"Your Master"

"Oh please," I scoffed. "The job was done. You had your tea the way you liked it. Why should it matter who made the tea?"

"I am telling you that in future, I will not tolerate such." It was when he said this, that I noticed he had taken off his tailcoat and his shirt was unbuttoned. I looked away quickly. 

"Oh, how nice!" I exclaimed, my voice laced with sarcasm. "Maybe in the future, you should get someone to train me to do certain tasks that I am not used to doing."

"What have I told you about respect?" He stood up coolly and walked to my front. I took a step back and he moved forward. "I am the Alpha of this pack. Your master," he hissed. 

With shaky legs, I moved backward until I was against the wall. Previously, I had a comeback for everything he had to say but suddenly, his aura felt too intimidating and I could not respond. 

He leaned against me, his angry eyes boring deep into my soul, daring me to defy him. I whimpered slightly, trying to shrink into the wall behind me. 

His gaze softened a bit and his eyes dropped to my lips. Instinctively, I bit on it and avoided his eyes, swallowing hard. I could feel the warmth emanating from his body and my eyes traveled to the lines of abs on his stomach and the v shape that went down his trousers.

Something strange stirred within me as I observed his physical features. I wanted to reach out and use my fingers to trace his body. Those were urges I had never felt before. 

"What are you staring at?" His voice was husky as he asked this question and his eyes were clouded by something that I could not fathom. 

He did not give me room to answer. His fingers were on my lips and he dipped his head, his lips only inches away from mine. Realizing how compromising our position was, he cleared his throat and stepped away from me.

"Get lost."

*+*+*+*+*+*+*

Cyrus demanded me to be by his side every time. 

I had thought that as his slave, he would exclude me from certain things. Like when he had political conversations with people but that was not the case. 

"Their government will pay a fine if any strays are caught here. A heftier fine if they should attack the humans amongst us. I seriously wonder why these wolves can't stick to eating animals and decide to go for humans.

“It is a cowardly move,” Cyrus agreed. “Imagine attacking defenseless creatures.”

There was a bit of silence before Cyrus spoke again. 

"The same goes for us does it not? If there's a stray wolf in their lands."

"Yes," Theo sighed. "It took a long time to agree. The argument was that a stray Northern wolf was more dangerous than a stray Southern wolf."

Cyrus snorted. "We won't be dangerous if those greedy bastards did not steal our slaves and kill them just to taste human meat."

"I suppose so."

"Another thing," Theo said. "One of their men needs your blood for healing."

"Why would I give them?" 

"We are trying to avoid a war here Cyrus," Theo groaned. 

"Which wolf did he try to kill? That is the reason right?"

"He didn't try. He and Ava got into a squabble and she scratched him. His blood is contaminated with the chemical she uses to manicure her nails."

Cyrus chuckled. "Then Ava should give him her blood."

"She's being difficult as always. Please."

"Fine," Cyrus rolled his eyes. He pulled out a golden dagger from his pocket and stabbed his finger, allowing blood to drop into a wine glass. "That should do."

I was amazed at how the blood suddenly stopped flowing. 

"I believe we are done here." Cyrus stood up and then turned to me. "I am going to hunt. I shall be back in a few hours, make sure a bath is prepared for me by then."

Cyrus's POV

I had no intentions of hunting but I did not want to be in proximity of Agnes for a while. It had only been three days since we met, and a day of her being here, and somehow she had managed to stir feelings that I had not experienced in a very long time. Feelings that I had not experienced in a hundred years.

I tried to play off the sparks that had been between us earlier in the study. During my meeting with Theo, I tried my best to ignore her presence and act like it had never happened but a part of my subconscious could not get her off my mind. There was something about Agnes that intoxicated me. 

Could it be her smell? Or the way her * shaped blue eyes called me. Or was it the way her pouty lips moved when she spoke? Or the grace with which she walked? I had no idea. 

I walked away from the castle as briskly as I could, shooing the guards who tried to follow me away. I needed space and time to clear my mind from her. 

The evening breeze was cool against my skin as I walked towards my garden. On getting to the gates, I pushed them open and walked towards Agatha's grave standing in front of a fountain. 

It had been a long while since I had visited her grave and a wave of guilt washed over me as I remembered the feelings that I had experienced today. I felt guilty, as though I had betrayed Agatha for feeling that way about another woman. 

After Agatha's death, all forms of romantic feelings or feelings of lust left me. Despite the constant pressure of the elders to find a mate or wife who would give me an heir, I could not stomach romance. 

She was the only woman I had ever loved and I had prayed for years for the moon goddess to bring her back to me but my prayers had not been answered. Since then, I had given up hope and told myself to only cherish memories of her. However, those memories were painful to recall because of how it ended so I stopped visiting her grave. It was too painful for me to do so. 

"Forgive me," I whispered, plucking a rose from a nearby flower and laying it on the ground gently. "Forgive me," I whispered again.