Ivy’s Point Of View
They are all very handsome. I doubt sharing a bed and spending a night with any of them would be so bad actually. There could be worse punishments... I feel my face grow warmer as my trail of thoughts has already led to a bed with these dashing alphas.
"Ah, the beautiful woman from earlier graces us with her presence," Alpha Adrian greets.
I feel like a fire is just burning directly on my skin now. Had this man just referred to me as beautiful? I glare at him as I shift my weight from one foot to the other. He follows my unlady-like swaying with his eyes. He doesn’t appear to have impaired vision, so why did he think I was beautiful? Was he just being polite?
I smile back at him regardless of my suspicions at his compliment. "It’s nice to actually put names to the faces. It’s an honor to meet you both."
"Oh, I had no idea you had already met," Callie says as she looks at all of us in succession. Her mischievous glare is back again.
Damn, could my face get any hotter? The answer is yes, yes it could.
"Don’t be a stranger, sweetie. Come and perch on my lap, and tell Adrian here that you think I am better looking than his spoiled ass!" Now my face was on fire.
I smile politely at Alpha Chase, but make no movement towards him.
I am relieved when Callie cuts in, "Right now, Ivy is all mine. You will get your chance to have her later on."
Although she has just saved me from having to satisfy Alpha Chase’s request, I feel like these Alphas only see me as a toy—a possession—who everyone here is going to have a turn at owning. Or should I say, fucking. I bow my head slightly at the two men, and can feel their gazes on me as we walk out of the room. This whole setup is going to be interesting to say the least.
For some reason my mind is focused on the pragmatic details of how I can possibly sleep with four different men right after another. Like, is there a sleeping schedule? Is there some sort of rule I have to follow?
Do I need to sign a contract?
Callie leads me to what looks like a patio. It is paved with pea gravel that seems to glitter under the sunlight.
A beautiful woman is laughing at something a tall, broad-shouldered man is saying. I cock my head to the side to listen in, but I can’t make out the conversation.
The rays of sunlight on her hair make it look like there are little sparks of fire on her head.
Now she was the definition of beautiful, not me. I look at the man she is with and wonder who they both are. His looks are a bit plain compared to the hunks I had already met, but something about him is magnetic. He has a... kind face.
As if reading my mind, Callie says, "That is Julian Reed. Alpha of Shore pack."
I nod and say without thinking, "Is he one of my Alphas?" I realize how I had just called them ’my Alphas,’ and rush to correct myself. "I mean, is he one of the four alphas I am here for?"
Callie throws her head back and laughs. "Yes, dear. Don’t worry, for the duration of your stay here you can go ahead and call them ’your alphas.’ They will all be yours anyway."
I like Callie. She always has a way of making me feel at ease... that is when she is not ogling me while I bathe.
The man looks in our direction. His eyes shift and focus directly on me. I can feel the pull of his stare even from this far. I can’t move. He raises his hand and waves. We both wave back.
"Who is that with him?" I ask.
Callie nudges me playfully. "Is someone jealous already? That is just his sister."
"Oh." I feel relieved when a realization hits me. I need to blink to snap myself out of the fantasy that is playing out in my mind.
Am I actually feeling possessive over these men? I was just here as their breeder; they were not really my alphas in that sense.
But, why did I want them all for myself?
Callie is chattering along as we walk back inside, back down the same corridors and passageways we’ve already gone. I nod and try to make agreeable sounds while she is talking because I don’t want to be rude, but on the inside, I’m not even listening to her—I’m thinking about the Alphas.
My Alphas.
At least, that’s what I’d taken to calling them for some reason I don’t quite understand. It isn’t as if they actually belong to me. If anything, I belong to them. Still, I can’t help but think of them a little possessively as my mind goes back over their handsome faces.
They are all so interesting and appealing in their own way. All of them are physically strong, yet not any two of them looked remotely alike.
I wonder if King Victor had given any thought to that, making sure there was no dispute over who the father was. Granted, he could simply do a DNA test, but if the baby comes out with dark black hair or red locks, it will be obvious who the father was, wouldn’t it?
We round a corner, and once again, I find myself running into someone. This time, the "oof" I hear is accompanied by the tinkling of breaking glass, and a hard smack on the floor that isn’t me tumbling.
I look down to see that I’ve run into a woman. She’s beautiful, with raven black hair, big brown doe eyes, and perfectly pouty red lips. Right now, though, her lips are parted, and she’s screaming at me.
"What the actual fuck, bitch?" she demands as Callie tries to help her up. A couple of other ladies rush over to help as well.
"I am so sorry!" I say. It seems that not only has she dropped a glass of wine when she fell, but it also splashed all over her gown—which was a nice cream color.
"Miss Marissa, are you all right?" Callie is asking as the woman is hauled to her feet.
"No, I’m not all right!" she shouts. "I was on my way to meet with my cousin, the king, and now... I have wine all over my dress!"
"I don’t know what to say," I tell her. "It was an accident. Can I scrub it? Try to get it out?"
"Are you serious?" she asks. "This dress is made of one hundred percent silk from the finest silkworms in all of the kingdom. No, I will not let your pitiful little hands touch it." All three of the ladies are glaring at me.
Callie tries to step in. "Miss Marissa, it was an accident. We came around the corner at the same time as you. Miss Ivy didn’t mean—"
But the Beta’s wife is cut off. "No one asked you what you think, Callie!" Marissa snapped, her eyes slitting as she focuses in on the Beta’s wife.
’Wow—she was even mean to the Beta’s wife! She must think she is pretty special,’ I thought to myself.
But then... if she’s King Victor’s cousin, as she says, then perhaps she is right to think that way.
I silently wonder what she’s doing here. She is so ethereally beautiful and also related to the king. I wonder if she was one of the contestants for the Breeder position, but how can I ask that?
Callie probably knows. She seems to know everything.
I will ask her later. Right now, I’m not done being screamed at by Marissa.
"And if I ever see your ugly face again, I swear to the Moon Goddess, I will grab hold of that huge schnoz of yours and rip it right off your face!"