Stripping For The Alpha King

Chapter 44

I had a hard time sleeping that night. I tossed and turned among those glorious silk sheets, thinking that it was impossible to stay awake when I was so exhausted. Alas here I was, sleepless and tormented. My mind was filled with images of that auburn wolf. It still seemed so impossible to me but I knew that I could not deny it any longer. Ajax was a human wolf hybrid. He was a werewolf. And by some ungodly means I was supposed to be his queen. In fact, he claimed I was the same as him. I didn't know which reality was more terrifying.

The idea haunted me well after my eyelids became too heavy, taunting me in my sleep as well. I dreamt of screaming in pain. I saw myself turning into an awful beast. It was worse than I could ever imagine.

In the morning my mind was too active for my body to be idle. I knew that if I stayed still for more than three seconds my mind would consume me and I could not allow that to happen. I pulled on pants and a thick sweater before I was almost sprinting out the door. As I strode towards the barn with no real plan I put my hair up in a messy bun. I absently thought of how beautiful and put together Adeline would look in a situation like this. even if she left the house in a flurry like I had I was almost certain she would've made the time to put on a swipe of mascara and style her hair properly. A woman like that didn't go anywhere without looking like a goddess.

Regardless, I still moved into the barn with full confidence, only to falter when a stable hand smiled at me.

"Is there something I can do for you, Princess?" he asked.

I repressed a shudder at the title and forced my mind to come up with a reason for bringing me here. "Um, would I be able to see Zelda? Maybe I could brush her or something?"

He nodded his head and set off, leaving me in the middle of the stables. It seemed that I had gotten used to this level of luxury. All these fine horses poked their heads of the stalls doors and watched me with curiosity. There was not a fleck of saw dust or feed anywhere in the aisle and I'm sure that the tack I could see cost more than my car back home. But now I had just accepted that this was normal. The shock of seeing all of these expensive things was nothing compared to the shock I had just received.

The groom led Zelda out of her stall and tied her in the middle of the aisle before grabbing me a bucket of multicoloured brushes. When he retreated I approached the mare slowly. Though I didn't know where else to go on the palace ground I wasn't entirely comfortable with horses either. However, when considering that my alternative was humans who turned into animals this didn't seem so bad.

"Hello lovely," I whispered to the horse, watching her ears follow the sound of my voice. "I'm not really sure what I'm doing but I'm sure we can get through a simple brushing together, right?"

"I could teach you," Ajax suggested.

I didn't even flinch at his voice. I knew that he would follow me. I knew that I would only be able to get a few quiet minutes in before he found me. I wasn't allowed to have more than brief snippets of time to be by myself it seemed. I just stepped aside and gestured to the bucket. He took out two similar brushes, handing me one of them.

"This is a curry comb. It's used to break down dirt and distribute the natural oils at the base of the coat. It really important because your horse can look clean but there can be a ton of dirt under the top layer of the coat. You use it like this," he said as he pressed the brush into the horse's neck and moved it into a circular motion.

I slipped to the other side of the mare and began brushing her grey coat.

"Because the brush is pretty sturdy rubber you don't want to use it on their face or lower legs, but when you use it properly it should feel like a massage. If you're arms get tired you're going it right," he continued while hitting the brush against his thigh to remove the dirt.

Zelda stood patiently for me as I progressed. And Ajax was right, the brush brought all of this unseen dirt to the surface. I was almost impressed that such a clean looking horse could harbor so much filth. Then we progressed onto a dandy brush, a stiffer brush to remove the dirt we just revealed. Then it was onto a soft brush that could be used all over. And aside from instruction we worked in silence the whole time. Ajax finished up after picking the dirt out of her hooves, saying that she hated lifting her legs for anyone but him.

"She looks great," I said, gently rubbing the velvety spot on her nose.

"Yeah, she does. How about I tack her up and take you out for a ride?" he suggested, his eyes bright with optimism.

"Ajax-" I began, more than ready to decline. I just wanted some space, was that too much to ask for?

"Come on, I have something I've wanted to show you for a while," he convinced.

And though I had a lot of reservations about spending any time with him while my mind was such a mess I couldn't find it in myself to decline. When I gave Ajax a tiny nod his face lit up and he darted around to saddle Zelda then proceeded to brush and ready another horse for himself. In a matter of minutes he was leading both horses outside.

He helped me onto Zelda's back then mounted his horse. We set off into the forest side by side. And it felt quite similar to my first ride with his mother. Nervous. Wary. Like the air was loaded with a thousand options. I wasn't trying to escape this time, but that didn't make me feel any less wild and uncertain.

But Ajax stayed silent as we rode and I wasn't going to be the one to break the quiet time. Even after thirty minutes neither of us said anything. The only sound was the soft cluck Ajax made to encourage his horse through a small creek. Zelda was more than happy to splash through it on her own. After another five minutes on the well-traveled trail, the forest around us gave way to what looked like a small village.

"What is this?" I whispered, staring at the sight before me.

About thirty little houses dotted the area with cars in driveways and kid's playing in the street. There were small businesses and a little school. But it all seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. And I certainly didn't understand why Ajax had brought me here.

"This is my dad's old pack."

***Huge thank you to everyone for all of the love and support. I hope I didn't come off as whiny, I just wanted to make myself clear and maybe put a little bit of a human face on this book that magically appears for you all. Now I'm blown away by all the love and I will never been able to tell all of you how thankful I truly am. Now, for those of you who read The Princess And The Alpha I hope you can reminisce. For those of you who weren't able to read the complete version and haven't I wrote these next few chapters in the hopes that it would help answer some questions***