The Alpha's Temptation

Tania jumped and she tried to turn to face him, but there was so little space that she couldn't. Anxiety skittered down her back at the feeling of his muscular chest behind her. She bit her bottom lip. Moments later, she said, "I hope everything is all right now." Her eyes were still on the flowers outside that swayed gently in the sea breeze.

"It is," he replied, his voice deep and throaty. He didn't want to give her the gory details of what he did, lest she would be scared.

"Thank you. Then I should leave." Though relieved that the situation had been dealt with, she was feeling awkward caged in his arms. Why was a king as powerful as Eltanin even doing this? She struggled to leave. "This is so, so inappropriate," she muttered, squirming against him, but he didn't leave her. She sensed there was something wrong.

"I smelled a man's scent in your room," he all but now growled. "But the man wasn't there. Are you seeing anyone else in the palace, as in do you have a love interest here?" His chest heaved and his muscles seemed to bulge around her.

Tania thought two things. One, she had just arrived, how could she have possibly started a relationship with a man so quickly? Two, even if she did, why should he be so concerned? "No," she replied, startled. "I have been with you all the time while I was awake."

His shoulders relaxed a little, but his next question followed immediately, "Then why did I smell a different man in your room other than my guards?"

She tilted her neck a little as her brows furrowed. Her braid moved to the side, giving him a clear view of her pulse point and Eltanin's fangs started lengthening. All his logic flew out of his mind and he lowered his mouth to sink his fangs into her. He leaned over her neck, breathless and out of control.

"Oh, that man!" she chuckled. "That is Glenn."

He felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on him. He stopped, as his jaw clenched so hard that it was a wonder his teeth didn't break. He was going to kill Glenn immediately. "Is that a guard?"

She rubbed her neck.

She looked very tired. Eltanin felt the need to take his little bird to his bed and tuck her under a blanket and possibly sing her a lullaby until she was comforted, but the question hung in the air. He waited.

"Yes," she nodded.

He muttered a curse under his breath. He was going to throw the guard from a cliff after he chopped his limbs off. "Where is he?" he hissed.

"I don't know," she replied. "I don't think he is from your kingdom. He has a tattoo of a hunter on his chest."

Eltanin was flooded with a variety of emotions. At first, he was enraged that she had seen his chest. Was she that close to him? But wait, a hunter's tattoo? He was from the Orion kingdom? Did Rigel leave him here for her? He had to send him away. There was no way in hell he would allow Glenn to stay and take care of her. Second, jealousy had stabbed him sharply in his heart. "Did he touch you?" he asked, ready to chop Glenn's fingers off.

She yawned and shook her head. "No, he only gave me food when needed. I couldn't go to the common dining area for the servants."

Eltanin melted, not because of what Glenn did, but the way she yawned, like a wee kitten. He brought his hands down to his sides to allow her to turn so he could look at her sleepy face. If he was lucky, she would yawn again.

Tania suddenly felt empty when his hands moved away from her sides. If he hadn't removed his arms, she might have fallen asleep against his chest. The thought made her blush to the roots of her hair. Thank God, she didn't. The first day of her arrival was really very tiring.

She turned, yawning once more, but the moment she looked at his face, her eyebrows shot to the roof. There was blood on his face and clothes. She trembled so badly that she wondered how she was still standing upright. "Wh— what happened?" she asked, as pale as a ghost. When his brows furrowed at her question, she pointed to his face. "There's blood—"

Eltanin wiped his face with the sleeve of his tunic, cursing himself for scaring the girl. He should have thought about it earlier. "It's nothing," he replied as calmly as possible. She didn't need to know what he did to protect her and to instill fear in everyone before he would introduce her to the world. "Two guards clashed and I had to take care of the situation." That was partially true, so he didn't feel guilty telling her the half lies.

"Oh!" she pressed her hand to her mouth. "Are you injured?"

He shook his head. "I am fine." Was she concerned about his well-being?

Her throat bobbed and the frown lingered on her forehead.

"Don't worry," he said as he smoothed the frown from her forehead. "I'll wash it off and be back in a minute." He stepped back a little, turned and quickly disappeared into the bathroom. When he emerged, he saw that Tania was heading towards the door that led to the secret passage. She was leaving him and that made him feel panicky all over again. He darted towards her and grabbed her by the waist. "Where are you going?" he growled.

Tania collided into his hard chest, as his arms wrapped around her like a vise. Stunned, she was unable to move. She tipped her head up to see him and her gaze landed right on the cleft of his chin and then to his eyes. "I must go back to my room."

For a moment Eltanin forgot to breathe when she looked at him that way; wrapped in his arms, against his chest. It was a lover's embrace. Every lucid thought in his mind vanished. He wanted to lean down and kiss her lips, bite them, open her mouth and fuck it with his tongue. A moan escaped his lips and the next thing he knew was that his fingers were wrapped around her nape possessively. He rubbed a thumb across her smooth skin on her pulse point. How could she have such velvety skin? Her skin heated up where he touched. Suddenly, he felt energized as if electricity had zapped through him. A ragged breath left him at the foreign sensation.

His wolf started clamoring him from the inside to mark her, claim her, but how could he scare her?

"Your Highness," Tania said, appearing perplexed by his behavior. Why was the king always so clingy? And why was he breathless? His warm breath was falling onto her cheeks.

"Hmm?" he asked, completely enraptured.

"Can I head back to my room?" she said. "You must let me go…"

Eltanin snapped out of his thoughts. He immediately retracted his hand from her nape. "You can't leave."𝐟re𝐞w𝐞𝒃𝓃𝒐𝐯𝚎𝒍.c૦𝚖