Chapter 15

Piper

I slammed Zander"s door behind me, feeling it shake the walls, as I stormed toward my room. Just when I felt bad for him, and decided I would treat him like a human being, he pulled off his mask and showed me the true beast inside.

I was snooping. Sue me for looking around the castle I was trapped inside. He"d told me to stay out of his room, but something caught my eye from the crack in his closet door.

I hadn"t understood what it was at first, but the more I looked, I realized what it was ... a heart.

Not the valentine"s heart, or a kindergartener"s drawing, but a true heart. Trapped inside of a glass case, with slender black fingers holding it, encasing it, as if it would move slightly and squeeze the heart to death.

The worst part was that it looked real. Like a human heart, though the fingers looked like something out of a child"s nightmare.

As I neared my room, I passed William in the hallway. He looked frantic to get to Zander"s room and didn"t acknowledge me. I turned to look over my shoulder as he pushed open the door, and saw Zander on all fours. The yellow tint in his eyes burned bright from the distance, and I kept eye contact with him until the door shut, blocking our view.

He roared loudly, vibrating my stomach. Instead of go to my room and try to block out his cries, I descended the steps and found myself wandering the castle.

There were many rooms and hallways I hadn"t explored myself. Zander took me through them, but not into each room. The kitchen was bare of Vivian, so I slowly walked down the closest hallway, looking for her.

Each room I passed, I peeked inside. Most of them looked like normal guest bedrooms. Some looked like kid"s bedrooms, and there were a few nurseries. I remembered him saying that his pack had lived here once.

There must have been many of them to require so many rooms.

Once the hallway ended, I turned a sharp circle and walked into William"s den. The laptop that was normally there wasn"t, which meant they took it so I couldn't try to log in. Figured. But there was a newspaper sitting on top of the edge. I grabbed it, staring down at the front-page article.

It was me.

MISSING WOMAN"S CELL PHONE LAST PINGED NEAR ARABI, LOUISIANA.

I nearly dropped the paper in my hand. They knew the area where my cell phone last pinged. My eyes whelmed with tears. Maybe they"d find me. Maybe they"d find the castle, and I could jolt from the doors into the safety of the officer"s arms. Reading over all the details, I closed my eyes and smoothed the paper back out onto the desk.

There was hope in my heart when I left William"s office. Maybe I wouldn"t be stuck here after all. My parents wouldn't stop looking for me. I was an only child, mother couldn"t have children after me, and I"d always been a daddy"s girl.

I turned the corner of the hallway and caught Vivian walking down a hallway on the opposite side of the house, the west wing. "Hey!" I said, but she didn"t stop.

I picked up the skirt of my dress, and ran after her, catching her going into a room at the end. She stopped when she saw me. "Ms. Sloane. Is everything okay? Do you need something?"

"Can I come in and talk?" I asked.

Vivian looked uncomfortable, but I didn"t let up. She could answer some of my questions. Not that I thought Zander wouldn"t, but after his tantrum in his bedroom, I didn"t want to ask him.

Vivian wrapped her robe around her, and looked nervously around. "Oh, come on," I said. "Just for a second. I promise not to beat you up."

She pressed her lips together, and nodded slightly. Opening the door, she let me inside her room. I was shocked to see the artwork on the walls, the vibrant colors and the easel in the corner. "You"re an artist," I said, walking around.

Nervously, she glanced at her artwork and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yes."

"You"re very talented."

"Thank you."

I looked over at her. "You don"t have to be nervous."

She chuckled. "Can I help you with something?"

"I want to know about Zander."

"It"s best you ask Alpha Zander yourself, Ms. Sloane—,"

I shook my head swiftly, and took a seat on her bed. "I want you to tell me about the pack. How he was before the beast."

Vivian looked like she would throw up at any minute. "Zander is a great alpha, Ms. Sloane—,"

"Please call me Piper."

"Piper," she corrected, sitting down on the edge of a chair across from me. "Zander was an amazing alpha. Understanding. Calm. A lot of the shewolves in our pack prayed to be his mate," she said, giving me a stern look. "It"s an honor to mate with an alpha."

I pursed my lips. "Was your mate an alpha?"

Her fingers involuntarily moved to her neck toward her faded mark. "No, but he was an amazing wolf. I loved him very much."

"How did he die?"

She frowned. "A vampire killed him."

My skin pricked with nerves. "Vampires are real?"

She nodded, and she brushed the subject away. "When Zander was cursed, I knew I wanted to stay here. This is my home. He agreed to let me stay, while the others went to a neighboring pack, until Zander breaks the curse," she said, her gaze focused on a loose string on the hem of her robe.

"Your family went to the neighboring pack?"

"Yes. I go see them often. They miss Zander, but it was best to keep the little ones safe, for them to go live under an alpha friend of ours."

Gnawing my lip, I leaned forward on my knees. "Who cursed Zander? What did he do?"

Suddenly Vivian became uncomfortable, and stood. "It"s past my bedtime, Ms. Sloane. I think you need to go to bed yourself."

She walked to her door and opened it. By the look on her face, I figured she wasn't going to tell me anything else. "Vivian you have to understand that I"ve been kidnapped—,"

"The Alpha has a reason for this. He won"t hurt you, Piper. Give him a chance. He made a mistake, and he"s living it every day."

Vivian lost eye contact, and I knew then she was finished talking. Brushing past her, I turned to look at her, but she swiftly shut the door.

Slowly, because why be in a rush to make it back to my room, I walked back. The front door tempted me as I passed it, but the shrieking wind pushing against the outside of the castle burned out that light.

I didn"t want another alligator incident.

I wanted to go home. My best bet was for the police to find me. They would look, and I had to have hope that they would make it to me. I climbed the stairs, my body pulled me toward Zander"s door but I wouldn"t make that mistake again.

The beast roared loudly, shaking the artwork on the walls, while I opened my door and walked inside. I changed into my nightgown, tied my hair into a bun on top of my head and climbed into bed.

I longed for my cell phone. It was the longest I"d been without it since before I had one in junior high. I wanted to look at the news. My friends. I even wanted to creep on Henry to see what lie he told people on social media about us.

Laying back on the pillow, I stared at the vaulted ceiling. When I opened my eyes, I hadn"t realized I"d fallen asleep. Rubbing them, I looked around the room, seeing Zander standing in the corner. The sun was still down which told me I was dreaming.

He wouldn"t be in this form during the night—not for long at least. "What a surprise," I said, sitting up in my bed. "The big bad alpha creeping on his little mate," I said.

Zander smiled, a row of glistening teeth shining from underneath his top lip. "At least you"re not in denial anymore, Little One."

I scoffed, and stood up, staring at him from across the room. I didn"t like the idea of being on the bed while under his gaze. I imagined tons of things running through his mind. "Oh, I"m just going along with this alternate universe I"ve been shoved into. It seems to be easier than fighting it."

Zander stepped out into the stream of moonlight and smiled. "Are you finished fighting me?"

I chuckled, clutching the comforter into my fists. "I"m finished fighting if this is reality or not, but I"m not finished fighting for my innocence, Alpha Zander."

He flashed me a smile, and his chuckled slid over my skin like silk. "Little One, I can smell that you aren"t innocent, and I know those naughty things you gather from those smut books. Tell me," he said, stopping in front of me. "Do you ever dream that I"ll do those things to you?"

My stomach churned tight into a ball that burned me deep. "I don"t dream of you," I lied.

Zander, in a swift movement, squatted down in front of me and braced both palms on my thighs. The heat of his hands seared my stomach, burning a path between my legs. "You don"t, Little One?"

With a defiant look, I lifted my chin and met his honey gaze. "I don"t want you. That fit you threw in your room? Why would I ever want someone like that?"

Zander"s fingers squeezed around the meat of my thighs, slowing sliding up an inch. "Because I can hear your heart beat increasing right now. I see the vein pulsing in your neck, and the increase of your blood flow. I effect you, and you"re running from it. Can you imagine, what it would be like to give in again, I know you"ve thought about that kiss. It wasn"t like the others, was it?"

I pressed my thighs together. "It was okay-ish," I said.

The corner of his plush mouth ticked into a semi-smile. "Prove it," he whispered. "Prove to me it was just a kiss. Give me another one."

"This is a dream, it won"t matter," I said.

"Exactly," he said. "So, prove it. Prove to me that my kiss does nothing to you."

The smug look on his face tightened my warm belly, and I ground my teeth together in annoyance. "Fine."

I reached forward to tangle my fingers into his hair, but he shoved me back onto the mattress, and pressed himself against my opened thighs. My nightgown bunched around my waist, revealing my white cotton underwear to him. The weight of his body melted my skin. His scent made my head go dizzy, taking me back to my first kiss in junior high, and the anticipation of tasting a boy"s mouth.

"You"re shivering, Little One, and I haven"t even kissed you yet."

Unable to stop myself, my tongue danced across my bottom lip, wetting it for him. Priming myself. Like some love-struck zombie.

Zander smiled, and lowered his mouth to mine, hovering over my lips before nipping the bone of my jaw. A traitorous moan fell from my mouth, and I tightened my thighs around his waist.

I felt his smile against my skin, and I prayed he would put me out of my misery and kiss me. It was a dream, he wouldn"t know what happened in my dream, would he?

Zander bit my neck, right where Vivian"s mark was, and jolts of electricity danced over my skin. "Please," I begged.

Zander continued his torturous biting and licking journey up and down my neck, until my resolve snapped, and I swung my leg over him and captured him between my thighs.

Both hands landed on my hips, and fire danced in his eyes. "Don"t be pushy, Little One. All you had to do was ask—,"

I shut him up quickly, palming the bed beside his head, and kissed him. The stars aligned, as corny as it sounded, my head spun in dangerous circles. Circles that would easily persuade me to take off my clothes.

It"s just a dream, something whispered into my mind.

Was it?

My overpowering lust moved me like in a dream, rocking my hips against the hardness laying between his, and deepening the kiss like his mouth held the cure to my own personal disease.

Zander palmed the globes of my butt, providing a rhythm to my rocking that made my eyes roll back in my head. A soft plea for help escaped me. Zander took that opportunity to swing me back to the bed. A gasp left me, and my back arched for his touch.

Zander chuckled beneath his breath, slowly sliding his fingertip across my collarbone. "Does the Little One want me to touch her?" he asked softly, but his baritone deep, driving nails of need into me.

"Why do you make me feel like this?" I asked.

Zander tilted his head. "I"d hate to keep repeating myself, Little One. Maybe when you believe me, I"ll give you what you really need."

He stood up, and I followed like a sick puppy, sitting on the edge of the bed. He watched me with a curious look, and puffy lips from kissing me into oblivion. "I don"t believe in soul mates," I admitted.

Because I didn"t. Maybe when I was ten years old. But I wasn"t that gullible girl anymore. Men wanted one thing, just like Henry, and I wasn"t about throwing that out the window because a man said one thing.

"Pity," Zander said, sliding his thumb against the corner of his lip, before sucking it into his mouth. "However," he said, walking toward the door, "I do enjoy this game we"re playing. And just for your information. The wolf always wins." He chuckled. "Better not close those pretty eyes, Ms. Sloane. Because if I don"t get you while you"re awake, I"ll wear you down at night, and you"ll be pining for me. I can smell your arousal from here, and I can"t wait to taste it."

Zander shut the door behind him, jolting me out of my dream world and into my sunlit bedroom. Zander wasn"t in my room, but his scent floated around me like a heavy reminder of the wonderful torture that awaited me.