Aira’s POV


    A groan leaves my lips as I slowly slip back into consciousness. My eyelids flutter softly.


    and I regret parting with them because the moment I did, a sharp pain shot through my skull.


    Another groan leaves my lips as my handse up to massage my temples softly. Why the hell does my head hurt so much? Did I hit it or something?


    Carefully, I sit up and find myself in an unfamiliar room. Where am I? What happenedst night?


    The memories of what urredst nighte flooding in, and I sigh with disbelief. How na? ve I was to take that chocte; I should have known that there would be something in it. They were just so delicious; I just couldn’t help myself!


    Looking around the room, I wonder how I ended up here. Every inch of the room is filled with Alexander’s scent. The room just gives off his aura. The walls are the only crystal-white, or, should I say, light-colored, thing in the room.


    Every other thing was ck.


    Ranging from the curtains to the bed sheets to the drawers, doors, t-screen TV, and couch, Everything was just ck. Just like his soul.


    But afterst night, I do not think his soul is as dark as I thought it was.


    My eyes travel down to my body, and I throw the nket that covers it. I am in a pair of ck shorts and a grey t-shirt. My cheeks re up.


    He changed mest night. That means he saw me naked.


    I p my hand over my eyes, trying to control the amount of embarrassment I feel. I must have been really out of it for me not to notice.


    Did I sleep in his bedst night? Did he sleep beside me? If he did, I highly doubt he touched me. There isn’t any sign that anything sexual or intimate went downst night.


    Speaking aboutst night…


    Thest thing I remember was that beautiful yet scary womaning up to Alexander and me, then Alexander telling me to leave them alone. I do not know why, but I felt hurt when he did that.


    Why would he push me away because of another woman? What was so important and secretive that he couldn’t talk about it in my presence? I recognized the emotion I was feeling as jealousy, and it was quite a lot.


    I suppose that is why I kept stuffing my face with chocte while watching them interact. I could tell their conversation wasn’t going well, judging by the horrified look on the woman’s face.


    ssic Alexander.


    When they dispersed, I grabbed the closest men to me without thinking and started babbling some random shit just to make him jealous.


    I am not sure he worked, though.


    Then I remember him carrying me out of the ballroom before it all went dark. I can’t believe that night is finally over. This may sound crazy, but I actually had fun.


    I mean, I danced for the first time in a very long time. I wore a fancy dress and looked beautiful. I got high and got swept off my feet by my own mate. That was by far the best night I have actually had in a while. I can’t believe I spent the entire time thinking I would bump into Ana or Jace; I didn’t even get a whiff of their scent.


    I was just being paranoid over nothing.


    I can literally hear Ca’s voice at the back of my head telling me she told me so.


    My thoughts are cut short as the door to the roomes flying open. My jaw drops when Alexander casually walks in with nothing but a pair of dark sweat pants dangling loosely around his waist.


    His upper body ispletely bare, and I get my eye full of him.


    He is sculpted to perfection.


    His shoulders and abs are so defined, it takes every ounce of self-control in my body not to spring up from this bed and run my hands through them. There are a few scars on his chest that leave me wondering how he got them.


    “Are you done eye-raping me?” he asks, sitting down on the chair facing the bed.


    My cheeks re up, and I cast my gaze downward.


    “I am sorry,” I say sheepishly, and there is a brief silence. I can feel his eyes on me, taking in every inch of my body.


    “How are you feeling?” he asks, and his question takes me off guard. He has never asked me that before.


    “To be honest, I am having a bit of a hangover,” I admit with a groan. When I lift my gaze, I find him grinning. I don’t think he will ever know how handsome he looks when he does that. “d, my pain is amusing you.”


    “Maybe next time you will think twice about stuffing your face with choctes filled with brownies in a room full of people you don’t even know,” he says, and I bow my head in shame. He has a fair point.ConTEent bel0ngs to N?v(e)lD/rama(.)Org .


    I hear him hop off the chair and take something out of his drawer. He walks up to me and points at the bottle on his nightstand. “Take this; you will feel better.” He says he is handing me some pills, which I dly ept.


    “Thank you,” I tell him before popping the pills into my mouth and taking them down with some water.


    “You need to eat; I made breakfast,” he says, and my eyebrows shoot to the top of my head.


    “You can cook?” I ask, and he grins a bit.


    “There are many things you don’t know about me, Aira,” he says, and the way he says my name sends a chill down my spine. Before I can ask him what he means by that, he scoops me off the bed and into his arms.


    A surprised gasp leaves my lips. I steady myself against his chest. I shoot him a re and ask, “You know I can walk, right?”


    “I know,” is his simple answer as he heads down the stairs. We walk into the kitchen, and the sweet scent of pancakes and scrambled eggs fills my nostrils. My stomach grumbles at the scent, and I hear a light chuckle leave his lips.


    “Not funny,” I mutter, and he doesn’t say anything as he ces me on the stool beside the center counter. I watch him dish out a te of pancakes and scrambled eggs for me before pouring me a cup of tea.


    He shifts the tray to me, but I don’t touch my food.


    “Why are you staring at me like that?” He asks, and I shrug, picking up my fork and ying with the eggs.


    “I just never thought that you could be this nice,” I say, and his eyelids narrowed into slits.


    “Then why are you doing this?”


    “Because I don’t have a maid here, and clearly you are in no condition to do anything useful, that’s just it.”


    Oh.


    I cast my gaze downward, feeling ashamed that I even thought for a second that he could actually start caring about me all of a sudden.


    “And maybe I just wanted to,” I hear him mutter, and the corners of my lips lift a bit.


    “Thank you,” I tell him, and he doesn’t say anything as he shoves a fork full of pancakes into his mouth. I shove some into my mouth as well. A moan of delight leaves my lips as the sweetnessces all over my tongue.


    “Stop that!” Alexander snaps, taking me off guard. I stare at him wide-eyed, and he sighs. “Don’t make that sound,” he mutters, and my cheeks heat up for what feels like the millionth time this morning.


    “Sorry,” I say with my mouth full of pancakes. I swallow the pieces in my mouth before saying, “You are just such a good cook.”


    “Learn from my mom,” he reveals before shoving another fork full of pancakes into my mouth. I did not know how to respond to that, so he shoots me with a question thatpletely takes me off guard. “Where did you say your sister was again?”


    My hand freezes, and I look up at him. Why is he suddenly asking me that?


    “I don’t know. Her whereabouts became unknown to me after our parents’ deaths.” I lie, avoiding eye contact with him.


    I can feel his eyes boring holes into my skull. “And you don’t care to know where she is?”


    “Actually, I wish to never see her again.” Now that was the truth.


    I see him parting his lips to possibly ask me more questions, but I wasn’t having any of that. Pushing myself off the stool, I say, “Breakfast was delicious. The maids in the pce could learn a thing or two from you.”


    His eyelids narrow to slits, and he points a fork at me. “Not a word of this to anyone.”


    I throw my head back andugh. When my eyes meet his, I find something within them; I almost mistake them for admiration.


    “Anyways, we have another event to attend tonight,” he announces, and I look at him with disbelief. “It’s the birthday party of an old friend of mine. I just got an invitation this morning, and since it is in town, I thought I might as well attend. And you areing with me.”


    “Like I ever had a choice,” I sigh.


    Another party? And in this city?


    I am not going to let my paranoia get the better of me again. But why do I still have this feeling that things are about to go terribly wrong?