The Alpha's Temptation

If this was a cage, he would gladly be caged with her for the rest of his life, staring into those ocean blue eyes of hers. Eltanin's throat bobbed as he found himself gazing upon the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. His mate. She was blushing. Out of reflex, he brought his hand to her pink cheek and traced the blush with his knuckles. Her citrusy, sweet and spicy scent washed over him like a tidal wave. His lips parted as a ragged breath left his mouth. His fingers went to the back of her neck and he curled them around it, possessively. He pulled her down to his lips. He could feel her hot breath on his cheeks. He brought his face barely an inch closer and inclined his lips. The pout of her lips was so tempting that he wanted to feel it against his own. "Tania, I want to kiss you… badly…" he breathed. "May I?"

Tania was… entranced. She felt like she was being pulled into a vortex of irresistible attraction from which she would never be able to come out of. Something stirred inside her chest. It was as if her soul wanted to twine around his. With her lips quivering, she closed the gap between them and was merely a hair's breadth away when images of Princess Morava flashed in her mind. Her reverie cracked. "Your Highness!" Tania breathed out as a warning, a crease forming between her brows. "This is— this is incorrect." She pulled away from him immediately.

Eltanin's brows furrowed as he was snapped out of his haze. Breath shallow, he stopped pulling her towards him, but didn't release his hold on her.

"Why are you here?" she asked, completely baffled and blushing to the roots of her hair. "You should be in your room." She tried to wriggle her way out of his grip, but she was trapped under his hold he had on her neck. "Did you walk in your sleep?" She was almost certain that the king must be having sleep issues. Did he hold a pillow in his sleep? Was that a secret?

Bit by bit, as the fog in his mind cleared, he removed his hand from her nape, but didn't let go of her hand. "I don't walk in my sleep," he replied as his brows furrowed. "And I am here because—" he needed to be with her. How could he leave her all alone? But now that she had questioned him about it, his mind raced to find an answer.

"Because—" she pushed him.

"Because you were calling my name!" he blurted a lie. If anything, it was him calling her name, mumbling it like a prayer.

Tania's eyes became wide like saucers. "I've never done that." She moved as far away from him as possible.

"You sounded needy," he added to support the lie. "And you went upstairs calling me. Eltanin. Elty. Where are you my dear Elty?" He became even more dramatic.

Tania was perplexed earlier, but now she was rattled. She couldn't believe it. "I walked all the way up to your room, chanting your name?" And that too Elty? Why in the world would she do something as funny as that? She had never even spoken his name once, let alone call him Elty!

Eltanin sighed. "Yes… I brought you back down here so that the servants wouldn't discover you in my bed in the morning." Although, what he really wanted to do was shout to the world that he had found his mate. Not yet.

Tania was extremely embarrassed and petrified. What if he decided to send her to the prison for calling him by his name? She was sure that it was her nightmares that were making her do weird things. Maybe she should chain herself to the bed whenever she sleeps. And Elty? She tried to pull her hand away. When she couldn't, she said, "Thank you for your help, Your Highness. You can go now. I will sleep."

Eltanin froze. He didn't want to go. How could he leave his mate? He became quiet for so long that Tania grew uncomfortable. Then he said, "I can't leave right now."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to be able to sleep peacefully. I will leave when you have slept. You might come running to my room again and then none of us will get a proper night's sleep if that keeps happening." He took his finger to her cheek and traced her blush. It was beautiful. And he loved that she blushed for him. Elty sounded nice. "Also, I won't mind if you called me Elty instead of Your Highness."

Tania gasped and blushed more like the morning sun. "I assure you, I won't sleepwalk again."

Eltanin wanted her to stop asking him to leave. So, he grabbed her hand tightly and dismissed her by saying, "Sleep Tania. I have a lot of work to do in the morning and so do you." He placed his arm over his head and closed his eyes. He was not planning to leave her tonight or any other night, for that matter!

Tania didn't have any other option, but to collapse on her pillow with her hand still in his. She, too, placed her arm over her chest and soon drifted off to sleep.

Eltanin couldn't sleep soon. He waited for her to slumber and then turned to his side to watch her. He brought his finger to her lips and very gently traced the outline. Her lips parted slightly and his finger went in. "Fuck!"

When Tania woke up in the morning, he wasn't there. She had slept so well that she didn't even remember when was the last time she had slumbered so beautifully. A smile wormed its way onto her lips as she stretched her limbs. Her gaze went to the table and there she found a book, one she had to translate next. She swept her feet to the ground and moved towards the table. The book was bound in brown leather, with ancient text on it, embossed in red. She picked up a glass from the side and sipped cool water from it.

"Ondari," she whispered the name of the language as she opened the book. As she read through the first page, she took note of how powerful of a language it truly was, while looking over the incantations written within it. Her skin had tingled as she ran a hand over the text. Withdrawing her hand immediately, she kept the book on the table. Her gaze fell upon a note, sitting next to the book. It read,

"My Dear Tania, 𝘧𝑟𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝙗nov𝘦𝗹.𝐜o𝓶

This is your work for the week, but you can take your time. There is no rush for you to complete it by then.

Stay in your room. I shall meet you for lunch.

Elty."

Tania spat all the water on the table and started coughing when she read 'Elty'. Last night's incident came in front of her eyes when she was merely a breath away from kissing him. She still couldn't believe that she went to his room, chanting his name.