[Nivera’s POV]
At the mention of my name, I jumped and looked up at the Alpha with fear and worry.
He smiled. “There you are,” he said, coming close to me.
I looked to my side and discovered that Lucien had disappeared into thin air right on time and I had been worried over nothing, but before I could sigh in relief, I realised I had reached a decision and he couldn’t just go since I hadn’t given him an answer yet.
“I… um… I’ll be right back,” I quickly said, unable to think of anything else and was about to dash out when the Alpha pulled me back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, looking infuriated.
“I have something to take care of. I’ll explain it to you later,” I said in an urgent tone.
“Is this about the vampire?” he asked, taking me aback.
I stammered, unable to say a word and just looked up at him with a perplexed expression.
“He was here, wasn’t he?” he demanded, but I didn’t respond. “Answer me!” he yelled so loudly that the walls shook and the sleeping horses awoke and began neighing in fright.
I didn’t say anything and a drop of tear just fell from my eyes.
“You’re not accepting my rejection because you’ve come to terms with the fact that I feel nothing for you; you’re accepting it because you have feelings for the vampire,” he said with extreme distaste.
“And so? What difference does it make?” I asked, finally allowing myself to accept the truth that mate pull or not, I had begun to feel something somehow for Lucien.
“Oh, Nivera, it makes a whole lot of difference. It was okay when I was the one who despised you, when I was the one who didn’t want you, but now, everything’s changed. How could you not want me? I am the Alpha King, or do you believe the vampire is better than me?” he roared.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Let me go!” I screamed as his grip on my hand tightened.
“I am not letting you go, Nivera,” he said, and with that, he pushed me to the wall and pressed himself against my body. I tried to squirm away from him, confused as to what he was doing, but he didn’t give me any space to.
“Why? You can’t stand me being close to you? If it was in the past, I’m sure you would have wanted this more than anyone,” he said roughly, looking at me directly in the eye.
“That’s not it. It’s just that…”
“I’ll be blunt with you. Whatever you feel for the vampire is just gratitude, but shouldn’t you be thankful to me as well? I went all the way to that hellhole to search for you and I almost died in the process. Or how about when I fired that Chief maid for your sake eight years ago?” he asked furiously.
The resentment I had begun to feel towards him died down that moment, and I just looked at him filled with confusion. “You… you remember that?” I inquired.
“Of course, I do. It’s a memory I can never forget, you were a precious little girl and I always thought about you. Perhaps, that’s why the Moon Goddess brought us together and defied all common sense. Nivera, I believe we were always meant to be,” Alpha Tyler said, staring intently at me.
I searched his eyes, honestly not knowing what to believe. The Alpha remembered who I was? All these years, I hadn’t been the only one thinking about him? But, on the other hand, there was Lucien. I didn’t know for sure if he was a good person, but he cherished me, knew all the little things that could make me happy and just thinking about him made me smile.
“You said you wanted to repay me for the favour I bestowed on you eight years ago. If that’s true, the only way you can repay my kindness is by staying by my side,” the Alpha said.
Never in my life had I been in such a dilemma. All I had wanted was for the Alpha to accept me as his mate and stay by his side, but I had started missing Lucien and had considered going back to be with him, even if he was the devil himself… and now, I was lost and had no idea where I was to go from here.
“But it’s already dawn and the full moon will be out later this night. The rejection process will be completed, so how can I stay by your side?” I asked, puzzled.
“Simple. I won’t reject you,” he said with so much determination in his voice.
“You can’t decide that by yourself. The elders, the slaves, and all the people are eager for you to go through with it and won’t stop petitioning for you to reject me as your mate even if you don’t want to carry on with it,” I explained.
“I’ll make them stop,” he said.
“How?”
“By marking you,” he said, and with that, he wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me closer to him, pressing our bodies together so completely that there was no space left between us.
He leaned in and kissed me softly. His lips moved against mine slowly like they belonged there, gently moving up and down with every stroke of my lips, making it impossible for me to concentrate on anything else except him.
I just stood there and did nothing, but after the initial surprise, I relaxed and gave in to him, kissing him passionately back, returning his passion with equal fervour. It was my first kiss, but it didn’t feel like it was. I couldn’t understand how or why, but there was something about him that made everything better than usual, and when he broke off the kiss, I opened my eyes and blinked several times, not sure what I had just gotten myself into.
“You’ll trust me and stay by my side, won’t you?” he asked.
It was as though I had become hypnotised and I gently just nodded my head in response. “Yes, I will,” I muttered.
He said something, but I couldn’t hear a thing he said. I had noticed someone staring at us and looking past him, I met Lucien’s gaze. He vanished as soon as he saw me and I just bit my lip, wishing I could turn back the hands of time so he wouldn’t see that.