FATED TO ALPHA HUNTER BY VENNEH LISAH

𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

I was struggling to catch my breath, my breathing harsh and raspy, when I saw the guards running in our direction down the steep hill leading from the castle.

Arman growled, "I'm going to turn you around. Don't push down on me." I could feel the movement of his legs behind me as he treaded water. He turned me around, and my legs locked around him, but he grabbed them, pulling me up higher so he could still move his legs freely.

He sighed, pressing his head against my collarbone, and my teeth chattered.

"Why did you get in the darn water if you couldn't swim?" he angrily breathed out. He tightened his grip, and the way he trembled made me realize how angry he truly was. However, I was too busy learning how to breathe again to care too much about his rage.

"The swan was tangled, and I got tangled too. I can swim, but not too well," I said before coughing. My throat and nose were burning with each breath.

"You nearly killed yourself for a swan?" he snapped at me.

"I fell in, and as I said, I got tangled too," I growled angrily at him. Who in their right mind would deliberately jump into the water when they can't swim well? My fingers dug into his shoulder, and he floated onto his back. The guards on the hill had stopped, but they kept a watchful eye on us until the King waved them away. King Arman growled at them, and I held onto him as he moved further out. The water was soothing on my skin, but my lung not so much.

"How can you not know how to swim well?" he said, shaking his head as if he were appalled at the information. I didn't bother answering, and he growled.

"I will have to teach you one day or get Dwight or Gary to do it," he stated. But I was fine never going near the water again, preferring land to the risk of drowning once more.

The King swam further out, and I untangled my legs from him, wanting to hop out when he suddenly pulled my hands from his shoulders while we were just over halfway to the other side. I freaked out, kicking and trying to reach him as the King moved away, and I started panicking again. He smiled before standing up.

I huffed, realizing the water there was only knee-deep and feeling embarrassed at my idiocy. Arman laughed at my embarrassed face, and I splashed water at him, sending him a glare.

"This side is shallow," he chuckled before bending down and grabbing me. He shook his head and clicked his tongue before pinning me with his glare.

"You let me sleep in and left the room without me," he growled before sitting in the water and pulling me onto his lap.

"You wouldn't have let me go if I had," I told him, and he nodded but said nothing. He gripped my chin gently with his fingertips, tilting my face towards his. The calling washed over me, and I sighed instead of fighting against it. He leaned his face closer, and his lips molded around mine. Turning my face away, he growled before gripping my chin tighter and forcing my mouth open so he could kiss me. His tongue swept over my lips before he nibbled on my bottom one. He then became angry when I didn't respond to his kiss.

"Stop resisting the calling," he snarled, breaking the soft skin on my lip and biting harder. I wondered how he could stand to touch me after the horrible things he said I did. I wanted the bond before he broke it, but now I no longer felt worthy of it. The King sighed before pecking my lips and pulling away.

"We should head inside. I have meetings this afternoon," he whispered, and I nodded. I was just happy to get out of the water. The King led me back toward the castle, and I shivered at the cold breeze caressing my goosebumped skin.

Once we were upstairs in our room, I went to run a bath, wanting to warm up. Goosebumps covered my skin, and the cold had started to sink into my bones, making them ache. But the King came up behind me.

"No, you shower with me," he said, gripping my hip. I wanted to protest, but he grabbed my hip tighter, tugging me back against him. His other hand went to my throat as he dipped his face into the crook of my neck, purring softly. My eyes fluttered shut before I shook my head, fighting against the urge to give in to him.

"You shower with me," he purred, his lips covering mine as his hand moved from my neck to my breast, squeezing it before pulling away when I didn't respond as he wanted.

"Stop fighting the bond, Ania. Let it reforge. Why do you keep fighting it?" he murmured against my lips. I couldn't believe he was asking that. He shouldn't want the bond, not with me at least. He growled and nipped at my lips. The calling washed over me like a tidal wave, and I couldn't resist it or stifle the urges. I bit him, and he groaned, my teeth raking down his flesh. I knew it was his doing, knew he was using the bond against me, and I hated him for it.

"Don't fight me, and I won't use it," he mumbled, picking up on my anger as I sank my teeth into his chest. He moaned. Arman spun me around and pushed me into the sink basin, his hands gripping my hips as he turned me and placed me next to the sink.

The King pressed himself between my thighs, his e******n pressing against me, and he groaned while l tried to shove him away. The calling grew more potent, and tears pricked my eyes when he gripped a fistful of my hair and tugged my head back. His tongue invaded my mouth, and I moaned into his mouth, the bond rushing to the surface as he forced it out.

I whimpered as I tugged him closer, my claws slipping free and scratching down his chest. Needing him closer as arousal flooded into me, making my p***y clench as arousal flooded me. My entire body buzzed from the bond in anticipation. His hand moved between my legs. He rubbed my throbbing p***y, cupping it with his hand and making me moan softly as my arousal spilled onto my thighs. All too soon, he pulled away, making me growl.

"You don't leave without telling me," he purred, and I nodded, anything to get his touch back. I reached for him, and he leaned down and pecked my lips, the bond forcing my hands to his chest, needing his touch. Wanting it, and craving him. He then pulled away and turned the shower on. I stared at his back as he removed his clothes, glaring at him because he riled me up and used the calling on me to force out the bond, then stopped as soon as I answered it.

"You will learn, Ania," he murmured. It was then that I realized he was using the bond to punish me, and for what? Leaving without telling him?

"In the shower," Arman said as he stepped under the water. I growled at him before stalking out of the bathroom and going to my closet. I heard him growl, but I ignored him, embarrassed that he had tormented me that way, and I had let him.

"Ania, don't make me come get you," Arman called out, and I snarled before burrowing under my nest, seething at what he had done. He would pay for that. He had caught me off guard, and I wouldn't let it happen again.

"Ania!" he growled, but I reached up and locked the closet door.

𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

Ania was driving me up the wall. I couldn't even kick the darn door down because I didn't know if she was directly behind it or not. All night, I waited, and damn, did she test my patience. I swallowed down the amber liquid, letting it scorch the back of my throat while I glared at the door.

I moved off the bed and away from my stare-down with the closet door that separated me from her. I meandered toward the small bar area in the corner, growling and muttering under my breath as I poured the last remnants from the bottle into my glass.

Her discomfort was beginning to make me nervous, and her scent grew stronger as it permeated from under the door. Grabbing my glass, I moved back toward the bed, pausing for a second by the bookshelf. My eyes moved over the shelf before spotting the book we were reading before everything turned to sh*t. Moving the small jewelry box off the shelf, I accidentally dropped it, causing the lid to crack open, and the music started playing. Bending down, I scooped the small box off the ground and noticed an engraving on the side of it.

The inscription was only small, in the back corner of the box:

Ania. T. Devonshire.

11.2.1999

Love you *_Hunter. A. Allan_*

I furrowed my brows and glanced over at the door. Ania was the one who gave me the music box? She was a Devonshire, like Princess Devonshire? I shook my head, placed the box down, and grabbed the book off the shelf before moving to sit by the door. I opened it up to where the ribbon laid between the pages before reading aloud. Her growling and snarling quietened, and after about five minutes, I heard her move within the confines of her closet.

I knew she was cozy, but I could also sense her discomfort at being there. It was a strange sensation to feel from her, almost as if it was her safe place but also a place that tormented her. Her emotions fluctuated between peace and panic, and I knew she was claustrophobic. I had witnessed her distress not only through the bond when she nested last time but also seen it for myself. But as much as she hated the closet, it was almost as if she was scared of the outside world past the door.

All noises stopped inside the closet, and I could hear her heart pounding as she drew nearer to listen to the words I spoke. My purr reverberated around the room, echoing off the walls as I called her to come to me. Her anger and fear amplified as she fought a war within herself, struggling against my calling for her. I toned it down a little, giving her the choice to fight it or answer it, yet still encouraging her to come to me. However, reading simultaneously was also a little tricky, trying to maintain both tasks. I coughed and took a sip of my drink before resting my head back against the wall.

"I will read to you if you come out," I told her. She didn't answer right away, and when she finally did, it wasn't the response I was hoping for.

"No, you will use the bond against me," she growled.

"You are my bond, Ania," I said, turning my head to look at the door handle. I twisted it, but she still hadn't unlocked it.

"Don't you want the bond?" I asked her, wondering how she could fight so hard against it, refuse me when I was hers as much as she was mine.

"You broke it," she said, and the sadness that flowed through the bond stung me.

"And I am trying to fix it," I replied, closing my eyes as I leaned my head back.

"It wasn't just yours to break," she stated.

"And I said I am trying to fix it," I repeated.

"And what if I don't want you to?" she asked.

"I've already told you, it's not up to you. You are mine. I meant it when I said that, Ania. I won't let you go again," I said, feeling annoyed that she dared challenge our bond. I didn't understand what she wanted. She wanted the bond. I broke it, and now I'm trying to fix it. What more did she want from me? I couldn't go back and take it all back.

"Until you find something else to hate me for. Or I do something you don't like, then you'll cast me aside because you can, and there's nothing I can do about it, because you're the alpha of kings," she murmured.

"You hurt me," she whispered so softly I nearly missed it.

I picked up my glass, draining the last of it. I was about to break the handle and drag her out, tired of playing these games of hide and seek. Standing up, I went to grab the handle when she spoke again.

"Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to allow yourself to trust someone, only for them to throw it in your face?" she asked. I paused, wondering what she was on about now.

"Are you going to finish, or are you going to make me guess?" I asked her, gripping the door handle. The metal creased as my grip tightened around the brass knob.

"I trusted you. I allowed myself to love you despite knowing better than to get my hopes up. Lucy had taught me to know my place, and you made me believe I could find that with you. That I was free to choose that place. Freedom. For years, my version of freedom was death. I was ready to die on that podium that day, to be set free. Convinced it would be better than the life handed to us. Then you showed me another sort of freedom," her voice trailed off. I paused, letting go of the door handle, my fingers creasing into the metal as I stared at the door.

"I realized I was never really living. We were already dead, waiting for our vessels to die, and you gave us our names back, our lives back, for a while anyway. Then just as quickly as you gave it to me, you took it away. The ultimate puppet master with a god complex I can't compete against. You took it, and I wished for freedom again. I wished you had left me to die that day; it would have been the more humane thing to do than give me hope only to show me how foolish it was to have it in the first place," she spat. My heart twisted painfully in my chest as I felt the truth behind the words she spoke.

"Now that is pain, and nothing haunts me more than knowing you have the power to send me back to a place where the only freedom I will long for is death," she squealed. I bit my tongue and swallowed, feeling guilty.

"I made a mistake. I blamed you because you were there to blame, not because you did anything wrong. I see that now," I told her.

"I understand why you hate me, Arman," she started.

"You are not a murderer," I told her, cutting off her words. That much I was sure of. Ania laughed, and my brows furrowed.

"Yet for months, you were convinced that I was," she retorted.

"No, you were just a victim of circumstances," I told her. She fell quiet. But I meant the words I spoke and wished she could feel the way I feel her guilt and heartbreak. It was only last night that we found out the allegations against her were baseless and fabricated.

"You have your freedom with me, Ania," I told her.

"Prove it," she murmured. I sighed, wanting her to come out, to stop ignoring me because it was driving me insane. I ignored my own instincts to drag her out, to kick, scream, and force her to submit to the bond.

I sat back down and let her be. Instead, I picked up the book and continued to read to her. She fell quiet, and after a few chapters, I heard the door unlock, making me look at it before the handle twisted. Her scent wafted to me as the door cracked open, and before I could muffle it, the calling slipped out. My purr resounded yet did not force her, leaving her choice, just enough to coax her out if she chose. Letting her know I meant no harm, so I let it be instead of stifling the sound. I heard her bones cracking from lying on the hard ground and felt the ache to go to the comfy bed.

Glancing up at her, I saw that she had an armful of my clothes and her lycan side was reappearing stronger, no matter how much she fought against it. At least she had changed out of the wet clothes and was now wearing one of my shirts. The bond between us was reforging and solidifying, despite her attempts to ignore it.

"You can take them to the bed, or you could let me sleep next to you," I offered. She walked partway to the bed before stopping and glancing between the bed and me, like she was fighting against what she knew she needed and wanted. Her urges were all over the place. I remained still, even though it killed me to do so.

"You won't use the calling on me, I mean no more than you are now?" she asked, and I could feel her uncertainty. Yet, she hated the calling as much as she liked it.

"No, but I can't help it sometimes. It reacts to your emotions," I explained. Ania chewed her lip and nodded once before moving toward the bed again. She climbed in, dragging my pile of clothes with her to burrow down in. I sighed before turning the next page, expecting to sleep on the couch when she spoke.

"You can sleep in the bed," she said, and my eyes locked onto hers. They flickered, and I heard her heart rate pick up. My skin rippled as I stood up, my instincts becoming excited that she was letting me near. I moved toward the bed before crawling in beside her and reopening the book. Ania moved closer, and her claws scraped down my ribs as she wiggled closer to see the tiny pictures in the corners of the pages. Fighting the urge to pull her on top of me, I continued reading contentedly with her beside me.