking my head towards the cabinet.

She hesitated but nodded, pulling out a large container of chocolate. Tonight was a good night after all.

"Thank you." She said as I set her down. We awkwardly stood there a moment before I cleared my throat and she spoke again. "Can I make you something?"

"Anything with that." I nodded sheepishly, pointing to the chocolate.

"Okay." She half laughed. It was adorable.

I watched intently as she whirled around the kitchen, pulling out a number of containers and spilling the contents into a bowl. "Couldn't sleep?" She asked, mixing everything together with a wooden spoon.

"No." I shook my head. "Too much paperwork, not enough time. You couldn't sleep either, I take it?"

She paused for a moment, likely interpreting within her head, before answering. "No, my mind was busy." She shrugged, handing me the wooden spoon which was covered in raw cookie dough. I gratefully took it while she finished scooping out the dough onto a tray and putting it into the oven.

"Did Lilith get you new shoes?" I asked, filling the otherwise quiet night.

"Yes, thank you." She said, lifting the skirt of her dress and pointing her toes towards me. "Much better."

"Good, very good." I nodded.

We waited in silence as the oven did its job. I couldn't help but study her. Even at three in the morning she was still so beautiful looking. I needed to get this girl out of my head. She was essentially a slave, an upgraded prisoner of war. She could turn on me at any moment, yet here she was baking for me late at night.

"Very hot." She said, setting a plate of the freshly made cookies in front of me while she scooped out more dough onto the hot cookie sheet.

I tried not to be an animal about it, really I did, but they were so damn good, I couldn't help myself. I managed to save one for her, which she took and seemed to enjoy as much as me. She got some of the chocolate on her lips, it took everything in me not to lick it off of her. Especially when she used her thumb to wipe the melted chocolate off and then sucked it off her finger. Great, now I need to go rub one out.

"I'm gonna go back to my office now." I said, clearing my throat and attempting to discreetly adjust myself.

"I will bring you the rest when they are done." She said over her shoulder.

"Thanks." I nodded.

I immediately went back to my room and rubbed one out in the bathroom. Having two needs satisfied, I found myself collapsing in bed and falling asleep moments later, thus fulfilling my third need, a good night's sleep.

- - - - - - - - - -

Annalise

I waited until I was sure everyone would be asleep to leave the library and search for my exit strategy. Of course, as I expected, there were guards posted at all the main entrances and exits. I was disappointed that there weren't very many windows, but it made sense given the harsh climate just outside. The ones that I did find were very old, and if I were to try to open them I might very well get caught, as they might squeak open or even shatter because of how fragile they looked. There had to be another way.

Feeling defeated, I went to the kitchen to see what I could snack on. Perhaps tomorrow I could talk to Casey and get some information from him. There had to be somewhere that wasn't constantly under guard. But that was only part of my problem. Once outside, how was I going to get back home? I couldn't possibly sail one of the boats without a full crew who knew what they were doing.

After some scrounging, I managed to find a container filled with chocolate morsels on the top shelf. I pulled over a chair, not wanting to stand on the counter itself, and of course, it was still just out of reach. Until it wasn't. I let out a shrill gasp as I was hoisted up higher, my words running dry when I saw who it was that had me perched comfortably on his shoulder.

King Maddox.

As if that wasn't surprising enough, we started to talk and I even made some chocolate chip cookies which he seemed to thoroughly enjoy. He watched me intently as I worked. In the moments he didn't have his eyes set on me, I was watching him. For as fierce looking as he was, there was something about him that made me want to know more.

He eventually left, much to my disappointment, but I promised to bring him the rest of the cookies once they were done. True to my word, as soon as the last batch was out, minus a few, of course, I brought a large plate of cookies back to his office. He wasn't there when I arrived, perhaps he had gone to bed already. It did take me another half hour to finish everything. I decided that I would leave them on his desk, that is until I saw the mess of papers splayed across it.

"Looks like he could use some help," Aria noted.

"Yeah, no kidding." I said, looking at all the sticky notes that had question marks on them. "Does he not know what these are for?"

"Apparently not." Aria snorted.

The more I looked, the worse it got. He had months of accumulated papers that needed to be looked at. It was only because I had spent the last year looking over similar papers that I knew right away what they were for. Despite my better judgment, I got to work sorting through the mess. I tossed out the older notices, and kept the new ones. I filled out a number of forms and attached sticky notes with an arrow pointing to the signature line. Then I made three piles of papers and labeled them all "Do now.", "Do later." and "Deligate.". Hopefully, it will be helpful for him.

"Yes, I'm sure King Maddox will be very pleased with you." Aria snickered as I quietly made my way back to the library.

"He won't know it was me."

"You left a plate of cookies on his desk. He will think it was you."

"Not necessarily." I said, hardly believing my own words.

"You like him, don't you?" Aria asked.

"I haven't decided yet," I said, settling into the chase that was my bed. "I hardly know the man."

"But you want to know him, and I can work with that." She said happily.

Maybe getting to know him more wouldn't be so bad. Its not like I am ever going to find my mate anyway. What harm could come of simply getting to know someone?