The Alpha King's Series

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

BRINLEY.

"What will I be doing on the days you cook?” Carol asks, folding her arms over her chest.

By the time the girl's day out ended, it was dark, and everyone went to bed early to get rest for the gala tomorrow evening. But I couldn't sleep and wandered into the kitchen for some hot honey tea, and it always helped me sleep.

To my surprise, Carol was making tea. I guess she could sleep either.

"You can do whatever you want,”

"I guess I could help cook at the orphanage,” She sighs.

"Okay. You can have the kitchen two days and week while I help the sisters,”

"Thanks, Carol,"

She nods and pours us a cup of hot tea, adding honey and lemon.

"This should help you sleep,” Carol says, placing the cup in front of me. I mutter a "Thank you" And take a sip.

The taste of the honey lemon soothes my throat as it goes down, and I hum at the exquisite taste. "Why couldn't you sleep?” I ask carol.

She shakes her head.

"I often have trouble sleeping. Tea always helps,”

I nod my head.

"Why can't you sleep?"

I heave a sigh.

"The girls kept bugging me today about Xander and me's wedding. Telling me, I need to pick a date."

Carol mouths an '0".

"I see. Mija, this is your life. Pick the date that makes you happy," Carol says, rubbing my hand for comfort.

"Carol, can I be frank with you?"

She nods.

"Of course,"

"What if Xander and I marry, and he decides he wants more kids? I'm not putting myself through that again,”

"You're afraid of the baby having the same condition as Dominic?"

I nod my head.

"Have you talked with Xander about it?" She asks.

"Yes, he says he doesn't want me to go through that again. But what if he changes his mind?" Carol shakes her head.

"He won't,”

"How can you be so sure?”

She sighs.

"Brinley, he loves you, right?"

go ol

"Then he wouldn't make you go through that again. If he changes his mind and wants another child down the road, you could always adopt,”

She's right. If Xander decides he wants more kids, we could always adopt a child and give them home.

"Thanks, Carol,” I say, placing my empty cup on the table.

"I'm going to try and sleep; good night Carol," I tell her.

"Good night Mija,”

"Hold still," Katie warns me.

Katie is curling my hair for the gala that starts in an hour. After this, she does my make-up.

Katie placed the curling iron down and grabbed some pins.

She Pins some of the hair up on the side and then lets my brown curls fall free.

"Perfect,"

She says, turning me to face her as she grabs her color palates.

"Not too much, okay,"

She rolls her eyes.

"Let me work in peace,”

"Done," Katie says in a sing-along.

I turn toward the mirror, and my jaw drops

"Wow,"

"Mhm," Katie hums.

"I look.... not like myself,”

"That's the point,” Katie says, rolling her hazel eyes.

My cheekbones were blushed lightly pink, and my eyes were a mix of colors with a dash of red on the corners. Black lines crossed my lids, and the bottom and my lashes looked more black and a few inches longer. My lips were also painted red

"Why so much red?”

"You're wearing a red dress; why not?"

I nod my head.

I'm not supposed to be wearing red at all. It was a last-minute decision when I saw how beautiful the dress was. I even found heels to match, which Amanda says wasn't hard to do since red is a popular color.

"I'm going to get ready now. I'll meet you downstairs,”

Katie says, waving at me as she leaves my room.

I walked to Dominic's room, where all the kids were playing.

I opened it slowly and saw they were running around with toys, smiling and laughing. Eric is five, but he loves to play with the young ones.

Delores thought it would be a good idea if Gabriela joined us tonight since she was ten. So I helped Delores pick her dress. It's a long-length white at the top that slowly circles into black, and the back of the dress has a half-black, half-white flower.

Since she was ten, Delores wasn't sure about heels, but we found black ones with a small heels.

I closed the door to Dominic's room and headed for the staircase.

The foyer was empty, so I made my way down and stopped at the bottom to catch my breath when I almost tripped over my dress.

Still clumsy, nothing has changed.

I stand against the wall waiting for Katie to come down. I didn't want to enter the gala alone.

All she had to do was put on her dress, and she had done her own hair and make-up before doing mine.

"I'm ready," Katie says, coming down the stairs.

"You look beautiful,” I tell her.

Katie's white mermaid dress hugs her curvy body, and her hazel eyes are more green than brown. Her hair was up in a neat bun with two strands of hair curled to each side of her face.

"Thanks." She murmurs.

I wrap my arm in hers, and we walk towards the ballroom.

When the doors opened, all eyes were on me.

I knew this would happen because of my color choice, but I needed to stand out since I would be queen.

"Everyone is staring," Katie mutters.

"I've noticed,”

Before untangling her arm from mine, she narrowed her eyes and walked to Kyle's side.

Great, now I'm alone.

"Champaign?" One of the serves asks.

I shake my head.

"No, thank you,”

I spot Kevin and Delores talking with Gabby right by their side. So I make my way over to them. Hi

Delores smiles.

"You look gorgeous,”

"So do you,” I say and hug her back.

"My my Gabby, you look stunning,”

"Thanks," She smiles.

A young man around the same age as Gabby walks up to her.

"Would you like to dance?”

Gabby looks up at Delores, who nods her head.

"I'd love to," Gabby says to him, taking his hand as he leads her to the dance floor.

"I need to start cleaning my guns,” Kevin mutters.

Delores and I laugh at Kevin as we watch the kids dancing; it's so cute they are the only ones dancing.

Gabby is laughing at whatever this boy is telling her, and he smiles ear to ear.

"There you are,” Xander says, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing my cheek.

"Hey,"

"Kevin, Delores, enjoying the ball?" Xander asks.

Delores nods while Kevin shakes his head.

"Why not?" Xander asks Kevin.

Kevin groans. Then he points toward Gabby.

Xander nods in understanding.

"You do know who the young boy is, right?"

Delores frowns, and Kevin shakes his head.

"That's Titus, and his father is Harlow Benard."

Kevin's mouth dropped.

"Should I know who that is?" Delores asks, looking between Kevin and Xander.

"Harlow Benard has the biggest Kingdom in the states. He is also a descendent of the Moon- Goddess,"

Delores makes an '0'.

"Titus seems to be fond of Gabriela. But, trust me, and the kid hates everybody," Xander tells them. "Kevin, you and Delores should go introduce yourselves to Harlow," Kevin nods and grabs Delores's hand, and leads her to the other side of the room.

"Why did you do that?"

Xander frowns.

"Do what?"

"Have Kevin and Delores go over there.”

"I was talking to Harlow Benard when Titus asked Gabby to dance, and Harlow wanted to meet her parents,” Xander shrugs.

"He could have come over here,"

Xander shakes his head.

"Harlow doesn't do that. He likes when people come to him,” Xander tells me.

“Oh,”

"Hello, Xander,"

Xander's grip around me tightens, and his body tenses. Then, finally, Xander turns us around to face the deep voice that spoke.

"Mark,"

The tall, thick man had brown hair and eyes that looked almost white. Mark stood toe to toe with Xander, given they were the same height.

Mark's freaky-looking eyes met mine.

"You must be Xander's mate?" Mark says, extending his hand for me to shake.

"I'am," I nod and place my hand in his. Mark brings my hand to his mouth and kisses it.

"Pleasure to meet you,"

"Likewise," I tell him pulling back my hand.

Kyle told me about how he used the slaves for his own personal pleasure. And just the thought of his lips on my hand made bile rise in my throat.

And to think he almost brought me.

EW.

"When will you and Xander here be having another baby?"

"I already told you, Mark, that won't be happening,” Xander says, annoyed. I can tell Xander nor Mark like each other Mark keeps pushing the contract on Xander, knowing we won't have a girl to marry his son.

"Xander. A contract is a contract, and it's signed in blood. A Caputo girl must marry a Mortaga boy." Mark exclaims.

"I know how the contract works, Mark. If my wife does have a girl in the future, don't worry, I'll call,” Xander says through clenched teeth as he pulls us away.

"Make sure you do," Mark says smugly.

Xander kept walking and didn't even bother looking back, and when I glanced over my shoulder, Mark had a smirk on his face before he turned in the opposite direction.

I grabbed a glass of wine from one of the passing waiters

"He's not going to give up,” I tell Xander, sipping my wine.

Xander shakes his head.

"I've read over the contract hundreds of times. There is nothing he can do until we have a girl. And I refuse to put you through that just to satisfy Mark,” Xander says

"Thank you,"

"I fucking hate that guy,” Xander mutters.

"I can tell,”

Xander smiles then his eyes roam my body.

"What made you pick red? For a black and white ball?"

I shrug.

"As the future queen, I wanted to stand out,”

Xander pulls me close, his breath hot on my neck.

"It makes me want to rip the damn thing off,"

I smirk.

"We should get back," I tell him.

I walk back into the ballroom; Xander, hot on my heels, laces his fingers through mine and leads me to the dance floor.

Xander places one hand around my waist and the other on mine.

I place my hand on his shoulder and cup his other hand while he sways us side to side. Xander swirls me around, and when I see his smile, I can't help but smile. Xander dips me, then pulls me up slowly. Xander is a good dancer.

"I'll be right back," I excuse myself from Xander's side to go to the lady's room.

Once I finished, I washed my hands and exited the bathroom.

A strong hand grabs my elbow and spins me around. I swallow hard when I turn and face those damn white eyes of Mark Mortaga

"Xander is stubborn and won't listen. You seem like the type of girl that wants to keep trouble down, am I correct?” Mark says.

I jerk my arm free.

"1 will not have another child,”

Mark shakes his head.

"That was the wrong answer. I always get what I want, and what I want is for Xander to keep his end of the contract.”

I inhale a deep breath before I say.

"If you have a problem concerning the contract, you need to take it up with Xander, not me,"

I said, turning to walk away.

"It would be a shame to have something happen to that sweet little boy of yours,”

I freeze.

Did he just threaten Dominic? I quickly turn around, and Mark smirks, thinking he has me where he wants me.

Xander will be hearing about this.

"Did you just threaten my son?"

Mark shrugs and moves closer toward me.

I don't move back; I stand my ground, letting him know I'm not afraid of him.

"Bad things could happen. So I need this merger to happen one way or another; all I am saying is produce a female so that can happen.”

"And if I don't?"

Mark uses his thumb to brush over my lips, smearing the red lipstick over my face.

"You will do what's right. I'll be waiting to hear your decision,” He says and walks away.

Leaving me standing completely speechless.