Siroos tiredly walked back to his compound with slouched shoulders. She was slowly creeping up into his very existence and he was letting her. He hadn’t anticipated that mate bond would mess with his very thinking abilities, and at times, he would make decisions solely based on his heart.
Laying down on his sleeping mat he placed both his hands under his head and began to contemplate while blankly staring at the ceiling. The wooden door to his compound knocked and he wondered if it was Faris coming over for a late drink. But his brother hardly knocked.
"Proceed!" He permitted in his throaty voice.
The door creaked open and a female stepped in, dressed in very provocative clothes. She swiftly closed the door behind her and tiptoed to where Siroos lay.
His head slowly shifted towards her as his eyes took her in and he sternly questioned.
"Kela?"
"Alfa Baladi! (My Alpha!)" She responded respectfully, bowing to him and revealing the cleavage of her ample breasts.
They had been shackled in a tight mesh-styled bandeau with yellow beads hanging from them. They clinked together when she walked on her long tanned legs, approaching him like a Lorelei. A tempting smile had curled her heavy lips upwards.
"Why are you here?" Siroos noncommittally asked, his right brow arched as he leaned on his elbow and faced her.
She adjusted the bangles on her right arm, letting them clink together. Her long lashes fluttered while she spoke in a soft voice. Very different from the one she had used to mock Cassandra.
"I am here for you. Wearing the bangles you brought for me. I thought you must be tired after being away for so long and would like to unwind." The suggestiveness in her voice was quite transparent which made him smile.
"Kela, come sit here." Siroos beckoned her forward with the flick of his fingers. She instantly obeyed and planted herself right before his spread-out legs. Her hand reached out to touch them.
"Don’t!" He warned softly but firmly and she halted in her action, giving him a look of a jilted cat.
He remained unmoved. Her scent, which he found bearable before, seemed nauseating now. Not only hers but every unmated female, the only enticing smell was of his mate. The scent which had seeped into his very bones and mingled with his blood, bonding them together forever.
"What we had cannot continue. I have a mate now and I cannot betray her." His words made her facial features slowly turn into a scowl. If there was anyone else in his position she would have hissed at him.
"A mate who cannot give you what I can," she spoke boldly, remaining indifferent to what he had said.
The calmness of Siroos’s face turned sour at her words. He didn’t appreciate the answer she had given him.
"Do not forget you are speaking to your Alpha."
She quickly bowed her head in submission, not wanting to rile him up.
"My apologies but I don’t want to be cut out of your life. I request to be not deprived of providing you with pleasures and act as your br..."
"Enough! You may leave Kela. Do not enter my chamber again." Siroos’s eyes blazed crimson, the dragon part of him had resurfaced. He was the most possessive one when it came down to Cassandra, and right that moment, this woman was a threat to his mate bond with her.
Kela shuffled back in terror from the tone he had used and shielded herself. The dragon was feared by his pack, for he was unpredictable, and Siroos usually kept him under a tight leash.
"Leave!" He hissed and she needn’t be told twice. Hauling herself up she quickly ran out of his chambers, closing the door behind her.
Embarrassment scalded her face, and rage made her body shiver. Her alpha had never turned her down before but the moment he found that wench of a mate. He had forgotten all about her. The moments they had shared, the way he had owned her body.
He wouldn’t even let her touch him. Where had that caring man disappeared who never said no to her before? Who brought those gifts for her?
Had none of that mattered? Knowing he would always have to rely on her. Why was he denying her?
Wiping away the tears that had leaked out of her black-lined eyes, her feet carried her to Cassandra’s chamber.
Hatred and jealousy coiled inside her like the serpent she was.
Halting just outside, she pulled out a small bottle with a cork from the small pouch that hung on her hip. Pulling it out she gulped down the green content from it and glared at her door, and then she shifted.
***
Cassandra had gone to sleep in bliss. Siroos might have been barbaric in his actions but he wasn’t anything but protective of her. He had guarded her with his life on more than one occasion and she couldn’t say the same for any other male in her life.
The way he had called her ’His Queen’ earlier had made her toes curl and her heart flutter. She knew she needed to make the best of her situation and see where it would lead her.
Now she slept peacefully.
Suddenly her slumber was interrupted by a hissing sound. She opened her eyes to see a green snake, standing tall above her. Its scaly skin shone under the low light of the single lantern that hung from the wall.
Its forked tongue slipped in and out of its small mouth. Cassandra shrieked in horror and tried to shuffle away from the snake, but it moved at a blinding speed and stuck Cassandra on her bare thigh, transferring its venom into her bloodstream.
The pain almost blinded her as the strong venom spread through her blood system and made her scream out again. Her hand went to her thigh as she clutched it and tears pooled in her eyes.
The snake quickly slithered away and disappeared from under the space of the door before anyone could see it or come to Cassandra’s rescue.
Siroos, who was still awake, suddenly felt uneasiness, and then his sharp senses picked up Cassandra’s screams of horror.
His heart jolted as if an electric bolt had hit him, and like a whirlwind, he was out of the door rushing towards his mate.