Contractually Yours Alpha (Riley)

Chapter Seventy Six

I climbed up the stairs and stood right in front of my mate, Alexander.

"The man was not innocent..." I began, but my words were cut off as he pulled me onto his lap and kissed me. The kiss was passionate, raw, and full of need.

"Hush. You need not say a word."noveldrama

There was complete silence in the hall.

Alexander rose, gently setting me down before walking over to Seth.

"You placed your Queen Luna and my mate in the dungeons. Who gave you that authority?"

Seth fell to his knees. "I apologize. I meant her no harm..."

"It seems I need to set more examples, and you'll be the unlucky one I use to make them."

"But I am your advisor; I have been by your side ever since you were only a boy.

11

"I haven't forgotten that," Alex said, his claws tearing through his skin. "But you forgot your place."

I watched in complete astonishment as Alex ripped Seth's head off his body and tossed it aside, the lifeless body crumpled to the floor, blood pooling around it.

"The soldiers who had been stupid enough to carry out Seth's command would be locked in the dungeons; my mate would decide how they die."

I walked to stand by Alex's side.

"I had been looking forward to killing him myself, but this is... impressive so I'll let it slide."

"One less advisor to bug me; this feels relieving."

After the long bath, I felt cleaner than I had in days. I returned to the room where Alexander sat on the couch, taking a sip of his wine.

"The amount of alcohol you drink is concerning, especially with the wolf's bane mixed in it, it can be dangerous."

"It's not dangerous to me. More like... necessary. But if it makes you feel any better, this bottle doesn't contain even a drop of wolf's bane," he said, setting the glass down on the table before walking toward me. He ran his fingers through my hair, then, in an instant, picked me up and kissed me. I tasted the wine on his tongue, and I now understood why he chose the bottle without wolf's bane.

I noticed the roughness in his kiss, the intensity behind it, and pulled away.

"You're mad at me aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

"I can tell from this kiss. You are mad that I let them take me down to the dungeons; you are mad at me for not taking my stand."

"I knew why you did it. You fear that if you did kill those soldiers, the people would hate you. Aric told me." 1/2

Chapter Seventy Six

"Yes. That had been my fear."

"When I became Alpha, my own people didn't like me very much. Some felt insulted. 'How could a boy

rule us?' they said. If I had tried to please them all, then I wouldn't be standing before you now."

"In my case it's different. They have a good reason to dislike me, and if I don't prove to them..." "You have nothing to prove, Kaida.

Do you think everyone was in support of me killing Seth? I did it anyway. The members of this pack follow the strong, so you don't back down. Never."

"I won't. I promise."

"Good," he said, leaning in to kiss me, but once again I pulled away. "What now?"

"Where did you go? You were gone for days, and you never told me you were leaving. I guess it's my turn to be mad at you."

"I went to meet the rogue leaders."

"Alone?" I asked in surprise.

"It was better that way, and I'm fine, so you don't have to worry."

"They would have killed you."

"But they didn't."

I was furious now. I walked over to the table, grabbed his glass of wine, and drank it down in one gulp. "Easy." He cautioned, taking the glass from my hand.

"Did you even stop to think, for one second, how I would feel if something happened to things went wrong? Did you even care?"

"I'm sorry."

"Of course, that solves everything."

"It doesn't. But I couldn't tell you."

"Why?"

"You know why. You would have tried to talk me into going with some backup, or insisted on following me, and you're very hard to turn down."

"Next time, please keep me informed."

"I will," he promised. "Now can I kiss you?"