Alpha Vaughan

Chapter 7

The discomfiting feeling instantly dissipated once we got into the house. Awe suffused me. The ornate chandeliers hanging several feet above shone down the enormous, white-painted hall. 

Around, collections of quaint furnitures and elegant sculptures were classically arranged in varying shades of white. Behind a tall flower vase in the middle of the tiled hall, a wide staircase rose up in all its magnificence to split into opposite directions.

Greta climbed up the stairs and turned right. 

Walking along the silver balustrades, we followed as she led into a cavernous hallway. A single chandelier hung down, displaying a riot of exotic oil paintings on the walls. My feet strode on plush red rugs, my eyes soaking up every luxurious detail.

Several twisting hallways and flights of stairs, which I all memorized, led into a narrow hall. The left side of it was lined with tall, elegant vases containing incredibly beautiful flowers, and its walls were completely covered in glass, allowing for a nice view of the rolling hills.

After she'd shown father and the guards to their rooms, she took me further down the hall and through an opening leading into another lavish corridor.

"I do hope the house is to your liking, Miss?"

I was a little startled at the question, not expecting her to begin a conversation with me. "Yes it is," I replied.

"Good." She nodded, pleased, "Alpha Vaughan took pains to ensure it was beyond perfect."

He... Did? That was such a humane thing to do. I may or may not have been thinking of the Alpha as a complete animal.

How can you serve someone with the moongoddess's curse? I wanted to ask. How can you serve a murderer?

"Your room, Miss Hilda," Greta said before I could ask, not that I would have, given her obvious devotion to him. She bowed and left, her figure disappearing into another passageway.

My hand rested on the handle of the white door, and after a beat I turned it open. My mouth went O, my eyes wide and in spite of myself, approving. Turns out the Alpha had a fine eye for details. My bag dropped to the carpeted floors, my feet walking through the unimaginably soft grey rug.

Around a grand bouquet of flowers sat two white settees. And that was how the rest of room went on to look like. Against the backdrop of carved wood, elegant sculptures and high ceilings, collections of furniture lay dispersed around, a mini dinning table here, a group of sofas there. A crescent shaped working table here, an ornate dressing table there.

Silk drapes that fell down to the floors covered tall windows, and through them I could see the silhouettes of colourful flowers lining the sills. At the far end of the room, where there was--holly molly--a very huge queen sized bed: was a large plasma screen TV hung above a set of wooden drawers.

I couldn't believe I'd be staying here, I thought, turning in slow circles while taking everything in.

After poring through every nook and cranny in the room, I went to take a shower. Although, with all the eye-opening luxuries the house afforded, I shouldn't have been stunned at the opulent state of the bathroom--but stunned I was.

Now done with bathing and bundled in an incredibly soft bathing robe, a towel wrapped around my hair, I padded down to the queen sized bed. I stopped in my tracks upon spotting a trolley packed with food parked in front of my bed. I almost wept for joy. In fact I did at the first grumble of my stomach.

After unpacking, I took out my phone to go plug it in, and then I remembered I hadn't phoned Euni. Appalled at myself, I quickly dialed her number.

She picked up almost immediately. I squealed into the phone, falling onto the bed with a contented smile on my face. I went on to tell Eunice all about the pack-house and all I'd gleaned from it. The wolves here seemed to be so at peace with themselves, a contrast to our pack where stony faces and murderous looks were the rigueur. And apparently the Alpha had a shitload of money, I relayed, staring up at the glinting chandeliers.