Guilty as charged
Liyah’s POV
I froze when I felt the alpha’s lips on mine. A new kind of warmth flowed through me as he worked his lips over mine gently. I let out a gasp when he stopped for a second to run his tongue over my bottom lip, and I couldn’t understand why my heart began to pound so hard it was all I could hear. I wanted to… I had to pull away, but my legs just wouldn’t cooperate.
Slowly, I melded into the kiss, sighing when his arm moved to snake around my waist. I couldn’t believe that a few seconds ago I was practically drunk-yelling at him. I knew I would get into trouble for that later but I didn’t care.
“Already attempting to eat each other’s faces off, I see,” I heard someone chuckle from behind us, making him break the kiss. I saw him stare at me, his face calm as though nothing had happened, and all of a sudden I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Here I was flushed and breathless whilst he looked like a fly had just flown past him. I tried to catch his gaze but it was as though the kiss had rendered me speechless. So I stood there and forced a smile.
I saw him laugh and move forward to shake the other man’s hand. “We apologize,” He laughed. “We just got a bit carried away.”
I tried not to let the hurt show on my face as I gave a tiny laugh and rubbed the back of my neck.
The other man waved it off, moving forward to face me. “Oh, it’s normal. And with a beautiful woman like this, I can imagine it’s hard to keep your hands off her.”
“Guilty as charged,” I heard the alpha say. I couldn’t help but stare at him in disbelief. It was that easy for him to spill out lies.
“Nice to meet you again, milady,” The other man smiled, reaching out for my hand and placing a light kiss to it. I momentarily forgot about the present as a smile spread over my cheek from the gesture. There was something so warm about his aura and I kind of liked it. Maybe that was partly because I was used to having such negative energy around me.
“Nice to meet you too, Mr Monteiro,” I smiled. My chest started to relax from the two-second panic attack I just had trying to recall his name.
“Please just call me Enrique,” He chuckled. “And you are?”
I almost staggered backwards. Was I supposed to tell him my real name? What exactly was I supposed to say? He hadn’t briefed me on this question. My hands shook as I struggled to form words. When I looked up to the alpha for help, I saw that he looked just the way I felt.
“Li-”
“Eloise, babe, you good?”
I heard the alpha say. Although I was exhausted and pissed at the moment, I had to commend him for his sharp thinking. This way Enrique would not suspect anything.
I nodded feebly. “Just a little lightheaded that’s all.”
“Wow, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman,” Enrique laughed. He turned back to the alpha. “Well, you two are the most adorable pair I have ever come across. I love it.”
“So what do you do, Eloise?”
It took me a few moments to realize he was talking to me. What do I do? What on earth was I supposed to say? As I began to fidget again, the alpha came to my rescue.
“I don’t want to put my baby through the stress of working when I can provide for the two of us,” He answered for me, placing his arm around my waist. For some reason the way he said ‘baby’ made a delicious shiver run down my spine.
“That’s the exact way I feel about my wife,” Enrique exclaimed. “Why put her through all that stress, right? I just need her to rest her pretty head while I do all the work.”
As the two men shared a laugh, all I could think of was how much I disagreed with them. Maybe some women enjoyed being housewives, but I couldn’t picture myself sitting home all day doing nothing and feeling useless. I would be nothing better than just one of the many pieces of furniture in one of those mansions. But my opinion didn’t count, coupled with the fact that I was way too scared to give it.
Finally Enrique looked down at his watch. “I presume you have the contracts here?”
The alpha nodded, procuring some papers from his side pocket. I watched as Enrique put his signature on all of them and then clap his hands together. “Great! I look forward to working with you. And by the way, I would love to see your wife accompany you to events like this. She’s nothing less than a vision, and you shouldn’t be shy to show her off.”
Oh no. Hell no. I couldn’t do this again. As I watched Enrique wink at us and walk away, I had this urge to yell out to him, call him back and tell him everything. Maybe he could help me out… he could save me. But I knew it was no use as long as I was up against werewolves. The only thing that would follow was a bloodshed. So I silently watched him walk away, wishing I had done more.
The ride back to the mansion was silent and uncomfortable, and I almost began to wish that I was back in the dungeon. I had never been to an event like this, or any event for that matter. I’d had to act calm and relaxed and mimic the other women there so I would be able to fit in, whilst having anxiety attacks at intervals. And I did all of this while being threatened the entire time, just to help the person who kidnapped me for reasons I still didn’t know about get a contract. I felt tears well up in my eyes at how pathetic my situation was. And as I stared outside the window, trying to hold back my tears, I wished he had just executed me the day of my abduction.