Close to the alpha

"What are you talking about?" Isabella frowned. She looked at the beautiful stretch of workers' buildings. She wasn't going to stay in one of those? They looked so comfy! 

"You won't be staying here," Margaux voiced out the young lady's thoughts. "It seems Alpha Damon wants direct contact when he needs you. Come with me." 

Isabella could swear that she saw a glint of confusion in Margaux's eyes. 

They walked back to the mansion with Isabella getting curious looks from some of the guards stationed in the pack. 

Isabella found herself inside the large mansion again. 

Together, they walked up the stairs. 

Like it had been the first time, Isabella's heartbeat increased. The feeling of fear that washed over her wasn't one she could control. When they had gone halfway up the stairs, Margaux stopped walking and turned back. 

"There are some rules you must abide by, and Master Ralph said he will personally lay them out to you."

Rules again? 

Why so many rules? And why Master Ralph? 

Isabella wasn't fazed. She had great self-control and was very slow to anger. Rules didn't make her worried. Men were easy to deal with—at least, she had conquered more than a few. 

What worried her was the environment she was in. 

Alpha Damon, as he was popularly called in and out of the pack, was a ruthless man. People feared him so much that it was rumoured he could bring a man down with just a stare. Others said that glimpsing his facial features could throw one into a state of panic. 

For so long, a lot of rumours about the Alpha had been circulating. It was hard to tell which one was true.

Isabella frowned when they got to the top of the stairs. It was almost unrecognizable... 

Gone was the dark and eerie atmosphere. The overhead lamps attached to the ceiling were on, gleaming brightly on the previously dark corridor. 

It gave Isabella the proficiency to measure just how large the corridor—and the entire house —was. She didn't want to think of what laid within the doors on the other side, or the creatures that might have been stored in the empty rooms within the mansion. 

Why erect such a magnanimous structure when only two people were going to live in it? 

As far as Isabella could see, only Ralph and the Alpha lived within the mansion, and they didn't even stay on the same floor. 

The light in the corridor stopped at exactly two doors away from the room that supposedly seemed to be Isabella's dwelling place.

Further from that point was the darkness Isabella met the first time. Looking into the dark space was like starting right into the depths of a pit, a dark and deep one that had one scared of venturing closer. 

But... Why didn't the light from the point they stood reflect to the other side, even if just a fraction? 

The point where darkness took over on the corridor seemed to have been cut away from the illumination with a straight line that didn't give room for the passage of even a single glimmer of light. 

"It feels nice to see this place like this again," Margaux whispered and exhaled softly. "I can't believe Alpha Damon did this." For no specific reason, she was whispering, and Isabella found herself doing the same. 

"Look at that point." The young woman pointed to the line where the light stopped. "Why can't the reflection of the light go past that point?" 

"Magic. Albus's powers are not to be joked with." Margaux stared into the darkness. Sadness flashed across her eyes. The look did not last long. "Come on, I've got to get you settled in before getting back to work." 

Isabella swallowed all the remaining questions bubbling within her like boiling soup and followed Margaux into the room, her heart beating fast as she stepped into another world. 

Isabella stood at the doorway, rooted to a spot as her eyes scanned the space around her. 

The arrangement made it look like a sitting room—that was the only comparison Isabella could spare—and a door on the right made her aware of the presence of more than just the wide space she was in. 

Wide space? Wide wasn't the word... 

No, it wasn't. 

The word Isabella was searching for came when she took in the view of three foamy couches and a stone fireplace facing them. 

Exquisite. Yes, that was the word. Exquisite. Cozy. Warm. 

And maybe lavish. 

Isabella knew she could never afford a place of this nature even if she worked for three months straight without blinking her eyes. 

This was the... apartment the alpha wanted her to stay in? 

"This is considerably enormous for a maid," Margaux was saying and accessing the place. She went to the door at the right and pushed it. She wasn't aware that Isabella was close behind until the young lady gasped. 

"Oh my God!" 

Margaux didn't bother turning to know the cause of the gasp. Every struggling person who was offered such luxury would definitely be shocked at first. 

The bedroom was no less luxurious. 

From the silk curtains and overly large bed to a large mirror and dresser, the two women were left to gawk in awe. 

What crowned it all was the perfect blue and white combination the entire place was painted. 

It was like stepping feet into a magical world, beautiful and colourful, a huge contrast to the gloaming atmosphere outside the room. 

"This is too much," Margaux was saying in disbelief. "Do you think you can stay here alone?" 

Isabella suppressed the need to scoff. She was used to being alone. Hell, she stayed alone for a lot of periods in her life. 

"I will be fine."

Isabella tested the bed. The feeling of the soft foam beneath her behind made her blink in disbelief. So she wasn't dreaming?!

"I need to go now." Eyes of disbelief still roamed around the room. "Come to me later, we will discuss bringing your things over." 

"Yes, Madam Margaux." Isabella bowed slightly. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity." 

"You should be thanking the alpha." She whirled on her feet and stopped at the door, her hand resting on the knob. "Just so you know, the alpha's room is about two doors away... Keep it quiet." 

Isabella nodded as Margaux walked out. She collapsed on one of the couches in the sitting room and added all the information she had gathered about the alpha starting with the last one: 

Keep it quiet—The alpha preferred peace and silence. Also, he disliked tardiness; he had said so himself with that richly-enticing voice of his... Isabella trailed off to recollect if she had seen anything of the alpha's features in the dark room. 

Aside from the eyes that pulled her heart close, she didn't see anything else. 

Isabella sighed. She should be focusing on ways to carry out her duties to the contentment of Alpha Damon, and not fantasizing about him in vastly inappropriate ways.

Whenever Ralph laid down the rules to her, she would add them to her list. 

Oh, she had almost forgotten the law to keep out of trouble, fights and quarrels. 

That she could do.

"This is beautiful," Isabella whispered to herself and walked to one of the windows. Close to think of it, there was a balcony, one that gave a broad view of the pack's square where some warriors were practicing with fiersome horses that rented the air with galloping and neighs. 

She didn't need a Wizard to tell her that the men were virile and well-trained for battle. 

Their prowess was clearly written in the skillful handling of the horses as they raised them on their hind-limbs and showed off newly-learnt skills; and in their ripped bodies. 

Isabella swallowed when she noticed that none of them had a shirt on. 

The dry-leather trousers did very little to hide their groin and outlines of their... 

Gods... 

Isabella couldn't stop staring at the mass of muscles and manliness that rocketed to and from the field, chest heaving and 'cakes' bouncing against the back of the energetic horses as they galloped around the field...

"This isn't happening." Isabella tore her eyes away from them and ran in, shutting the double-glass balcony doors. 

She had a lot of encounters with wolves in the past, and one thing followed their specie. 

Sexual appeal. 

It was difficult to look at a wolf—male or female—and not think of sex. The goddess was very patient when molding them.

From all the information gathered about wolves, it was very easy to discern that they had great libidos... 

The joy of the new apartment fully settled within Isabella when she got to the bedroom again. It didn't feel real... Iora would literally scream out her lungs if she was where Isabella was right now.

The excited lady had just floated back to the sitting room when a shrill ring shattered the peace of the air.

Isabella gasped...