AGAIN MY HEART: Her Alphas Regret

WRITTEN IN RED

LEILANI

Hours passed, and I still couldn’t shake off the ache in my heart. Despite trying to focus on all the dirt and grime I was tasked to clean, my mind kept trailing back to the moment when his leg connected with my chest, and he kicked me off him.

I was too stunned in that moment to clearly process what happened, and being left alone with my thoughts brought it all back. The brief moment of joy I felt when our eyes met was quickly replaced with a heart-warping pain that refused to leave.

Had I been rejected without even realising it?

He had called me filthy and low. I mean, I know compared to the Alpha King I was nothing, still, he was my mate. Shouldn’t he have accorded me more grace?

I sighed, shaking my head as I hung the hand towel and stepped out of the bathroom. I was leaning over the bed to smooth the sheets when the door creaking open caught my attention. My body froze before I could straighten to see who it was, but I guess I didn’t even need to turn to know.

The onslaught of targeted lustful pheromones hit me like a lightning bolt, momentarily cutting off my train of thought. My body swayed forward, my eyes became hazy, and my head felt lighter.

‘MATE!’ Aina whined, pushing to the surface before I could stop her.

“Mate?” I heard myself whimper like I’d been possessed.

I screamed at myself to get it together, but I wasn’t even sure what I needed to get together. Heat pulled in my lower stomach, and my knees trembled as my inner thighs flooded with slick.

Suddenly, I was hot all over, uncomfortable, and my clothes felt like pins on my body, the need to tear them off gnawing at me.

“Alpha,” I whined with need as my knees gave out and I fell face down on the bed. He hadn’t even touched me yet, but his presence and pheromones were enough to set me on fire.

His heavy footsteps shook the floor as he took further steps into the room.

“Omega, present for your Alpha.” He commanded in a weirdly gentle tone, and it unlocked whatever invisible chain had me locked in place before, and my body moved like it had a mind of its own.

My dress came off without a hitch, along with my underwear. I scrambled to climb the bed, even though I didn’t understand his command, yet it seemed my body knew what to do. I lowered myself on all fours, then fell forward with my chest against the bed.

“Hands behind your back, Omega. Present that slick wetness for Your Alpha.”

I obeyed without protest, my legs trembling as I raised my ass in the air and spread my legs as far as I could so he could see the slick leaking out of me. Need curled in my lower region as I heard him grunt, and then the sound of his belt hitting the floor.

My body vibrated with anticipation, my legs shaking as every part of me yearned for his touch. I almost sighed in relief as I felt the mattress dip from his weight, his presence behind me as he shrouded me in his scent.

“You are MINE, Omega. MINE!” He growled as his hands came to my waist. I expected him to slam into me without mercy, and I braced for the pain.

The pain I braced for didn’t come. Instead, what I felt was weight, gently pressed against my back as he leaned into me. His chest rumbled with deep possessive growls, and I jolt electricity sparked through me as his lips trailed kisses down the side of my neck.

His hand moved to fondle my breast while his lips littered kisses all over my neck, my back. I swallowed, pleasure rolling through me from the contact, only to gasp as he slowly eased into me and heat engulfed me in flames. He grunted, lips to my ears as he eased in further. His pheromones thickened in the air the more connected we were, my head felt fuzzy, my body on fire, pleasure coiling deep in me.

Aina purred the moment he fully seated himself inside me, while I whined, unable to help the moans spilling out of me from the way my mate’s body connected with mine.

I hummed a familiar tune to myself, one my foster Mum always sang to me while she was still alive. I never knew what the actual lyrics were, but on many occasions, she had used this particular tune to comfort me, either because I was bullied in school or someone in the pack said something demeaning.

******

It’s been two weeks. Two weeks since that moment in the palace guestrooms, and he just vanished into thin air. I had barely had time to collect myself that evening when he slipped out of the room without a word.

Under any circumstance, perhaps I would say that moment was magical, because he had treated me with care. For a moment there, I was convinced that he had accepted the bond.

But I had returned home that night mentally drained, and head pounding because I kept trying to give meaning to what had happened. Aunt Nani, who had taken me in after my foster parents’ death, someone who only cared about herself, had taken one look at me and asked if I was okay, and all I could do was nod. Because what was I to say? None of it made any sense. He had humiliated me, yet he came to me, touched me like I was worth every moment, whispered kisses to my skin like I was something to be treasured, only for him to leave without a world and I haven’t seen him since.

I sighed heavily as I cleaned out the horse shed. Feeling pity for myself wasn’t going to change anything, would it? What was the point of wishing he had stayed to talk and not disappeared on me? If he wanted me, he would’ve stayed.

The plan had always been to save enough so I could finally leave this god-forsaken pack and kingdom because they’ve never treated me like their own. Not even when my parents were alive.

For a moment there, I thought perhaps I had a reason to stay because fate had taken pity on me. I turned eighteen three days prior, even though I never once hoped for a mate, a part of me had felt the heavy dejection when three days went by, and that telltale sign of a mate somewhere hadn’t happened to me.

I’ve heard girls in the pack talk about how that tug you feel close to your heart as soon as you turn eighteen. They said the closer you get to your destined mate, the more erratic the gentle tug gets, until it becomes a thumping rhythm that has yearning for something you wished you’d always had. I didn’t feel any of that when I turned eighteen, saddening as it was, I had been quick to dash the thought. Until that day.

I shook my head as I finished with the first horseshed then moved to the next. The master of this manor allows me to work night shifts and pays me a tad above the minimum wage, which I’m grateful for. Being an outcast in this kingdom means I have no official documents that could get me better-paying jobs even as a secondary school graduate. But I’m grateful for small mercies like this.

I was cleaning the fifth shed when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching. I would wonder what the Master of the Manor was doing outside by this time of the night if not for the pull in my heart and the sweet scent of vanilla and bergamot that invaded my senses in rapid succession.

My hand movements came to a stop, my senses heightened as I became aware of the presence behind me and the dominating aura that began filling the room.

I couldn’t have conjured him out of thin air, right?

How did he find me?

The overwhelming need to turn and face him filled me again, but I was too afraid of what I would find if I faced him. The last time I did, we made eye contact, he had called me filthy and kicked me to the ground. What if he was here to finally sever the bond because he couldn’t that day?

Who would f**k their mate, take her virginity, and leave her to tend to the mess, never saying a word to her for two weeks unless he hates her?

I should’ve known that what happened was a lapse in judgment, and of course, due to heightened pheromones.

My shoulders stiffened as I felt the brush of stubble against my neck.

“Why can’t I stop thinking about you? You are in my every waking thought, every breath I take,” my mate murmured as he nuzzled my neck.

“Al—alpha,” I stuttered, feeling the rise of his lustful pheromones.

He didn’t come all the way here just to f**k me again, did he?

“Shhh, let me take care of you,” he whispered, as his hands began exploring. “It’s as if you’ve charmed me, Omega. What have you done to me?”

He pressed a kiss to my nape, and I shuddered, his pheromone filling my nose. I dragged in a ragged breath.

And there it was again, the slight spike in his pheromones and scent. I could still taste the sweetness of bergamot and vanilla, but there was something else, a hint of burnt iris. It was there that evening, too, the first time he took me.

“I—, I didn’t do anything, Alpha. We—we are mates, it has to…ngghh.” My words cut off with a moan as I felt his fingers slip inside me. “Alpha, I don’t think…”

“Shhhhh,” he whispered, one hand fondling my breasts as he kissed down my neckline.

He had disregarded my comments about us being mates, no other word said to me as he expertly replaced his fingers with his c**k, slipping inside me with a grunt.

Yet again, he f****d me against the horse shed with wanton need, and for the second time, I didn’t stop him. I gave in, my nerve endings coming to life, heart singing as every touch, every whispered breath from him lit my soul on fire, and I felt it again, the strings of bond pulling tighter together with every snap of his hips. And a part of me rejoiced that this could truly mean he wanted me, that perhaps this could mean something.