Chapter 2 : The Alpha of Grims

*Ember*

Gentle morning light filtered in through the curtains, warming me. I smiled, thinking of the strange dream I’d had the night before – how a cloaked stranger had saved me from my violent father and seared me with an electric kiss.

Thinking of my father never made me happy, but the rest was blissful. The warmth of the dream was shattered when I tried to roll over and had to bite back a scream of pain. My ribs felt like they were on fire, and my head was throbbing in time to my heartbeat. I opened my eyes, and my vision swam.

That was no dream, I realized. It had really happened. Memories of the cruel Alphas came rushing back to me. My bare feet, danced bloody, stung beneath the sheets. Fresh tears prickled at my eyes, and I let them come.

I only wiped them away when a maid entered. She took one look at me and gasped, confirming that I looked as bad as I felt. After a moment, she said, “The Alpha King requests your presence at breakfast.”

I tried to nod, but the movement was stiff and painful. “Can you help me?” I croaked. I could barely move, and I certainly couldn’t get out of bed on my own.

Taking pity on me, the maid helped me sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I winced as the tender soles of my feet connected with the cold stone floor. I wished that I could just lie here forever, but I knew that I needed to stand. My father had told me to come, and I was afraid of what he would do if I disobeyed him.

Leaning heavily on the maid, I hobbled out of my chambers and into the depths of the castle. As we approached the dining room, I realized that I was still wearing the tiny, blood-soaked dress from the night before, but it was too late to change. Cringing, I allowed the maid to lead me to the door, where I thanked her and waved her away.

Tentatively, I knocked on the dining room door.

“Enter,” my father’s voice boomed from within. I did as I was told and limped slowly into the room.

The Alpha King was seated at the head of the long dining room table, his feet resting on the shining surface. He leered at me from his perch, drinking in the damage he had done the night before. I waited patiently for him to command me to sit and join him, but he said nothing. I was so hungry, having danced all night with only a goblet of water to drink, and there was so much food piled high on the table. My stomach rumbled in the silence, and I hoped my father hadn’t heard.

Instead of inviting me to sit, my father instead turned to his right. There was a man sitting there, one I had never seen before. He was tall and slim, with wavy blond hair that fell to his shoulders. Dark eyes peered out from above a straight nose and strong jaw. He was one of the most handsome men I had ever seen, but there was something in his eyes that made my hackles rise. As if he knew that his stare made me uneasy, the stranger smiled, showing perfect white teeth.

“Ember, this is Lukas Grimwood, Alpha of the Grims,” my father said, gesturing to the handsome shifter. “Greet our guest.”

I offered the Alpha a pained curtsy, wincing as I dipped as low as I could. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Alpha. We are honored by your presence.”

Even as I spoke the empty words, a sour tendril of dread crept through me. The packland of the Grims bordered the mountains to the north. The Grims had been loyal to the former Alpha King, who my father had murdered many years ago, and were one of the original packs to wage war against the new Moonrise regime. What was the Alpha of the Grims doing in Moonrise territory? He should have been in the dungeons, not the dining room.

The Alpha stood and approached me. He stopped before me and tilted my chin up, inspecting the bruises and the gash that my father had gifted me the night before. Meeting my gaze, he purred, “Thank you, Ember. Call me Lukas, please. A Luna shouldn’t have to be so formal with her Alpha.”

I froze. My Alpha? This was the shifter I would be promised to, our sworn enemy?

My father’s voice broke me from my snarled thoughts. “Lukas has agreed to not only keep the peace of Allusia, but he will provide us with a regiment of his best warriors. In exchange, he will take you as his Luna. You will leave the castle tonight, and I’ll be damned if I ever have to see your ungrateful face again.”

Lukas laughed, causing my stomach to turn. “Tonight? Look at the girl.” He gave me a slight shove, and I fell to the hard stone floor, wincing as I came down roughly on hands and knees. “She can’t even stand on her own. How do you expect her to travel on foot?”

“You could drag her!” the Alpha King chuckled darkly, and Lukas smirked down at me.

“Now that’s an idea,” he said, nudging me with the toe of his boot. I looked away from him, down at my skinned hands. I didn’t want to see the handsome face of the man who was taking me away. It seemed too cruel that a monster such as him would hide behind such a beautiful façade.

“No,” Lukas continued. “I’ll leave her here to heal, and I will return in a week to fetch her.” When he turned his dark eyes to my father, there was something threatening about them. “I’d like her in one piece, Alpha King. And make sure she eats something. She’s far too skinny to bear pups.”

My father clenched his fists with barely contained anger, but he didn’t argue with the Alpha. Instead, he answered, “Of course, Lukas.” He was careful to tread lightly because of their agreement, but made it clear by his tone and informal use of the Alpha’s first name that Lukas was lower than him in rank.

Still, I wondered how many warriors Lukas had promised the Alpha King to get such a measured response. I supposed I would find out in a week, when the Alpha came back for me. My stomach churned at the thought of finding out.

“Leave us,” Lukas commanded, turning back to face me. I struggled to my feet, gasping in pain and clutching at a chair in the process. Lukas watched me with a smirk as I hobbled past him.

Suddenly, lightning-fast, the Alpha’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, hard. Spinning me to face him, Lukas drew me to him and, with a cruel glint in his eye, raised my hand to his lips. He kissed the back of my hand lightly, almost gently, before winking at me.

“One week, Ember,” he murmured before dropping my hand and sauntering back to the table.

Confused and frightened, I limped as quickly as I could towards the door. I wanted to put as much distance as possible between us. Lukas had been rough and cruel, and he looked at me as if I was a toy to be played with and thrown away on a whim. But that kiss had been gentle, like the kiss of the stranger the night before.

But the hooded stranger–that couldn’t have been Lukas, could it?

I shuddered, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

I passed through the dining room door, closing it behind me, and then leaned my weight against it to rest before making the trek all the way to my chamber. With my ear against the door, I could hear Lukas’ voice.

“You were right, she must be quite beautiful behind those bruises. I remember you mentioning she’s not yet twenty-one. I take it you taught her some manners?”

“Absolutely,” my father replied. “You may have to remind her from time to time. Women are feral beasts when they come into their powers. She will need a firm hand.”

“Of course,” Lukas said smoothly. Even hidden behind the door, I flinched.

“Will you be leaving tonight?”

“Yes, but I have one request before I go, Alpha King.”

My father paused. “What is it?” he asked finally.

“I would like to spend some…quality time with your daughter this evening. Dinner, perhaps?”

No, I thought. Please say no!

The Alpha King barked out a laugh in response. “If you actually want to spend time with that worthless daughter of a breeder, then be my guest!”

Tears prickled at my eyes, I pushed away from the door, having heard enough.

It took me far too long to get back to my chamber. My feet were still in agony, but now I had fresh scrapes on my knees and palms from where I had landed in the dining room. By the time I made it to my room, I wanted nothing more than to get back into bed and never wake up.

Sleep, unfortunately, had to wait. One of the older maids was waiting for me, a grim expression on her face.

“Now, we can’t have you walking around like that, dear,” she said kindly, taking my arm and walking me to the chamber’s bathroom. “Let’s get you in the bath, and you’ll feel worlds better.”

She helped me out of my soiled dress and guided me into the bathtub. The warm water was soothing against my bruised ribs, though the fragrant soap she had added to the tub stung at my many open wounds. I closed my eyes and leaned back as the maid washed the blood from my face and freed my hair from the previous night’s tangled braids.

After I was clean, she helped me into a silk robe and then began to dress my wounds. She wrapped bandages around my hands and feet, murmuring kind words whenever I flinched away from her touch. As she worked, my eyes began to droop, and my mind started to drift. All I could think about was my bed.

At long last, she helped me to bed, where I fell asleep instantly.

There, I dreamt of the hooded stranger. I couldn’t see his face, even in the dream-world, but I could feel the gentle touch of his hands caressing me. They brushed my neck, the delicate dip of my throat, and trailed down between my breasts. Several Alphas had touched me there the night before, but this was different. This was sensual, passionate. His fingertips left fire in their wake as they trailed lower, tracing the pattern of my ribs and the flat expanse of my belly. And then they went lower, and lower still, until…

I woke with a start, bolting upright beneath the sheets. In the fog of sleep, I was half-convinced that somebody had been in my room, but in the afternoon sunlight, I could tell that I was alone. The hooded stranger had been nothing but a dream.

And what a dream! I blushed at the thought of it and shivered, pulling my silk robe tighter around myself. But the shivering didn’t stop, and I realized why–the maid had left a window open.

The cold outweighed my exhaustion, and I gingerly climbed out of bed and padded to the window, pulling the glass firmly shut.

It was only when I turned to go back to bed that a flash of color on the vanity caught my eye. Curiously, I picked the object up and held it up before me.

It was a single rose, the color of blood. Tied to the stem was a note that read, “Stay strong.”

I stared at it, wondering how it had gotten there. The cold months were descending on Silver Crescent, and the flowers had long since wilted. They now only grew in the southern reaches of Allusia. Who could have carried this delicate rose all the way from the south, just for me?

“The stranger!” I realized with an excited gasp. Who else would have left it? In a sudden frenzy, I threw the window open once more and stuck my head out. Around me, the castle walls were silent and unyielding. I strained to detect the flash of a cloak or the telltale scent of woodsmoke and leather, but there was no trace of my mysterious savior.

Eventually, I pulled myself back into the room and sat on the bed, clutching the rose to my chest. Did the stranger know that in one week’s time, Lukas would take me away for good?

“Stay strong,” I whispered to myself. “Stay strong.”