Chapter 1
"You should sneak into my room more often," Jasper murmured, his lips brushing over Eva's knuckles as her arms wrapped loosely around his neck.
"Or we could run away together… away from the Geban Wolf kingdom," she says, widening her cheeks.
She has never been this happy with someone else, she hasn't even been with someone else to have the chance to compare. Eva was a beautiful eighteen-year-old girl who all ever wanted was to live the life of a normal teenage girl, away from politics and the ability to be in love.
But she is not a normal teenage girl, she is the daughter of Cane Holloway, a powerful Beta who believes the Alpha entitlement belongs to him and his family.
Poor Eva is sent by her father to befriend the Alpha's daughters and spy on the Alpha's family while he waits for the perfect time to begin a revolution. Her father and notorious brother, Brandy, believe that perhaps there is nothing special in the bloodline of the Alpha, and the only thing that differentiates the Alpha family from other Beta family lines is the colour of their eyes.
Regardless, Eva doesn't care about fighting a war her ancestors abandoned a hundred years ago, especially now that she has fallen in love with Jasper, the Alpha's third son.
"Come on, Jasper….. It's going to be peaceful out of this damn place!"
He chuckled dismissively like she had told a joke he did not find amusing.
"I'm serious," she pressed.
Jasper was a tall, broad-shouldered and regal young man. Since he wasn't the first son, the ladies of high-born rarely gave him a second glance, except for Eva.
They had been together for two years. And she had been waiting for the moment he would finally claim her as his mate. Of course, it's normal for her to think that both of them leaving the Geban Wolf kingdom would give her a better chance to love since she was aware of how much her father and brother hated the family.
"What made you think you and I would ever get past this?" Jasper finally spoke.
She froze and her arms slipped from his neck as though burned, and she climbed off the bed, the sheets rustling around her legs.
"I… I don't understand," she whispered, staring at him with wide eyes.
His gaze dropped to her chest and his fingers traced over her bare skin, caressing her nipples.
"Eva, my darling," he said, his voice husky, "do you really want to ruin the fun we've been having?"
Jasper was never in love with her; she was conveniently the only high-born girl to ever hit on him, so he grabbed the opportunity and began fucking her. Well, he waited for her to turn seventeen.
His older brothers were also changing high-born girls like they were changing clothes while he and his younger brother were ignored. He was never going to be an Alpha; he wasn't the heir, and he wasn't even the spare heir.
When he found out Eva hadn't seen her wolf, an experience others have as early as fourteen, he believed that was even the reason she had a connection with him, worthy girls never connect.
"Fun?" she echoed, backing away a step. Her throat tightened. "We've been together for two years, and you still call this fun?"
He stood and moved toward her without hesitation. Her breath hitched. Her feet stumbled back until her back hit the cold stone wall. His hand landed beside her head, caging her in. The scent of him surrounded her.
He raised her chin up, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Be honest," he murmured, "haven't you enjoyed the way I make you scream?"
Of course, the only reason he didn't dismiss her was because he was enjoying her. He was twenty-two and was her first.
She wanted to shove him away but his hand traveled from her chin down her throat to her chest, igniting sensations she hated herself for feeling in that moment.
"What do you want, Eva?" he asked, like he already knew the answer.
She swallowed hard, voice trembling. "I want to be yours. Forever. I don't want this… us… to ever end."
He stared into her eyes for a while. He knew that no matter how much he desired her, he could never claim her. He believed he deserved the best and since she was wolf-less, she wasn't even good enough to be known as his.
"Say something," she begged, her voice cracking. "Please."
"You know I can't," he muttered, pulling away.
"Why?" Her voice rose, anguished. "You're the only man I've ever been with! We love each other…."
"My friends at court will laugh at me," he interrupted harshly.
She stared at him, stunned. "What?"
"My father may tolerate you because your family's rich, but you?" He shook his head with a sneer. "You're wolfless. An eighteen-year-old Beta who hasn't shifted? Even my fifteen-year-old sister has seen her wolf."
Her chest tightened, and tears filled her eyes. She blinked rapidly, but the tears betrayed her, slipping down her cheeks.
"You said we would wait together," she whispered.
"And I have waited," he snapped. "But it's obvious now, there's no hope. You're not a Beta. You're an Omega. And I will never mate with an Omega."
She couldn't believe she was hearing this from the man who had once kissed her like she was his whole world.
"And all this time… you've just been screwing me."
"Oh, don't play the victim," he scoffed. "You wanted it just as much as I did. We both knew this wouldn't last."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I believed we had a future. I've been drinking the black tea every day, praying my wolf would awaken."
"You've been taking some mumbo jumbo tea given to you by your father for the past four years now." He picked up his pants and began putting them on. "What kind of father begins to give a child some miraculous tea at the age of fifteen if he isn't trying to hide the truth from her?"
"What truth?" her eyes widened in shock.
He ignored her question and tossed her clothes onto the bed. "Get dressed. Go home."
"Did you ever love me?" She asked, still gripping her clothes, holding them to her chest.
"You're good in bed," he said. "I'll give you that. But love? A mate bond? Running away with you or other stupid fantasy you have in that head of yours…. That's not something I could ever give to a wolf-less girl like you."
His words shattered something inside her. But even as her heart pierced into pieces, she forced her chin up. She refused to let him see her break. So she turned away, quickly dressing.
As she reached for the door, she paused, remembering the wig he had made her wear, blonde-haired, so unlike her natural brown hair. She yanked it off and flung it at him. "Keep it," she said, her voice shaking. "For your next plaything."
The blonde-haired wig was one of Jasper's fantasies. The one girl he really was into was won by his elder brother, Charles. And because she is blonde, he made any woman he ever lays with to put on a blonde-haired wig.
Eva grabbed the door handle but it opened before she could move.
Louisa, one of Jasper's younger sisters and supposed to be Eva's best friend stepped in.
"I thought you said you were going home?" Louisa asked.
Eva had come to visit her and chant about boys and whatever topic interested her. Not even for once, has she ever asked questions about the Alpha like her father instructed her to do.
She ignored Louisa and stormed out. She had no other reason to stay. The only reason she was happy about coming to the Alpha's lodge daily was to sneak into Jasper's room afterwards. He was the love of her life and he just rejected her.
"Father wants to speak to all of us," Louisa began, not bothering about the way Eva stormed out.
She knew her brother must have hit on her, she was only surprised that Jasper didn't seem to be rejected. Regardless, it wasn't a topic she wanted to delve into at the moment.
"Do you know why?" Jasper asked.
"He has found a way to avert the prophecy….. "A marriage pact," he said."