The Alpha's Temptation

With confidence, Tania sauntered to the table. She knew that the servants loved to gossip. Being on the other side of the fence, she was well aware how the rumor mill worked. So, she raised her left arm slightly to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear to display her tattoo in full. And as soon as she displayed it, everyone's eyes went to the beautiful golden winged horse. That was all the evidence she needed of her inheritance. A servant rushed to pull out a chair for her. She sat down with an aura of elegance. Hurriedly, other servants laid a plate for her and started serving her.

"We are glad that you are here," said Alrakis loudly, adding to the whole façade. "Biham mentioned that you would  be joining us today." He loved Tania's idea to the hilt. Introducing herself as the Princess of Pegasii would let her roam around the palace freely and at the same time he was going to start rumors that he was planning on marrying Eltanin to Lusitania. Little did people know that Lusitania's elder sister was in the dungeons of Draka, along with her mother.

Throughout breakfast, Tania hadn't  talked to Eltanin and he became a nervous wreck by the end of it. Tania got up saying, "If you will excuse me, I would like to see my father and assess his condition."

"I heard that he is doing well now," Alrakis replied.

"In that case, I think both my father and I should head back to Pegasii. Thank you so much for looking after him so nicely."

"Go back?" Eltanin got up, sending his chair screeching back. "You just can't go back like that!"

Tania raised her eyebrow. "I believe you have concubines to take care of, Your Highness," she replied, her voice mingled with anger as thick as sour cream.

His mouth dropped to the floor. "I said I don't have any."

Alrakis stopped eating. He narrowed his eyes and leaned back in his chair as he watched the lovers squabble. This was entertainment. He would never intervene.

Tania sighed. She wiped her face with a napkin, kept it on the table and gave him a tight smile. "But you were pretty excited about them. As the princess of Pegasii, it is not my place to guide you about them, is it?"

"It is!" he blurted. "It is your place. Our fathers want us to get married and--" he stopped, gulping down his words.

"I talked about Princess Morava, not her, Eltanin," Alrakis added, loving this moment so much. How could he not enjoy adding fuel to the fire. From what he gathered, it appeared that Eltanin had said something about being his concubine to her. His son deserved this treatment.

"Father!" Eltanin snapped at him. "Whose side are you on?"

"Taiyi's." What he meant by that was that a man had to speak what his wife always wanted.

Tania let out a rough exhale. She tossed the napkin on the table and walked out of the dining hall. Eltanin rushed after her while Alrakis roared with laughter. He was going to enjoy his last few days here before he returned to Taiyi.

---

Hydra Kingdom

The smell of moss, damp soil and old decay filled her lungs in the dingy cave. A rhyme of horribly broken lyrics fell on her ears. Empty eyes that sunk into their sockets, gaunt faces and thin emaciated figures stared back at her. Lerna scuttled back as her heart pounded against her ribcage. She went back a little and she had no more gone a foot back, when something restrained her sharply, closing on her wrists. She screamed as her skin got scraped, blood oozing out.

She looked down at herself and found that she was in the night dress that she had worn a week back. Now it was torn at various places and did very little to hide anything. She lifted her hands and her eyes became wide. Her chest rose and fell as she stared at her manacles. Solid iron manacles with spikes. They must have changed. Her gaze traveled to her legs and she found that they were also shackled in the same way. Blood had caked onto her ankles and wrists. She reached for her ankles but was restricted by the chains. When she tried to bring her feet up, sharp pain surged through her. She leaned back, her breath coming in pants, on the pile of skulls behind her.

She lifted her gaze in front of her and saw five more girls shackled to the walls in the same way as she was.

"Oh, gods."

Her gaze traveled to the torches that were fixed onto the dark columns of the cave, casting their dull yellow glow on the stone coffers.

Lerna knew she was in a crypt. The pile of skulls behind her meant that this wasn't the first time people were held here. From the past week, every time she saw things around her, panic would creep into her chest. She pulled her knees up as it became harder for her to breathe. She wanted to puke as nausea rose in her throat.

Lerna knew that both her father and brother were... damaged. They never liked women and they required women only for breeding purposes. Her father had many women in the past and all of them were used as breeders. It was her father and brother who controlled most of the breeding and it was mainly because they wanted to maintain the royal bloodline. As for the male Nyxers who were born, they were not allowed to breed. Only a few of them who were strong, alpha males were allowed to breed.

Almost all the women were used for breeding, but some that were weak and fragile, were thrown to the common Nyxers to fulfill their needs.

She was raised with this madness around her and she hated it. Once she even tried to run away, but she was caught and her father had beaten her so badly that her arm had been fractured.

According to her step-brother, Felis, who was the most powerful demon wolf in Hydra, she was the most potent of all the breeders in Hydra due to her bloodline. It was said that Felis's mother was a goddess but their father, Ukdah, had raped her and tried to keep her in his control.However, she had been freed despite the security around her and was taken away after Felis was born.

Lerna couldn't understand why Felis became a demon like their father. She was scared of him. Every time he had come to meet with her when she was younger, he would only remind her of her purpose of living--she had to give birth to the strongest men in Hydra... after him. Her mother was the princess of The Black Dunes kingdom, who had died after giving birth to her. Her father Ukdah, had since kept Lerna extremely guarded.

A week back, she turned eighteen. Knowing Felis's intentions that he would take her to the breeding chambers, she fled. She would have escaped, but the Nyxer that helped her were chased down and brutally killed by Felis. Felis dragged her all the way back to the crypt and shackled her.