A GIFT FOR THE ALPHA

CHAPTER 7

Princess Larissa's POV

Without warning, he pulled me into his arms and claimed my lips in an unexpected kiss.

Shocked, but my lashes gradually fluttered and they closed in intoxication from the kiss. My head swelled.

I trembled and he gathered me well in his arms. His lips; soft and powerful, moved over mine with a ruthless mastery. Intense, taking my breath and returning it at will. He kissed me passionately.

A shudder glided down my spine and made butterflies in my stomach.

I couldn't think straight nor did I want it to stop.

He kissed me.

My n*pples hardened, so hard that it hurt. They squeezed under the material of my dress and begged to be set free. No wonder when he cupped a bre*st and stroked, a raspy groan escaped my lips and my knees buckled.

Like a child, I cried, wishing he could strip me right now and caress my bare flesh. My head spun, and I shamelessly kissed him back.

We kissed.

We kissed each other.

A groan escaped his lips and he gathered me even closer into his arms, evaporating the remaining space between us. We continued to kiss, in his ruthless mastery and I shivered with ecstasy. My toes curled.

It was ecstatic, the way our lips moved, dissolved, and found each other again. His fresh breath warmed my cheeks. I opened my mouth to him and he finally delved inside, squeezing my waist as our tongues dueled.

How he did it was beyond me, but he found a n*pple through my fabric and squeezed it. Breaking from the kiss, I moaned but he wouldn't let me.

He found my lips again and we kissed even fiercer than the first.

The second clash of our lips nearly knocked the winds from my lungs and I clung to him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him down to me, feeling his heartbeat but not as fast as mine.

It wasn't until now that I realized he was 6ft2 tall in comparison to my 5ft4.

We drank from each other like it was a fountain of youth. Bless my soul, I didn't want it to stop.

But suddenly, he pulled away and panted.

Also panting, my eyes fluttered open and it was as if my senses came back to my body.

This is the moment any sane maiden should slap him and scurry back to the castle but I didn't for an inexplicable reason. Rather, I stood there looking at him, as if cursed with immobility.

And shamelessly to add to the list, I was still staring at those lips of his, wondering, what even triggered the kiss in the first place?

I remembered.

He was looking at something behind me and when I was about to follow his gaze, that was when he'd pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I had shamelessly kissed him back and even moaned when he fumbled my bre*sts.

Since when did I become this spoilt, Larissa? My wantonness scared me.

Still shivering from the aftermath of the kiss, I tilted my head and scanned the expanse behind me, hoping to see whatever it was that'd caught his attention

Scanning the place, I find nothing.

* * * * * *

Alpha Thane's POV

The kiss was a mistake. It was a plot to distract her from Jake who'd snuck up behind her, reminding me that it was time for our operation.

He was long gone, and even after the kiss has ended, her eyes were still shut, overwhelmed by the kiss. She obviously wanted more.

And then, she re-opened her eyes and stared at me. I was expecting her to slap or yell at me for kissing her as traditionally most maidens would do, but she didn't. Rather, we stood not saying anything but gazed into each other's eyes. Was she that a spoilt brat?

I stared at her.

A dirty thought came up my head and I hardened as I pictured her naked, lying next to me in a bed.

But I quickly shrugged off the thought. The last thing I wanted right now was to get intimate with the daughter of my enemy.

Reminding myself that regardless of how beautiful she was, how novice but good she was in a kiss, she was nothing to me but an enemy as well!

With that, I stepped further away from her, hating how her presence was hypnotizing my well-being.

Wasn't this the reason I left the ballroom in the first place and came here? Back then when our gaze met, I had felt helpless under her blue eyes and hated it also that she'd caught me watching her.

Wasn't it why when she moved and began to stride towards me, I exited the party and came here where I figured I would be left alone?

Yet she had followed me here and now this kiss has taken place. I gnashed my teeth not believing I just kissed King Stephan's offspring.

“Who are you?” She broke the silence. “Birds of the air have names, the grasses of the fields have names too. You must have a name, don't you?”

And there she goes again, trying to uncover my identity. I glared at her. “I only disclose my identity to women I want in my life,” I said.

She gasped. “What?”

“Yes, princess. Regardless of what happened- the kiss, it was a mistake and I wish it never happened. You will never appeal to me,” I said.

Her eyes widened at my words and she staggered. Grabbing her gown, she began to step back, away from me as if she has seen a ghost. Not saying another word, she turned and sprinted back to the castle not looking back.

I moved away immediately and resumed my operations for the night not wasting time. I finished within an hour and joined Jake minutes later at the carriage.

Jake had already completed his mission and was waiting for me. I joined him in the carriage but we waited for the guests to start leaving.

We joined the queue out of the palace and the city gates, and we headed for home.

“Are you alright?” Jake tried to instigate a conversation seeing how lost I was in thoughts.

I wasn't in the mood for any conversation. Yanking at my tie, I loosened the buttons of my suit of coat. “I'm good,” I mumbled.

“Is it the kiss?”

I looked at him. “The kiss was nothing to me but a plot to protect you,” I said.

His gaze was filled with remorse. Lowering his gaze, he gulped.

“I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have appeared there at that time, that was a wrong timing from my end,” he mumbled.

Talking about the kiss now just reminded me of how soft her lips were and the way she trembled under my touch. Why was I aching to touch her all over again? To feel my hands slide inside her clothes and stroke her bare molds.

Sulking under a breath, cursing at the voracious thought, I jerked back to the conversation and stared at Jake who was seated opposite me.

“It's fine, Jake. We should be talking about tonight's operations and how it went.” I smiled.

We discussed. The castle was well secured as expected, heavily flanked with knights at all corners except at its postern; this postern appeared more like an alcove hidden away in the castle and it was Jake who found it.

What I found was a dungeon and inside, locked behind those bars were my people.

They begged to be set free.

“Not tonight, brothers, but I assure you the day of your freedom is nigh.” I had assured them and went away as the guards approached.

“So we can access the castle from outside the city?” I asked Jake. Our heads wobbled slightly as the carriage galloped through the forest of Lavender.

Jake nodded. “Yes, but unfortunately we don't have the keys to the locks,” he said.

“Then we break it if we have to,” I snapped and dragged an angry breath. A picture flashed in my head and I gritted my teeth at the image which I'd fought for years to bury.

“And we train the new pack members tomorrow,” I added and looked away through the carriage's small window.

Exhaling, I stared at the night sky.

“Sure,” Jake replied. “I don't know why, but I was afraid when I saw you kissing the princess. I thought it was going to make you change your mind,” he added.

I can't believe he just brought up a topic I was struggling to forget.

My thoughts flashed back to the moment when my hands found her n*pples and squeezed them; how she'd broken from the kiss and moaned.

I brought back my gaze to the present and stared at Jake. “Change my mind about what?" I asked.

“-Change your mind about reclaiming Azalea,” he said and we stared at each other.

His gaze was worried and confused. I realized how much he looked like our mother whenever she was worried.

Bless her soul, both our parents. They'd have still been alive if not for_.

I stopped right there not wanting to relive those memories. I scoffed and shook my head.

“Nothing is going to make me change my mind about reclaiming Azalea, not even the princess,” I declared.

Hours later, we arrived at the Blood Moon settlement, a place our clan has called home for centuries now.

We pulled over in front of the packhouse. Jake followed me as I jumped down from the carriage and headed inside the building.

“So what do we do to the princess on the day of the invasion, brother, kill her alongside her father?”

At his question, I halted in my tracks and glanced at him.

“Until then, Jake,” I mumbled and headed upstairs for my room.