ARIA.
The sound of birds chirping permeated into my ears and my eyes fluttered open. I blinked a few times before realizing that I was in a different room.
No, this wasn't the tiny room I shared with Daneesha. It was far larger than ours was. Thick dark drapes covered the window and the rook sprawled at a great length. Confusion followed. How had I gotten into this strange room?

Twisting my body in the other direction was Alpha Lyall sleeping peacefully right beside me. He was yet to wake up, and I watched in horror as memories from last night's rendezvous poured back in.
My cheeks heated up, and I covered it with both of my hands. I remembered everything. From being asked to serve him in his chambers— which was a trap, by the way, to being seduced into his bed. It had all happened so fast and even right now, I was yet to fully process the sight that was before me.
I had to leave. This was a mistake. As much as I wanted it so badly to be in his bed, making reckless love and every other thing, I couldn't help but respect the fact that he was married. It didn't matter if I hated his wife. This just didn't feel right.
Grateful that he was still asleep, I slowly inched away from him. My aim was to leave without him knowing.
My dress was on the other side of the bed where he lay, so I tiptoed over to him and bent forward to pick up the dress.
I had just put it on and was about to leave when strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back. With a loud yelp, I fell into a strong body that gripped me tight.

Hot hair grazed the skin of my neck and once again, I was powerless in his arms. "Where are you going?" His voice was deep, rumbling through his chest and vibrating against my skin.
I became wet immediately.
"Back to my quarters." I whimpered, squirming against him.
"And you think you could just escape like that?"

"I wasn't escaping. I just wanted to leave. Work awaits me."
"You were escaping because I could hear you tiptoe. You forget who I am, don't you?"
Oh, I had to leave. I was getting seriously turned on and the sound of his voice wasn't even helping matters at all.
"I have a lot of things to do this morning. If I am not early, I will be punished."
"To hell with work. You are in my arms and all you can worry about is work?"
"This isn't right," I sighed, watching as he sat up with me still in his arms. "This thing we're doing. It feels so wrong."
His lips grazed the bare skin of my arm and my eyes fluttered close against my own will. I was powerless against him. There was nothing I could do now to move away from him because he had a terrible hold on me.
"Tell me, how does this not feel right, little dove?"
Little dove? It rolled off his tongue so pleasantly. I wanted him to say it again and again, but he probably called me that because he had forgotten my name.
"This passion. This fierce desire. It's— we shouldn't be doing this. Let me go, I beg of you."
"You feel the same way, don't you?" He whispered in a husky tone, his teeth nipping my skin softly. I let out a soft cry of pleasure as his tongue lapped my skin. "You feel that burn. Like you're going to be consumed by it. You can feel yourself burn, right? You feel the need to be so close to me, to be inside my skin. Why do you choose to deny it?"
"Because you are married to another. It is adultery if we keep doing this."
"Then be my concubine."
I was speechless for a full minute, pushing to my feet as I turned to look at him with wide eyes. He leaned back against the bed and folded one arm over the other as his soft green eyes raked my body. It felt like he was devouring me with just that one look and I could barely stay in a place without squirming.
"What? What are you talking about?"
He slid out of the bed, his large feet hitting the marble floor as he stretched into a full six-foot-five. I felt so small before him, like he could reach out his hand and crush me. "Be my concubine if being with me makes you feel so guilty."
"Don't you feel guilty about it, too?" I asked, eyes wide in surprise. "You have a wife. You got married to her. Hell, there's a wedding band on your hand."
He raised his hand to look at the ring on his hand before he lowered it and rolled it with his fingers. "Do you want me to pull it off?"
"No!" I replied immediately. "That's not what I meant, and you know that."
He strode over, stopping inches away from me. I could feel his body heat radiate and pour onto me. If I didn't have my feet planted stubbornly on the ground, I would have walked right into his arms and begged for another kiss.
"You worry too much about my marriage when you should be worried about us. You felt the connection that night. We can't resist each other no matter how hard we try, and you're so stuck up about me being married, so be my mistress. Be my breeder."
With every statement he made, things became worse. I blinked. "Your breeder? That's..."
"That's not something she would worry about," He was talking about his wife. "She has been unable to give me a child since we got married five years ago. The idea of having a breeder to give me an heir never appealed to me, but now it does now," He cupped my cheek with his lathe hand. "I want you so badly and I don't want you out of my sight, so you are going to be my breeder. You will be here whenever I summon you."
I shook my head and turned away from him. This was a fucking downgrade. We are mated together and all he wanted was for me to be his concubine. I knew he was married, and I wasn't expecting him to forfeit all of that for me. But want me to be a mere breeder? It was worse than being a slave in my own books.
"No." I shook my head. Firmly this time. "I will do no such a thing. I am your mate. We are mated together, and I deserve better than being your baby-making machine and your object of pleasure."
I didn't expect this to hurt so terribly, but it did. I was on the verge of crying as my eyes burned with hot tears.
"This is an order, little dove." He muttered, his voice hard now. He pulled away from me and took a few steps back. "I am not asking you to make a choice. You will be my breeder and if you refuse to, I will make sure your life is miserable before I kill you."