AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I doubted it. And even if that was the case, surely there was some kind of price. Everyone wanted something from me. Even my best friend might have been using me at some point to get to my father. I couldn’t trust anyone anymore.
“I’m already seen,” I muttered, trying to step around her.
“Not in the way you might expect,” the woman said. “Come. Let me take you to her. She can help.”
I finally relented. I doubted this Belle, whatever that meant, could truly help me, but fighting against it wasn’t going to help either. And this way, I could see what she wanted in exchange for her silence. Maybe I could fix things before they turned even worse than what they already were. It was my responsibility, after all. I had done something so completely stupid, I needed to figure out a way through.
And maybe…maybe my reputation could still be salvaged in some small way.
I nodded once at the woman. Her steel-colored hair fell into her face, making it difficult to make out her features, but a flash of a smile touched her features, and it wasn’t long until she led me across the room and down a narrow hallway. All sounds of pleasure faded quickly. Instead, there was nothing but silence and doors, all closed to ensure privacy. I didn’t know much of brothels, but I was certain this was where clients went when they wanted privacy. This was where Matthyw should have taken me, but he had wanted to put on some kind of a show.
“You need a Consort who will worship you.”
I flinched at his words.
They were perfect in the moment. They were everything I wanted to hear from him because it sounded like he was willing to forgo being Alpha and, instead, fill the role of Consort…
But it was a lie. A beautiful lie.
“Just this way.” The woman stepped to the side and drew her hand up, gesturing at the double-doors at the end of the hallway.
I walked up to them and opened one without thinking too much about it. I wasn’t being stupid. Part of me was distracted, and I could admit that, but I was also a wolf. I could transform and attack if I needed to, and if I was caught up in a situation where I couldn’t transform, I still had some training under my belt, thanks to my time with Embyrlyn.
I stood in the dark room, the door falling shut gently behind me. Candles flickered around the walls, casting stretched shadows against the walls itself, causing it to be more ominous than I expected it was otherwise.
“So,” a low, melodic voice murmured the second the door shut and I had taken a couple of steps inside. “You’re Adrya.”
“You know me?” I asked, trying to see where this person was so I could put a face to her voice. The second I asked the question, I knew how stupid it was. Of course this person knew me. If she saw my hair, if she saw who I had been with before even coming here, she would know who I was.
“Most know you here,” the woman said, finally emerging from the corner of the room where a large bed was placed. I hadn’t even noticed it before now. “Matthyw has his…preferences. At least now, I understand them.”
I didn’t know what she meant by that.
“You know my brother?” I asked.
The woman tittered, a pretty sound that reminded me of bells. “Your brother?” she asked, arching a brow. “I think we can both say for certainty he isn’t your brother. Not bound by blood, anyway.” She stopped when she was directly in front of me. “He brought you here tonight, didn’t he?”
I nodded, unsure where this conversation was going, or why we needed to have it in the first place. Who was this woman? And what did she want with me?
“But yes,” she continued. “I do know Matthyw, quite intimately.”
I wrinkled my nose before I could help it, shifting my eyes away from her. Why wasn’t I surprised? This woman was exceptionally beautiful, with long, raven hair and glittering dark eyes. Her skin was a smooth brown, and the gold clothes she wore accented her thin frame – a body I would never be able to possess no matter how much I restricted myself from eating.
She laughed. “Are you jealous, princess?” she asked, reaching out to cup my cheek in her warm palm. “You have no reason to be. The way I know Matthyw is much more transactional than your knowledge of him. Don’t forget who you are.”
“What do you want?” I asked. I frowned at my rudeness but I didn’t apologize for it.
“I want to help you,” she said. There was a subtle accent to her voice, one I hadn’t picked up until now. “Can I offer you something to drink? A glass of wine, perhaps? We can sit at my table and discuss –”
“I really have to go,” I said, holding up a hand. As much as I wanted to continue to be rude and firm, the way a man would have been, I couldn’t. “I’m sorry, I appreciate your hospitality, but I’m already out later than I should be, and we both know I shouldn’t be here –”
“Yes, Matthyw was a fool to leave you in his rooms even if you were shielded from the general population,” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly.“Other wolves come here. They would scent you easily.”
My cheeks pinched and I got this overwhelming sense of heat on my skin. “I don’t wish to discuss –”
“Having said that, there’s no need to be embarrassed,” she said. “No one knows who you are here. The majority of my patrons are human, and while they might recognize your name or your affiliation with your pack, they won’t recognize you. Of course, I can’t say that with certainty, but I wouldn’t worry.” She cocked her head to the side and gestured at another piece of furniture I hadn’t yet noticed before – a round table tucked in another corner of the room. There were already two goblets set up with a jug of what I suspected was wine placed between the goblets. “I feel you and I can help each other.”
“How could you possibly help me?” I asked with a frown.
