: Part 1 – Chapter 5

SHE’D BROKEN THE NEWS about her breakup with Alec to her parents when it had happened while visiting them for their weekend brunch. Her mother still didn’t believe it after weeks, despite Zephyr telling them she was seeing someone else. Mama thought it was a lover’s tiff rather than a clean break.

As Zephyr kneaded the dough for a special dessert at her parent’s home, she wondered how to break the news about the wedding thing. It had been a week since she’d gone down on her knees with her proposal, and she was yet to hear back from him.

Her father sat reading the finance section in the newspaper, his gold-rimmed glasses on the end of his nose. Her mother chatted with some friends as she typed on her phone, her coffee untouched on the table in front of her. Zen sat on the kitchen counter beside Zephyr, swinging her legs as she whisked the batter in a bowl. It was like any other weekend brunch.

And her birthday was in two days.

She took a deep breath, punching the dough with her hands. “I’m getting married on my birthday,” she announced, her back to the table.

“Alec proposed?” her mother asked, her voice excited with glee.

“We’re not together, mama,” she reminded her mother. “I’m in love with someone else.”

Even though he didn’t know it.

She’d sent him two texts over the week and he hadn’t replied or called her back. While her proposal had been unconventional, she’d been almost certain he would accept. She was pretty enough, she made him smile, and she’d rock his world in bed. What more did a man want? Ugh. She’d also loved him for a long time but he didn’t know that so she didn’t hold that against him.

“What do you mean?” Esmeralda de la Vega put her hand down on the table. “He was about to propose to you!”

Zephyr sighed. She loved her mother, she truly did, but her mama had her flaws. One of them was caring about what people said, which she couldn’t entirely blame her for because people could be nasty with the backtalk. And she knew her mama only wanted a good life with all the comforts for her daughters, which was why she could get swayed by material stuff sometimes.

“He cheated on me, mama,” Zephyr reminded her for the hundredth time. “And even if he hadn’t, I would have left him. I love someone else.”

Her mother’s voice flared. “He doted on you!”

“When he wasn’t trying to tell her not to eat,” Zen murmured from the side, having her back as always.

Her mother waved that off. “That’s a part of relationships. I tell your father not to eat something because it’s bad for his health. Alec was just looking out for you.”

Zephyr looked to her father, who was watching her quietly, his eyes behind the spectacles. If someone had told her that thirty years ago that Esmeralda, one of the most beautiful girls in town who had a line of eligible bachelors lining her door, would fall in love with a slight, sweet accountant who genuinely loved numbers and was always calculating something or the other, Zephyr wouldn’t have believed it. But she’d witnessed the love her parents had for each other—two polar opposite personalities, her mother loud and her father quiet—and she’d wanted that for herself. She’d wanted the romantic tale that she could tell her kids and make them believe in love, the story of two lovers who loved so deep they couldn’t be without another, flaws and all. Perhaps that was why as a little girl, she’d subconsciously seen that capacity of love in the pained, violent outburst of a boy, and claimed him for herself that day forward.

“It’s happening, mama. I’m not asking,” Zephyr stated firmly and the table went quiet.

Her mother dropped her head in her hands, mumbling something too quietly for Zephyr to hear.

“Who is he?” her papa asked, folding his newspaper and speaking for the first time.

“Alpha Villanova,” she told him and saw recognition flare in his eyes.

“The owner of Trident?” he asked, just to confirm.

She nodded. “I knew him a few years ago, but we lost touch and just reconnected recently. It felt like no time had passed. It was magical, papa.”

Her mother looked up. “Alpha? He owns Trident? The towers? What’s his family like? How did you meet him?”

“Mama—”

“No, no!” her mother stood up. “This is too much. This Alpha has corrupted your mind against Alec. Alec is a good man, his family has accepted us as their own!”

It was like hitting a wall sometimes.

Zen piped up from the side. “Mama, did you miss the part where she told you, twice, that he cheated on her?”

“Mind your tone, Zenith de la Vega,” her mama pointed at Zen with her death stare, before turning on her heel and walking out of the room.

Her father sighed. “Give her some time. She just wants the best for you.”

“I know, papa.”

He considered her with the quiet seriousness that she associated with him. “Are you sure about this young man? He has a certain… reputation.”

Zephyr gave her father a smile. “Papa, trust me. He’s the one. You remember how you told me when it’s right, you just know? I know. And I want to marry him on my birthday. We can have a big wedding later, but I just have to. Please support me.”

Her father sighed again but nodded. Giving both daughters a kiss on the head, he left to go talk to her mother and calm her down.

“That went well,” Zen whistled. “What are we baking, by the way?”

Zephyr smiled as she continued pounding the dough. “Bribes.”

***

A week. She’d given him an entire week before deciding enough was enough. Her birthday was tomorrow, her plan wasn’t working, and she needed reinforcements. Thanks to their history and the interrogation with Victor, she knew just the weapons to bring.

Zephyr walked into Trident Towers with a lot more confidence this time, signing herself in as ‘Miss Rainbow’ at the reception, a box clutched in her hands. She grinned at the guards, at the receptionists, at everyone on the elevator, trying to hide the nerves in her stomach as the doors opened on the 28th floor. It was exactly as it had been the last time she’d been there, hot men lingering in the open area, eyes coming to her and recognizing her, them trying to seem uninterested but paying attention as she stood there.

The door to Alpha’s office was open. She could see him and Hector walking out towards the elevator, both concentrating on the conversation, and she braced herself for the impact of his gaze. Alpha looked up and saw her, coming to a stop in surprise. Guess he hadn’t watched the cameras this time. Disappointing.

She gave him a bright smile as Hector gave her a man nod. “Yo.”

“Yo.” She tried to imitate the chin lift thing but she was pretty sure she failed. But her beast’s unscarred lip twitched, and that alone made being stupid worth it. She turned fully to him.

“So, do you want me to get on my knees here or should we go to your office?”

She heard someone choke on something but kept her eyes on the man before her.

A vein on the side of his neck pulsed slightly, and god she wanted to lick that.

“Inside,” he growled, heading back to his office.

“Whatever you say, sexy,” she followed cheekily, seeing his step falter before he continued, someone coughing their laughter behind her.

Alpha shut them in and turned on her. “Don’t do that.”

She blinked innocently. “Do what?”

“Make suggestive comments in front of my men.”

She leaned against the door, craning her neck up. “Would you prefer I make them just to you then?”

“No.”

The vein pulsed harder. Something else was hard too even though he clearly didn’t want it to be. Taking pity on his circulation, she took a step closer, holding the box out for him. “This is for you.”

She saw him exhale before eyeing the cardboard box curiously, raising his unscarred eyebrow at her in a silent question.

“It’s a bribe,” she rolled her eyes. “So you’ll put me out of my misery and marry me and make me a stinking rich woman.”

He scoffed, and she was glad to see that he knew she wasn’t a gold-digger. He hadn’t been rich when she’d loved him, and if he lost everything tomorrow, she’d still be there. He just didn’t know that yet.

“Most people propose with rings but I thought you’d prefer this.”

Genuinely intrigued, he opened the box.

And completely stilled.

Zephyr watched him watch the contents in the box for a long minute, a slight tremor in his hand, before looking up at her, searing her with that powerful gaze.

“How?” he demanded, his voice gruff.

She let her eyes flit down to the dessert she had spent hours finding the right recipe, cooking to perfection yesterday, and refrigerating to the perfect temperature.

Alfajores.

Specifically, alfajores rolled in coconut shavings and filled with homemade jam.

When a ten-year-old Zephyr had asked a then thirty-five year-old dying Adriana why her son, who had such a pretty name like Alessandro, was called Alpha, Adriana had laughed. She’d told her it was because Alphas led the pack and she wanted him to be a good leader, that she wanted him to be a good man.

Then, she’d conspiratorially called little Zephyr closer and told her that the real reason was a secret, one she could never tell. Zephyr had promised with her whole heart, and Adriana had spilled. Her son had a sweet tooth, and Adriana used to make alfajores for him when he was a child, with coconut shavings and jam, but as a kid, he’d never been able to pronounce the word. So every time he had craved something sweet, he’d said ‘alfa’, and it had become a secret joke between mother and son as he grew older and started going by Alpha.

No one knew about the significance of the sweet. And from her interrogation of Victor the other day, she knew he still had a sweet tooth, but she hadn’t known if he’d had these particular desserts since his mother had passed.

She simply smiled at his question.

“Try one,” she urged him, and he just looked down at the box, unmoving, his jawline tight, the scar on his face lighter than usual.

She wanted to give him a hug, but she doubted he’d appreciate it right then. Zephyr turned on her heels and headed out the door, letting him have his moment in private. A part of her was so soft to be able to give him this, something from his childhood that he’d once loved. He’d understand now that she was serious about knowing him, and he’d possibly be tempted to agree to her proposal.

A few curious eyes followed her but she ignored them. Hector waited up ahead near the elevators, his bald head gleaming in the sunlight from the windows, a slight grin on his mouth.

“He say yes?” he asked her as she pressed the button.

Zephyr laughed. “Not yet.”

“I have my suit ready whenever,” Hector winked at her, before sobering. “Don’t give up. I haven’t seen him this interested by something in a while.”

God, her beautiful beast. There was no way she was giving up, and hearing those words from someone who was clearly a friend of Alpha’s buoyed her heart. “I won’t.”

The elevator doors opened but before she could enter, a large hand gripped her arm and spun her around, the scent of wilderness and musk infiltrating her nose.

She looked up to see Alpha piercing her with his singular eye, his other hand coming up to hold her chin in place in a move she now recognized, his entire personality intense and aggressive in ways that made her heart begin to thunder in her chest.

He leaned closer, speaking quietly. “I’m going to Tenebrae to attend my half-brother’s wedding on Wednesday.”

Zephyr frowned, puzzled. “Okayyy.” He had a half-brother?

“You’re coming as my wife,” he stated.

Her heart crashed against her ribs, her eyes widening. “Okay.”

“And when we get back, you’re moving in with me.”

She nodded, mute.

“There will be a contract.”

Of course, there would be.

“Do you have a passport?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Tell your family. We’ll meet them before we leave.”

Oh shit.

“Mama won’t like not being able to arrange a wedding,” she warned him clearly.

“She can arrange a wedding for another date,” he shrugged, as the elevator doors opened and closed again and she stood frozen in place, his hand a warm band around her bicep, eye patch even more vivid on his scarred face in the daylight.

“We’re going to the courthouse tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Her palms began to sweat. It was real, it was happening.

Holy shit, it was happening.

He took a step into her personal space and leaned down while tilting her chin up, his lips an inch from hers, his warm, minty breath sending little shivers up and down her body. “I don’t know how, rainbow,” he murmured softly, “and I don’t know what secrets of mine you have, but I want them all. You’ve sealed your fate now. Welcome to my hell.”

Dramatic, but okay. Although was it dramatic if he meant it literally? His world was the netherworld, the underworld even the media didn’t cover, and she was stepping into it. But this was what she’d wanted.

He pulled back, pressing the button to call the elevator again.

Hector, who she’d forgotten had been witnessing the whole thing from the side, asked curiously. “What was in the box?”

To which Alpha replied, deadpanned. “Drugs.”

Zephyr choked, her heart thudding against her ribs.

Holy shit, it was happening.