Sold to the Alpha (Alma Venus Shifter Brides 1)

“What do you want from me?” she managed to whisper. A human wouldn’t have heard her, because she had barely moved her lips, but she knew that the werewolves’ sharp hearing caught her words. “Please don’t…” she swallowed heavily. “Please don’t hurt me.”

The wolf got so near that he entered her personal space. Avelyn dropped the flashlight and her bag. She could feel the creature’s hot breath on her face, and she was painfully aware of the fact that the other werewolf had also closed in on her. She felt trapped. Like a bird in a cage. She kept her breath and closed her eyes, quietly surrendering to her faith. The wolf’s cold snout touched her cheek as he smelled her, then the creature retreated a couple of steps. Avelyn started breathing again, and opened her eyes when she felt the air was clear of the smell of fur. What she saw made her gasp.

The body of the huge gray wolf was twisting before her like something was breaking the creature’s bones from the inside. Avelyn heard cracks and saw how the fur was retreating inside the pores. The werewolf was turning to his human form right before her eyes, and, at that moment, the only thought she could focus on was that it was the most extraordinary thing she had ever seen. In less than a minute, before her stood a young man, his body lean, yet strong. His brown hair was sticking into his eyes, heavy with sweat. She noticed that his green eyes didn’t look so threatening anymore, but rather cold and indifferent. The other wolf had rounded her and she could now see him from the corner of her eye. He was still in his animal form, but he was a bit smaller than the gray one, and his fur was yellowish.

Avelyn couldn’t help but stare at the perfect body before her. The tall stranger was completely naked, his skin glowing in the faint moonlight the color of honey. There wasn’t a single hair on his chest, nor on his crotch, his limp cock resting on nicely sized balls. Avelyn’s eyes snapped back to his eyes, realizing that admiring his body was wrong. She expected to see some kind of reaction to her shameless inspection, but the wolf’s face was as straight as a statue’s.

“Miss Avelyn, we are here to take you back to Alma Venus,” his voice was well-measured and impersonal.

“What?” Avelyn stammered. She couldn’t seem to process his words. Nothing made sense.

“You must be tired, so, if you kindly allow my partner to carry your luggage, I will retake my wolf form so you can ride on my back.”

“Wait, no. I don’t understand. What’s happening? Who are you?”

“My name is Caleb, and this is Daniel.” The yellow wolf nodded his head lightly in a respectful form of salute. “Mr. Blackmane asked us to make sure you are safe until he gets back from London to pick you up.”

Avelyn’s blood started boiling with anger and frustration. “That bastard! He actually went as far as to leave his bodyguards to guard me.”

“I must say we didn’t expect this task to be so difficult.”

Was that a hint of a smile on the guy’s lips? A sarcastic smile. Avelyn would have loved to punch him in those pretty balls of his.

“Now, I hope you’ll agree there’s no point in making things more complicated than they already are.”

“And what if I don’t?” She knew it was pointless, but she had to show him how much she hated the situation.

“It wouldn’t matter,” he said impassively. “You’re coming with us either way.”

“Thought so…” Avelyn hung her head in defeat. She was cold, sweaty, and tired. The fear and panic which had coursed through her in the last two hours had left her void of any kind of energy or determination. She realized she was done fighting. For now, at least.

CHAPTER FOUR

Trapped

The break of dawn found Avelyn sitting on the windowsill, watching the young sun rays chase the clouds away. She had arrived at Alma Venus around 4 AM and found both Delyse and Claudia awake, snuggled in Claudia’s bed, chatting about what had happened. Amelia was sleeping peacefully in her own bed. Avelyn told them what she had gone through, but she didn’t have the energy to be upset about it anymore. She just wanted to take a long bath, change her clothes, and drink a huge cup of coffee. Now, as she was admiring how the garden glowed in the pale sunlight, Avelyn smiled bitterly at the thought that at least she hadn’t gone down easily. Of course, Miss Delacroix had been informed, and right before Caleb took Avelyn to her bedroom, she had promised her they would have a serious talk in the morning. Then, Caleb decided to stand guard at the door, while Daniel was making his rounds outside. As far as she could tell, they had no idea how she had managed to get so far into the forest, and she had no intention of letting them know.

A loud knock on the door made Amelia stir in her sleep.

“What? So early?” asked Claudia. “It’s only 7 AM.”

Avelyn went to open the door. It was only Caleb. She had been summoned to Miss Delacroix’s office, and she had to follow him downstairs right away. As she was walking next to him, Avelyn couldn’t help stealing glances once in a while, from the corner of her eye. Caleb was a handsome young man, of that there was no doubt. His hair was now neatly combed, and he was wearing a smart suit that made him look like a businessman. “Or a pretentious jerk,” she thought. She knew she was being mean. The guy didn’t talk much and was respectful towards her. He was just following orders, and he probably didn’t like it any more than she did.

Before she opened the door to Miss Delacroix’s office, Avelyn made sure defiance was firmly written across her face. But her defiance turned into a wave of anger and spite when she saw Max Blackmane standing in the middle of the room, hands crossed behind his back, his black eyebrows furrowed, his rigid posture giving him an air of authority. He was wearing a black suit that hugged his strong body in all the right places, and Avelyn had to admit he looked stunning. His black hair had been combed back, a single strand falling casually on his forehead. His lips were pursed, and his green eyes were throwing daggers at Avelyn.

“I’ll leave you two to talk,” said the headmistress and went past Avelyn.

She noticed the woman looked pale and tired. Monique Delacroix had always kept her composure even in the most difficult situations, but now she was twitchy and agitated. Avelyn was sure she

wanted to tell her a couple of things, and she was annoyed that Blackmane had taken that pleasure away from her. She heard the door close behind her. For the second time, she was alone with the werewolf. She took a deep breath, ready to unleash all her rage on the arrogant bastard who thought he could come into her life and ruin all her plans.

“You don’t get to speak, Avelyn,” he stopped her in a dead serious tone.

Avelyn was taken aback, not sure if it was because of his words or the way he had spoken them.

“Excuse me?”

Max took a couple of steps towards her, his hands still behind his back, his face straight and unforgiving.