*Isla*

“I’m… what?”

I need to sit down. I find a way to sit on the bed, struggling to catch my breath, the pajamas I was getting ready to put on forgotten on the bed next to me since I’ve heard Poppy’s words.

Poppy is looking at me from across the bedroom, a puzzled expression on her face.

“You… didn’t know?” she asks me. “How is it that you didn’t know? How did you get here?”

“I…” I feel my face flush as I lean back against the pillows, trying to process everything.

How is this possible?

That’s what Alpha Ernest sold me to Alpha Maddox to do?

To be his breeder?

“I’m so sorry,” Poppy says, coming over and resting her hand on my leg. “I just assumed that you either had done this before or had taken it upon yourself to make this into your career. I had no idea you had no idea, dear. And don’t think that I was judging you because of it! I mean… who wouldn’t want to be a breeder for Alpha Maddox?” She smiles at me and waggles her eyebrows, and I know that she’s trying to make me laugh, but it’s not working.

I want to bury my face in my hands and cry.

I think of my poor mother back home and how hard she’s worked for all of her children, how my dad saved when I was little to be able to afford to bring us all to a new land to start over after political insurrection made us flee his homeland.

How I’ve spent so many hours slaving away at so many jobs over the last two years trying to erase this debt that just keeps mounting because of my brother… through absolutely no fault of his own, bless his soul.

And this is where I end up.

My mom would be so disappointed in me. When my parents find out that this is what I’m doing, that this is what Alpha Ernest has traded me off to do… they will disown me.

No, they are too sweet for that, but they will be so disappointed in me, they will never be able to look me in the eye again.

Tears begin to stream down my face. I can’t help it. Poppy wraps her arm around me. “I am so sorry, sweetie. You know, Alpha King Maddox is scary on the outside, but I bet if you tell him your situation, that you didn’t know, I bet he will let you go. I’m sure, however, you got here, he’ll reverse it.”

I think about her words for about five seconds and then shake my head. “I can’t do that,” I say, sitting up and wiping my eyes on the back of my hand. Poppy grabs a tissue for me from the nightstand. “Thank you.”

I dry my face and try to get myself under control before I tell her, “My Alpha brought me here. My family owes him a lot of money. I went to him this morning to see if there was any work I could do to pay off our debt, and he brought me here. If I go back now, he will not be fulfilling his promise to Alpha Maddox, and I won’t be fulfilling my promise to him. So… my family will either still owe him money, or he’ll make me become some sort of sex slave to him.” The thought of servicing Alpha Ernest makes my blood run cold.

“I take it that your Alpha is not as… fetching as the king?” Poppy asks, and I nearly throw up all of the food I just ate.

I make a face and shake my head, and she laughs, which makes me laugh.

“Well, of all of the jobs to have, honey, it could be worse. I mean… at least he looks like a god and not like your Alpha,” she says with a shrug.”

I want to think that that’s true, and it is, but still… the idea of Alpha Maddox on top of me, of my naked body underneath his as he enters me…. No, I can’t let my mind go there. I spit out, “I’m a virgin.”

“Oh,” she says, her eyes wide. She opens her mouth, closes it, and then says, “Oh,” again. “I guess… that’s why you’re worth so much, perhaps?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her. “My mother told me a bit. I have a lot of brothers and sisters, so I know how it all works. But… that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it.”

“How old are you, sweetie?” Poppy asks.

“Twenty,” I tell her. “Just barely. My birthday was a few weeks ago.”

She smiles. “I’m twenty-three, and I’ve been with two different men. Neither of them was my mate. I haven’t found him yet. It’s okay, though. It can be fun. Well, it depends on the man. Anyway, I’m sure, with the king… it’ll be pretty amazing.”

I can only stare at her. “But… what about having a baby? And giving birth? And then what? I suppose he’ll hire a nanny or something, and I’ll leave here. I’ll go back to my pack, and I’ll never see my baby again?”

Poppy sits down near my feet and lets out a sigh. “Yes, I do think that’s how it normally works. I don’t have a lot of experience with breeders, but I do know of another maid who used to work at Alpha Samuel’s estate in his pack lands, and he had a few breeders. Each one had a child, and every time, he’d send them away.” She looks at me, a sad expression in her eyes. “Maybe knowing it ahead of time will help you to keep from getting too attached.”

“Maybe,” I say, but I doubt it. I don’t think I can carry a baby for nine months and not love it completely.

But then… I don’t think I can make love to a man and not love him either.

“Why doesn’t he just find another Luna?” I ask. “I know what you said about him loving his first wife and mate so much that he swears he’ll never have another wife, but I can’t imagine what could’ve possibly happened to Luna Rebecca that has made him decide he’d never fall in love again.”

Poppy makes a face, and I’m not sure what it means. “No one knows for sure what happened to her,” she says, her voice a whisper.

I look around. No one is here, so I don’t know why she is whispering. I shrug. “Well, it couldn’t be so awful that he thinks he should be forced to live the rest of his life alone. If he is a good man, as you say, then he shouldn’t have a breeder. He should find a worthy woman, an Alpha’s daughter, and marry again. He deserves a second chance at happiness.”

Poppy shrugs. “Perhaps, but not if the rumors are true…”

“Rumors?” I ask. “What rumors?”

“About what happened to Luna Rebecca,” she says, still whispering.

I am getting tired of playing guessing games. “And what, exactly, is that?” I ask her.

Poppy clears her throat and says, “That he killed her.”

*Maddox*

“This ham is delightful. I absolutely love the flavor. Did your chef prepare it especially for me, Alpha?”

The sound of the insipid girl seated across from me blathering on about ham is making me want to tear off all of my clothes and shift right here on the table. I want to let my wolf run free, to grunt and growl and howl at the moon, and if my sharp claws and long fangs should happen to make contact with her pasty white skin and make a tear or two, well, sometimes these things cannot be helped….

“Alpha King Maddox?” she repeats, as if I’m not answering her because I somehow managed to not hear her. “Did your chef make this lovely ham with me in mind?’

“Yes,” I say. “Yes, he did. He somehow knew that you would love it, even though he’s never met you before.”

Seth’s foot taps mine beneath the table. It is the closest thing to a warning my Beta will give me since I am the king, after all. It isn’t as if he feels he can get away with mashing his heel into my toes or something of that nature.

Zabrina thinks I am being silly, I guess, because she giggles behind her hand. “He is a wonderful guesser then because it’s just divine.”

I say nothing in response, and she takes a drink of her wine, draining it. Her glass isn’t empty for more than two seconds before her entire disposition changes and she angrily snaps her finger at the servant standing behind her, a woman she’s brought with her for the express purpose of waiting on her, and the woman springs into action to pour her more.

“That’s more like it, Maud,” she says, her tone showing her irritation. “The ham might be flavorful, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get thirsty.”

The servant girl says nothing, only falls back into her place, near the wall. I can’t help but look at her, standing there, her eyes downcast. She can’t be more than fourteen, maybe fifteen. She looks terrified, and I have to wonder if Zabrina is the type of woman who would strike her servant if she didn’t do what she wanted.

I believe she is.

The servant isn’t the only woman Zabrina has brought with her. She has also brought along three friends. She calls them her ladies, and they are just as annoying as she is. I have no idea what their names are. She introduced them earlier, but I wasn’t paying attention. All I know is, between the four of them, I’m bound to be irritated to no end if Alpha Jordan intends to stay in the castle more than a night or two.

He has only asked to stay here on his way through the area on business, but now that I know his true intention, I have a feeling he will have some sort of calamity befall him.

Something will be wrong with one of his vehicles. One of his drivers will fall ill. He will suddenly lose all sense of direction and have no idea where he was going….

He will be forced to stay in the castle until I say I will marry his daughter.

He will be forced to stay here until the day after never then because that simply will not happen.

Though it’s obvious that the other Alphas are growing weary of my excuse, that I simply will not marry again after what happened with Rebecca, it will have to appease them because it’s the truth.

I will not take another bride.

If I am to have an heir… it will have to come another way.

My mind returns to the girl.

The soft round mound of her breast. Her erect nipple. The way her bottom moved as she reached for her robe.

I let my mind get away from me for a moment and imagine myself following her into the bathroom, coming up behind her to cup her breasts. She leans back into me as my mouth comes down on her neck. She moans my name softly as my teeth nip at the tender flesh of her shoulder, my tongue tracing up to her ear.

My hands caress her full breasts, my thumbs working her nipples, plucking and pulling as her groans get louder, her arousal stronger. I smell it in the air around us. Her open mouth against my cheek as she hunts for my mouth, longing to taste me, moans with desperation.

I slide a hand down her flat belly, pressing her against my erection as I spread her legs and slip a finger between her dripping wet thighs. She’s already in spasm when my finger enters her. I feel her muscles tense around me as her arm comes up to loop around my neck. She begs me to take her, to bend her over right there and press my cock inside of her so deep that I stretch her completely and fill her fuller than she’s ever been before—

“Alpha?”

Seth’s voice has me blinking and I realize I’ve completely lost track of the conversation around me. My dick is so hard beneath the table, it may as well have five legs. I won’t be getting up anytime soon. “Yes?” I ask.

“Are you all right, sir?” he asks me.

“I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind,” I tell him. “With… the situation with the… attacks.”

Seth arches an eyebrow, and I know he doesn’t believe me, but Alpha Jordan says, “It is an abysmal situation that is certain. You know, I heard twenty-five civilians were killed last week alone?” He launches into a discussion of what he has heard about attacks in his own territory.

I want to ask him if he thinks that it has anything to do with his daughter rejecting her mate, but I don’t bother.

We’ve already had that discussion today, and it fell on deaf ears.

It doesn’t take too long before the talk of war had deflated my erection, and I decide it is time to leave the table before it returns. If my mind returns to the girl again before I can make it back to my room, I might be there all night.

“Well, I say,” setting my napkin aside, “I will take my leave.”

“But…” Zabrina says, a wide-eyed disappointed look on her face, “I thought we might go for a walk in the garden, Your Majesty.”

“Not tonight,” I tell her. Not any night, I want to add but don’t. “The rest of you are free to stay and enjoy the musicians in the great hall, but I have had a long day and will be retiring for the evening. Beta Seth will be happy to entertain you.”

Seth is never happy to do so, but he knows it is part of his duties. “Yes, of course,” he says. “Let’s finish our dessert first, shall we?”

I haven’t even made it through the final course, but I don’t care. I’m the king, and I shall do as I please.

My shoes echo down the hall as I head toward my room. Most of the lights are off now, and the pieces of artwork cast strange shadows. It’s times like this when I sometimes wonder, if Rebecca is still here, might I see a glimpse of her?

But I never do….

I reach the girl’s door first, and even though I intend to keep walking, I find myself stopping outside of the door. I wonder if she is still awake. I wonder if she is lying there, thinking about what her duties are supposed to be, now that she is here. Is she frightened? Is she excited?

Has she thought at all about me the way I’ve been thinking about her?

Under normal circumstances, I would think of course she has. I am the Alpha King. Any woman would be lucky to have the opportunity to be bedded by me.

But there’s something different about Isla. Something unique.

I lift my hand and rest it on the door, wanting to go in. I just want to see her, or so I tell myself.

But it’s too soon.

She is young and vulnerable, and I don’t want to scare her.

Everyone says I am ruthless and terrifying.

Perhaps that is true, but I don’t need to be that way to her.

Not yet anyway.

I make myself keep walking. I may ravish her—but tonight it will have to be in my dreams.

*Isla*

I lay awake for hours, staring at the ceiling, pondering what it is that Poppy has told me about the Alpha King. It’s hard to believe it could possibly be true.

Yet, how can I doubt it?

Back home, I never knew much about him. I had too much to worry about to ever spend much time thinking about the Alpha King. Whenever anyone mentioned King Maddox, it was always in one of two contexts—how unbelievably good looking he was.

Or how unbelievably cruel he was.

Now… Poppy has revealed to me that everyone in the castle believes he is responsible for the death of his mate, Luna Rebecca, the woman everyone says is the sweetest, kindest, gentlest soul any of them had ever met.

How is that possible?

I don’t know, but as I lay here on my back, staring at the ceiling, I have to wonder… will a similar fate befall me?

I’m to be his breeder.

What will that entail exactly?

A shudder begins at the top of my neck and travels down my spine. I know the gist of it. I understand that it will be my job to lay with the king, to spread my legs for him, to pleasure him.

He is an attractive man, and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t find myself experiencing sensations I never had before when he was in my room before.

Even though I had no idea who he was, just being in his presence made my muscles clench in ways they never had before.

I felt a tightening in my core that I never had until that moment.

My hand slides down between my legs just thinking of it now, and I’m glad I’m alone, lying in this massive bed with these plush, comfortable blankets. I press my fingers against the outside of my most sensitive area, hoping that doing so will make the ache I’m feeling go away.

It doesn’t seem to help. Just thinking about the king makes my flesh bead up with a sheen of sweat. I need to push the blankets down away from my face so I can breathe.

I wonder what it would feel like if it was his hand on me and if these pajamas were not in the way.

This certainly isn’t making the ache go away….

“Knock it off, Isla,” I whisper to myself. “You’re just making it worse.”

I try rolling over and remind myself that I’m in a strange place, away from my family, and I have no idea when I might see them again.

That’s enough to make the ache dissipate. I miss my parents and my brothers so much. How I wish that I could’ve stayed at home and paid off my parents’ debt from there.

Alpha Ernest should’ve been more straightforward with me.

But now, the damage was done, and here I am.

I hope that Alpha Maddox will allow me to go home for a visit soon. I imagine my mother’s face. I hope she’s not crying. I miss her so much, and I know she has to miss me, too.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and try to go to sleep. Otherwise, I might start to cry.

Since it’s been such a long day, I am exhausted, and I am just about to doze off when I get the sensation that someone is standing outside my door. Not the one right across the room from me, but the other one, the outer door.

It’s so far away from me, I really shouldn’t be able to tell, but I get the idea that someone is there just the same.

And I know who it is.

I hold my breath, not moving at all, as I wonder what might happen if he enters the room.

It’s too soon, isn’t it? This is my first night here. Surely, he won’t come in and want me to have sex with him on my very first night in the castle, will he?

Won’t he at least give me one night to get settled?

It’s not as if I’m so beautiful that just catching one glimpse of me earlier will leave him so intrigued he won’t be able to forget about me.

He’s the king! He can have any woman he wants. Is he in that big of a hurry to make an heir?

After a moment, I get the feeling that he has moved on, and I allow myself to breathe again.

A wave of relief washes over me, and I thank the Moon Goddess that I won’t be called upon to service the king tonight.

“What a relief,” I whisper. “I’m so glad that didn’t happen.”

At least, that’s what I’m trying to convince myself.

The ache is back between my legs, and something tells me, when I fall asleep tonight, I won’t be dreaming about my family.

I’ll be dreaming of the Alpha King—and he’ll be on top of me.

***

*Maddox*

I wake up the next morning with a hard cock and the memory of a very vivid dream about Isla.

This girl is affecting me in ways I never would’ve thought imaginable, and I don’t know why. It isn’t as if I’ve never seen an attractive woman’s naked ass before.

Still, I have to take another cold shower before I can go to the office, and my hand was already sticky from my dirty thoughts of her the night before when I couldn’t fall asleep.

As I pass her room on my way to the office, I hear someone moving around behind the door and imagine it must be her.

The urge to burst in and go to her floods my mind. She belongs to me, after all. I can take her anytime I want to.

I could never force a woman to do anything against her will, though. I might be brutal on the battlefield, but not in the bedroom.

Well, not like that anyway.

I keep my feet moving. Temptation is high, but I will persevere.

In the office, I start working and manage to get through several reports before Seth is knocking on my door. I sigh and tell him to come in, knowing it’s him because of the way he knocks. It’s always the same every morning.

He walks in looking like hell, and I have to wonder how long he stayed up entertaining our guests. “Good morning,” he says because it’s expected, not because he means it.

“Seth,” I say, trying not to laugh. “What the hell happened to you?”

He shakes his head. “Zabrina happened to me, Alpha. That woman doesn’t know how to… shut up.”

A chuckle erupts from my mouth. “I’m sorry,” I tell him. But I’m not really.

He shakes his head and sits down across from me to give me an update. “We’ve heard that there are more attacks happening along the borders of Duster pack and Pine Tree pack. Alpha Hayes seems to think he can infiltrate Alpha Bhamers territory and just take it.”

I stare at him for a moment. Alpha Hayes of Duster pack is one of the bigger threats to the peace of our kingdom. I don’t like it when one Alpha attacks another, but in this case, I know why he’s doing it. Alpha Hayes wants to prove he’s capable of being the greatest leader in the kingdom.

Greater than me.

He’s not the only Alpha who has this affliction, but he’s one of the more serious ones. And it doesn’t hurt that he has five strapping sons, so if he were to become king, there’d be no question that the bloodline would continue.

I am meant to have a child by now…. If I don’t have one soon, the Alphas will be able to rebel against me and see it as justified.

Thirty is the cut-off, and I’m almost there….

“Anything else?” I ask Seth as if his announcement isn’t surprising or troubling to me.

He raises his eyebrows. “No, that’s all. Except Alpha Jordan spent a great deal of time last night trying to get me to speak to you on behalf of his daughter.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not interested in Zabrina.”

“I know you’re not,” he says. “But… if you’re not planning on using the girl you purchased—”

“I didn’t purchase her,” I correct him, feeling anger begin to bubble up inside of me. “I merely accepted her in exchange for a debt.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” he asks.

Narrowing my eyes, I tell him, “No, it’s not.”

He shrugs. “Anyway… you know you only have ten months left before you turn thirty.”

“I am aware of when my birthday is, Seth.”

“So, you need to do something, Alpha. Or else, we’ll have even more problems on our hands.”

He’s right, but I don’t want to talk about it. “Go down to the military barracks and tell Commander Taylor to send a detail to Duster. I want to keep an eye on that situation and make sure that it doesn’t escalate out of control.”

He seems surprised at my dismissal of his comments without a remark. “Yes, sir,” he says. “But Zabrina wants you to have dinner with her again tonight… alone.”

“And Zabrina can want whatever she’d like,” I tell him.

“You may as well give her a try. If you don’t, he’ll just keep asking and complaining. Why don’t you have dinner with her, and if you don’t like her, you can tell Alpha Jordan it wasn’t a match?”

The thought of having to sit through a dinner date with Zabrina makes bile rise up in the back of my throat.

But, as usual, Seth has a point. “Fine,” I tell him, shaking my head. “Arrange it. But you’d better think of a way to get me out of there quickly.”

I can tell he’s fighting a smile. “Yes, sir,” he says getting up to leave the room.

I watch him go and then swear under my breath. This is the last thing in the world I want to do.

Having a baby with Isla would make things much easier, but I don’t even know why she’s here. I could go speak to her, but that would be dangerous.

I return my attention to my work, hoping to lose myself in what needs to be done. But my mind keeps flickering back to her. The soft curve of her breast, the tight muscles of her bottom….

I’m in trouble.