A Kiss With The Alpha King

CHAPTER 3 - THE KISS

　　VENUS

　　The wedding banquet had begun and I could hear the pleasant music from where I sat on the pavement. My shawl was back on my head, protecting my identity. Ansley was there, living the life initially meant for me, being the Luna instead of me. I had to go home before Father found me around the premises. Wedding or no wedding, he would not delay in punishing me. In the past, he had proved on countless occasions how little he cared for me.

　　After my first shift at thirteen, Father had locked me up in my room, forbidding my siblings from going to see me. He did not fail to tell me how much I had embarrassed him, cursing the day I was born and I was ordered by the Alpha never ever to shift again.

　　Locked indoors without any hope of getting out, my love for books grew and I read anything I could lay my hands on. I wrote a poem for my Father’s fiftieth birthday but he burnt it over the fire, shunning me into my shell. My confidence suffered and I spoke only when spoken to.

　　Mercifully, a week before my eighteenth birthday, Father agreed to end my imprisonment mostly because our pack was organizing a social event for werewolves to mingle. It was that night Wren and I found each other. That fateful night, I was hiding from other wolves, too shy to make any friends. I had nothing to say to anyone because so many found me scary and stayed away from me.

　　He had looked so handsome, his bleached blonde hair still in order despite the heavy wind. We stood watching each other in silence for over a minute and a heavy lump sat in my throat. He was a head taller than me and he carried himself with an air of royalty. The look in his eyes heated my blood and my wolf got excited, pushing my feet forward. My skin itched as if ants were crawling over it and it took all my will-power not jump on him.

　　Unfortunately, Wren turned around and left me standing there. I felt like a fool and ran home crying. The next day, Father came with shocking news. I was Wren’s mate and we were to be mated on my eighteenth birthday. Also, he warned that I was to keep my scary wolf a secret until after the mating ceremony. However, the day never came. Only the mention of my name was enough to remind Alpha Keller of how monstrous my wolf was.

　　I had gone to Wren to plead with him but he had not given me audience. I can never forget the disgust I saw on Wren’s face right before he said the words that destroyed my life.

　　“You are a monster! I cannot have you as a mate. I, Wren Maddock reject you, Venus Vinley as my mate and Luna. Leave my presence!”

　　The memory of my fall from glory was still fresh in my mind as I watched some couples arrive late to the banquet. Would I ever find a second chance mate? Would I ever be happy again? I wondered, feeling so alone and abandoned. I needed Bly back soon or I would lose a part of my identity, be lonely forever and finally die alone.

　　The Memorial Hall of Alphas was like a garden with only one entrance which also served as the exit, so I saw everyone who went in and out. Hurrying Drew along, I headed for home, hoping to distract myself with a book or a movie, anything to keep me from thinking of my loss. I could almost see the gates when I ran into someone coming from a corner.

　　The impact threw me off balance and I was falling to the ground when a hand caught me around the waist. I raised my eyes to my saviour and it was a face I had not seen before. He was probably an invited guest and the embroidered dark suit he wore seemed expensive. His curly auburn hair surrounded his head like a crown on fire.

　　“Are you always this clumsy?” he scolded.

　　“No,” I replied in a tiny voice. He stared at me in silence for a while before speaking again.

　　“Anyways, I was looking for a maid. Thank goodness I ran into you.”

　　“I am not a—” I swallowed the end of my sentence and looked down at my clothes. My dress was long, boring and dirty at the hems. I did look like a maid but for the sake of keeping my identity hidden, I decided to play along.

　　“Why do you need a maid?” I asked instead, avoiding his intelligent eyes.

　　“Come with me,” was all he said and I followed him obediently to the corner he had come from. A glass of red wine sat on a small stool and he picked it up, peeping at the contents. Turning to me, he pressed it into my hands and stepped back smoothly.

　　“My...um..friend is ill and could not attend the banquet and I promised to send him some wine. He is in room number one. Don’t bother knocking, he can't come to the door. Just go in and give him the glass. Can you do that?”

　　I wanted to say No because I didn’t know who I was speaking to and his instructions were a bit suspicious. However, a maid did whatever she was told, right?

　　“I can,” I answered with more courage than I felt. He finally smiled and after patting my head, returned to the hall. I left immediately, trying not to spill the wine. I walked quickly, anxious to leave before Father discovered me. Soon, I was standing in front of the door numbered ‘one’.

　　Remembering not to knock, I pushed the door open and went in, hoping to be done with the task quickly. But no one was in the neat, untouched bed. Was it a prank? Was the stranger planning to molest me? My heart leaped in my chest as I thought of how foolish I had been.

　　I dropped the glass on top of the chest of drawers and turned around to leave when a rough voice held me spellbound.

　　“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in here?”

　　*************

　　RHYS

　　Goddess, it was her, the young woman I had seen outside the window. Up close, she was nothing special except for that odd hair of hers and her curious pair of green eyes. My attention shifted to the glass of wine she had dropped on my chest of drawers.

　　“Are you deaf? Who are you and who let you in here?”

　　She shook visibly, biting down hard on her lower lip. Her big cat green eyes filled with tears but I was unmoved by them. Her head only got to the bottom of my breastbone and she avoided my eyes, gluing her stare to my chest.

　　“I’m...I’m....” she stammered, pushing strands of strawberry hair away from her face.

　　“Is that wine in that glass?”

　　She nodded with enthusiasm, taking the glass with shaking hands. Some drops spilled over the rim, staining her dress.

　　“Yes...your friend...thought...you would want one because you are..ill and cannot come to the wedding banquet.”

　　Ill? Friend? What was Mars up to? I eyed the glass and took it from her before she emptied the contents on herself. She bowed a little, prepared to leave but I held her upper arm, keeping her in place. She gulped down hard, her hands clasped together as if in supplication.

　　“Please, I...I don’t want any trouble,” she begged, choking on a sob.

　　“You should have thought of that before coming into a room without knocking. You will have a sip because I don’t trust your story. That way, if I die, you die. Hands behind you.”

　　She obeyed without delay, holding her hands behind her. I held the glass to her lips and tilting it, she drank slowly, staring deep into my eyes.

　　A shiver raced up my spine and I was occupied with our eyelock that I was unaware of when she held my hand by the wrist. Her thumb rested on my pulse and I ripped the glass from her lips, shocked by the heat our contact created. They were wet and red, daring me to taste the sweet wine from them. I finished the rest of the wine, not tasting it at all. She dragged her tongue over her wet lips, cleaning them and suddenly, I felt a push under my towel.

　　My loins filled rapidly and I felt very uncomfortable down there all of a sudden. Her eyes widened as she processed what was happening to me, a knowing look on her face. Was it what I thought it was? It wasn’t pain, it wasn’t pleasure, it was...Goddess...it was an erection! She stepped forward, closing the gap between us.

　　“Are you getting sick again? How can I help?” She was genuinely concerned and my sight blurred from the unfamiliar emotion. Her palms ran up my chest and I almost howled from the desire that followed.

　　Her lips were so close and I could not resist the simple pleasure. Wrapping an arm around her slim waist, I cupped her jaw and swallowed her gasp of surprise. I ran my tongue over her chewed lower lip, urging her to let me in. She sighed softly and opened her mouth, allowing me to deepen the kiss, the taste of the wine lovely on her tongue.

　　I thickened the more and my towel was slipping off me but I held on to the sensation, her fingers pulling on my hair. Moving to a wall to trap her within my arms, the towel fell off finally and she stilled, ending the kiss. Before I could react in time, she pulled her shawl over her head and ran out of my suite, leaving me stark naked and hard for the first time in my life.