In that fraction of a second, as the dense steam parted from Roxy’s bare form, it was no longer merely Asher the man who watched.
The beast imprisoned within his depths awoke all at once, rearing its head savagely behind the fortified walls of his consciousness.
Asher’s wolf was unlike the rest of the elite pack; it was an ancient entity, steeped in arrogance and sub-zero authority.
Yet watching this rebellious human standing completely exposed with such cold detachment without so much as a single eyelash fluttering ignited a primal savagery in its soul that it had never known before.
Asher’s brilliant, analytical human mind dissolved entirely before the inner growls of his beast, which began to reverberate inside his brain like rolling thunder: *(Look at her!..
She does not tremble, she feels no terror, and she refuses to bow before our authority!)* The wolf clawed savagely at the walls of Asher’s mind, attempting to force his massive frame to break through the water and lock around her.
The beast’s breath grew hotter with every stray droplet gliding over her skin, roaring within his mind in a voice dripping with venomous obsession and dark pride: *(This naked body belongs to us…
that sharp gray stare that challenged you must be shattered right here!
Take her…
force her to her knees until she realizes what kind of monster she has provoked!
How dare an insignificant human insult our pride with such towering arrogance in her nakedness?!)* The air inside the luxury suite froze instantly.
A sharp blade of embarrassment and humiliation sliced straight through Roxy’s chest; her entire plan to execute a dignified retreat collapsed in a single heartbeat.
Her lifted leg suspended in mid-air for a fraction of a second, every voice in her mind screaming at her to dive back into the water or cover her body with her hands.
But she was Roxy a woman forged in the fires of hell to become harder than diamond.
Instead of breaking down or displaying a single crumb of vulnerability, she forced every muscle in her body into manufactured composure.
She completed her movement with agonizing, deliberate slowness that oozed infuriating confidence, letting the water droplets trace their way slowly down her bare skin before his eyes.
Standing fully erect on the marble rim, she whipped her damp red hair back, sending a spray of fine mist airborne into the warm room.
Then, she turned her body around slowly, meeting his predatory stare head-on with sharp, icy gray eyes that refused to yield a single trace of defeat.
Reaching out with complete composure, she pulled the white silk bathrobe over her shoulders, slowly wrapping her body in its warmth while keeping her gaze locked into his pitch-black eyes.
A wicked, superior smirk pulled across her lips as her voice rolled out calm, heavy, and dripping with absolute self-assurance, echoing into the dead silence: “I see you failed to resist your curiosity until the end after all, Asher…
tell me truthfully, did you enjoy the view?” At those provocative words delivered in her ice-cold tone, the wolf’s growling hit a fever pitch, hammering Asher’s consciousness with explicit commands dripping with desire and total dominance: *(She challenges you with her nakedness!..
She believes her human skin is an armor that protects her from our claws.
Break that vanity, Asher…
step out of the water and show her who the true Alpha is!)* Asher the man exerted superhuman effort to suppress the violent rumbles vibrating inside his throat, which threatened to burst out as a full-fledged roar.
He ground his sharp jaw so hard his teeth nearly cracked, fighting desperately to maintain his frozen, flawless composure before her, even as his wolf bellowed its final command through his entire being: *(She is a wild outsider…
fierce and intoxicating…
and she will not leave this royal sanctuary without leaving a piece of her pride crushed beneath our feet!)* A slow, deliberate smirk spread across Asher’s face slow as a drop of poison falling over sheets of ice while the savage conflict with his inner wolf continued to rumble within his consciousness.
He didn’t take a single step toward her.
Instead, he tilted his head back against the marble edge of the jacuzzi, letting his pitch-black stare sweep over the white silk bathrobe now wrapped around her frame, as though copying every detail of what he had witnessed seconds ago directly into his memory without blinking.
A low, vibrating hum drifted from his lips.
In a composed voice that barely concealed the suppressed fire beneath it, he spoke: * “The view was not mere casual curiosity, Miss Chaos…
it was explicit confirmation that you are far weaker than you try to project.
The human body is beautiful no one can deny that yet it remains utterly fragile before the very first claws raised against it.” The breath hung heavy in Roxy’s chest, but she tightened the silk sash around her waist with firm force, accentuating the curve of her torso, refusing to allow his cold eyes to catch even the faintest tremor in her hands.
Her lips twisted into an arrogant, mocking smirk, her tone hardening into pure steel: * “Fragility is not measured by skin and claws, Alpha…
but by the soul that hides behind them.
And you, despite your massive wolf and your royal aura, still needed to open your eyes in secret to stare at my naked human body like any deprived teenager.” Asher’s smirk widened slightly as his pitch-black eyes narrowed, flaring with a hidden gleam while his inner wolf growled in burning fury: *(She stings you with her tongue!..
Do not let her walk out of this sanctuary with such defiance!)* Ignoring his wolf’s obsession, Asher raised a crystal glass resting near him, taking a calm sip without severing eye contact with her for a fraction of a second: “Then consider that view a reward for your audacity…
but do not forget that every truth exposed in this place carries a steep price.
Today, I learned exactly how you look when stripped of your fortresses.” Roxy replied in a tone as dry as tempered steel, turning on her heel toward the sanctuary exit without granting him a single farewell glance: “Keep your price to yourself, Asher…
the fortresses I have built do not shatter from a mere look, and the battle between us has barely begun.”