Chapter 3

Alex

Today is a shit day, and I’m close to punching the tiled wall as I stand under the water stream inside the bathroom. I’m angry at life and also angry at myself for feeling this way. I’m beyond pissed off when I should be happy. 

Amber, my future wife, and mate, is finally here at my estate, and she is just as cute and lovely as before...perhaps a tad bit smaller than my memories allow me to remember? I can’t recall her being quite as delicate as she is now, even though I suppose she can’t have shrunk. 

Though, it’s not like I mind her size. What I do mind, however, is the fact that she immediately started undressing after I jokingly asked her to. Like, what the actual flipping fuck?! Would she start undressing that easily to any random man that asked her to? 

Groaning to myself, I turn off the water and head into my bedroom, freezing when I see my older brother Zeke lounging in my bed with a towel wrapped around his head.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!”

“Hmm, what am I doing here?” Zeke repeats the questions and grabs his chin with a thoughtful expression. “I guess I’m here to give you a piece of advice.”

I glare at him. “Piece of advice about what?” Why is my brother so fucking weird?

“Mhm,” he smirks and lazily spreads out all over my bed like a tanning cat or something. It looks like he is doing yoga, and I make a mental note to change my bedsheets later. “Your mate is afraid of you.”

I pause. “Are you talking about Amber?” 

He must be talking about her, but I’m still uncertain. Like why the fuck would she be scared of me? I’ve been nothing but nice to her. I carried her bags to her room, showed her there, and sure, I lost my temper at the end, but it’s not like I yelled at her. Zeke is clearly wrong about this. 

“Who else would I be talking about, dumbass?”

I growl. “Careful...”

“Oh, I’m not scared of my little brother,” Zeke snorts. “You can growl all you want, but I won’t stop calling you a dumbass when you are one, dumbass.”

“I’m half a foot taller than you and way stronger too. I could end you in a heartbeat.”

“But you wouldn’t because you love me,” he laughs when I narrow my eyes at him. “Ah, come on, lighten up, will you? I’m just joking with you.”

I park my arms over my chest. “Why do you think Amber is afraid of me?”

“Uh, because you’re a grunting, scary-looking motherfucker even in the face of a Lycan, and she is a werewolf, so in her eyes, you’re this big, bad giant with violent tendencies.”

“I’m not violent!”

“Remind me how you took over the Delta territory last week.”

A blush works its way over my face, and I frown, refusing to meet my brother’s eyes as I mutter, “I tore Alpha Sigmund’s head from his body...”

"Point made," Zeke grins. “You’re strong, violent, and since you’re not with Amber right now and trying to win her heart, Sebastian or I or might steal her away. It’s not too late for her to pick one of us, and if she chose me, I would become Alpha again. A role I definitely wouldn’t turn down.”

My mood turns bitter since it’s true what Zeke is saying. The one who marries Amber is the one who will be the Alpha of the Lycanrock pack. Since I’m betrothed to her, I was given the role of Alpha almost five years ago. But while I’m technically the Alpha now, that could all change if Amber picked one of my brothers to be with instead. It’s all because my father has decided that the brother who brings the werewolves and the Lycans together by marrying Amber shall be the Alpha. Oh, and there is also the fact that since I secured so many territories lately, being Alpha of the Lycanrock pack also means being the Lycan King. 

I growl again, louder this time. “You’re my brother. You would never steal Amber away from me.”

Zeke glances up at me. “If she, for some reason, wouldn’t like you, then I most definitely would try and charm her. She is a sweet girl and deserves to be taken care of.”

I snort. “I beg to differ.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I jokingly asked her to take off her clothes earlier, she was going to do it. That means that she is easy and—”

Zeke interrupts me by gasping and staring at me as I’ve suddenly grown two heads. “Oh my god, you’re seriously such a fucking idiot.”

“What the fuck, man?” I approach my bed, towering over Zeke with my eyes narrowed. “Why are you calling me an idiot? What the hell did I do?!”

“You scared your future mate, you dumbass,” he sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “Fuck...this is worse than I thought. Maybe I should charm that poor girl... I can’t believe she got stuck with you, of all people.”

“I have literally no idea what you’re thinking about.”

“She is terrified of you, Alex!” Zeke gestures at me as if there is something wrong with me. I look down at my body, frowning when I still don’t get it.

“Why are you pointing at me like that?”

“Okay, let me explain this in a way that even your idiotic brain can understand. One, you have changed a lot since Amber last saw you, Alez. Two, you’re a Lycan, a creature most werewolves are afraid of. Three, you’re the Lycan King, and four, you didn’t exactly welcome her with open arms—Amber was probably scared shitless, and then you go and ask her to undress? The poor thing probably thought that was expected of her since she will become your future mate.”

I widen my eyes, finally realizing what Zeke is trying to say: I messed up big time. 

“Fuck...”

“Indeed,” Zeke comments. “What did you do when she started undressing?”

“...I left her room after stopping her from undressing.”

Zeke blinks repeatedly before massaging his eyelids with his fingertips as if trying to ward off a headache. “Can you just get out of my room, please?”

“This is my room.”

“Whatever,” he dismisses me with his hand. “Leave me and go and find Amber. She is probably crying because her future husband walked out on her when she was about to get naked. Don’t forget that she is a woman, and all of them are very emotional beings.”

“Got it.”

“Go on then, don’t just stand there!”

“Fine, fine…” I mutter. 

“Good boy.”

With a heavy heart, I leave my room and head in the direction of where Amber is staying before our wedding. I can’t believe it, but I’m actually feeling remorseful. Why must I always ruin everything? 

I ball my hands into fists and try to calm myself before wrapping my hand around the doorknob, twisting it to enter Amber’s room without knocking.