Page 21 of Alpha's Arranged Mate

“Feel free,” Braxton stated at almost the same moment. “She will be here.”

He held his head high, glaring back at Macie as though he was just waiting for her to try and challenge him further.

Though she didn’t look at all happy about it, Macie didn’t say another word. Instead, she slipped past them both with extra care not to get too close to Braxton, a look of revulsion written plainly upon her face.

Lottie watched her go, feeling her heart sinking. She and Macie had never been overly close, but they were sisters, and the thought that they were at odds with each other made her sick to her stomach.

It wasn’t until she had disappeared around the corner of the hallway that Lottie stepped out of the way of the door and gestured Braxton in with a sigh. “I’m sorry about her.”

“Your sister, I’m guessing?” Braxton asked, stepping over the threshold.

Though the scent of brimstone lay heavily upon him, Lottie felt oddly lustful at the thought of his being in her bedroom, and it took everything she had in her to remember the situation. She couldn’t allow anything to go to her head, not yet at least. There would be plenty of time for lustful things once they were married, she was sure of it. At least then nobody could judge her actions too harshly. After all, it would likely be expected that an heir would come of their union in order to make sure that the alliance remained strong.

What the hell am I thinking? she thought, a cold shiver running down her spine. She shouldn’t even be happy about such a marriage save for the fact it was helping her pack, let alone already thinking on the future with a man she should despise.

Yet just thinking of how she ought to hate him, Lottie couldn’t help but feel ridiculous. She couldn’t be further from that if she tried.

“Lottie, I—”

“How did it go?” Lottie asked before he could say anything more. The longing tone of his voice scared her. She wasn’t at all ready to hear what he was about to say.

Glancing him up and down, she searched for any signs that things had gone badly in hell. Save for a few singed marks upon his clothes that were already dirty from weeks down in the dungeons, there didn’t appear to be a scratch on him.

Braxton smirked at her then, as though he had noticed her concern. “Worried about me, are you?”

“No!” Lottie snapped defensively. “Worried about the alliance, yes. You, no.”

Braxton scoffed at that. From the glint in his eye it was clear to see that he didn’t believe her. She felt like a fool. If he could read her so easily, then others would, too.

“You don’t need to worry about the alliance,” Braxton assured her, straightening up and puffing out his chest. “Our trip to hell secured it all.”

Lottie’s heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t at all sure whether to be pleased about that or not. On the one hand, it was good for her pack. On the other, it meant that the marriage was even more certain to go ahead.

Desperate for a moment to think, Lottie gulped and gestured at the door to her on-suite bathroom. “Go ahead and get yourself cleaned up. Then you can tell me all about it.”

At that, Braxton cocked his head, his lips twitching upwards in another smirk. “You’ll have to get used to the smell of hell.”

Lottie quivered at that. “In time, yes. Right now I want it out of my nostrils. Either get in the shower or get out.”

***

Though Braxton’s disappearing into the shower had given her a chance to think, it did little but make her even more conflicted. Just the knowledge that the demon wolf was in her bathroom, now buck naked in the shower, made her feel all hot and tingly all over.

Taking a moment to go and fetch him some clean clothes from the spares closet that the pack maintained due to the occasional accidental shift, she returned just in time to find him exiting the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel.

“Oh! Shit!” Lottie gasped, turning her gaze away and slamming the door shut before anyone else in the manor might hear the commotion she had just made. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you would be done already.”

“What’s the matter? You don’t like what you see?” Braxton asked cockily.

Lottie blushed even harder. Though she had seen him for only an instant, the image of him was seared into her mind; when she closed her eyes, she could still see him, the way the towel hugged his waist, hanging just below the V-shape of his muscular abdomen. His broad shoulders and burly arms were typical of any male werewolf, but somehow, he seemed larger and more seductive than any male wolf she’d ever laid eyes upon.

Werewolves weren’t shy about being naked—at least, they weren’t usually—and so she had seen more than her fair share. Yet, in that moment, she was more embarrassed than ever.

“I may be a demon wolf, but you can look at me without bursting into flames,” Braxton chuckled when she didn’t respond.

“I know that!” she snapped back at him, anger flaring inside her.

Angry at how easy-going he was being given their situation, Lottie shoved the clothes at him and hissed, “Here, you’ll be needing these.”

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