The Alpha's Cursed Mate

Chapter 7

From the clothes delivered to my chambers, I decide to wear a dress to dinner. It's a warm, long-sleeved gown shaped from a dark purple fabric patterned with flowers and their delicate, pleated petals. I run my fingertips along the scooping neckline while standing in front of the chival mirror. I would have loved to wear dresses like this when I was a little girl. I had a plethora of pretty dresses, but they never looked how I wanted them to. My body was flat and straight; it didn't curve like the older girls', but now that I'm older, I wish I was flat again and far from desirable.

All of the clothes in my package of goods are made to compliment the female body, but I suppose I've grown used to the genderless clothes I've been wearing since becoming Alpha. I can't help but believe such clothes distract from my potential and accomplishments by fixating everyone's attention on my gender. Somehow having breasts deems me too emotional or fragile to lead a pack, direct an army, and face Alpha men.

While assessing my reflection, I slide up my sleeve and check the mark from His bite. My Alpha blood has closed the puncture wounds, and the only remnants of the deal are shallowing, red indentations. Soon enough it will fade entirely; I only hope my scar will do the same someday.

There is one particular dress that plunges along the back, meaning, I am forbidden to wear it. All of my clothes must cover my scar.

The sound of my guard's knock — two steady beats — wills me out of the bed-chamber and to the main doors off the sitting room. I open one door and come face to face with Alpha Tophet. My brain takes an extra second or two to comprehend this. "I wasn't expecting you," I say.

"I see you've stationed a guard outside your doors." Giving me little time to respond, Tophet then asks, "Are you ready for dinner?"

I step into the hall and shut the door behind me. "I am."

He begins walking, so I promptly catch up. Although I've learned his first name, and he's said my own, there is something nerve-wracking about calling him Alexei; it feels as though I'd be saying a curse word as I'd be sure to get an unpleasant reaction from him. He wouldn't want me knowing weaknesses of his, and it all begins with a first name, something titleless, powerless. When he called me by my name, I felt all boundaries of politeness fall away.

"I've invited my head priest to speak with us."

"A priest? What about?"

He glances at me. "Our mating."

"Oh, well, what about it?"

"There are things we must do as mates if we are going to successfully merge our packs. Senet, the head priest, will ensure that we do everything traditionally."

"But I didn't agree to anything yet."

Alpha Tophet argues, "Whether or not you agree, we will still be mated."

Worried our hands might brush one another at our sides, I wring my hands together against my stomach instead. Here I know the bond won't thoughtlessly impel me to touch him. "I could always run away and fortify myself with my vast army until our bond withers and dies."

"If you see so many centuries," he says, "but you know better than to throw this all away. After all, this is an opportunity granted by the goddess."

"So now you believe what you're going to sell to the world?"

"What else am I supposed to believe?"

"You could believe that the Goddess is punishing us by pairing us together, seeing how unsuitable a match we are."

I conquer the first staircase down effortlessly. It took me a bit longer than I had expected to rise from my cooled tub to ready myself, but I feel quite renewed. My body is limber and energized, but it is hard to forget my mind which is dragging the guilt of my dealing like a ton of stones.