Chapter 4 Alpha-Touch Enemy-Eyes

The moon was very big, and shone pale and silver-like, over the long hallways of the Blackstone mansion. Sienna was still scraping the floor of the ceremonial hall when a tall, quiet servant who had closed the door earlier pushed it open again, holding a tray on which was placed a scroll and a decanter of dark wine.

"The Alpha must have this brought to his room" he said, and handed them into her trembling hand.

Her heart sank. She wasn't ready to face him. Not after watching him mark Renna in front of the entire pack. Not after he, a man whose touch still haunted her skin, allowed her to be publicly reduced to a servant.

But she couldn't refuse. Refusal was not an option anymore to someone like her.

She went down the dark passages in the wing of the Alpha, with the slippers parting the smooth floors, and the wine sloshing about a bit in the glass decanter. At the door there were two guards who did not say a word, but nodded, and moved away. One of them smirked.

Sienna stepped inside. The chamber was a warm room with a hazy orange glow of a hearth. Ryder was seated in a chair before the fire in his white shirt which had turned up quite at the collar, and before him lay a half-finished glass of wine.

He made no sign. "You came."

Sienna said nothing. Her voice had abandoned her the day she watched him press a mark into another woman's flesh.

She walked to the table beside him and placed the scroll and wine there carefully, ready to turn and leave. She had made it three steps when he spoke again.

"Sienna." She froze at the sound of her name been called by the very man who couldn't stand for her.

"Stay." He commanded but with a calm voice

Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "I was told only to deliver the wine. Nothing more."

He stood slowly, his movements fluid, almost predatory. "And I told you to stay."

She turned then, meeting his eyes. For the first time since the ceremony, they were alone. And whatever shield Ryder had put up in public was gone now.

"Why?" she asked, her voice quiet, trembling. "So you can watch me bow again? Humiliate me in private, too?"

His gaze didn't flinch. "I never wanted to humiliate you."

"But you did."

He looked at her for a long moment, then moved to the table, poured a second glass, and held it out to her. "Drink."

She didn't take it.

"I'm not here to share drinks with you," she said.

"Then what are you here for? To keep your head down and scrub the hallways while they whisper about you? To let Zane win?"

His voice had deepened, and there was something sharp in it. Something personal.

She didn't answer. Her silence filled the room like smoke.

He stepped closer, the wine still in his hand. "I saw your face during the marking. I saw the way it has affected you, I saw everything.

Sienna turned away, and he took her chin, returned her whole face to his. His fingers were so warm against her, his hand hot. She should've pulled away. She didn't.

"You felt it too, didn't you? The bond. It didn't break."

Her voice came out in a whisper. "It hurt."

He was leaning so that his lips were an inch from hers. " You know it, don't deny it. You felt the pull, that you were supposed to be my mate."

Something in her chest twisted violently. Her breath hitched. The firelight danced in his eyes, and for a second, she forgot everything, Renna, Zane, the ceremony. There was not a single thing except Ryder and the warmth coiling up between them.

He was caressing her face, doing it with his hand as he first touched her chin and then her neck, below her jawline. Her skin tingled when he touched it.

"Ryder..." she whispered.

But the half door flew open. Zane was standing in the doorway and his featureless face was turned towards her. His glance moved quickly to the hand of Ryder upon the throat of Sienna, to the expression of her eye.

"I hope I am not intruding myself."

Ryder stepped back immediately. That instant was broken up.

Sienna turned her face in shame and bent her head. She could feel Zane's eyes burning into her.

Zane entered the room, and shut the door with a sharp snap. "I just came here to talk about the border patrols but this is so much more fun."

Ryder's jaw tensed. "Leave, Zane."

Zane chuckled, eyes still on Sienna. "You really think you can hide it? I saw everything. The Alpha and his servant girl. How noble."

He turned to Sienna, voice low and cruel. "Don't get too comfortable. You may warm his room, but it won't change your status. You remain the rejected." Then, softer, more dangerous: "Touch him again, and I'll make sure you regret it."

Sienna said nothing. She didn't trust her voice not to crack. She turned and walked past Zane without meeting his eyes.

Behind her, Ryder said nothing.

---

She barely made it back to the servants' wing before the tears came. She felt the cold stone wall at her back as she pressed her back on it, her heart beating fast.

Ryder had touched her. He had almost kissed her. He hadn't rejected her. But he hadn't stopped Zane either.

She huddled on the little cot at the side of the room to which she was allotted, and held the blanket across her chest in an attempt to repel what had scarcely occurred. She could still hear the voice of Ryder, she could still feel his touch and his eyes focused on her.

There deep-down in her mind, something dangerous awakening. Hope.

---

In another part of the mansion, Zane stood at Renna's door.

"He touched her," he said flatly.

Renna's smile faded.

"In his chambers. Alone. It's starting."

Renna clenched her jaw. "He marked me. She means nothing."

Zane leaned in. "Let's make sure it stays that way. Let her stay in the Luna's wing. Let her serve you closely. He'll have to see her every day. If she has even a flicker of hope left, we'll burn it out."

Renna hesitated, then nodded. "She won't survive this."

Zane smiled. "That's the plan."