4. Call me Zane

“You’re not the woman I’m supposed to marry.”

The grim look on his face explains how irritated he must be to have gotten married to me. My heart leaped at first when he grabbed my arm like that, I thought he wanted to hurt me.

“Answer me, young woman.” he snaps.

“It’s Cora, Mr. Alpha and no, I’m not the one. But, you signed up for the Alpha’s daughter and here I am,” I reply with heavy sarcasm.

He lets go of my arm, “Is the redhead woman the other one?”

“Lily, and yes, she was supposed to be your wife,” I answer. I’m not even in the mood to speak to him.

He nods and turns to the tall man who is driving us. “The other woman is talkative and this one looks more quiet and feisty, she’ll do.”

The tall man nods but says nothing more. An awkward silence follows next and I choose picking my nails as my new occupation. We drive for hours and stop at a motel to take our rest, a question suddenly pops into my head as he is about to come down.

“Mr. Alpha, you walked out when the elder said that we should kiss. Why?”

He stops in his tracks and stares dangerously at me. If eyes could kill, I would have been long gone with just one glance from him.

“Young woman, I thought you were the quiet one,” he mumbles instead.

“My name is Cora,” I grunt.

He stares at my face for a moment. “Alright, brown Doe.”

He enters the motel while I look at his long steady steps ahead. My face is a mixture of confusion and surprise, I wasn’t expecting him to notice my Doe eyes and their color in the middle of the night.

“It’s getting colder outside here, Luna Cora.” The tall man says to me.

“Oh, thanks. What’s your name?”

“Conrad, I’m the Alpha’s beta,” he replies.

“Okay, Conrad.”

I follow him inside the motel, where the Alpha is already making room arrangements for us. He glanced at me shortly before discussing with the receptionist who is dying hard to get his attention.

“I’m sorry sir but there are only two rooms available this night, and one is a double room,” the receptionist informs him.

“We’ll take the rooms.” He says.

The receptionist smiles naughtily. “One room for you and the double room for your married friends.”

I sigh when I realize that I’m still dressed in my wedding gown, and it is the only belonging I carried with me.

“The Alpha and his wife will have the double room, I’ll take the single room,” Conrad speaks out.

The receptionist is embarrassed for making flirtatious moves with the Alpha and she apologizes for her mistakes. She shows us to our rooms before taking our orders for dinner.

“I’m sweaty so I will wash up first,” I announce immediately.

I slump on the bed and watch as the Alpha begins to take his shoes off, then he unbuckles his belt. He stops and looks at me.

“Are you going to wash up or stare at me like a ravaged mad woman while I undress?” he lashes out at me.

“No way, I was… I was going… to enter the bathroom like now,” I stammer when I reply to him.

I stand up abruptly and dash into the bathroom with heated cheeks. When I try to remove my gown, I realize that the clip at the back is so tight and will only need someone to unclip it.

I stumble out to ask him for help. He now has a towel tied around his core, his abs are perfectly lined and his chest is rising and falling in rhythm to my heartbeat.

He raises his brow at me in a questionable manner, “Already done?”

“Not yet, I need you to help me unclip my dress at the back. It’s hooked and I can’t get it off myself.”

I turn my back to avoid knowing the expression that will be on his face. But when I feel his warm body close to me and his fingers running through the clipped lace, my heart races faster than usual.

His proximity is beginning to have an effect on me even though I don't know him yet, my body’s reaction when his hot breath tickles at the back of my neck is overwhelming.

“Brown Doe, I’m done,” his melodious voice whispers into my ears.

My heart trembles at the sound of his voice - but not in fear. He might seem to be a cold Alpha with a deadly gaze but I'll never see him that way, I have never felt intimidated by his presence unlike when I was with others.

“Brown Doe, are you fantasizing about senseless imaginations?”

“Uh…”

“Or do you want your dress to fall to your legs and have you stark naked in front of me?”

I wave him off immediately, my cheeks turning bright red, “Okay, I’m heading in now. You don’t have to sound brutal to me.”

I can feel his eyes boring into my bare back as I rush back into the bathroom. The hot bath helps to calm my unsettled mind when I remember how the Alpha family abandoned me at the hands of a strange man.

They knew him and what he was capable of doing yet they threw me to him and preferred to keep Lily as their daughter - the world is so unfair to me!

Coming out, I see that the Alpha has brought out one of his shirts for me to put on.

“Handle my shirt with care, Brown Doe,” he says before going to take his bathe.

Dinner arrives and I hurriedly eat mine and go to bed, it has been a long day and I am not willing to keep up with the Alpha’s nonchalance anymore. I would save my strengths for tomorrow and try to interact more with him.

I am allowed to sleep as much as I want in the morning and our journey only continues after I’m done with breakfast. I had to wear one of his shirts and sweatpants to avoid looking like a ragged bride when I arrive.

“You were loud last night.” the Alpha suddenly speaks up after an hour of silence.

Conrad coughs and pretend to choke for a moment, my cheeks turn bright red again - I’m going to end up as a tomato if I keep blushing in front of this man.

“Loud? What do you mean by loud?”

“Your snoring was loud, Brown Doe. I couldn’t sleep at all,” he replies with a snort.

“You should have put your earpiece on then,” I mumble.

“I did, but you were louder and that receptionist had to check up on us two times at dark to be sure I didn’t bring a hedgehog.”

I hiss loudly, “She only checked up because she thought you were solitary and wanted some time with you.”

Conrad muffles his laughter and I see the Alpha’s lips raise in a smile that disappears in a twinkle of an eye.

“Let me ask you something, do you have any idea what goes on when a man and woman are alone in a room at night?”

I think about it for a while. Apart from kissing which I see lots of mated people do, I have no idea what goes on except sounds that I do hear at midnight when I'm sneaking out to get some food - Alma’s room always has that sound at night.

“Uh… a sound?” I answer softly, unsure if I’m making sense or not.

The Alpha laughs out loud for the first time in twenty-four hours since I met him. His laughter is adorable and his Adam’s apple gurgle up and down in sync with his laughter. Then I notice his jawlines are edged to the nearest perfection and I wonder if Selena took a special class to mould him.

He says nothing more after laughing at me - I understand that he was laughing at me in an actual sense. I fold my arms and scowl hard, blaming myself for foolishly answering him.

I could have just admitted that I don’t know and had him tell me then, but I simply decided to be a big head and make a fool out of myself.

Soon we drive into a beautiful town and when I see the banners up, I know instantly that we’re in his pack - The Dark Howlers pack.

I had thought that Citadel’s pack house was magnificent but when I arrive at his pack house, I see a glamorous castle in front of me.

“Is this your pack house, Mr. Alpha?”

“Our pack house,” he replies and steps down then ducks his head right back in, “And call me Zane, that’s my name.”

I smile sheepishly, so he feels the same as me when I call him other than his name - how bewitching!

“Thank you, Luna Cora,” Conrad says to me when I step down from the car.

“Whatever for?”

“The Alpha hasn't laughed like that in years. It’s a relief to see that he has some remnants of humor in him.”

“Why hasn’t he laughed in years?”

Conrad adjusts his shirt and slips his hands into his pockets, a gesture I notice that the Alpha does too.

“You’ll see for yourself, My Luna.”