~Daliah's POV~
As soon as I stepped into the empty study with the cup of steaming coffee in hand, my skin prickled with awareness. The hairs on my arms stood on edge and I stopped, glancing around the room but finding nothing.
Slowly, I made my way to his desk and after carefully placing the cup of coffee onto the table, I turned to leave. But the feeling persisted. If anything, it seemed to burn me.
Something was watching me. Someone.
But it wasn't fear I felt, it was excitement. A strange warmth spread across my chest as I instantly knew who it was.
My mate.
He was here. In this seemingly empty room, watching me. Stalking me. His intent eyes bore into my skin, and even though I couldn't see him yet, I could feel his presence. I could sense him from the way sweat pooled under my eyebrows… in the way my breath caught in my throat… the way my heart hammered erratically against my ribcage, and from the way the smell of my musk wafted into the air.
He was here, preying on me like the damn predator that he was. And weirdly, I liked it. For it made me feel seen, stalked… wanted. Call me a freak, and I certainly wouldn't care.
I do not know what this game he was playing was but deciding that I did not want to be a part of it, for the sake of my sanity, I turned to walk out of the room only to cry out in shock when a force barreled into me, slamming me against the nearby wall.
My eyes widened.
"Mast…" I began to say but the words caught in my throat when he pressed himself impossibly closer to me with his face buried in the crook of my neck, inhaling my smell like he wanted to fill his lungs with it. Like he wanted to drink me in. I squirmed.
Sniff. "Stay still." He murmured, his voice gruff. Sniff sniff, and more sniffffffffs. "You smell delicious, Dahlia…"
I squeezed my eyes shut, not knowing how to react to his words, or to his warmth or to the way my body responded feverishly to his touch, and waited. Waited for him to get out of his head or for him to simply give the command. He didn't.
Slowly, after what felt like an eternity, he inched away, backing away from me. His beautiful green eyes were wild as they bore into mine and I couldn't help but notice the confusion in them, the sadness, rage… and something else. Something that made my heart ache. Guilt.
"Fuck no, Hades. I do not want this… not now. I do not want this girl. I cannot have you." His voice was low… quiet, almost inaudible but I heard him, and it shattered me.
I couldn't speak, couldn't move. And by the gods, I couldn't even breathe too. My heart felt heavy, squashed and hot tears that I hadn't expected sprung into my eyes.
"I cannot." He mumbled again, his voice shaky and this time, it took all of me not to crumble to the floor. It took all of me not to scream like a banshee… whilst fleeing from this suffocating room.
The guilt in his eyes wouldn't wane but the way those eyes burned into me felt like fire to my skin. He was devouring me. He didn't even need to touch me to do that. His eyes did.
"Dahlia…" he drawled. The breath that I had been holding rushed out of my lungs in one fierce exhale and I held onto the wall for support, waiting to hear what he had to say.
"I can feel you," he said quietly, "I can feel the bond simmering between us both but I cannot let it fester. We should denounce our mate bond. You're my slave, my omega… we should not let it grow." Then under his breath, he added; "I do not need this now. I do not want it."
If my heart was broken before then now it was ultimately shattered. My eyes watered, and anguish like no other tore at my heart… my lungs; in fact, every part of my body. Growing up, I had prayed for a mate. Even during the times I had suffered back in the Silvermoon pack, besides Amara, another thing that kept me sane was the idea of meeting my mate. The one person who the moon goddess had destined for me.
I had hoped he would be someone of simple birth. Comfortable, not wealthy. But most of all, I had hoped that they would cherish me, love me… accept me. Not this.
"You should go." His voice came again, firm. Cold. I flinched at the tone but quickly gathered myself and bowed low.
At least, now I know how he feels about us… at least I now know that he feels the mate bond.
"Yes, Alpha—"
However, I had just spun around and made to walk away when an uncomfortable weight pushed into me again and I gasped as my back hit the wall with a force.
"Alpha—?" the word caught in my throat when he crashed his lips against mine. And just like that, I melted. I was a puddle at the knees… weak as a newborn yet my heart sang.
The kiss was nothing like I've read in books. It was nothing like other slaves whispered amongst themselves in the barn. It wasn't sweet… it wasn't all rays and sunshine. It was brutal. Demanding. Possessive.
His warm tongue raked my mouth, devouring me, drinking me in. It felt like a soul swap. Like he was taking everything I had, devouring them and leaving me with something else… something dark… something that craved him. That hungered for more of him. Of his touch. Of his kisses.
A breathy moan slipped through my lips when he nipped at my lower lip, and when I cried, he seized the opportunity, pushing his tongue even deeper into my mouth to suck on my tongue greedily.
With one hand latched into my hair in a firm yet loose grip, his other hand pushed into my dress and in feverish desperation, lifted my left leg to hook it around his waist. I was compliant. Completely dazed and utterly wasted.
His hand moved forward, gliding up my legs and between my thighs. When he arrived at my warm centre, at the spot that throbbed the most for him… wept for him, he stopped. In the heat of our passion he stopped to gaze down at me, to look into my eyes as if seeking permission.
I didn't know what it meant at first but when I nodded and his hands soon began to move again, I understood.
He just asked for my permission. And that made my heart full.
However, I didn't get enough of a chance to think about that because one minute he was squeezing at my thighs, caressing them… and the next minute, his index finger was buried deep into my slick center, so deep that I felt him somewhere in my hilt.
I screamed.
"Shhh," he whispered, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear, "…don't scream so loud, little wolf. Do you want everyone to know the kind of naughty girl that you are? Do you want them to know the filthy things I do to you?"
I shook my head. "N-no."
"Good."
Tears leaked out of my eyes as he plunged his finger into me at an ethereal pace. And just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, that I would soon pass out, he stopped, to add another finger… and then another, until it was all three of his fingers pushing into me… clawing at my soul and laying me bare before his knees.
I writhed, cried, thrashed, moaned but he wouldn't stop. His pace wouldn't lessen and his grip on my hair won't lighten. Alpha Zarek continued to finger fuck me until tiny stars appeared in my line of vision… and until my bones melted and I couldn't keep myself standing anymore.
My orgasm came like a tidal storm, crashing into me, and momentarily forgetting that others could hear, I cried out, quaking, crumbling before him. On his fingers still inside of me.
He rode me until my orgasm fulfilled its course and then he slipped out of me, his eyes latched onto mine.
"Good girl," he praised again and a faint blush tainted my face. My eyes widened when he brought the fingers to his mouth and with one quick swipe of his tongue, licked them clean.
Good gods!
When he slammed his mouth against mine for the second time, I tasted myself on his lips. I tasted myself in him and that tipped me over the edge. It made another wave of orgasm crash through me and with a cry, I broke the kiss, throwing my head back. Sobbing.
Slowly, I fell against the wall, slipping to the floor, my knees weak. I couldn't move, and even if I could, I didn't want to. My breath came in shallow haggard pants and I don't know for how long I stayed there but by the time I came through, Alpha Zarek was leaning into his reclining chair, his gaze fixated on me.
There was a small blanket now wrapped around my legs and a small plate of fruit salad not so far from me.
He drawled; "Ahh, she survived." His tone was both teasing and soft. It made my insides flip. I ducked my head shyly but before I could utter a word, a loud knocking snapped me out of my haze.
I looked up just in time to see the door pushing open and my breath caught in my throat.
Ms Jennifer.
Shit. My mood was instantly ruined.