Promised to Another

My eyelids fluttered and the first thing I noticed was the white ceiling and the smell of something floral and sweet that filled whatever or whoever place I was. When I realized I wasn’t at home, I sat up straight and found myself in the middle of a vast, white-painted room. The wide glass windows were open, letting in the soft, cool breeze mixed with the musky, fresh smell of the rain.

It was raining heavily outside.

I shut my eyes tight and then opened them, adjusting my eyes to the soft white light of the room. My head was still pounding as if it would split into two and I winced. My shoulders were prickling but the bite wounds and gushes from the sharp claws of the rogue that attacked me were finally healed and left a few ugly scars, which were thankfully hidden underneath my—

My eyes widened.

I lifted the white blanket and my heart wanted to burst open after finding out I was totally naked underneath! I winced, trying to remember everything.

“Don’t force yourself too much.”

That familiar, deep, husky voice made my heart skip a beat and then I finally recalled that it was Bellamy who rescued me from the rogues that almost killed me in the alley behind the bar where I was working. My mind almost went blank when he stepped inside the room with his hands slipping in the pockets of his dark jeans and then sat at the edge of the bed with a grin on his face. “Did you sleep well?”

I clutched the blanket against my chest and glared at him. “Who took my clothes off?! Why am I naked?!”

As if he had already anticipated my angry approach, he lifted his hands to his side in surrender and said, “Your clothes were soaked with blood. Don’t worry. It wasn’t me who did it. It’s one of my female friends. I asked her to help me clean and take care of your wounds.”

I squinted my eyes at him suspiciously. “Why did you bring me here? Is this your place?” I asked, still wary of his irresistible charm, as his eyes stared at my scared face. He must be enjoying the view.

“No. I am here to help a friend,” he answered. His grin disappeared as he dragged his fingers through his dark hair. “I came for you because someone sent me to make sure Maverick won’t bother you again.”

“How did you know about my father’s debt to him? Who sent you?” everything sounds absurd to me. I had no idea who these people were. What was their connection to my father?

Bellamy just smiled at me so gently that it touched my heart like a feather. Just yesterday, I remembered how his face turned into a sadistic beast when he threatened Maverick to let me go. But the Bellamy in front of me looked so different. There was something in him that made me want to trust him, even though the wolf in me didn’t want to.

Then there was this strange feeling of wanting to reach out for him. The urge to stay close to the man who didn’t let me fall from the chasm of death.

I couldn't’ help but gaze into Bellamy’s amber eyes and something in our very essence snapped into place, like we were pieces of a puzzle that suddenly fit together. A strong force—a feeling that bound our souls into one—and I gasped.

Both Bellamy and I stared at each other wide-eyed. His mouth partly opened as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened and so did I. My lips trembled and my hand went to my neck, forcing myself to breathe after I realized I was holding my breath. I heard his heart thundering inside his broad chest and he licked his lips, his breath ragged, until I felt that urge in him to touch me—to feel my skin on his big, calloused hands.

“W-What had just happened?” I breathed as I looked down on his lips and then at his baffled eyes. “A-Are you my…”

To my surprise, Bellamy stood on the bed and shook his head furiously. “No! This isn’t supposed to happen! This is a mistake, Alice.”

My brows creased into a frown. Hurt beyond words. “What are you talking about, Bellamy? We are clearly mates—”

“No!” He blurted in panic but remained composed as he massaged that space between his eyes. “It shouldn’t happen. I am not the person for you.”

I sneered. Pain etched on my angry face: “What? Because I am a scum? A rat? A hybrid that lives in the poorest part of the Moon Claw Pack?!”

He bit his lower lip as if he were struggling to explain everything that was happening. Until the door opened and two more people entered the room.

My jaw almost dropped when I saw that gorgeous woman with long, dark hair, wearing a black dress lined with golden thread. Gold and jewels dangled all over her as her lips pulled into a grin that I never thought I would ever see again. Bellamy seemed uncomfortable with the woman’s presence as his shoulders tensed.

After she left me and rejected my dad to marry an old billionaire tycoon from another pack.

My eyes sharpened. “What are you doing in this place, mother? I thought you never wanted to see us again? Already bored with your little perfect life with your new husband?”

She ignored my bickering. “I am here because I want to take you from the miserable life your father is giving you, Alice. You don’t deserve to stay with that man.”

I didn’t care if Bellamy could hear us. I was too furious. I wish I could jump out of bed and push her out of the room but I was freaking naked underneath the blanket. “You have no right to insult my father in front of me. At least he didn’t leave me, unlike you!”

Just as I expected, Mother’s heart was too cold to even consider what I felt and didn’t even falter from my words. “Yes. Maybe he didn’t leave you, Alice. But he is a miserable man! He was even willing to give you away as payment after losing five hundred grand to Alpha Maverick! A slave trader, Alice!”

I scowled. But she was right. “So you are here to pay Maverick and convince me to live with you?”

“No. Love.” Mother answered with a somber look in her slanted, piercing eyes. “I am just here to introduce you to the man who paid your father’s debt. The person who saved you from Maverick’s nasty desire to put you in his harem.”

My heart started to beat rapidly against my chest and I expected Bellamy to beam a smile at me, assuming that he was that person.

But I was wrong.

Another man with beautiful bluish-gray hair stepped into my view and my jaw almost dropped after seeing how gorgeous he looked with his liquid golden eyes staring at me. He was wearing a white coat and I quickly noticed those short red gloves in his hands. He was staring down at me without showing any emotion on his face and I trembled when his eyes fixed on my exposed shoulders.

Bellamy shifted to his feet and looked outside the window, looking so tensed.

“His name is Zenon. Zenon, this is my daughter, Alice Drakon.”

Goddess, help me. All I wanted was for the earth to swallow me whole. I wanted to disappear so bad and just pretend all of it never happened.

Zenon’s lips twitch into a smile, so weird it tightened my stomach. “Your mother didn’t disappoint me. I now understand why Maverick would do anything just to lay his hand on you.”

My eyes went to Bellamy but his eyes were focused outside the window with his jaw clenched tight.

[Help…] I murmured to him through our mate bond.