Raising my gaze, I said, “I-I shouldn’t have kissed you, anyway.”
He leaned in closer, taking hold of my chin and lifting my head to face him. I trembled while still floating high on the arousal he’d brought out in me just from a kiss. It was a moment etched on my mind because Brayden had never kissed me to the point where my toes curled.
Hendrix sniffed the air, and his wolf eyes glowed with arousal. “You want me.”
Great. The big bad warlord smelled my heat. But instead of shying away, I held his stare and brazenly… maybe foolishly, said, “And by the bulge in your pants, you want me too, but that doesn’t mean we should act on it.”
He chuckled. “You’ve been hiding that wicked tongue from me. Let’s hope it doesn’t get you into more trouble.” And with that, he released me and marched out of the room. He shut the door behind him, the click of the lock bringing me back to reality with a crash.
I collapsed against the wall, and I could finally breathe deeply.
What the hell was I doing?
I threw myself onto the four-poster bed, the sheets smelling as fresh as a field of roses. That old futon in my apartment never smelled this good even after I scrubbed it thoroughly.
Torn on how I'd ended up on this island and then kissing Hendrix stirred in my thoughts. Staying in the compound terrified me. If the other two Alphas were anything like Hendrix, this island was going to be nothing but aggression and death. Yet my body and wolf reacted to them like I was in heat.
Where could I even go, though, if I did manage to escape?
I remembered Brayden talking about Reject Island, where unmated and unwanted females were sent. The thought of ending up there scared me worse… I curled in on myself and grabbed a pillow, then hugged it to my chest and shut my eyes.
Tension built in my chest, yet I swore I could practically still feel Hendrix’s lips against mine. His scent remained with me. My heart squeezed at the wave of yearning he’d awakened in me.
I closed my eyes and let the exhaustion take me.
* * *
A knock cameat the door, and I flinched, my eyes flipping open. Darkness enveloped my room, a cool breeze streaming in from the open balcony doors.
I must have fallen asleep.
Another knock and my pulse kicked into a frenzy. Had Hendrix returned to teach me another lesson… to kiss me again? Except, with this being their mansion and them being Alphas, they wouldn’t knock no matter if it was day or the middle of the night.
“Come in,” I croaked and pulled myself off the bed, patting down what I could just imagine was terrible bed hair.
A maid walked into my evidently now unlocked room, pushing a trolley on wheels, plated with food. She flicked on the lights, stealing the night.
“Excuse me, Miss, but Hendrix has ordered I bring you your dinner,” she said formally.
“I’m not hungry,” I responded in a quiet voice, thankful it wasn’t Hendrix. After everything that happened today, I wasn’t sure I could take any more surprises.
The girl, who was maybe seventeen or eighteen, shrugged and kept on pushing the trolley across to the table in my room. She had a messy bob the color of wheat, her cheeks covered in freckles, and in her cream dress and white apron, she looked adorable. She was beaming with what appeared to be excitement. There wasn’t any sign of her having bruises or being mistreated by the Alphas here. She didn’t even lower her eyes but looked directly into mine.
“That is a shame,” she said. “My mother makes a killer twice-baked potato. Best I’ve ever tasted. It’s Hendrix’s favorite too, did you know?”
I watched her set three filled plates on the table, each full of food, and when the aroma reached me, I couldn’t help myself. My stomach growled, and I got up off the bed, then approached the meal.
Baked potato on one plate, and there was enough to feed two people, except by the cheesy, garlic smell, I knew I’d eat it all. Back in the Madfur pack, I’d never been able to eat enough. I’d gone to bed on an empty stomach more times than I could count.
On another plate were slices of steak and vegetables, and on the third plate was a slice of apple pie with a big dollop of cream on top.
“This looks amazing,” I practically groaned. “Did you say your mother made all of this?”
The girl beamed at me, smiling with pride. “Wait until you taste it.” She set a table setting with cutlery, and then she filled up a glass with what smelled like orange juice. “Don’t make me wait,” she said. “Sit down and tell me what you think?”
“You don’t need to ask me twice,” I said, and I pulled the chair out, making myself comfortable. Picking up the fork, I tried the potato first. How could I not?
The moment it touched my tongue, the food melted and flooded my mouth with the most incredible flavors. Creamy and cheesy with a hint of garlic and something else I couldn’t work out. But it was so unbelievable, I kept on eating it, unable to stop.
The girl laughed. “Told you.”
I glanced up. “I could eat just this for the rest of my life. Sure, I’d end up looking like a potato, but how can this taste like heaven? And there’s a flavor in here that is magic, but I can’t work it out.”
“Nutmeg. Don’t tell her I told you, but it makes all the difference.”
I kept shoveling into my mouth as she watched me, and guilt rose through me. “Sorry, I must look like I’ve never eaten in my life. Take a seat, join me.”
She glanced at the doorway and back at me. “Are you sure? I would like that.”
I smiled and nodded, to which she rushed to the door and pushed it shut. Then she took a seat across the table from me, grinning.
“My name’s Eliza,” she said. “I work here with my mother. She makes delicious meals and I deliver them.”
“I’m Syn,” I replied and quickly drew the other plate in front of me to try. I stabbed my fork into the green beans tossed with roasted walnuts. “I arrived here today,” I admitted slowly. “And I really don’t know yet what’s going to happen to me.”
Eliza offered me a lopsided grin. “I’m sure everything will be okay. Hendrix is a very generous man who cares for his pack.”
I almost choked on my food. “Are we talking about the same person?” I half-joked.
She smiled at me warmly. “I understand. He’s a scary man to anyone who crosses him. But he has never been anything but kind to my mother and me. When my father died in a traffic accident, Hendrix gave us a home and job on his island.”
“And you are okay with what he does?”
She shrugged. “Aren’t we all a little bit broken?”