The Alpha's Temptation

Biham's mind went numb. His wife was so full of poison and today she was lashing it all out at his face. He stared at her blankly as his eyes became misty. Finding Lusitania, the daughter of his mate, was the highlight of his life. He was so ecstatic that in Kinshra's absence, at least he had done justice for her daughter. And now? Everything had been washed away within Sirrah's waves of hatred. The dream that he had started to weave about Lusitania, about Pegasii… it was all shattered into thousands of pieces, each piece stabbing into his heart. "How will I get my daughter back from Nyxers?" He felt so heavy in his heart that it felt as if he was weighed down by a huge boulder. He couldn't protect his family. He couldn't protect his mate.

Biham sank on the floor and held his head in between his hands. Tears rolled out of his eyes at the loss he felt and  the treachery of his wife. There was complete silence in the room and a heavy tension hung in the air. He knew how crafty Sirrah was, and on some level he liked that part in her because as a queen you had to have some shrewdness in you, but he never expected her to be pure malevolent. She was evil wrapped in silk. With shaky legs he got up onto his feet and looked down at her. She was staring at him with madness in her eyes. "I will not spare you, Sirrah," he said, his voice dark with emotions. "I, Biham of Pegasii, reject—"

"Biham!" Sirrah stopped him. She got up. "Are you insane? Will you reject me for a girl who was a rutting slave? I have sent her to the place she belongs!"

Biham couldn't take it anymore. He picked her up and thrashed her against the wall.

Rigel got up to rush to Sirrah's aide, but Alrakis stopped him.

She screamed in pain as he looked at her with fury. "You can hit me or kill me," Sirrah continued with her poison. "But now you can't deny that the remaining heir is Morava. If you do anything to her, you will ruin the only chance of continuing your family's rule over Pegasii." She hobbled to him. "Now Lusitania will never come back." Her lips lifted in an evil smirk. "So you better get used to it." She glared at Rigel and Alrakis. She scoffed. "You can do all you want, but you cannot erase mine and my daughter's destiny. Both of us were meant to rule and we will! And I warn you Alrakis. If you do not marry King Eltanin to Morava, I will spread throughout  the entire Araniea that your son killed my younger daughter to conquer Pegasii and that he forced his way with Morava!"

Alrakis stared at Sirrah. He opened his mouth to say something when the door of the meeting room suddenly opened.

All of them snapped their heads to see who had entered.

Eltanin walked in.

Biham's eyes widened when he saw him. He had this glow around his body. His eyes were pulsating with blue eather and he looked like the demi-god he was supposed to be. He looked surreal. What created that change in him? He bowed to him as soon as their eyes met.

Sirrah's laugh was like nails screeching against glass. "There you are, Eltanin," she said as madness gleamed in her eyes. "I was just negotiating with your father that you will have to marry my daughter, Morava, or else you will suffer the consequences. Your little slave, Lusitania will never come back because I have—" she snapped her mouth shut. Her eyes went to a girl with golden hair walking behind him.

Lusitania came and stood right beside Eltanin and both Biham and Sirrah gasped audibly, each having different reactions.

"What were you saying?" Eltanin said.

Sirrah's mouth fell to the floor and her heart stuttered to a stop, seeing Lusitania standing right beside Eltanin.

"Lusitania!" Biham cried. He thought he was dreaming. He blinked once and then twice. That was his daughter.

"But— but—" Sirrah squeaked.

Eltanin raised his eyebrow. He bowed to Biham. Holding Tania's shoulders, he made her step in front of him. "Meet my mate, Princess Lusitania."

Cold shock blasted in the form of sharp shards in her chest. Sirrah stumbled back with dread surging in her body. Lusitania was alive and standing in front of her in the Draka kingdom and all the while she was celebrating her disappearance? Her gaze shifted to Eltanin who looked proud. And she was Eltanin's mate? So, the king was with her in the cave throughout the night? While Eltanin was mating with Lusitania, her daughter was fucking around with every soldier that was in front of her? Her lips quivered when she said, "Mate?"

Did this mean that Eltanin saved her from being sold to the Nyxers? But how was that possible? He was here the whole time.

"Tania!" Biham walked over to his daughter with extreme happiness. He hugged her hard as if he had just gotten his life back. "Oh, my little girl!" He had heard the word 'mate' but it had not registered in his mind when he saw that Lusitania was standing in perfect shape in front of him. His relief was immense. His heir was back.

Alrakis and Rigel came forward.

Rigel clapped his friend's back as the two met in a warm embrace. He looked at Tania and winked at her. When Biham left her, Alrakis stepped forward and said, "Welcome to the family."

It was then that the gravity of the word 'mate' came crashing down on Biham. "Wait!" he said loudly. "Lusitania is your mate?"

King Eltanin's reply was a simple smile as he proudly looked at his bite marks on Tania's neck. Tania removed the scarf that she was wearing over a red gown with a boat neck. Her hair was pinned up. The dress was chosen by Eltanin to flaunt his mark on her. He pulled her closer to him and said, "Princess Lusitania is my mate."

Surprise shuttled through him wildly. He blinked once as he looked from Eltanin to Tania to Rigel and Alrakis and then back to Tania. Suddenly, the whole game changed. Every dynamic twirled and twisted and stopped in front of him with a gaping mouth.

They heard a soft thud and when they looked in that direction, they found a bewildered Sirrah.

"Come here, Lusitania," Alrakis called her, his face split with a grin. He brought her to sit at the table. Rigel followed her and Eltanin walked behind him.

At the same time, Sirrah was trying to make sense out of the whole situation. The sudden appearance of Lusitania turned the tables by a hundred and eighty degrees. The crumpled letter on the floor was given by Alrakis, so did that mean… "Alrakis!" she rasped. "You led me to believe that Lusitania was with Nyxers, when in reality she was hidden by you all this time!"

Alrakis shrugged. "We all like to play our games, Sirrah."

"Did you think that I didn't know that you had switched Tania with a servant girl?" Eltanin said in a lethal voice. "You attacked my mate, and that will incur punishment." He shouted, "Guards!"

"Wait Eltanin," Biham stopped him. "I have to say something to Sirrah."