Alera eyes fluttered open, her consciousness resurfacing as her fingers brushed against something, soft and smooth. She pressed the bed sheets curious as to how nice it felt against her skin. She blinked several times as her mind slowly booted recalling what had transpired the night before when she fell unconscious in the lycan's arms. She layed back down onto the bed beneath her. It was large and warm, very different from the furs and plant beds she and her master used in the woods. These sheets smelled like lavender and something else, something she couldn't define as she had never smelled it before.
Confusion finally settled down over her after resting on the bed, with interest now taking over, he pushed her upper body up to sit and that's when she realized her clothes had been changed.
She looked down at herself her heart skipped a beat as she digested the news. The fabric warn over her was a simple nightgown of silky velvet, strange and unfamiliar. Gone was the torn, muddied dress from the woods. She thought about how someone must have probably undressed her while she slept, and had seen her body, had touched her to put this on, the thought alone made her uncomfortable.
Her gaze roamed the room, interested by the many things she had never seen before , from the tall walls made of something harder than wood or stones, the spherical glass orbs that were pinned up across the wall and held light in them that weren't of flames and they don't look like they were made from magic either
She knew of magic when she saw it despite her not practicing it and this was not magic.
It seemed to be of wolfman creation, the product of craft and knowledge rather than power and mana.
'Technology', her master had called it once. All these things that worked without magic, that followed rules and laws of things she did not know even though her Master tried explaining it to her but she was too dumb to understand.
She stood up from the bed, her bare pattered on the smooth floor. Her eyes trailed from object to object, curiosity drowning any sense of cautiousness she should have.
There was a wardrobe against a wall, a door that was closed. A table, chair, windows with curtains and a big full rectangular shaped mirror that showed her reflection.
Her hair that was tangled and wild but less than it was yesterday, her face clear of the dirt it had previously.
She moved to the door to open it but before she could even reach for it, the door pushed open from the other side.
A maid stepped in, she bowed to Alera which she found strange as she wasn't her master? The woman looked like she was in her late twenties, with brown hair bundled into a tight bun, she wore a simple uniform. A black dress, white apron and she moved robotic efficiency. She placed a tray on the small table near the window without once meeting Alera's eyes.
"Here is your food and also Mr. Jackson said that while he finds a better place to stay outside the pack house for you that you should please not wander around the halls, the Alpha's office is also on this floor" the maid said before leaving quickly.
Alera stood frozen for a moment, processing what had just happened, and then her attention was captured by the tray the maid had left behind ignoring everything else the maid said.
She walked over to the table and looked at the meal prepared, it was still hot and fresh. The smell alone made her appetite wet.
She wasn't hungry, that's what she told herself. She had tried to go days without food like her master who was barely hungry, but always failed woefully. 'Hunger was just another distraction from becoming a great mage' or at least that's what she told herself. But the scent of the food was almost hypnotic, pulling at her very being.
She picked up a piece of the meat, the moment it touched her tongue, a soft hum escaped her lips. It tasted lovely. It was better than anything she'd eaten in years, maybe better than anything she'd ever eaten.
She finished everything on the tray, licking the juice from her fingers like a child, she felt guilty. Her master would not have scolded and may have even chuckled at her for such indulgence, but she wanted to be like him and felt bad for letting the pleasures of the flesh distract her from higher purposes which was becoming a mage like him.
But her master wasn't here, and the food had been so good, and her stomach was full in a way it hadn't been in a long time.
Feeling bored, she slipped out of the room. No guard were there to stop her which surprised her. No one in the hall. The hallways stretched out before her, lit with more of those small glass balls she saw in her room earlier, doors lined the corridor, all of them closed and probably hiding secrets.
With curiosity she began her adventure in roaming the hall, she loved the thrill she didn't even know she had in finding something she wasn't supposed to. She then opened a random door and walked inside.
A man stood in front of a large desk that was placed near the windows of the room, his back initially facing her as his hands shuffled through some papers that were spread on top of the desk, he looked laser focused on whatever task he was doing. He was tall—taller than the boy who had carried her from the woods yesterday.
Broad shouldered, with the kind of build that showed strength and years of training. His hair was light brown in short bangs that fell to his temples, a short stuble covered his jaw. His forearm muscles flexed beneath the sleeves of his white T-shirt. He looked like he was in his middle thirties.
His ears perked as he hears the door open he turned to look at her, and then she saw his eyes. Blue. The same shade of blue as the lycanthrope that brought her here, the color was like that of the sky on a clear summer day.
She felt a heavy and commanding pressure that seemed to come from him. Alera knew nothing about recognizing wolves and their hierarchy that she didn't even notice he was the alpha of the region she was residing in.
He looked at her, and something in his expression cracked. He moved. In one stride he was in front of her, faster than it should have been possible for someone his size, his hand reached out and his hands gripped against her arms, firm and painful.
The reaction was instant and violent.
A surge of adrenaline ripped through him like lightning tearing through a clear sky. His body turned rigid. His wolf, which was dormant, roared awake with vigor.
His breath hitched, the sound rough and desperate.
Alera froze. Every muscle in her body locking up with fear and confusion and despite that, a ghost of a smile lingered on her face before vanishing. Derrick looked surprised by her sudden expression, his grip tightened on her shoulders, promising more pain if she tried to pull away. His chest rose and fell in sharp aggressive breaths that she could feel it fan her.
His head hung low for a moment as if he was fighting some internal battle. He took a deep breath in and then he lifted his head up slowly, his blue eyes had a faint glow to them, lit from whatever energy had ignited in him.
He stared at her like she was something foreign and dangerous.
"What are you," he growled, barely sounding human. It wasn't really a question. It was an accusation. "Are you a witch?"
Alera shook her head quickly, panic rising in her throat as she felt she could actually die here by His hands.
"I'm no witch. I'm a bit lost you see... I'm looking for my master, and suddenly a pack of wolves kidnapped me and brought me here." she rambled, her words clumsily tumbling into each other with her desperate need to prove she means no harm.
But as Alera rambled on, trying to explain herself, the man, Derrick, though she didn't know his name yet, felt the urge to slide his hands from her shoulders to her waist to do unspeakable things to her. It was a struggle between him and his wolf. He couldn't understand how his wolf was this excited, this desperate to bond with someone? especially since a wolf can only have one mate in its lifetime. That was the law. That was how the Moon Goddess had designed them. Once you found your mate, that was it, forever, until death.
But his mate was dead. Had been dead for 15 years. And his wolf had died with her, years tttgoing silent and in grief from losing its beloved and he'd accepted that he would spend the rest of his life as half a person.
Now, suddenly, his wolf was awake and ravenous and fixated on this girl with impossible green eyes? It wasn't making any sense.
He felt hooked by her presence, like a magnetic pull that pained him to resist.
He sighed, feeling his restraint dwindle only for a minute but that was all it took.
Her scent grew thicker, sweeter, wafting up to assault Derrick's nose as his control finally broke completely and he succumbed to what his wolf demanded. His head hung over her shoulder, his short bangs tickling her skin where her neck connected to her collarbone. His wolf became agitated with each breath he took.
He had never felt so alive not even in his prime, not even in battle. Energy coursed through him, making his muscles taut in strain. His senses sharpening until he could literally smell the fear and confusion and something else he couldn't decipher on her.
Alera blushed, her cheeks flooded with heat as she felt his rough, callused hands grip her hips. The touch was nothing like her master's delicate hands, her master who had held her only to guide her. The touch jolted through her, giving her a foreign feeling that burned in her belly.
His fangs grazed her neck gently. Alera's breath hitched. She didn't know how to feel about these sensual touches and yet it stirred something in her something tucked away waiting for this moment. She'd read about such movements in romance novels in the library but reading and experiencing were entirely different things.
The alpha releases his grip on her arms to hoist her up against the shut door behind them, lifting her easily, his palms cupped her rear, fingers digging into the soft fabric of the nightgown.
He could feel the vigor in his bones, the yearning to claim with every second of contact, he was ready to bond with her, ready to listen to what his wolf was screaming at him to do even if it was just for a little moment. His wolf was satisfied, pleased that it's human counterpart was finally giving into the bonding with another.
Just as he was about to carry her to the couch that was positioned opposite his desk, just as he was about to cross a line that he couldn't return from, a knock on the door stopped him in his movements. The sound was abrupt cutting through the haze of his desire like a knife.
"Sir," a lady's voice came from the other side of the door, formal yet urgen. "The Alpha of Black Mist has come to see you."
Reasoning whipped at him like cold water. What was he about to do? Force himself on a young woman? She didn't even understand what was happening. His wolf mentally snarled in his mind to object but he shook his head in disgust at himself and his actions.
He breathed out a sigh that was of relief and frustration and then dropped the woman onto the couch, perhaps rougher than he should have.
He stood there for a moment, staring down at her, wondering what came over him? He was never this impulsive. How could he have been about to bond with such a young woman? She couldn't be more than twenty or twenty one and looked oblivious to what would have happened. What was wrong with him? And why was his wolf so eager for her? Was he in heat?
A ton of questions flooded his mind but they were halted by the realization of what the news from the door meant. Silas was here. The Alpha of Black Mist, his sometimes ally, sometimes rival and Jackson's future father-in-law. This meeting was important. They'd been planning it for weeks.
He looked down at Alera one more time. Her body was soft and alluring even in dishevelment, even with fear written clearly across her features. Her big green eyes stared up at him with such naivety, such innocence, that it almost made him wonder if she didn't know what he had been about to do. If she was truly that inexperienced.
He shook his head, trying to clear it, thinking of how uncalled for it was to even think of stripping her innocence, even though it was the very desire burning through him right now, the thing his wolf wanted more than breath.
With another sigh, he straightened his clothes and told her to get some rest. He was silently pleading with her to leave before he came back, because if she was still here when he returned, she would regret it. His control was hanging by a thread, and he didn't know how long that thread would hold.
Then he walked over to the door and opened it. There stood his secretary, Tina, looking up at him as he towered over her. She was a small woman, efficient and no-nonsense, and as the dominating Alpha he was, his presence made her naturally submissive posture even more pronounced. Her eyes darted past him to the young woman who lay on his couch, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, clearly wondering how a young girl got there and what had been happening. But she was professional enough to dismiss her thoughts immediately. There was something more urgent to focus on.
He looked down at Alera one more time. Her body looked soft and alluring even in this state, even with the fear and something else written clearly across her features. Her big green eyes stared up at him like a child.
He shook his head, trying to clear it, thinking of how uncalled for it was to even think of stripping her innocence, even though it was the very desire burning through him right now, the thing his previously dormant wolf wanted more than breath.
With another sigh, he straightened his clothes and told her to get some rest. He was silently pleading with her to leave before he came back, because if she was still here when he returned, she would regret it. He wasn't used to being this feral at day time and he couldn't be sure if he'd leave her in one piece.
Then he walked over to the door and opened it. There stood his secretary, Tina, looking up at him as he towered over her. She was a small woman, efficient and no nonsense. As the alpha he was, his presence made even her posture submit before him. Her eyes darted past him to the young woman who lay on his couch, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, clearly wondering how a young girl got there and what had been happening but she was professional enough to dismiss her thoughts immediately; there was something more urgent to focus on.
The two of them walked out, discussing important things about the visitor as they moved. They took a turn in the lobby-an open space with high ceilings, before walking into an elevator that took them downstairs. Derrick used the brief moment of silence to try and compose himself.
When they came out on the ground floor, they were greeted immediately by the sight of a big Black man standing in the center of the reception area. He had thick, long dreads that fell past his shoulders and had a scar that cut across his right eyelid. His chin was covered with a beard, and he was very buff and strong, his muscles were clearly defined even through his clothing.
His presence alone seemed to cut the air, making it heavier amd harder to breathe, only an alpha could look at him directly without feeling the overwhelming dominance he emanated.
Tina, bowed her head immediately in acknowledgment of his dominance. She literally couldn't look up to his gaze as her wolf forced her into submission to greet a stronger wolf in their presence.
The man, Silas laughed when he saw her reaction. His voice was deep and hard. "What a greeting," he said, a dangerous smile placed his face, It was the kind of smile that promised violence. "You left me here for god knows how long."
"Tina reported that it was only thirty minutes," Derrick replied calmly, gesturing to his secretary, who clutched her tablet tightly to her chest as if it could protect her from the pressure of Silas's stare.
"Only thirty minutes?" He drawled, his smile disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. His eyes darted around the hall without any emotion shown on his face. "Don't forget you're the one depending on me, Derrick."
"I'm not depending on you, Silas," Derrick replied, calmly not phased by the other alpha's attempts at riling him up. They'd known each other too long for these games to really work.
"We both agreed to this cooperation."
"Cooperation my ass" Silas scoffed.
"Your boy hasn't even come to see my daughter since then. Do you know how upset she is?"
"I don't think you have anything to worry about since she's Jackson's mate," he said before uttering, "Let's go somewhere to talk."
"You don't understand" Silas said. "My daughter needs love and attention. Just because she is his mate doesn't mean he shouldn't take the time to court her. The bond is there, yes, but bonds need to be nurtured, cultivated and maintained for a long lasting relationship. Warn your son, Derrick." He spoke, letting his alpha dominion drip into into his last words.
The two of them walked together toward a fancy room set aside for important guests, a room with comfortable seating, a bar stocked with various drinks and refreshments, a pool table, and many other things meant for leisure and for entertaining guests while demonstrating the host's wealth and power.
Neither of them noticed that upstairs, in Derrick's office, A girl had escaped and wandered around the halls in sheer curiosity.