Chapter 5

"Come here, Miah, sit down," the alpha insisted, his Italian accent adding a melodic lilt to his words as he invited Miah to join him. His wolf seemed to echo his excitement, yearning to claim her. Miah, feeling a hint of shyness, accepted his invitation and settled in.

As Alexander watched his football team play, he casually inquired, "Do you follow football?"

Miah shook her head, admitting, "No, not at all, Mr. Alpha, sir," her words causing a raised brow from Alexander and a furrowed brow from his guards.

"Call me Alpha or Alexander," he chuckled, his attire reflecting a casual elegance with his pushed-up sleeves and dishevelled jacket. "Okay, alpha," Miah replied softly, noting his untidiness and sensing his aversion to constraint. His authoritative presence exuded a restrained energy, akin to an impending storm.

Alexander was taken aback by Miah's indifference to football, a stark contrast to the women who typically feigned interest in the sport for his sake. "You don’t like football?" he probed, hoping for a different answer.

"I’ve never really thought much about it. I wasn’t into sports at school; I prefer CSI and Law and Order," Miah admitted as she tidied up his jacket and settled into her seat. She resisted the urge to pick up his tie, reminding herself that she wasn’t his maid. "I wasn’t the athletic type."

Her delicate frame seemed incongruous with the image of her on a football field. Alexander signalled for a drink, and as it arrived, Miah accepted a glass, holding back her questions to avoid exposing her lack of knowledge and jeopardising her facade. Sipping cautiously, she tried not to grimace at the potent taste of the drink.

“You don’t like vodka either?” Alexander quipped, wondering why she was so uptight, sitting perched on the very edge of the sofa and maintaining a careful distance from him.

At that comment, which strongly suggested that she was not meeting his expectations, Miah deemed it wisest to tip her head back and down what remained in the glass in one go. It was like swallowing flames, and she thought her burning throat would never be the same again. Another bottle arrived with a fresh pair of glasses. “Try this one and see if it is more to your taste—it’s made in Russia,” Alexander informed her lazily.

“Thanks, um, I—I don’t drink an awful lot.” Miah continued to clutch her empty glass to make it easier to avoid the offer of another.

“You should enjoy alcohol while you still can,” he told her.

“I wish I could, but I'm just human.” Miah wondered what on earth she was supposed to make of that piece of advice. What did he mean? That if she signed on the dotted line as his wife, she would no longer be allowed to drink? The sudden outcry from the men in the room, accompanied by a full-throated roar from the spectators of the game on the television, stole her attention.

“Oh, someone’s scored, have they?” she commented brightly, forgetting that odd remark of his in her eagerness to make conversation. Nobody needed to tell her that her sister, Mirabella, would not have been sitting there by his side as quiet as a little mouse. “Well, that was exciting. Are they, um, a werewolf team or just human?”

“Just human, and yeah, Miah,” Alexander said gently, “it was the other team, not mine, that scored.”

Colour flamed in her cheeks. “Oh, dear, my bad.”

Alexander smirked and closed long fingers around the small hand curling into the sofa by her side, using that connection to propel her across the space separating them.

“What are you doing?” Miah gasped, instant panic flooding through her.

Unperturbed, Alexander drew her right up to him and brushed the golden hair back from her cheeks with confident fingers. With her big eyes and fluctuating colour, she was breathing rapidly. It was not the flirtatious or amusing reaction he expected to receive from an experienced woman, and he was intrigued. “What do you think, sweetheart?” he mocked.

She collided with dark eyes flaring lustrous gold, and a tight clenching sensation in her pelvis made her shift uncomfortably in her seat. She gazed up at him, terrified that any attempt to go into retreat or call a halt would have the same provocative effect on his intrinsically dominant nature as a gauntlet thrown down in challenge. As her nipples tightened into stinging prominence, she sucked in a ragged breath and pressed her thighs tensely together. She knew what was happening to her, and she didn’t like it at all. Her body was attracted to him, not her brain, she told herself angrily. Her brain had nothing to do with the desire that was assailing her on a seductive tide.

"I like your scent, and my wolf agrees," Alexander confessed, his voice low and husky.

"Um—can you really talk to your wolf?" She listened eagerly, her curiosity palpable.

"Well, my wolf and I are one. Think of it like talking to myself and agreeing with myself," he explained.

"I understand," she nodded.

"You seem interested in learning about my kind," he observed.

"Shouldn't I be?"

"Indeed, you should; in fact, I've arranged a class for you to learn about our laws," he revealed.

"Okay," she sighed, accepting the offer.

"You look very sexy when you blush; did you know that?" Alexander whispered, his finger tracing the curve of her lip as his body responded eagerly to her closeness. "Come home with me tonight. Why wait?"

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Miah wondered, her aquamarine eyes widening even further as she quickly lowered her lashes in self-defence. They had only met a few minutes ago, and he actually thought she would be willing to sleep with him tonight? He expected her to sleep with him. He must be asking why they should wait for the wedding. If Mirabella had been sitting beside her at that moment, Miah would have definitely been tempted to strangle her twin. What kind of arrangement had Mirabella signed up for with this man? And how could Miah challenge his assumptions without revealing her ignorance and risking being exposed as an impostor?

"Um—I'm speechless."

The atmosphere cracked like a tightly strung musical instrument. Amidst the frantic thoughts racing inside Miah's head, Alexander pulled her close and passionately kissed her. It was intense, sweeter than sweet, and hotter than flames. A surge of energy rippled through her slender body, setting off fireworks of sensation. She had never experienced a kiss like this before, and its power shocked her. As he deepened the kiss, she shuddered with wicked pleasure. The heat between her thighs intensified, and she longed for even closer contact. Her fingers tangled in his thick black hair as she yearned to press herself against his lean, muscular body.

"Enough, I can almost guess what you're thinking," Alexander chuckled, gently moving her away from him as he examined her flushed face and unfocused eyes with satisfaction.

"Werewolves can read minds?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"No, we can't, but I can almost see the gears turning in your head. Trust me, you're not hard to read," he explained.

She was undeniably passionate, and he appreciated a woman who could lose herself in his embrace. He couldn't help but imagine her tiny, alluring body sprawled across his bed, and suddenly, the wedding he had been dreading seemed much more appealing. The prospect of getting his wife pregnant promised to be an entertaining endeavour, to say the least.

"Okay, well—that's embarrassing," Miah muttered, feeling disoriented and unable to comprehend how she had allowed him to kiss her without putting an end to their embrace. She was completely bewildered.

"The game," Alexander said succinctly, as if it were the only thing that mattered at that moment.

Miah almost lifted one of the bottles off the table and brained him with it. He was talking about football! Was football more important than she was? Her soft, swollen mouth snapping shut like a steel strap, Miah murmured sweetly, “I like a man who has his priorities in the right place.” Jesus, what the hell was she thinking? Surely this alpha would sever her head now, she thought as she closed her eyes.

Alexander would have suspected sarcasm if it were not for the fact that women were invariably too busy trying to impress him to snipe at him. He turned his attention back to the television screen. “I’ll take you down to the nightclub when the game is over.”

The colour in her cheeks high, Miah stared at the television screen and childishly hoped his team would lose. She had let him kiss her in front of a room full of men. She had completely forgotten where she was, who she was with, and who she was supposed to be pretending to be. How could she have behaved like that with a man she barely knew? An Alpha? A powerful one? God, she must be so crazy.

And would he just have pushed Mirabella away and gone back to watching his stupid game? Why, all of a sudden, was she thinking like a jealous, insecure teenager? Wouldn’t she be better engaged, wondering why Alpha Alexander Bluemoon had suggested she spend the night with him? Most jobs, even unusual ones, were conducted in a more professional and considerably less intimate manner.

Alexander could feel her boredom, and it irritated him. It was bad enough that his team was losing. Indeed, in spite of the millions he had poured into his football club, it was a bloodbath on that pitch! He began to explain the game to her, astonished by a level of ignorance that ensured that she even had to ask the meaning of the simplest of terms. No, she definitely wasn’t sporty, and she had clearly made no effort to discover his interests and prepare for them so that she could be a good companion. He was annoyed that she had been so lazy. No Bluemoon woman would have made such a cardinal error when it came to pleasing a man. On the other hand, he was convinced she would please him very much in bed, and he was strong enough to mould her like wax into what he wanted in every other field.

Miah accompanied him into the lift. “This place is big—does this belong to the pack?”

“Yes, everything belongs to me,” he said with a dark tone that made Miah shiver.

“Okay!” she winced.

"I expanded it to include VIP rooms for the Bluemoon officers. It's quite popular. Our human and werewolf staff are trained to meet the expectations of the Bluemoon pack," Alexander explained, using the mirrored walls to observe her from every angle, finding her pleasing no matter how he looked. Though she was petite, her curves were enticing, making up for her lack of height.

"Is it okay to hire humans then? I thought, I mean—you guys value your privacy," she asked.

"Yes, we do value our privacy. That's why humans have strict contracts and know not to upset me. They understand the consequences," Alexander clarified.

"You mean you'd kill them?" she frowned.

Alexander chuckled. "Where did you hear that? We don't kill humans, as long as they stay out of trouble. We have laws to follow, similar to human laws, and we uphold justice accordingly."

"Good to know. So, you own this club?" Miah redirected, avoiding his gaze and not minding asking the same question again.

"Yes, I do. There wasn't a club in Italy that could meet my expectations," Alexander confirmed.

Miah had never encountered such a confident man before. His boldness seemed to define him. He had high expectations and wouldn't settle for less, which was why he had purchased his own nightclub and tailored it to his liking. Such a demanding and confident man must have found a failed first marriage unacceptable. Did this explain why he was taking a businesslike approach to his marriage? How about their laws? His mate? Miah doubted it, especially since this marriage was supposed to last only a couple of years at most. Normal marriages don't begin with a set divorce date. So, why was he even bothering to get married?