MATED TO THE SECRET ALPHA
Chapter 181: Cackled Like A Hyenna

Chapter 181: Cackled Like A Hyenna

By the time Reana was done with pack matters, it was night time.

"I’ll have dinner in my room in the next one hour," she told the omegas who’d prepared her bath water.

"Yes, Luna." They chorused. One of the girls stepped forward to help her with her dress, but Reana waved her hand. "Return, I’ll take care of myself."

The omega hesitated for a second longer, then she bowed and left with the others. Seeing the room was empty, she stood by the bronze mirror on her vanity. The mirror was covered by a fine layer of mist.

Reana reached out with a graceful hand and wiped it away, revealing her reflection. Her green eyes looked tired beneath the regal facade, her face too composed to betray the turmoil within.

"You look exhausted, My Luna," came the annoying voice that she couldn’t deny soothed her nerves and caused her heart to flutter.

She turned her head to him. He was leaning lazily on the door to her inner chamber, legs crossed and arms folded on his bare chest. An irritating grin plastered on his gorgeous face.

Reana didn’t flinch. She simply arched a brow, lifting her chin with that effortless grace that made her seem untouchable.

"Do I?" she replied coolly, turning back to the mirror. "Then perhaps you should leave. Your presence is hardly known to be restful."

He chuckled, low and velvet smooth, the sound threading around her like a noose she didn’t know if she wanted to escape or tighten. "On the contrary, My Luna, I’ve been told with actions a number of times that I’m very relaxing. I induce sleep in people... Even while they’re standing in the garden and watching beautiful flowers."

She didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead, she removed her earrings, one at a time, her movements slow and practiced. But her pulse had quickened, and she knew he could hear it. Wolves like him always did.

"When are you shifting or morphing back to your acceptable appearance? I can’t stand you hiding in my room anymore," she said after a long silence.

"Are you certain you want me gone, My Luna?" He pushed off the doorway and began walking toward her. Slow. Deliberate. Predatory.

He stopped just behind her, so close she could feel the heat radiating from his body, yet he didn’t touch her. His presence loomed like a shadow, intoxicating and maddening.

Reana met her own gaze in the mirror, refusing to give him the satisfaction of turning to face him. "You forget your place," she said, voice cool but softer now, threaded with something uncertain. "Return to the room and go to sleep. Quietly."

"I never forget my place," he murmured, his breath brushing the curve of her neck. "It’s you who keeps inviting me to the wrong places."

Her fingers froze on her necklace clasp. For the briefest moment, her eyes fluttered shut, but then she caught herself and exhaled quietly, regaining control. She finished unclasping the necklace and set it down on the table with a quiet clink.

"You mistake silence for invitation," she said, lifting her chin. "I allow you because..."

She froze when he leaned in closer, and the scent of lavender and something wilder wrapped around her. "You allow me because...?" his voice dropped to a whisper, "You don’t want to say, My Luna?"

His fingers brushed her bare shoulder. It was light, teasing. Not enough to cross a line, but enough to make her feel like it already had been.

Reana finally turned to face him. Their eyes met, green and blue locked in quiet war.

"I crave peace," she said, voice sharp as a blade, though her breathing betrayed her. "And you are the very thing tearing it from me."

He smiled again, a slow, devastating curve of lips that spoke of victories already claimed. "Then why haven’t you had me killed? There are no lines I’ve not crossed with you. People get their heads severed for lesser crimes, yet, here I am, standing before you..."

She stepped closer, defiant. Regal.

"Because I haven’t decided whether I want you dead..." she said, eyes narrowing, "or in my bed."

Silence.

And then, softly, he chuckled. "Well. Let me know when you make up your mind. Either way... I’ll make sure the ending is unforgettable."

He leaned in again—but this time, it was Reana who turned away first, sweeping toward her bathroom, the fabric of her robe brushing his chest like a taunt.

...

Reana shut the bathroom door behind her, leaning against it as though to hold herself together. Her breath left in shallow bursts, her chest rising and falling in a rhythm too fast for calm, too slow for panic. No, this wasn’t panic.

It was hunger.

Damn him.

She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her stomach, trying to quiet the chaos within. That scent—lavender, it lingered in her lungs like poison. Like memories. Like the sin she’d barely managed to resist when he touched or breathed on her neck.

She wanted him.

She wanted to kiss him until her lips bruised, scratch his back until he bled, ride him until he forgot who held the power between them. She wanted to punish him with pleasure for the way he fought for her, against that thing – her mate.

But her jaw clenched in restraint.

Reminding herself that he was Alpha Snow. The same Alpha Snow that had been on the tongue of everyone since. The same person she and that stupid Ryder talked about just a few days ago, while they sat on her bed.

She wondered how he must have cackled like a hyena in his mind when she asked him who would win between him and Alpha Snow, and the bastard ancestor had said he’d win... Of course, he would. They were one and the same, after all.

Reana hissed. She slid out of her dress and sank into the basin of mildly hot water, willing her mind to focus on other matters, but each time, her mind would drift back to him.