Page 6 of Ruthless Alpha (Nightfire Islands Alphas #3)

I woke up the morning after my marriage—the morning after I purchased a bride for myself—and somehow the world hadn’t ended.

The sun was rising behind the mountain as it always did, and my alarm clock was just as annoying as ever.

Like every morning before, I dragged myself out of bed and padded to the kitchen to mix up a pre-workout shake.

The stuff tasted like ass, but it was worth getting it shipped from the mainland just for how easy it made the mornings.

Humans really had a way of making everything convenient.

That morning, though, I didn’t go straight down to the basement to start my morning workout.

That morning, I crept back up the stairs to put my ear to the door of the spare bedroom, listening for the soft sound of Rosie’s breathing.

I could only just make it out, but the faint sound satisfied me that she had stayed put and she was safe, for now.

Why did I even care if she was safe? Why had the mere sight of her given me such a burning need to care for her?

Why had I given away valuable resources in exchange for her freedom?

The questions chased themselves around my mind as I descended the stairs, and there was only one way to make them stop.

The punching bag in my basement gym had seen better days; I’d beaten the crap out of it almost every morning for the last fifteen years, and I was no longer certain what color it had originally been.

There was something meditative about wrapping my hands and sinking into the boxing stance.

The thump, thump, thumpthumpthump of my knuckles against the leather cleared my mind like nothing else, and for a glorious half hour, I was nothing and no one.

I had no island, no Pack, no reputation, and no terrified young wife in my spare bedroom.

After boxing, I switched to jump rope, then weights. It was only group training later that day which kept me from tiring myself out completely; I couldn’t turn up to face my fighters with nothing in the tank. Reluctantly, I made my way back upstairs, chugging water as I went.

The scene that awaited me when I stepped back into the main house was enough to stop me in my tracks.

The kitchen door was open, and what little mess I’d left on the table had already been cleaned away.

The kettle was boiling on the stove, and a pan was over an unlit burner next to it, as if lying in wait for eggs and bacon.

Those little details didn’t hold my attention long because the reason for their presence was more than clear.

The whole room smelled like wildflowers, and it took me a moment to realize that it was her scent; without the grime and the dirt, Rosie smelled like a spring meadow.

Still clad in nothing but my t-shirt, she was hard at work wiping down every surface she could find.

The counters already shone, and she’d moved on to the cabinet fronts—or at least, she was trying to move on to them.

This house had been built specifically for the Alpha’s use, so it was designed to an Alpha’s proportions.

I might have no trouble reaching the tops of the cabinets, but Rosie was scarcely over five feet tall, and even on her tiptoes, she had to stretch to reach the tops of the cabinet doors.

Fuck. The shirt was long enough on her normally, but when she stretched up like that, the hem was brushing the bottom of her ass, exposing the soft plushness of her thighs entirely and offering a tantalizing glimpse of round cheeks.

My cock stirred in my loose shorts, and I cursed the impulse that had made me bring a girl like this home.

Females on Ensign were, generally speaking, tough and lean.

I admired them, and many could certainly be called beauties, but I’d always preferred a softer woman.

If nothing else, Arbor had clearly kept Rosie decently fed, and I stood admiring the plump roundness of her for far longer than I should have.

She wasn’t here of her own accord. Hell—last night, she’d been expecting me to just bend her over and fuck her, and she’d been terrified of the prospect. What kind of creep was I, standing here leering at the woman I’d just bought ?

I cleared my throat before my mind started conjuring images that were absolutely not appropriate, and Rosie jumped.

Immediately, her arms were by her sides, her head bowed in submission—it was so instinctive that it made my stomach twist unpleasantly.

Who had taught her to bend her neck like that, just because a higher-ranking male had walked into the room?

For several long seconds, we were both frozen in place. She was so still, like a prey animal trying to hide from a predator, and I realized with a sick jolt that she was waiting for permission to speak. I scrambled for something to say.

“The kitchen looks good.”

It was the truth, but hardly my best work.

I could have told her that this was unnecessary, that she didn’t have to clean or make breakfast, that I only wanted her to feel comfortable, but I remembered how my mother used to clean when she was stressed, how she found the repetition of the task soothing. Maybe Rosie was the same.

At the very least, some of the tension left her body at the praise, but she kept her eyes on the ground when she replied,

“Thank you, Alpha. Would you like some breakfast?” Her voice was so light, so soft, and I hated that I could hear the fear in it.

Would letting her make me breakfast set her more at ease?

If being praised for her cleaning made her relax a little, maybe telling her she’d cooked up a great meal would thaw her out a little more? It was worth a shot.

“Sure,” I said, taking a seat.

As I’d predicted, this seemed to loosen her up a little further.

Rosie crossed to the fridge, bringing out everything she needed and setting to work on fried eggs and bacon.

I preferred scrambled, but I was not about to tell her that.

I hated to imagine the way she’d flinch in expectation of a blow, or cower beneath my mild displeasure.

“Did you sleep okay?” I asked as she set the plate in front of me. She’d cooked the bacon far better than I ever did for myself—I was too impatient to wait for the edges to crisp up nicely—and she’d cut the bread thick for toast.

“Yes, thank you,” Rosie told me. She hadn’t set out a plate for herself, nor had she taken a seat.

“You don’t have to lie to me,” I said. I could see the dark bags beneath her eyes: if she’d slept at all, it hadn’t been peaceful.

“I slept fine,” she insisted, standing up a little straighter like she was one of my Betas at inspection. That pretty, soft voice was fake, syrup-sweet when she asked, “Is there anything else you want from me this morning?”

It was unnerving how she’d plastered a smile onto her face like I was someone she had to please.

I wanted to deny her. I wanted to tell her to eat some breakfast and relax for the day while I went to training and found some other clothes for her, because if her only options were that dress and my shirt, I was going to go insane.

Judging by her behavior so far, though, I didn’t think she’d respond well to that. Instead, I rolled with it.

“Sure. Sit down.” There was no need for Alpha authority, but my tone told her it was an order, not a request; she didn’t have the option to say she was fine standing, even though I could see her swaying with exhaustion.

“Tell me how you ended up getting sold off on Telaxis?” I asked once she’d taken a tentative seat at the table across from me.

Rosie blinked at me, clearly taken aback by the question. Her blue eyes were so pretty, and she looked adorable when they were round with confusion. I turned my attention quickly back to my eggs, taking a few bites while she gathered herself.

“Both my parents died when I was eight,” she said eventually. “My father was killed in an accident at the sawmill, and my mother—she tried to hold on, but that winter there was a flu—a really bad one, I think it hit all the Nightfire islands—and she—she passed.”

I nodded in sympathy. Shifters weren’t as affected by human diseases in general, but Elders and those whose mates had died were often more susceptible, and if she was talking about the flu I thought she was talking about, even a few healthy shifters had succumbed.

If she was talking about the flu I thought she was talking about, then Rosie certainly wasn’t twenty-one.

“I remember that winter,” I told her. “Ten years ago, right?”

She nodded.

“So you’re eighteen.”

Rosie started to nod again, freezing as she remembered what she’d told me the previous day.

“I’m sorry, I—” she started to stammer, but I held up a hand to silence her before she could get herself too worked up.

“I knew you were lying,” I admitted. I reminded myself that it didn’t matter, that the marriage meant nothing, and I had no intentions of making a move on a female who was so obviously frightened and distressed.

Still, I could hardly deny that I wanted her, and that was enough to make me feel like a creep.

She was almost fifteen years my junior, hardly more than a girl.

“If I told the truth and you didn’t buy me—it wouldn’t have been pretty,” Rosie offered, still attempting to placate an anger that didn’t exist. “My uncle never wanted me in the first place; he only took me in because the Alpha ordered him to.”

She snapped her mouth shut, like she’d said too much. Setting my fork down carefully beside my plate, I prompted,

“Why didn’t he want you?”

Rosie looked surprised by my interest, but she obliged me nonetheless.

“He and my aunt already had a daughter,” she explained, “and my mother’s side of the family—we weren’t popular on Arbor.

My father’s family never approved of him accepting my mother as his mate, so I had to earn my keep.

I kept the house clean and cooked the meals and—and dealt with my uncle when he was drunk. ”

The words sent a chill down my spine.

“Did he…” I didn’t want to ask, but if I was going to spend the day running over to Arbor and killing a man, then I would need to let my Betas know they were on their own for training today.

Luckily, Rosie understood my meaning without my having to form the words. She blushed, shaking her head.

“No. By the time I was old enough for him to uh—to notice things about me, half the hunters had already died down on Lapine, and he said I was worth more to him unspoiled. I didn’t really—I didn’t know what he meant at the time.

” That wasn’t much better than what I’d feared, and I had to suppress the growl that threatened to escape.

I didn’t want to frighten her, didn’t want her to think I was angry with her for something her shit-stain of an uncle had done.

“He was always planning to sell you,” I managed to say. It wasn’t enough, but the anger in my bones was roaring to get out, and I didn’t trust myself to continue.

“I think so,” Rosie replied. “Alpha Axton just wouldn’t let him. He said I was too young, that I might still mate with one of the males on the island. But I—I had my first shift at fourteen, and by the time I turned eighteen, it was pretty clear that I wasn’t going to mate in-Pack. So… here I am.”

She shrugged, as if it was only to be expected. I wanted to push the table away and take her in my arms. I wanted to promise that she was safe now, that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Instead, I said,

“I’m sorry that happened.”

My words were so inadequate, and I cursed myself for not being better, more eloquent. Leo would have known what to say, but I had nothing.

“It’s not your fault,” Rosie said quietly. “It was the witch who ruined everything.”

“What?” I asked. It was a stupid question. I already knew the answer, and I didn’t want to hear it. She might be beautiful, might be meek and hurt, but I’d forgotten one crucial factor: Rosie was an Arbor shifter.

“The Lapine witch,” Rosie said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. As if she weren’t talking about my friend like she was less than dirt. “She was the reason they went to war. They went over to Lapine to rid us of the danger, and she killed them all.”