Ch. 4

“I didn’t mean to offend you, truly,” I said, bowing my head. “I had assumed that was why I was here. I now see the error in my ways.”

I could feel the anger rolling off King Ambrose. He must have been completely disgusted at the mere thought of being intimate with me. I was nowhere near worthy enough for him.

“How many other men have brought you to their beds before, Little One?” he growled. “Tell me now before my wolf comes out and takes control.”

“No one!” I gasped. “I have kept myself pure and untouched, just as Madam Olympia has told all of us Omegas to do. I promise you.”

King Ambrose’s eyes lightened only momentarily as he looked down at me.

“And why exactly were you told to keep yourself pure?” He spit the words out like they were acid on his tongue.

“So that when I turn twenty-one, I can be given to one of the unmated warriors in the pack.”

Was it different in The Royal Pack? Were the servants there not kept pure to be given away? Maybe all of them had found their mates right away.

I was suddenly pushed off King Ambrose’s lap as he jumped from the bed and stormed across the room, ripping open the door to the bathroom and slamming it shut behind him. Barely a second later, the sound of things breaking and loud growling echoed through the room as he tore things apart.

I wrapped my arms around my legs. I couldn’t do anything but make him angry.

Maybe he was upset that I hadn’t been given away to another wolf already. Maybe he wished that I was better experienced and could please him?

A few minutes later, the bathroom door swung open, giving me a glimpse of the absolute mess he had made in there. Ambrose was back in front of me in a flash, picking me up and placing me onto his lap. He held my jaw in place.

“We will not, absolutely not, be sleeping together in that way tonight, ok? We will only sleep. Understood, Little One?” King Ambrose ground his teeth as he spoke, each word punctuated and dripping in authority.

“Yes, of course, Your Highness,” I squeaked out. “I understand. I am so sorry for upsetting you.”

“Don’t call me that,” he grunted out. “Call me Ambrose.”

“I’m sorry, Ambrose,” I corrected. “My apologies, Ambrose.”

I secretly loved the way that his name sounded on my tongue. It was such a strong, beautiful name.

Madam Olympia would have no doubt punished me until I was black and blue if she heard me calling Ambrose by his first name. But she was not here right now, and Ambrose had specifically told me to call him that.

I’d do anything to keep him happy.

A smile spread across Ambrose’s face. “Say it again,” he demanded. “Say my name again, Little One.”

“A-Ambrose,” I stuttered.

He sighed. “Your voice is like heaven. So wonderful and sweet.”

None of what Ambrose was saying made any sense. He liked the sound of my voice? This had to be part of his slow torture.

Ambrose lifted me back up into his arms. He stepped around all the broken gold picture frames scattered across the floor and gently set me down on the edge of the giant, red bed.

He took a step back and started to unbutton the black long-sleeved shirt he was wearing.

Oh, Goddess. Was he about to take my virginity before he killed me?

“You can wear this to sleep in tonight,” King Ambrose said, holding up his shirt to me.

I grabbed it out of his hands, frowning at it.

Why on earth would Ambrose want me to wear his shirt? Was this what he wished to kill me in?

I didn’t say anything. Instead, I slowly stood up, pushing myself off the bed, careful to avoid the broken glass by my feet. I reached around for the zipper at the back of my dress and started to pull it down.

“Do you want me to leave while you change? Or maybe turn around?” King Ambrose sucked in a deep breath as his eyes traced me up and down.

“Please do whatever makes you the happiest, Your Highness,” I said. “Whatever you most please is what I too want.”

“Ambrose,” he corrected me. “Remember that you are to call me, Ambrose, Little One.”

“Whatever you most please, A-Ambrose,” I corrected myself.

Ambrose growled in approval at my words. “That’s better.”

I dropped my eyes back to the ground as I continued to unzip my dress. I couldn’t bear to look Ambrose in the eyes as he stared at me. I didn’t want to see his reaction to my body.

I didn’t want to see the smile drop from his face and a look of disgust replace it when he saw what was under my dress.

My hands badly shook as I pushed my dress sleeves off my shoulders. Just a few more inches, and my dress would slide down my body and pool on the floor at my feet, leaving me in nothing but my undergarments in front of Ambrose.

“W-Would it be alright if I were to turn around and face the wall while I got changed?” I asked timidly, making sure to bare my neck to him as I spoke.

I had never changed while looking at someone before. Even in the bedroom that all of us servants shared, we turned away from each other.

I was too afraid to look up at King Ambrose and meet his gaze right now.

He didn’t say anything, and my heart began to drop to the pit of my stomach.

Had I stepped out of line by speaking without asking for permission to?

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I’m very sorry, it was not at all my place to ask that of you. I’m so sorry.”

My throat dried up as I kept apologizing, desperately begging for forgiveness.

“No, Little One,” King Ambrose cut me off. “Please don’t be upset or afraid at me. I should be the one apologizing to you. I was far too distracted by your beauty to turn around and give you some privacy like a true gentleman,” he said. “You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong, Little One. I’m sorry.”

My breathing calmed down back to normal, my heartbeat slowing.

“Of course it’s okay if you turn around while you change, Little One,” he said. “Please always do what makes you the happiest and comfortable. You don’t need to ask me permission to ever do so, okay?

I quickly turned around, swallowing down the growing lump in my throat as I did so.

It doesn’t matter what he thinks of your body, I remind myself. You are only here for his pleasure, and with the number of times you’ve already messed up tonight, you’ll be dead before sunrise.

I stripped off my undergarments as fast as I could, not wishing to be exposed for long. I could feel Ambrose’s gaze hot on my back as his eyes roamed across my skin.

With shaky fingers, I struggled to get the shirt that King Ambrose had given me buttoned up.

“Here.” Ambrose was directly behind me in a second. He was so close that I could feel his body heat wrapping around my body. “Let me help you, Little One.”

Despite the shirt being unbuttoned in front, King Ambrose made no move to look down at me. He kept his eyes on the wall in front of us as he gently buttoned the shirt one by one.

I had never had someone help me before.

The shirt was the softest thing that I had ever put on my body. Since I was the youngest and the smallest of the servants, I was only allowed to wear the other girls’ hand-me-downs that they had grown out of. I’d never had any piece of clothing that hadn’t been worn to tatters before.

But Ambrose’s shirt was amazing. It was soft and smooth underneath my fingers. There wasn’t a single stain or stray thread on that I could see. It was perfect.

As soon as the shirt was buttoned up, King Ambrose wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his face into the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent deeply.

I wasn’t sure why he was doing that. I had been cleaning all day—I probably smelled like bleach and floor polish.

But King Ambrose went on inhaling my scent.

I had never been held like this before. Well, I had never been held at all. Period.

Madam Olympia had told us servants that we needed to wait for our mates. Most wolves found their mates right away when they turned sixteen, but I was twenty-one without a mate.

Was this what it felt like to be held? If it was, then I never wanted it to end. Even if I was about to be killed, at least my last night would be full of warmth and fake care.

Without fully thinking, I turned around in Ambrose’s arms and wrapped my arms around him, burying my face into his bare chest. He smelled like fresh laundry and freshly baked goods – two of my most favourite things. I could have stayed like this forever, wrapped up in Ambrose’s arms.

Ambrose let out a growl in my ear as he buried his face even deeper into my neck. I could feel the outline of his nose against me. There wasn’t an ounce of space left between us, our bodies pressed flush against each other.

His quiet growls were starting to sound more like soft purrs the longer we both stood there. I let my hands trace up and down his bare back, just like he had been doing to my leg and arm earlier. I could feel him melting under my touch, hot sparks following me wherever my hand went.

King Ambrose’s lips trailed over the spot where my neck and collarbone met. Butterflies danced in my stomach as he did so, my cheeks heating up from it.

“You smell so good, Little One,” he all but growled in my ear. “There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re the sweetest thing that I’ll ever taste.”

His words snapped me out of whatever trance I had just been in, my arms flying off his body like he was burning me.

Oh, Goddess, I had just touched the king without his permission. What was wrong with me today? I just couldn’t seem to follow any rules.

I was no doubt embarrassing myself and my pack greatly.

But why had it felt so good to touch him? Why had it felt so right?

Ambrose pulled back just enough so that he could look me in the eye, and despite being just a few inches apart, I already missed his body pressed flush against mine. I craved to be back in his arms and have his scent wrapped around me again.

It felt so weird to look another person in the eyes after always staring down at the ground for so long, but at the same time, it also felt amazing. It made my heart soar.

I was the servant. I should be the one blowing out all the candles, not Ambrose. “I can—”

“Lay down, Little One,” King Ambrose’s deep voice cut me off. “We have both had long days, and now all I wish is to lay down and sleep next to my perfect other half.”

…Could it be true?

I shook my head away to clear my thoughts. I was being beyond foolish to even think these things.

He was the king, and I was just a lowly Omega.

And that was all I would ever be.