Chapter 11: Laying Claims
Aira’s POV
Today has been absolute hell.
I do not think I have felt this shitty in my entire life. Not only did I carry the guilt of getting Carla detained the entire day, I had to spend the whole of it shoveling dirt into an insanely huge ditch!
I am not going to lie; I cried a lot more than I should have today. Part of it was because I was experiencing terrible cramps. I suppose the baby was not happy about all the manual labor I was doing. Well, I sure as hell was not happy either. But I suppose it was the unfortunate circumstances we found ourselves in.
For what feels like the millionth time today, my arms wrap around my belly. I find myself whispering to my baby. I mean, now that I have no one else to talk to, the least I could do was talk to my child.
Do not worry, little one; this will all be over soon. Just endure for a little while longer; I know you are a fighter. Just like your mama.
The other reason I found myself crying today was because the only soul that has been kind to me since I stepped into this hell hole is now starving in that disgusting dungeon.
I cannot believe how evil Alpha Alexander can be. I could not give him any more reason to punish Carla. He knows that I do not mind getting punished myself, so he used the only person I had gotten close to as my weakness. So I did my chores without complaint.
Even though my chest and stomach hurt like hell, I somehow managed to finish filling up that ditch. Take that, you asshole, Alexander!
I just finished having dinner, and despite the tiring day I had, I still did not feel sleepy at all. I find myself walking into a part of the courtyard I never have before. It is oddly secluded, which makes me instantly fall in love with it.
I need a break from all the stares and insulting whispers everyone always shot at me when I was in the room. I just needed space to breathe.
The moon is full and bright. It is perched atop the dark sky, providing the earth with this cool, luminous light. My eyes fall on a beautiful fountain in the middle of the fountain. There are two cupids at the very top, with water flowing out of their mouths.
I feel drawn to it. Sitting on the edge, I stare at my reflection in the clear water. The moon is right beside me, and I cannot help but smile at the beautiful view. I do not know what urges me to, but I find myself reaching out to the moon’s reflection. The simple action brings a little smile to my lips for reasons unknown to me.
But that smile disappears when another person’s reflection appears in the water. My head snaps up to meet the dark eyes of Alpha Alexander. He stands majestically beside a shrub, watching me with his hands in his pockets.
Instantly, I get to my feet and clear my throat. “Sorry, I did not know you would be here,” I say, quietly turning on my heel to leave.
“I didn’t ask you to leave,” he says coldly. His voice sends a shiver down my spine. I turn to face him, and he stares at me in a way that makes my knees grow weak. The moonlight illuminates his features. I think this is my first time actually getting a good look at him after the first day we met.
He is actually very hot.
His eyes appear unusually dark as they trail up my finger. His jaw tickles, and I wonder if he is angry. Oh, who am I kidding? He is always angry. “You were smiling to yourself; do you care to share what is amusing you?”
With you? No. but considering you will snap my neck if I don’t, I do not think I have much of a choice.
“It’s just… The moon appeared right next to me in the water. My reflection, I mean. I have always loved the moon, and as crazy as it sounds, I have always wanted to know what it feels like. So I just reached out for it,” I say dumbly, avoiding his eyes as I speak.
My eyes shift to our reflection in the water. The moon sits between the both of us, but for the first time in my life, I can actually say that I have found something prettier than the moon.
Him.
I watch him stare at me through the water. I see the curiosity and intrigue in his eyes as he tilts his head to the side, accessing me.
“You sound like me when I was a child; I had similar dreams as well,” he reveals. That statement alone puts a thousand questions into my head. He had the same dream as me when he was a child. That means he and I actually have something in common.
I wonder what he was like as a child. Who was he before he became this cold, heartless monster standing before me?
I guess I will never know.
“It is getting quite late; I should get some sleep. I had quite a long day,” I say, hoping that he will at least grant me a good night’s rest and not find some other reason to punish me.
“I know,” is all he says, and as much as I want to ask him what he means by that, I decide not to. I need to remind myself that this man is not my friend. He is not my anything. He is a cruel and heartless monster who derives joy from seeing others suffer.
I spin around a bit too fast and end up losing my footing. A gasp leaves my lips as I find myself growing nearer to the fountain’s water. I shut my eyes and brace myself to be submerged in the cold water, but nothing happens.
When I open my eyes, I find myself barely a few inches from the water’s surface, with an arm around my waist. Alexander’s arm is around my waist.
I look up to find him staring down at me. I want to believe that I am hallucinating when I find a ghost of a smile on his lips. Are those dimples I see?Content © provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
“Careful,” he mutters as he pulls me back to my feet. His arm remains around my waist, holding me firmly.
His minty breath fans my face, and that is when I realize how dangerously close our faces are. My heart rate accelerates, and I feel like I might faint from how close we are. His eyes are so intense up close. They hold me captive and paralyze me from my head to my toes.
For a brief moment, I catch them heading down to my lips. I did not think it was possible, but they darkened even more with lust and desire.
“Aira…”
Never in my life has anyone said my name the way he just did. I have always thought my name was strange, and so I hated it. but the way he says it is so sweet and passionate.
Good lord, am I going crazy?
My gaze falls to his lips; they are so full and pink. I hate how badly I want to get a taste of them, even if it is just once.
I do not know which one of us is leaning closer; every inch of my mind is screaming at me to pull away and run as far away from him as possible. But it is like someone else has taken control of my body.
Screw it, what’s the worst that can happen if I just…
Our lips brush, and before I can make a mistake I am most certain I will later regret, the crushing of a twig fills the air. Our heads snap in the direction of the sound, and I find one of the maids staring at us with wide eyes.
I instantly recognized her as one of the maids who had given me the false directions to the execution room.
“Mira,” I hear Alexander say.
Without warning, his arm disappears from my waist. I stumble a bit but manage to regain my footing in no time. Before I can figure out what is going on, Alexander is completely out of sight, and the maid that had caught us is gone.
What the hell just happened? The next day, I woke up with a bit of a headache. I could not get much sleep because I kept on thinking about Alexander and my little moment last night. I mean, we were this close to kissing!
But I do not think that is what kept me up through the night. It was the fact that I had lost complete control of myself in that situation. It was like I wasn’t the one in my own body. It was strange.
But I suppose the sooner I forget about it, the better. I need to remember exactly who Alpha Alexander is.
A demon.
As I make my way down to the kitchen, I stop at the top of the stairs. Why do I get this feeling that I am being watched?
Spinning on my heel, I come face-to-face with the maid who had caught Alexander and me the previous night. And she did not look happy. What was her name again? Maya? Mira?
“Uh, hi?” I say it awkwardly, breaking the silence between us.
The glare she shoots at me is menacing. I fear she might hurt her hand with how hard she is clenching them, however.
“Alexander is mine. Stay away from him if you don’t want me to make your life a living hell.”
Her words caused my eyebrows to shoot to the top of my head. “Excuse me?”
She closes the distance between us, and I grip the edge of the railing. “I know you might be thinking that because you are his mate, you have hit the jackpot, but trust me, he hates you, and that is because he is already in love with me. So watch it, or I assure you the next thing I will do to you will be far more painful.”
Far more painful? What does she mean by that?
My question is instantly answered when she shoots her hand out and shoves my shoulders harshly. For just one second, I felt a fear that I had never felt before. A fear far greater than the one caused by death.
The fear of losing my child.
Subconsciously, my arms wrap around my belly as I wait to receive a series of torments, but they never come. Instead, my back meets a hard chest, and a scent that has become all too familiar fills my nostrils.
I parted my eyelids to find Mira looking at something behind me with fear and regret in her eyes.
Or should I say someone?
The growl that fills my ears is menacing; it makes my heart skip several beats and sends a tremble to my knees.
If I thought I had seen Alexander at his angriest, I was by far mistaken. Because the voice that fills my ears is laced with so much rage, it made me wish the ground would swallow me whole. And I am not even the one he is speaking to!
“What exactly do you think you are doing?”