The Alpha King's Obsession

4. Instinct vs. Logic

Lilian’s POV

Damn, that man was strong. Impossibly strong.

His grip on my hand wasn’t painful, but it was absolute. It felt like an iron shackle wrapped in warm skin. I stumbled in his wake as he dragged me through the club’s private exit, my clinking frantically against the concrete as we burst out into the cool night air of the alley way.

“Let go of me, you creepy a****le!” My voice rang loud as I shouted, digging my heels in. “I don’t even know you.”

Before panic had a chance to overtake me, because a stranger was practically kidnapping me, he stopped instantly when I raised my voice. The sudden halt sent me colliding into his back that felt like a wall of hard muscle and didn’t yield an inch.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around. Good God, the man wan tall. He had to be at least 6’5 with the way he was towering over me in the narrow alley, making me feel like a bug he could crush in a single movement if he wanted to. The single security light above flickered, casting shadows across his face, and his eyes were glowing again, that strange amber-gold hue that made my stomach do flip-flops for some stupid reason.

Get it together, Lilian. The guy’s a potential serial killer and a certified major douche. Stop drooling over him. I mentally chided myself.

“Are you insane?” I hissed and yanked my hand back, away from his grip. To my relief, he let me go, though the loss of contact left a strange and unexplained cold void on my skin where the sparks had just been. “Fiancée? Luna? What the hell is a Luna? You know what never mind. I don’t care. All I care about is that you just told a woman I’ve never met that we’re getting married! We’re total strangers!”

“It was necessary,” the rumble of his deep voice vibrated in the quiet alley. I searched his eyes for any hint of…something. An apology maybe. But nope. None of that. He didn’t look the least bit apologetic. Instead, he looked almost…possessive, which was confusing since we didn’t even know each other. As I kept staring into his eyes, he took a step toward me, and I took a step back on instinct, hitting the brick wall, getting trapped by him. Again.

“Necessary?” I let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. “You don’t even know my last name! Well, maybe you do because you stalked me, but I don’t know you. You’re just some…some guy I bumped into on the street.”

He paused and his gaze dropped to my lips for a fraction of a second before it snapped back to my eyes. “I know enough.”

“You know nothing.” I crossed my arms to hide the fact my hands were shaking and did my best to ignore the flutter in my lower belly at the way he’d looked at my lips. I was so messed up, lusting over a pr*ck. “You act like you own me, but we’ve met exactly twice. You’re…you’re…you’re delusional.”

He flat out ignored me and stepped into my personal space, placing a hand on the wall beside my head. He leaned down and I was unable to move, to put some much needed distance between us, because this wasn’t normal. I froze as his nose almost touched my neck and he took a sharp breath in. He…he was smelling me, actually sniffing me like the total f***ing weirdo he was. And I just stood there. I should push him away, yell at him to never come near me again. But I was locked in place, a small voice in the back of my head telling me this was where I was supposed to be and that small flutter from before turning into a throbbing ache between my legs.

That’s it. I’ve finally lost it.

“I’m a king, Lilian,” he whispered and the sound raised goosebumps along my arms. “And right now, my kingdom is under threat. I needed a shield. You were convenient."

“Convenient?”

The word snapped me out of my trance like a bucket of ice water. The throbbing between my legs was instantly replaced by a flare of indignation. I tried to shove at his chest with both hands, desperate to put space between us, but it was like trying to move a marble statue. He didn’t even rock back on his heels. All he did was just to look down at me, that amber gaze darkening as it swept over my flushed face.

“I am not your freaking shield,” I spat and my voice shook with a mix of rage and adrenaline. “I’m not your anything! I’m a stranger you dragged out of a club because you’re clearly having some kind of psychotic break. I’m going back inside to find my friends, and if you put your hands on me one more time, I swear to all that is holy, I’ll scream so loud the cops in Jersey will hear me.”

“You can’t go back in there,” he just stated flatly, dismissing my words and my threat.

“Watch me.”

“Delilah is still there,” his voice dropped to a low, warning growl that vibrated straight through my chest. “She is…persistent. And right now, she sees you as a threat. If you go back in there, she’ll tear you apart.”

“I don’t care,” I lied, lifting my chin in defiance even though my heart was hammering against my ribs. “I’d rather deal with a jealous ex than a stranger who thinks he can kidnap me because he’s a ‘king’.”

His lips quirked up at the corner and it wasn’t a nice smile. It was predatory, knowing. He leaned in even closer, until his mouth was hovering just beside my ear.

“You say you want to leave, Lilian,” his hot breath ghosted over my sensitive skin that prickled in response. “But your heart is racing so fast I can hear it.” He inhaled deeply again, the sound sharp and deliberate. “And your scent…it’s changed. Mm it’s sweeter now. Heavier.”

My breath hitched. Oh God, he knew. I had now clue how, but he did. I could see it in the arrogance of that little smirk still on his lips. Maybe he was just that observant, or maybe I was just that transparent. But he knew. He knew that despite my anger, my body was betraying me in the most humiliating way possible.

“You’re disgusting,” I choked out and tried to flatten myself against the wall to escape his overwhelming presence.

He pulled back just enough to look me in the eye, the wolfish grin widening. “I’m honest. There’s a difference.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking suddenly frustrated, as if he were fighting a battle with himself. “Look. I need a fiancée. Just for a short time. To get the Co…the Board of Directors off my back. They want me settled.”

“And you picked me? The random girl you’ve met on the street two weeks ago and who kicked you in the balls?”

“Exactly. You have fire. I need that.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card. It was thick, black, with old lettering that caught the dim light. Alexander DeLuca. CEO.

“Come to my office tomorrow. 10 AM.”

I stared at the card like it was a live grenade.

“No.”

“Lilian,” he said, and the way he rolled my name of his tongue, low, commanding, intimate, made my knees weak. It felt familiar, like he’d said it a thousand times before. And that terrified me more than anything because we weren’t intimate. We were strangers.

“You are struggling. I can see it in your eyes. Your coat is thin. Your shoes are worn.” His gaze dropped to my heels before snapping back to mine, intense and unyielding. “I know rent is due is in three days. I know you’ve been looking for a second job to pay for your tuition at NYU.”

I went cold. A chill that had nothing to do with the drafty alley seeped into my bones. “You investigated me?” I breathed out as panic threatened to overtake me. “That is…that is incredibly violating! I’m just a stranger you’ve met on the street two weeks ago!”

“I did my due diligence on a potential business partner,” his voice so full of arrogance it made me want to slap him. “Please. Just come hear my offer. If you say no after that, I will never bother you again. You have my word,” he said and it felt like a lie.

“Your word means nothing to me,” I hissed and snatched the card from his fingers just so I could throw it on the dirty ground between us. “I am not for sale. Especially not to someone I don’t know from Adam.”

Done with this conversation, I turned on my heel and stormed toward the street, my legs shaking so bad I thought I might collapse.

“Don’t be stupid, Lilian!” He called after me, a hint of desperation and a strange, harmonic power in his voice that made every instinct in my body scream to stop and obey him.

I bit my tongue until I tasted copper, forcing my legs to keep moving. I hailed a cab the moment I hit the main road, diving inside and locking the door before I could second guess myself. As the car pulled away, I risked a glance back.

He, Alexander apparently, was standing at the mouth of the alley, watching me. He hadn’t moved. His eyes were like two burning gold coins in the darkness, tracking me.

And damn me, a traitorous part of me wanted to tell the driver to turn around.