The Alpha King's Hunt

Chapter 3

Gabriel

I rolled over with a groan and found my stretch blocked by a warm but immoveable body.

Grunting, I propped myself up on my elbows, staring down at the woman passed out in my bed. She was snoring lightly and drooling on my pillow, which had been freshly laundered the day before.

I barely stopped myself from growling. I hated having to ask the help to do extra work. But I didn't want to sleep with the smell of this woman's saliva on my sheets, and already my sensitive nose was scrunching at the scent.

I couldn't quite remember her name, but she was impressively solid. I gave her a nudge and she snorted.

"Miss," I bit out, voice low with sleep. "You need to get up. I have places to be."

She shifted and murmured, rolling over onto her back, a string of spittle trailing from the pillow to her lush mouth.

I almost smiled remembering what I'd done to that mouth the night before, but ended up frowning instead as she began to snore even more heavily.

With a sigh, I rolled out of the bed, bouncing on the balls of my feet. I stalked across the room, pulled open a dark walnut armoire, and began to sift through clothing to find something comfortable for the day.

I didn't actually have anywhere to be – most of my daily responsibilities had been postponed or taken over by others in preparation for the hunt – but that didn't mean I wanted a stranger passed out in my room all day.

"Charles," I shouted gruffly, yanking out a pair of pants and a simple shirt.

The bedroom door open and my man stepped in, eyes kept carefully away from the bed and the woman's exposed breasts.

I got an eyeful of them instead, as appreciative as I was annoyed.

"Would you mind waking my guest?" I asked, shoving one leg into the pants and yanking them up.

Charles sighed, but started toward the bed. He looked away from the woman as he prodded her gently, a hand on her shoulder.

"Miss," he tried softly before shaking her a bit harder. I bit back a laugh.

She gasped and sat up, looking around quickly.

Her mouth remained open when she found me across the room, fingers deftly unbuttoning the shirt. She looked satisfied for just a moment before realizing that Charles was very, very close to her.

Then she screamed a small scream and snatched the sheet to her chest. This time, I did laugh.

"What are you- !?" she began, scrambling away from him.

Charles glanced down at her and said with a perfectly straight face, "If you don't mind, Miss, the King has a lot to do today, and will need his rooms available –"

Muttering angrily to herself and glaring at Charles, the woman slid out of bed and began the search for her clothes.

As she looked around the room, I began to piece together the night before. I caught sight of a lace bra flung onto a curtain rod and raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't mean to stay," the woman was saying, but from the offended tone in her voice, it was clear she'd had a plan just like all the others.

On the off chance I passed out before they left, whatever woman I had entertained usually thought they'd gotten away with something when they woke up in my bed. But I had a different set of rules than other men. After all, I was the Alpha.