Chapter 6

“You’re very quiet, Cara Mia,” Alexander commented as the lift doors purred open, letting in a flood of voices and pounding music.

From that moment onward, silence dominated the scene. Alexander's security team, recognized by Miah, stood near an empty table, reserving it for their employer. However, as soon as Alexander stepped onto the dance floor to approach the table, eager women rushed forward, surrounding him in a wave of excitement. Miah watched in astonishment as she was pushed back by the crowd, left standing while women giggled, reached out to touch him, and danced as if vying for his attention. It was clear why he exuded an air of being accustomed to being the center of attention; he truly was. And there was no doubt that he could have walked away from his admirers if he had wished.

Miah lifted her head high and left him to it, taking a seat behind the table where Bernabe was stationed. With two beautiful women on either side of him and visibly hanging on his every word, Alexander appeared to be in his element. And he was, Miah acknowledged, because Alpha Alexander was a notorious womaniser or, depending on one’s outlook, a famous connoisseur of her sex. Over the years, he had appeared in a lot of tabloid pictures, always with a different gorgeous woman clinging to him as he emerged from nightclubs, stood on yacht decks, or posed in front of the impressive Bluemoon building that housed his business empire in Italy. Although he was not known for fidelity or for the longevity of his affairs, a long list of fabulous beauties still accepted him on those demeaning terms.

Alexander looked around for Miah and could barely credit that she had simply walked off and sat down. In all his life, a woman had never treated him to such a display of indifference, and it infuriated him. They were getting married in a week! He had just organised the publicity release on that score, and there was his bride ignoring him, demonstrating her inability to meet the demands of the role she had been hired to play. No normal woman in love with a man would leave him with a bevy of willing and seductive beauties milling around him.

Stony-faced and unimpressed, Miah sipped vodka through compressed lips while Alexander danced and flirted with the collection of truly shameless and determined women. There was a fatal flaw in all that wealth, power, and potent male beauty, which Miah reflected with simmering scorn. Alpha Alexander Bluemoon had no manners and not the smallest idea of how to behave in public with the woman he was planning to marry. That was undoubtedly why he had to pay a woman to take on the job. No woman with any pride or dignity would tolerate such treatment, not to mention the arrogant assumption that she would be happy to watch a bunch of footballers chasing a stupid ball around a muddy pitch at their very first meeting. If it had been a real date,

Miah would already have labelled him a loser and headed for home. Now she was wondering how long she was obligated to sit in public, letting him make a fool of her while he dallied with the deferential type of oversexed woman he clearly preferred.

Miah’s fingertips began to drum a little tattoo on the tabletop while she watched Alpha Alexander, and she decided that she was leaving within the next ten minutes. She was irritated when someone blocked her view, and she glanced up in surprise as a handsome blond man in a suit spoke to her in spite of Bernabe’s attempts to head him off. He was asking her to dance. Wait, was it allowed for her to dance with another man? Well, why not? Why should she sit bored, like a prisoner, at her guarded table? Miah rose from her seat, slid out from behind the table, and off she went.

Alpha Alexander, who had little experience of women who fought back on his own level, was astounded to be forced to witness the reality that his future wife could dance in a very suggestive manner with another man. A law ranking werewolf. How dare he?

Dark eyes colder than a Siberian winter, he watched Miah wriggle her curvaceous hips and turn, her short skirt flying up to reveal the pink lace-edged net and a pair of very shapely, slender legs. His howled as he strode across the floor, and, with an aggressive jerk of his head at her partner, he cut in, lifting his hands to rest them on her slight shoulders.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?” he demanded rawly in the interval when the music paused before coming back again on an even more deafening beat.

Miah raised her brows and was stunned by the level of aggression in his behaviour. She was not at all surprised that the man she had been dancing with beat a safe, sensible retreat, for she suspected that Alexander was quite capable of getting physical. Alpha Alexander looked at his guard and sent a blank nod towards the man she danced with. Miah shivered; she knew they were talking in their minds, and he pitied the man. In an abrupt movement that took him by surprise, she shrugged off his hands and stalked off the floor. She was going home, and she didn’t care how he felt about it. She wasn’t prepared to spend one more minute in a domineering brute’s company!

Alpha Alexander's anger burned with disbelief and outrage as Miah's refusal to conform to his expectations clashed with his accustomed treatment from women. He followed after her, pulling out his cell phone to answer a buzzing call from the owner of the background screening firm, who informed him that there wasn't enough time before the wedding for a thorough check on Miah. Observing Miah's determined figure ahead, her skirt swirling and shoulders defiant, Alexander decided to abandon the background check altogether. In that moment, he resolved to have her in his bed, consequences be damned.

Miah stopped at the coat-check facility, for she had no intention of drawing down Mirabella’s ire by abandoning her sister’s much-prized coat.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Alexander growled from several feet away.

“I’m going home. I don’t date Neanderthal men, and the only place you belong is a cave!” Miah sizzled back at him without hesitation.

He frowned. “You’re not on a date,” Alexander reminded her, biting cool, reluctantly amused by the ‘Neanderthal man’ crack, but also offended, even though nothing would have made him betray that crucial fact.

In an impatient movement, he stepped forward and addressed the coat check attendant. “Get a move on,” he urged. “We are in a hurry.”

“Don’t be so rude!” Miah launched at him. “She’s not feeling well. She doesn’t need you barking orders at her like she’s in the army.”

Alexander's amusement dissipated, replaced by a deep breath as he struggled to contain his simmering anger. Bernabe and his men stood by the exit, captivated by the unfolding scene. Who was this woman to dare dictate his behaviour, to criticise him, the alpha? To even threaten to leave him? He glanced at the startled coat-check girl, who coughed into her handkerchief while attempting to retreat into her space. What kind of woman cared about the well-being and feelings of a lowly employee? A more compassionate one than the selfish companions he typically surrounded himself with, he reluctantly admitted. Her selfless concern reminded him of Ysabelle, who had always been there for neighbours in need. Perhaps, with his guidance, this woman could become the kind of wife he desired, one suitable for his grandmother's approval. Damn it! He hadn't anticipated that.

Miah observed as Alpha Alexander placed a substantial banknote on the counter, silently expressing regret. She hoped the recipient would boldly reject it and demand verbal apologies, but unsurprisingly, the girl didn't. Instead, she gratefully stuttered her thanks and swiftly pocketed the money, leaving Miah astounded. Taking the coat, Alexander handed it to Miah with a flourish.

As she slipped her arms into the coat, she tensed when his warm fingers brushed against her skin, lifting her hair from where it had become trapped under the collar. The gentle touch ignited a fire within her, reminiscent of their past intimate encounters, causing her body to react with a surge of desire. Feeling exposed and overwhelmed by her own desires, she found herself unable to move.

Alexander eased her back against his big, powerful frame and ran lean, hands down her sleeves, to lift and enclose her hands in the warm, firm grip of his. Unable to maintain her rigid stance and wildly aware of his proximity, she trembled.

“The supernatural press are waiting outside, and you are about to enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame,” he murmured lazily, the rich, dark tone of his deep voice feathering like a caress along her spine. “It’s time to start acting and look happy to be with me.”

Miah was bemused by that information. The press? She felt out of her depth and knew that, most ironically, her sister would have loved such a moment in the public eye. “So I can’t slap you, then?”

Alexander vented a roughened masculine laugh that made her more than ever conscious of his sexual pulling power. ‘No, my love.”

“Or sulk?”

“I wouldn’t put up with it, Cara Mia. Just like I won’t stand another man laying a single finger on any part of you while you’re supposed to be mine,” he added with a studious casualness that somehow made what he was saying all the more riveting. “With me, there are boundaries, and you must respect them. Do I need to say any more?”