The Alpha's Temptation

Stunned, Morava spun and stared right into her father’s face. She blanched. Her hand up in the air, her gaze locked with her father’s. He was looking at her murderously. He snatched the whip from her and slapped her again. Morava was not only humiliated once again, she was petrified. She covered her cheeks that were stinging with pain as she looked at her father, who threw the whip on the floor. “What the hell are you doing?” he roared.

Her eyes widened with shock. How did her father learn about it? She saw a trembling Ivy behind her father, whose face was all bloodied up. Ivy couldn’t meet eyes with Morava. She seemed to shrink in the background.

“F—father—” Morava stammered. Her father had never slapped in front of the guards before. She gazed at all of them as they flinched. No one dared to even move. “This is a sl—slave—”

“Shut up!” Biham roared again. “What have you done, you bloody idiot! You have committed the biggest mistake of your life.”

Embarrassment warred with humiliation and pain. How could her father speak to her like this in front of so many people, even if she had made a mistake? She opened her mouth to say something, but her father appeared as if he was about to slap her again, so she snapped it shut.

“You have ruined the only chance we had to strengthen our position. I had sent you to entice the king, not vent your anger over a slave. With your act, you have placed this slave girl over the agendas of the palace. Do you realize your mountain of mistakes? Now Eltanin will come and wage a war against us.”

“But he won’t know that we have the slave with us!” Morava cried. “You must kill this girl and take my revenge. She is nothing, not even worth the dirt beneath my feet! Father, you should know that because of her, Eltanin didn’t have any interest in me. He preferred a slave over me.”

“So what?” Biham roared. “Did you think a king would marry a slave? He would have added her to his harem and you would have become his queen!”

Morava’s mouth fell to the floor. “B—but—”

“Not a single f*****g word!” he retorted. Then he looked down at the girl who was looking particularly faint. She was slumped against the wall with b***d trickling down her legs and chest. She was shackled in chains. His brows furrowed and he walked towards her. “Unshackle her,” he said. The guards hurried to open Tania’s chains and the moment they did it, her hands dropped to the ground. She m****d in pain as she gasped for air. When she lifted her head, the soft light of the lantern fell onto her sweat-slicked face and wet body. She was shivering from head to toe.

By that time Sirrah entered the cell, she gasped at seeing her daughter with b***d trickling from the side of her l*p. She didn’t have the nerve to say a word, standing frozen. She just couldn’t understand what was going on, but she knew that Biham was so angry that he would rip off the head of anyone who dared to speak to him right now. And who was the girl that was chained? Her gaze drifted to the b***d-stained whip on the ground. It was not hard to figure out that it was used on the girl. Her clothes were b***d stained.

But what worried her was that Biham had never reacted like this before. What was so important about this situation? She looked at Ivy who stood in the corner, with guilt on her face, trying to blend in with the darkness behind her. Even the guards stood frozen in their places. “Biham?” she said softly, but he growled at her and she instantly became quiet, sensing his ominous mood.

Biham turned his attention to the girl. When he gazed at her, his eyes narrowed and then shock ricocheted through him in tight waves. He inched closer to the girl and sniffed the air around her. His lips trembled as he shook his head. His eyes widened at what he saw. “Impossible!” he muttered. He knelt down in front of the girl and curled his hand beneath her chin. She whimpered in pain. Goosebumps pebbled his skin as another wave of shock blasted through him. “Who are you?” he asked, his voice hoarse. Bile rose in his throat as his heart accelerated. Surely it couldn’t be. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

He tipped her face up slightly and stared into her light blue eyes. And as he gazed into her eyes, his whole body shuddered. His knees became wobbly. “Guards!” he shouted. “Get a clean cloth now to clean her up and get a healer!”

“Father, what are you doing?” Morava gritted. Had he lost his mind? Why was he behaving like this with the slave?

Biham ignored her as all his focus went to the girl in front of him. His eyes became misty. “I have been searching for you, Lusitania…” he said and tears rolled out of his eyes.

Lusitania! Sirrah’s whole world came crashing down with just one word, one name. Her chest caved as her breath punched out of her lungs. She caught hold of Morava’s hand so that she wouldn’t fall onto the ground.

“I am Tania, Your Highness,” the slave croaked through the pain and tears.

The king of Pegasii was overwhelmed with emotion. “You look so much like your mother,” he said with his lips quivering.

Tania’s eyes flew wide open, even through the pain. “You know my m—mother?” Her breath became ragged. She had never imagined in her entire life that she would come across someone who would know of her mother. And it was more of a surprise that King Biham had known about her mother.

Biham nodded with a wobbly chin. “I knew her very well.” How could he not?

“Biham!” Sirrah called him. She had to break up this conversation, else she didn’t know what calamity would come over her, her daughter and the kingdom of Pegasii. For so many years, she had worked towards only one thing and that was to get more power. She had married Biham for power after she rejected her mate, whom the Moon Goddess had chosen for her. She had even gone to the extent of making Biham reject his mate. She had played a huge game in all this. “Have you gone mad? This is just a slave! Stand up. We have things to do!”

Biham picked up the whip and threw it at Sirrah. “Shut up!” he growled ominously.

Sirrah snapped her mouth shut as she snapped her head to look at the slave.

“Where is she? And my father?” asked Tania in a weak voice. So much b***d had leaked out of her body that she was feeling like she would faint, but she had to ask him, hoping that she could meet her once in her life, that is if she survived.

With a loud cry, Biham pulled Tania to his chest and embraced her. “Kinshra is no more, my child!” His body raked with loud sobs. All the people in the dungeon stared at their king. “And you are in the arms of your father!”

Darkness gobbled up Tania.

Ground slipped out from beneath Morava.