The Alpha's Vessel [The Alpha's #2]
Chapter Forty

THEA PETROVNA

Orpheus hadn’t returned the next day as he said he would, not that she was waiting for him but after dinner and then a movie she couldn’t quite get into, Thea decided to call it an early night and got into bed behind Malik.

After indulging in a slice of chocolate cake after dinner, it was safe to say that Malik was out in a food coma. It was just unfortunate that she couldn’t join him in dreamland as sleep kept evading her each time.

Just like the previous night, she couldn’t sleep. She hated to admit that it had something to do with the fact that Orpheus wasn’t home but this now being the second night in a row, she couldn’t bring herself to keep denying it.

Sighing, Thea moved around carefully so as to not wake Malik, but she only stopped once she got into a comfortable position lying on her back. Staring up at the ceiling, she felt like this was her first peaceful moment alone these past two weeks yet for some reason, she couldn’t help but feel restless. Like something wasn’t quite right. Like something was missing.

The last thought had her breath hitching in her throat, yet she dared not dwell on that thought for too long in fear of what secrets and confessions that box would unleash.

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on the angle you decided to look at it from – Thea did not have much longer to dwell on such thoughts as the sound of the front door closing drifted down the hallway and up the stairs before reaching her ears.

After having spent so much around werewolves, Thea reminded herself to remain calm and keep her breathing level and normal as if the intruder was a werewolf – most likely he would – he or she would be able to instantly sense out that she was awake and very much aware that they had just broken into the house.

Even though she was scared, Thea knew that she couldn’t do nothing. Not when Malik was with her and potentially, he was also in danger.

As his mum, she couldn’t take this lying down so instead, she moved carefully and slowly out of the bed and to the door. Along the way, she swooped down and picked up the first thing she could get his hands on – one of Malik’s big toy trains that he had been obsessed with lately – and reached for the door handle.

She couldn’t help but wince as the door creaked in the silence as it opened but from where she was standing at the top of the stairs, she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Had her ears been playing tricks on him? Had she misheard? Was she finally losing the plot?

Pushing those questions to the side in her mind, Thea began slowly down the stairs with the large toy train in hand, not that she thought she would be able to do any lasting damage with that, especially if she was up against a werewolf.

With the hallway, kitchen and living room all clear, as well as the fact that Orpheus’ office was still locked from after Clayton’s unexpected visit yesterday, the only room she had left to check was the downstairs bathroom. The fact that she could hear the water from the shower the closer she inches toward the slightly ajar door just assured her of the fact that whoever had dared to break into the house was in the bathroom and having a shower.

The audacity!

However, the thought was quickly forgotten as she pushed open the door just enough to stick her head through the door and complete a quick survey of the bathroom.

“Is that Malik’s train?” His chuckle sounded aloud from over the sound of the water hitting the tiled floor, clearly amused with her choice of weapon.

In her defence, she hadn’t been thinking as she was far too preoccupied with the worry of someone breaking into the house with the intent of hurting them.

“No.” Thea was quick to deny as she threw the toy away, wincing slightly as it clanged loudly upon hitting the ground and rolling over a few times.

“Could have fooled me.” Orpheus snorted as he turned around in the shower to face her now, a tired yet humorous expression on his face

Whatever she was about to say next was quick to die on the tip of her tongue, her eyes travelling south and following a single droplet of water as it dripped off a thick strand of his air, down his hard, chiselled chest which glistened under the lights, rolling down his abdomen and down his thick, muscular thighs though that was where it lost her attention.

Gulping, her eyes lingered on his thick, throbbing cock which seemed to twitch under gaze. Unconsciously, her lips parted and her tongue slipped out of her mouth to lick along the seams of her bottom lip, unable to tear her gaze away from the beautiful sight even though she knew that she needed to.

“You need to leave.” His voice was barely above a whisper as he looked at through dark, hooded eyes. Reaching a hand up, he brushed back the wet strands of hair that dared to obstruct the wondrous view of his mate, not wanting to miss even a millisecond of her literally devouring him with her eyes.

“What?” Was all she could manage in her horny-induced daze.

“Thea, my little light.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again, a darker, more sinister look in his eyes the whole time. All the while, his chest moved up and down slowly, breathing deeply. “You need to leave before I do something you’re going to regret.”

Unable to bring herself to say something, she continued to stare back at the appendage between his legs which grew a whole inch in the thirty seconds that she had eye raping him – the sick irony not lost on her.

“Thea!” He growled out again, slamming his hand against the glass door as he bowed his head further, not even the least bit ashamed as his other hand travelled down to fist his cock, getting the party started before she was ready to join in.

“Walk away now or I won’t be able to hold myself back.” He warned her for the last time, hoping that she would turn around and walk away so he wouldn’t be tempted further, but when she took a step toward him, he was quick to step out of the shower and close the distance between them; dripping all over the place, not that either of them cared.

“Tell me you want this.” He whispered quietly, dropping his head so a drop of water dripped off his bottom lip, down his chin and onto the tip of her nose. When it proceeded to roll down onto her cupid’s bow, she made a wanton show of sticking her tongue out and licking up the single water droplet, very aware of the affect she was having on him as his cock was stood tall and proud; saluting her.

“I want this.” She moaned, giving him the green light to do with her what he wished.

Except, that was how they ended up in this situation in the first place.

The moment his lips brushed against hers, she gulped and took a step back, not trusting herself or her body as she wanted nothing more than to jump into his arms and wrap herself around him like a koala. However, with how naked he was and how her core was clenching in anticipation, she forced herself to turn around and walk out of the bathroom without a single look back even though she could feel him stare holes into her back.

To keep herself busy, Thea headed into the kitchen and began making a cup of hot chocolate for the both of them as she knew they had a lot to talk about.

By the time she was finished and took a seat at the kitchen counter, Orpheus emerged from his shower. Thankfully, he wasn’t naked this time.

Pushing her away her slight disappointment at the fact that his delicious body was covered by a shirt and jogging bottoms, she smiled awkwardly up at him

“Hot chocolate?” He questioned as he took a seat across from her.

Thea simply nodded her head in response, not trusting her voice not to waver and give away her innermost battle; going back and forth with how she felt about him.

“Sorry about before.” She cringed and pursed her lips, referring to the awkward moment that they had just shared in the bathroom, one which she had initiated before all but running away from.

“There’s no need to apologise.” Orpheus shook his head, his lips curling up into a small grin as he thought back to that moment, but was quick to drop it when she sent him a questioning look.

“I thought you said you would be returning yesterday?”

“It’s technically still today.” He paused to chuckle. “It’s not midnight quite yet.”

“Smart ass.”

Throwing his head back, Orpheus laughed to his heart’s content, his shoulders shaking as he slumped forward, even going as far as to wipe the tears from the corner of his eyes.

“I missed you.” He chuckled as he calmed down.

“I missed you, too.” Thea replied in a quiet voice, surprised that she didn’t even have to force herself to lie. “Am I allowed to know what exactly happened tonight?” She asked quietly, her voice quietening and shaking slightly, afraid of the answer that he would reply with.

Orpheus nodded and grinned as he raised his mug to his mouth, taking a large gulp from the cup of chocolatey goodness.

“It was a total success.” He grinned. “Within an hour of us reaching the Moon Shadow pack, the she-wolf had given birth and by the end of that hour, we were leaving with the baby.”

“How did you manage to get the child?” She asked, trying to keep her voice neutral even though she was absolutely terrified and disgusted with everything that she was learning.

“We had someone on the inside.” Orpheus stated with a simple shrug of his shoulders. “She delivered the child to us and we were off. Before they even realised it was missing, we were long gone and already half way done with the ritual.”

“You’ve already done the ritual?” Thea asked with a small gasp, the seriousness of the situation settling on her. A part of wished that they would have waited a while before going through with the ritual but now, she just prayed that the child didn’t feel anything, that they didn’t have to suffer through it.

Orpheus nodded. “Don’t worry. It was quick and painless. The child would have barely felt it.”

Somehow, she sincerely doubted that but opted to keep her opinion to herself.

“How exactly does the trial work?”

“I’ll keep it short but the first thing and most important thing to know is that only an Alpha wolf can perform the ritual and carry out the sacrifice.” Orpheus stated, watched her reaction carefully as he sipped on his hot chocolate. “We then slit the throat of the sacrifice – child – and draw the mark of Lord Erebus on the ground and place the sacrifice in the centre of it.”

He paused suspensefully to take another sip of his warm drink.

“The child is bleeding out by this point so the blood is then used to draw the mark of Lord Erebus on his stomach, marking him or her as the sacrifice and then, the one carrying out the ritual, the Alpha must call upon Erebus himself with holy scriptures from the Book of Erebus. If accepted, the child will vanish and the Alpha will be able to feel the Lord getting stronger.”

“And what if the child isn’t accepted as sacrifice?” Thea forced herself to question, needing to know as much as possible.

“Personally, I’ve never seen that happen before but the Book of Erebus states that if the sacrifice isn’t accepted for whatever reason, the child will just die. But like I said, it’s very rare for that to happen and I’ve never come across it.”

A few moments of silence passed as she tried to swallow his words but they simply didn’t settle right with her, making her feel slightly sick as she thought of the innocent child whose life had been forcibly taken from them.

“A boy or a girl?” She couldn’t help but ask, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Thea didn’t know what to expect, especially since it was still the same, regardless of whether the child was a girl or a boy but knowing just made it all the more real. It humanised the child and, in her mind, she was able to picture the look on the face of that child as he or she took their last few breaths; being forcibly taken from the world quicker than it had taken for them to come into it.

Almost as if he was able to sense the train of her thought just by looking at her, he shook his head gently.

“I think it’s better if you don’t know.” He murmured quietly and reached across the table to place his hand over hers. “I promise this gets easier.” He whispered quietly, giving her hand a gentle, comfortable pat.

Thea swallowed her fears and gulped.

“It’s for the greater good.” She murmured quietly in a monotone voice, trying her best to keep up the act that she was on his side even though she had already slipped up a few times by evidently showing her disapproval of everything that they had done to that poor child, and all in the name of the evil being that they tricked themselves into worshipping; Lord Erebus.

“It’s for the greater good.”

Almost as if not in control of herself, Thea sighed and stood up, not once letting go of his hand as she walked around the kitchen island and closing the distance between them.

She wasn’t quite sure what she was doing or what had come over her, but all she knew was that she needed the comfort and closeness that only a mate could provide her, something which didn’t make sense to her but she knew she desperately needed.

Anything to get her mind off the situation of the reality that she had just learnt of.

For the second time in the span of an hour, Thea hated that the way her body responded to the simplest of touches from her mate when the last thing she wanted was to give in to him after all the crimes and atrocities that he had committed against her.

Unable to resist the devil in disguise, Thea was the one to close the distance between them as she wound her arms around his neck and all but jumped him as she straddled him in his chair. Even though she wasn’t ready to take the next step with him – understandably – that didn’t mean that her body didn’t desire to kiss the living daylights out of him.

Not one to deny himself of such pleasure, especially when she had all but thrown herself at him and initiated the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer, needing to eliminate the distance between them as their tongues looped around each other and fought for dominance; not that she stood much of a chance anyway.

Pulling away from the kiss just slightly, Orpheus growled loudly against her lips as his eyes turned a murky shade of obsidian, his grip on her hips tightening as he pulled her body flush against his, two very conflicting emotions.

-

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Layla Knight

18.12.2020