Riya Lesnar
I froze. Blanked. Busted. Forgetting every previous thought I had in my head.
He cheesed out with a smirk. A smirk that suggested he found delight in my incapacitated mode.
"W-what?'' I stuttered, unsure how to place his outburst yet. He really did recognize me?
It amazed me at how surprising this profound realization caught me. I undoubtedly suspected ninety-five percent out of a hundred possibilities that he recognized me but it had been better staying in just an assumption.
Coming to the scary face of reality that indeed, he recognized me as the licentious stripper he had involved in a quick-and-dirty kiss was unnerving.
"Holy maidens was it?'' He further implied. He didn't need a scoff at the end to express his sarcasm.
I lost my stance. Shame draping over me like a flowing garment. I crashed to my knees, tugging his pants, refusing to meet his condescending eyes.
"You can't tell anyone about that. I promise I can explain. It's not as bad as you may think.'' I sprinted all sorts of words that sailed their way into my lips. Just anything to buy his compassion.
I had missed my chance. Oh, blessed moon goddess. I had failed her pardon by trying to call a truce with the Alpha. Now I'll have to repay my carelessness with my head.
Could the goddess give me one last chance, I promise to never falter again.
"So go ahead and give me a good explanation why Keegan's daughter would be involved in such indecorous activity.'' Alpha Ethan read out, enjoying my vulnerability. Finding pleasure in my desperacy under his tyranny.
"I'll do whatever you wish. I'll serve you the best way I can.'' I spilled. The words I thought were best appealing to his favor.
"Then you will get on your feet and do as I say without objections, little one.'' He requested, surprising me for the hundredth time tonight at the calm and less threatening tone his words came, completely nothing compared to a few seconds ago.
I stood, dusted my knees, and waited for him to move first. I wondered what was this man's deal. If he recognized me all these while, it only meant he knew just how unholy I totally was. So why pick me in the place of a holy maiden?
Anxiety cloaked onto my skin. Oh, now it clicked. His attempt at stopping Keegan from making me take the oath of purity probably had something to do with his knowledge of my secret status.
"Alpha.'' A masculine voice called out, making me snap my gaze up to meet the unfamiliar man. Finally, I encountered a single decent man in this pack, after a whole day of dealing with numerous familiar regulars of the strip club.
His gaze regarded me briefly before focusing back on Alpha Ethan. "I've been waiting for you."
"Um…I know the way to my room.'' I thought to help the situation by excusing myself.
I bowed shortly, sticking to my impulsive resolve of avoiding Alpha Ethan's gaze, and ended up avoiding even the man's. I scampered down the lonely corridor and almost tripped over my steps many times with the mere thoughts of Alpha Ethan watching me.
This was insane. My whole life. My conduct. The outrageous turn of events. Everything was insane. How I ended up getting stuck with a stranger I encountered briefly in a bar, that I had thought I'd never see again, and this stranger happened to be my pack Alpha.
I was barely eighteen in three months. Yet my mind and body reacted way too actively. This man I'd gotten stuck with, this man whom I wasn't sure what his quest was about yet I yearned to have after one accidental night of careless passion. He haunted my dreams all through the night in ways that were better left unexplained.
Though it wasn't my pick, I found myself in a red-flowing satin dress that left a broad display of my flat tummy.
What pricked my curiosity the most was the veil that was fixed over my hair. I had been biting back my lips while the maid dressed me up, but a veil was the height of it.
''What's going on?'' I asked as she packed up the hair kit she used in styling my hair.
"It was the Alpha's order to prepare you.'' She simply answered, bowed shortly, and left.
I watched myself in the huge mirror. The uncommon expensive dress, the gold earrings and bangles, the necklace, and adorable juttis shoes. I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that this would have been me someday, in such elegance.
But what this was all about, the blazing curiosity in my heart didn't permit me enough level of appreciation.
In minutes, the maid returned and led me out to the grand hall. I dazed out at the number of people present in the hall. Wasn't this the whole pack?
Unlike yesterday, except that this time it seemed I was the center of attention in the hall, I was given company by a few maids who approached to help me to my designated seat at the podium.
I let my gaze wander around the hall in an attempt to lessen my anxiety and not make a debating impression of myself in the eyes of the guests. When my gaze caught Alpha Ethan's somewhere in the opposite angle.
My heart missed a beat. Maybe it was my silly undignified thoughts, or probably because I knew what he knew, his eyes seemed to taunt me. I averted my gaze immediately.
Thankfully, my sudden self-consciousness of his eyes on me was given away by Keegan's appearance. His cold gaze regarded mine in the iciest way ever, causing my heart to melt against my chest.
I lost any self-confidence I had left in me at that moment, looking down on my fingers.
"As you all already know..'' Keegan's voice filled the hall, commanding silence from every corner.
''We're here to pronounce the Alpha's discreetly chosen holy maiden whose holiness and purity would help lift the Alpha's melancholic situation, the Luna of Blackthorn pack.''
My head shot up immediately, as I darted my eyes to Alpha Ethan's spot, completely swept off my feet by the information Keegan just passed.
He must have been watching me ever since. His gaze caught mine at once, regarded my shock, before averting to the ceremony.
Just what in the goddess' name was wrong with him, didn't he understand the message clea
rly enough?
"Come over here, Riya Lesnar." Keegan beckoned on me.