Bound to the Alpha

1. Le premier

     There was no place to hide.

     Nausea rose at the back of Angelina's throat. The prickly sensation made her eyes brim with unwelcome tears. To distract herself from the feeling, she ground her jaw, trekking the length of the ceiling.

     If Eris wasn't in her immediate sight, maybe she could simply ignore him.

     Eris was still speaking, but she was past the point of listening. She couldn't. She didn't want to. His thin lips moved, but she couldn't pick up the words quickly enough.

     They hovered in the air, echoing around the room like a loose bullet. Her sister Rosie was sobbing- big, hideous tears that should have made her look a little less perfect.

     Rosie had been the prized heir. Her cinnamon locks were a tangled mess around her slim shoulders as her body quivered under the weight of guilt.

     Eris's lips tightened in disdain as he glanced between Angelina and her sister. A cool calculation eased across his features as something moved across his cerulean gaze.

     She loathed that look the most. He was already scheming.

     Roman, one of Eris's men gently led Rosie out the door. Her cries became muffled as the mahogany doors swept shut behind their retreating forms.

     Eris plucked an empty shot glass from his collection and spilled two fingers of whiskey into the crystal glass. He quickly downed the liquid, going for two more shots before he loosened his tie with jerky movements.

     Angelina had heard the women in the Pack say he was handsome. A bit cold, but handsome nonetheless in that classical way with rich blue eyes, his carved angular jaw, and fiercely shaped cheekbones. He looked ten years younger than he actually was. His inky hair had been slicked back, displaying more of his sharp profile and unblemished skin.

     "Why don't you sit down Angelina?" He motioned to his pristine velvet seats arranged near his desk in a half-hearted attempt at a semi-circle.

     Angelina barely kept in a flinch from hearing her birth name. It had been so long since someone had said it. No one outside of the Pack knew her as Angelina. She was just Angie. She was just a lone shifter that travelled around, hopping from one place to another without cause. She had grown closer to the non-shifters, especially since securing her baking job at Le Sucre.

     The old Frenchman who owned the boulangerie didn't care that she had minimal skills. When she stumbled across his place, holding her resume, his knowing eyes took one long look at her faded clothes and hired her straight off the bat.

     Whether it was pity or something else, it didn't matter. She hadn't ended up on the streets like Eris may have wanted. Monsieur Roux had saved her from that sad nightmare, and he himself may have sensed the desperation in her sixteen year old self.

     "Angelina?" There it was again. That name. She shoved away the loathing building beneath her skin.

     Angelina weighed her options. The door wasn't too far now to escape. Eris wouldn't hesitate to lunge out of his chair and grab her if she made so much as a step towards the door. As if reading her thoughts, the man narrowed his gaze. "Sit." He ordered, the patience in his tone non-existent now.

     The Alpha command should have had her knees snapping into submission, but there had always been a different type of defiance embedded into her DNA. Eris had recognised it since she was young and couldn't beat it out of her.

     It was the only reason he never pushed her to her limits. Despite his terse command, she plopped into the limp lounge seat across from his executive desk, crossing her legs. "Ask nicely next time, Eris, or I won't obey."