Chapter 7: 7: Royal Feast

He continues to hold me, his chest rising and falling faster, his breathing growing heavy. Reluctantly, he releases me and turns away, his back rigid. “I’m happy you’ve recovered,” he says quietly. “But I have to go,” he adds. He doesn’t look at me again, as though even meeting my eyes would be too dangerous.

I’m left to wonder what it all means. The goddess’ message. Alex’s words. What just passed between us.

The sun is beginning to come up, so there’s no point in trying to go back to sleep.

I get out of bed and get dressed, finding clothes in a dresser.

Whose house am I even in?

I head downstairs, and the smell of sizzling meat wafts through the air as a she-wolf cooks breakfast.

She wipes her hands on her apron and introduces herself as Louisa, her smile warm and welcoming. “Alex asked us to host you,” she says, her voice kind. “And we’re more than happy to do it.”

“Thank you,” I reply softly, touched by the simple generosity. Louisa gestures toward the table and I sit down.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Louisa says. “I’m making enough food to feed a whole pack.”

“It smells delicious,” I say, my mouth watering. “I wish I could wake up to this smell every day.”

“So, tell me about yourself,” Louisa says, piling a mountain of meat onto my plate. “What do you like to do? Knitting? Sports? Painting?”

“How ’bout warrior training?” a man says as he walks into the kitchen, holding a gift-wrapped box. “Alex approved you for training this morning. You’ll receive personal training from me before you fully integrate with the other pack warriors and take your warrior test.”

A giant smile spreads across my face as he sits next to me. “Wait…are you serious?”

“Sure am. I think you’ll make a great warrior, Ariel. We need someone like you—a survivor.”

I thought everything had been taken away from me, but it seems I have at least one thing that no one can take—my dream of being a warrior.

“I won’t let you down, sir,” I say, already getting into warrior mode. I’m clutching my butter knife like it’s a damn sword. “I’m sorry, I don’t even know your name,” I say, extending my hand.

“The name is Steven, but you can call me Steve.”

“He belongs to me,” Louisa says, “but I take no responsibility for what he says or does.”

Steve rolls his eyes and laughs.

“We’ve actually met before, Ariel,” he says. “I knew your father a long time ago. You were probably only three or four years old when I last saw you. I’m the one who got in touch with him when we found you in the woods. I knew right away who you were—you have your father’s eyes. What was it he always called you? His little warrior?”

I nod, choking up. My father does call me that, despite my mom’s protests that ~a lady shouldn’t be a warrior.~

He slides the package he brought with him across the table. “I have one more surprise for you.”

I excitedly open it to find a brand-new cell phone. It certainly looks fancier than the phones of two years ago.

“That’s loaded with everyone’s numbers on the squad, as well as the alpha and beta’s numbers. You’ll also receive alerts anytime there’s an emergency, rogue sighting, or disturbance at the border. You can thank Alex for this one. He wanted to make sure you had everything you needed to settle in, including his ~personal~ number.”

There’s a mischievous twinkle in Steve’s eye as he and Louisa share a look. It makes me blush.

“And tonight, we’ll all dine together in the royal hall. Alex insists you’re there.”

I nod, honored, but nervous.

***

My stomach churns the whole day. I’m not sure if I’m scared to meet my new pack or excited to simply be near Alex again.

Dom arrives to escort me to the dinner and introduces himself.

“I’m Dominic, Alex’s beta,” he says with a charming smile. I don’t smile back. I vaguely remember how wary he was of me when they found me in the woods.

DOMINIC senses my distrust and offers me his hand.

“I know we got off to a rough start in the woods,” he says, “but can we start over? Warrior to warrior?”

I grab his forearm, the way warriors do, and nod in agreement. “You were only protecting your pack and your alpha. I get it.”

As we walk through town, he points out his favorite things. Mostly bars. He’s easy and fun to talk to.

“How did you and Alex become friends?” I ask. “You didn’t grow up in the palace, did you?”

“No, my family are commoners,” Dom replies. “But that sort of thing didn’t matter to Alex. Only to his parents. He used to sneak out of the palace when he was younger to play in the city with the common kids. That’s how we met.”

No wonder Alex seemed like a commoner when I first met him…

“We became friends, and I introduced him to Olivia, his mate. The three of us were inseparable for years, until we lost her.”

When Dom starts to talk about Olivia, his normally carefree demeanor changes.

“That must’ve been hard for both of you, losing someone that you’ve known for so long,” I say.

“Alex and Olivia found out they were mates when they turned eighteen, but I think they were already in love,” Dom says wistfully. “They only had a couple of years together as mates before she died. I don’t know if he’ll ever truly get over it.”

I’m not sure if it’s the talk of Olivia that’s giving me the chills or the weather, but I start to shiver again.

“Why is it so damn cold today?” I say, crossing my arms and trying to warm myself.

“Cold? Ariel, it’s not cold at all,” Dom says, confused. “Are you okay? You actually look really pale. Maybe you should visit the doctor to—”

“No, I’m fine. I don’t want to miss the feast. A hot meal will fix me up. Not many of those the last couple years.”

I see Dom’s eyes fill with pity, and it dawns on me that this is going to happen a lot.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to say such depressing shit. But the best thing you can do is just treat me like I’m normal.”

~Normal. I’m anything but normal.~

After all the experiments the hunters did on me… What might be broken inside…

Dom gives a big grin and says, “Well, if you’re normal, you’ll be the first one in this crazy pack!”

I laugh at his joke and his kindness.

“We can do better than a hot meal. How about a feast?” he says with a grin as he swings open the doors of the banquet hall and says,

My stomach growls as I see the grand feast is laid out before us.

An orchestra is playing up-tempo classical music, and waiters are walking around serving drinks and appetizers to the guests.

~The guests.~

This is not the intimate dinner that I expected.

It looks like many of the pack’s prominent members are here, and everyone is staring at me with the same thing I saw in Dom’s eyes.

~Pity.~

As my eyes widen, I can hear the mutterings of, ~“That poor girl,”~ and ~“Is she okay?”~ coming from the crowd.

Alex approaches me with a genuine smile. “I thought a party might make you feel better.”

“I... I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” I say, turning on my heel and running down the corridor, tears flecking off my cheeks.

Murmurs echo through the hall as I run away, people whispering about how I turned my back on the king.

I don’t care right now—I need some air. I can’t breathe.

~I can’t fucking breathe.~

***

I burst through the doors leading outside to the garden.

I never expected to be so overwhelmed, but I realize now that making my transition back into normal life is easier said than done.

I see a gate that will take me off the palace grounds—I’ll run into the forest, be free.

After years in solitary confinement, I guess being alone is all I can handle now.

I hear footsteps behind me giving chase. It must be one of Alex’s guards, trying to stop me.

I move faster. A growl grows louder and closer.

As I reach for the gate handle, I am tackled to the ground and held there firmly.

I know who it is by scent alone—not a guard, but Alex himself.

Anyone else and I’d be ripping out his throat, but the press of his body sparks something primal inside me—something that shouldn’t feel like safety, but does.

I can feel the warmth of his breath against my neck.

He leans in close and whispers in my ear, his voice surprisingly calm.

“Usually people are trying to get INTO my parties,” he says. “I don’t know whether to be insulted or impressed that you wanted out.”

He gets to his feet and I turn over to look up at him. He towers over me and has a look on his face that I can’t read.

“Walk with me?” he says stoically.

I nod and take his hand. He pulls me up with strength and grace.

“I understand if you want to banish me for the disrespect, turning my back on you,” I say.

“If I wanted to banish you, you’d already be gone,” he says.

We walk in silence through the garden for a bit. I take in the gorgeous trees and flowers all around us.

“I lost a mate too,” Alex says, “so I know what you’re going through. I know you can’t just pretend like that loss didn’t happen. I’m still dealing with it. And I probably always will.”

I nod silently. That’s exactly how I feel about losing Xavier, even if he didn’t die like Alex’s mate.

~We both lost a part of ourselves...~

Feeling a connection with Alex, I grab his hand and squeeze it tightly.

The faint tingles are there again.

Alex stares at our joined hands intently and lifts his other hand to hold my cheek.

More sparks bloom along my skin as his thumb moves along my cheek and then down to my lips.

His eyes flick from my lips to my eyes and back again, like he’s at war with himself.

He tilts my chin up, just slightly, but still, he hesitates.

The weight of his title hangs thick between us.

Who the Alpha kisses has consequences, ones that ripple across the entire pack.

Especially when he’s thinking about kissing some strange, unknown she-wolf from another territory who showed up with a silver bullet still buried in her flesh.

His hand is gripping the nape of my neck like he’s afraid I’ll run again.

His control over his actions is slipping—and I can ~feel~ it slipping.

I answer him the only way I can.

I rise onto my toes and close the space between us, brushing my lips against his—soft, tentative, but full of invitation.

It’s all the permission he needs.

With a low growl, he surges forward and slams his mouth onto mine, backing me up until I’m pressed against the rough bark of a tree.

The impact steals a gasp from my throat, but he swallows it whole.

His hands grip my waist and the kiss turns feral—wild and all-consuming.

He presses his body flush to mine, the hardness of his chest against my soft curves.

I arch into him, matching his urgency, my hands tangling in his hair, pulling him closer.

When I nip at his bottom lip, he groans—a sound so raw it makes my belly flip.

I slip my hands up under his shirt, feeling his taut back muscles.

If this keeps going much further, we won’t be able to stop.